Third order
In relation to religious orders, a
third order is an association of persons who live according to the ideals and spirit of a Catholic, Anglican, or Lutheran religious order, but do not belong to its "first order", or its "second order". Members of third orders, known as tertiaries, are generally laypersons, i.e. men and women who do not take religious vows, but participate in the good works of order and may be allowed to wear at least some elements of the order's habit, such as a scapular. Less often, they belong to a religious institute that is called a "third order secular"). Roman Catholic canon law states: Associations whose members share in the spirit of some religious institute while in secular life, lead an apostolic life, and strive for Christian perfection under the higher direction of the same institute are called third orders or some other appropriate name. The old monastic orders had attached to their abbeys confraternities of lay men and women, going back in some cases to the 8th century. The
Confraternity Book of Durham is extant and embraces some 20,000 names in the course of eight centuries.