By 'Contemplative orders' we mean such religious orders for men as the Cistercians, Trappists, Camaldolese and Carthusians and women's orders such as the cloistered Carmelites, Benedictines and Poor Clares, who live a life of seclusion from the world and are engaged in prayer, study and manual work. They are called 'contemplative' from the fact that in their life a prominent place is given to contemplative or meditative prayer.

Contemplative orders maintain in the Church the tradition of world renunciation, asceticism and contemplative prayer of the eremitical monks or solitaries of the desert, of the 4th and 5th centuries, from which ascetical movement later evolved coenobitical or communal monasticism. Although Benedictine monasticism, which flourished in Europe became the sole form of religious life from the 6th century to the 12th followed a less rigorous ascetical path, there were eventually reforms that led to the emergence of stricter forms of monastic life like the Cistercians and the Trappists.

One might wonder why, when there is so much work to be done in the pastoral, educational, social and missionary fields, these men and women should live in seclusion and isolation without being engaged in the active apostolate like the religious of active orders.

An answer to this question was given by the Church when it proclaimed a young French Carmelite, St. Therese of Lisieux, as Patroness of the Missions, placing her on par with St Francis Xavier, Patron of the Missions. Xavier, the greatest Christian missionary Asia has known, went from one Asian country to another (India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan), facing many problems and suffering great hardships to take the Gospel to non-Christian people. In consideration of his extensive and unique missionary apostolate, he unquestionably merits to be recognized as Patron of the Missions.
Cloistered converts or houses of contemplative religious have been compared to powerhouses. Just as it is from a powerhouse that electrical power is supplied to towns and villages, so it is from contemplative religious houses that spiritual power comes to draw God's blessing on the Church and the world and to fructify the work of those engaged in the active apostolate.

Christ's death on the cross was the climax and consummation of a life of sacrifice. His counsels of perfection, particularly concerning poverty, chastity and obedience, which he himself practiced to a supreme degree, brought the element of sacrifice into his life. These three counsels, which form the basis of religious life, whether active or contemplative, have meaning and efficacy by the fact that they bring sacrifice into the life of the religious.

The contemplative religious go further and by their more complete separation from the world live a life involving greater sacrifice. They resemble the early Christians who on restoration of religious freedom by Constantine, went into the desert to make a sacrifice of their life as eremitical ascetics, since they were not able any longer to die for the faith as in the previous age of the martyrs.

And prayer becomes more efficacious when sacrifice is added to it. Hence the spiritual power of contemplative religious life.

Though separated from the world, the contemplative religious do not forsake the world. It is for the sake of the world in fact, to help it by prayer and penance that they retire from the world. In a sense, they are as 'active' as the active religious, the difference being only in their manner of helping the world.

The life of the contemplative religious is hidden and unnoticed by the world, which itself is a sacrifice. The work of active religious, such as teaching, nursing, pastoral service and social work, is noticed and appreciated by the world. Not so the hidden spiritual apostolate of contemplative religious.