Topic summary
Beguines
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Beguines and Beghards.
Communities and status
Beguines were not nuns, but they are sometimes conflated with them. Beguines took personal, informal vows of chastity. Animated by the ideals of the vita apostolica—the same ideals that led to the formation of the mendicant orders—Beguines pursued a life of contemplative prayer and active service in the world. As women, Beguines were forbidden to preach and teach, yet they actively exhorted their fellow Christians to live lives of penance, service, and prayer.