Cloister

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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 an enclosed monk or nun. Thus, cloister is sometimes used as a synonym for monastery. The modern English term enclosure is used in contemporary Catholic church law^[1] to mean cloistered.

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

[edit] See also

• 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
• The Cloisters, one of the museums of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ The Code of Canon Law, Canon 667 ff. English translation copyright 1983 The Canon Law Society Trust [1]