Types of Nuns
In a word, canons regular may be considered as the genus, and Austin Canons as the species; or all Austin Canons are canons regular, but not all canons regular are Austin Canons. By 1125 hundreds of communities of canons had sprung up in Western Europe.
Mendicant orders are, primarily, certain Christian religious orders that have adopted a lifestyle of poverty, traveling, and living in urban areas for purposes of preaching, evangelism, and ministry, especially to the poor. At their foundation these orders rejected the previously established monastic model.
A nun is a woman who has chosen celibacy, poverty, and other human-denying virtues in order to commit her life to God. The Catholic nuns are divided into different orders to serve the church and people effectively and fully.
The Three Main Types - Monastic The monastic nuns are the most devout. These work and live in a monastery and recite the divine office daily. The divine office contains several prayer times each day including midnight, dawn, 6am, 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm. Examples of the monastic orders include Benedictines, Basilians, Trappists and Cistercians.