Religious profession

Solemn admission of people into a religious order by means of public vows A religious profession is the solemn admission of men or women into consecrated life by means of the pronouncement of religious vows, typically the evangelical counsels. It is practiced in some Christian denominations, particularly Catholicism, Evangelical Lutheranism and Anglicanism, among other Christian traditions. History The origins of religious profession date from the time when Christians were recognized in the Church as followers after perfection in the practice of religious life. Third-century ascetics, called in Greek asketai, and in Latin confessores, were early examples of a religious profession. Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History, III, xxxvii) numbers among the ascetics the most illustrious pontiffs of the first ages, Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, and others. After these, in the fourth century, came the hermits and monks, followed in the 11th century by the canons regular, in the 13th century by the mendicant orders, in the 16th by the clerks regular, and lastly by the members of religious congregations. Profession for a long time was made by clothing with the religious habit: