A convent (from the Latin conventus, 'congregation') is the religious establishment occupied by a community composed of regular clerics, whether men or women.[1]​[2]​ In the context of the Catholic religion, this is the name given to the complex formed by the building where congregations live and the group of friars or nuns of the different mendicant orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, Augustinians) who occupy it.[3]​ They developed at from the 19th century onwards, a time of consolidation of cities, universities and mendicant orders.

The Royal Spanish Academy notes that it can be used as a synonym for monastery,[4]​ and can be associated with the physical context, such as a building, of other related terms such as abbey, monastery, convent, monastery, priory, and even cloister/cloister, collegiate church and religious boarding school.[3]​ But it must be noted that they are not strictly synonymous terms, since, while the members of a convent (its friars) lead a mixed life between contemplation and the active apostolate ("living in the world", involved in charity "Charity (virtue)"), teaching and proselytizing), the inhabitants of a monastery (who are not friars, but monks, strictly speaking) profess a purely contemplative life, the distinction being made between the mendicant orders that occupy the convents, and the properly monastic orders. As a result of this differentiated motivation, monasteries are usually found in remote and rural environments, while convents are more typical of an urban context.

Contenido

Asociado quizá en su origen a la idea o filosofía del encuentro (de «cum venire», "encontrarse"), el origen de los conventos se registra a partir del siglo como establecimientos de actividad religiosa en Occidente de las llamadas órdenes mendicantes, que a diferencia del cenobita no se apartaban de la gente sino que vivían entre ellas con la misión de predicarles su credo.[a]​.

In Spain

In Spain, and taking the city of Madrid as a model,[5]​ between the 19th century and the 19th century, convents and monasteries populated a large part of the space of the historic town, the suburbs and the immediate outer perimeter.[6]​ In 2007, "37 Madrid monasteries – 34 of them female – were still catalogued, where 515 nuns and 50 cloistered monks lived at that time."[7]​.

In the architecture of a convent, the temple, church "Church (building)") or chapel, and secluded outdoor spaces such as the cloister, stand out. The building or set of buildings usually also includes a dining room or refectory and a meeting room or chapter house, "Celda (convent)" cells or small private rooms for its inhabitants, as well as kitchens, warehouses, and originally, a garden.[8]​.