cloistered adj

1 of communal life sequestered from the world under religious vows [syn: cloistral, conventual, monastic, monastical]

2 providing privacy or seclusion; "the cloistered academic world of books"; "sat close together in the sequestered pergola"; "sitting under the reclusive calm of a shade tree"; "a secluded romantic spot" [syn: reclusive, secluded, sequestered]

English

Adjective

1. Pertaining to one who lives in a cloister or a cloister-like environment, or who was raised that way.
2. Pertaining to isolation, protection, being hidden way for the sake of maintaining innocence; naive, lacking in worldliness.

Verb

cloistered

1. past of cloister

A cloister (from Latin claustrum) is a part of cathedral, monastic and abbey architecture. A cloister consists usually of four corridors, with a courtyard or garth in the middle. It is intended to be both covered from the rain, but open to the air. The attachment of a cloister to a Cathedral church usually indicates that it is (or was once) a monastic foundation.

Cloistered (or "Claustral") life is also another name for the life of a monk or nun in the enclosed religious orders; the modern English term enclosure is used in contemporary Catholic church law to mean cloistered, and cloister is sometimes used as a synonym for monastery.

In medieval times, cloisters served the primary function of quiet meditation or study gardens.

The worldwide biggest cloister (12000 m²) is in the Certosa di Padula in southern Italy.

See also

• Peristyle

Notes

External links

• Photos of Cloisters in Spain and England
• The Code of Canon Law, cf canons 667 ff.
• New Advent Encyclopaedia III ff. on "Nuns, properly so called
• "Cloister" in the New Advent encyclopaedia
• New Advent Encyclopaedia on "Religious Life

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