Third Order

American  

noun

Roman Catholic Church.

1. a branch of a religious order whose members are lay people following the avocations of a secular life.

2. a member of a Third Order who follows its rule in the community under ordinary simple vows.

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Third Order British  

noun

1. RC Church a religious society of laymen affiliated to one of the religious orders and following a mitigated form of religious rule

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Example Sentences

Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan Friar of the Third Order and a Catholic priest, teaches moral philosophy at Luiss Guido Carli University and is a professor of ethics of technology at Seattle University.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026

It formed a related group for women, called the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará, and an organization for lay people called Third Order.

From Washington Post • Feb. 16, 2020

They've since been removed by their order, the Franciscan Friars, Third Order Regular, Province of the Immaculate Conception.

From US News • Mar. 18, 2016

But Garabedian said the school and Baker’s religious community, the Province of the Immaculate Conception of the Third Order Regular Franciscans, were also involved in the three new settlements.

From Washington Times • Apr. 15, 2015

In the Third Order established for those not following the monastic life the membership, in the course of time, embraced among others St. Louis, King of France, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and Dante.

From Dante: "The Central Man of All the World" A Course of Lectures Delivered Before the Student Body of the New York State College for Teachers, Albany, 1919, 1920 by Slattery, John T. (John Theodore)