Zwartsters

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Zwartstaers ("black sisters") are a Roman Catholic religious order and the Belgian branch of the religious family of the Cellitinnen. The order belongs to the large family of Alexians , Grauwsters and Cellites .

The Zwartsters live according to the rule of St. Augustine and have a daily routine characterized by common prayer and practical work. Like the Cellitinnen in Germany, the various congregations of the Zwartsters are all episcopal law. At home in nursing , they used to work primarily in outpatient nursing. This made them one of the few women's orders whose sisters were not bound by the papal cloister . During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Zwartsters' monasteries often developed into hospitals, so that today they hardly differ from other nursing religious orders.

As with the Benedictine nuns , the Zwartsters' monasteries were originally independent. When there were a lot of admissions in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, the various monasteries developed into congregations and dependent branch monasteries were founded. Because the number of entries has fallen sharply since the 1960s, many houses are on the verge of liquidation. The following congregations also exist in Belgium:

Former monasteries and congregations of the Zwartsteers

Web links