The Order of Blessed Catherine
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The Order of Blessed Catherine follows strict structural codes that renders formations that enable tonsured sisters to progress and pursue their ascetic lives in accordance to the Church of the Canon. Within the cohorts of the Order of Blessed Catherine, an ecosystem is built that encourages equalled levels for the majority of the sisters, exempting the official roles which sisters can strive for to rise within the Church as secondary and tertiary servants of GOD. In alignment to the Church, the High Pontiff wields absolute authority from the Exalted Throne over the Order of Blessed Catherine, and no sister can challenge his judgement regardless of her office. The sisters of the Order are sworn into their devotion until death, and so all of them are encouraged to aspire to deliver glory and charity in the name of the Creator. To progress and climb within the Order, the sisters must be well-learned in the Holy Scrolls and be equipped with extensive knowledge in theology, literature, history and mathematics. The sisterhood is glorified for the education that it provides to the free women of all realms and the archives it keeps, and so the sisters are to wield their knowledge and pursue it willingly.
Origins of the Order
The rebirth of the sisters of The Church of the Canon grew in the infancy of the settlement of the Atlas continent. The sisterhood was few and scarcely spread, with only three primary nuns that were settled in three distinct locations of the realms. In that time Sister Judith of Czena was a forthright sister that had claimed a religious hovel in the Marantine woodlands, where she thrived beside a garden and a warm pot of tea that she kept for travellers and holy knights. Sister Yuliya of Haense was the only nun in the most southern bastions, residing within the Hanseti-Ruskan capital of Markev as a quiet but hard working member of the religious community. Sister Bogdanova of Hussaria remained in isolation within the hinterlands, proceeding to pursue a cloistered life of silent service to GOD. From these three women, a great sisterhood grew, through zeal devotion and effort to breathe life back into the Church through the way of holy women.
In the Year of Our Lord, 1648, the Annsden Abbey was founded by His Eminence, then Elphias of Metz, and the Sisters Judith and Yuliya were tonsured as thee who would uphold the mantle of this holy and sanctified build. From humble beginnings, the foundations of the Order of Blessed Catherine were laid, and continued to built upon with multiple women taking the cloth and swearing the holy vows of the Church. Upon the abdication of the High Pontiff Clement II, the sisterhood saw a great rise in their progressions and their numbers. Archbishop Elphias of Metz ascended the Exalted Throne as the High Pontiff Jude I; the glorious rise launching the sisterhood into sudden prominence and activity. It is recognised that without the faithful efforts of His Holiness, Jude I and Her Reverence, Mother Judith, the Order of Blessed Catherine would not flourish and proceed in such haste and devotion.
The archives of the Annsden Abbey revealed vital reservoirs of truth in relation to the only other sororal item of the Church, a century past. The Order of St. Julia was conceived by Mother Lorina of Vekaro, and albeit her outlandish end, the virtues and attributes of the small institution provided inspiration for the reformation of the sisters and the genesis of the Order of the Blessed Catherine.
As the Church of Canon began to accommodate a plethora of vowed sisters, in the Year of Our Lord 1652, the Convent of Esteresa was established within the Principality of Curon. It was with great charity that His Serene Highness, Alfred I of Curon donated the institution to the Order, in hopes that the Mother Church’s purities would cleanse his streets of its unabsolved sin. In the same year, the Order combatted great hardship with the Haensic men who opposed the Church and the Lucienists, preying on the sisters as outlets of their abrasive hate. It was the fiery and inspiring words of Sister Yuliya that filled the Order, preventing submission and allowing the women to rise up and seize independence and sources of strength.
The modern reform of the sisterhood that led campaigns of devotion, compassion, and restoration rather than hypocrisy and hate was contributed to by the constant endeavours of Mother Judith and the Sisters Yuliya, Darya, and Alyona. Notable mentions would be the High Pontiff Jude I and the Archbishop Yurii of Haense.
Ideology and Identity
The Order of Blessed Catherine hosts contentment with virtue and a continual strive for absolute sanctity. Catherine Horen was raised as a kind and honest spirit; one that slipped bread into her basket and ran down to feed the poor, to explore the shores with the common children, and fall into ruts of immersion with the books in her imperial father’s library. As she matured into a woman, Catherine expressed her desire to lead a true and virtuous life that did not feign or falsely present itself as so many other sly partisans did. Upon the seventeenth name day of Catherine Francesca, she took a high vow to never lie again, and upheld this sacred oath until she died thirty seven years later. This virtue is a brandished token of the Order, inspiring the women each day to act true as the blessed patron did so many years ago. Beautified for her integrity, the Order of the Blessed Catherine’s intention is to follow in her step and act as she did, true.
Catherine Francesca Horen took no higher notice of herself in contrast to those that she walked amongst. The humble and modest nature she hibited was inspired by the late Tuvya Carrion, whom would dress in the common man’s garment and experience the world and community without great regard or recognition. Similarly, Catherine would leave her vanities at the palace when she sifted through the Felsen crowds, enthusing the work of the baker, the artist, and the smith. Her relationship with the people was a critical influence on her life and the perspective people took of her; a strength she wielded and other nobles did not. The Order recognises her humble approaches, and takes it as another core ideology that is taught to the sisters. To be humble and to be true is to lead a life, wholly.
The power of language is a weapon that is pushed to be a constant reliance and utility of all sisters of the Order. Through the religious and academic dogmas of humanity are the greatest powers found; that all men and women can use to strengthen belief and education. The Order of Blessed Catherine provides an extensive education that reminds the women of their intelligence and capacities.
History
In 1654, Mother Judith and Sister Auguste made a distant journey over the wooded hills of Curon and as they travelled further south down the Santegian coast, discovered a rising township that stood in quiet isolation. With intrigue, the nuns ventured into the settlement known as Halsworthy, only to discover heinous shrines and practises. Almost immediately, a crowd spilled into the central square and the Holy Mother was horrified at the sums of heathens, elves and homosexuals that inhabited Halsworthy. Forced out of the town, Mother Judith and Sister Auguste rode fast back to the abbey, informing the Order of Saint Lucien of the heathens’ whereabouts. It was from that day onward that the conflict between the Church of the Canon and the State of Halsworthy grew to greater scales, hundreds of men and women dying thus.
In 1655, the Order of Blessed Catherine and the Order of Saint Lucien cooperated as a united force, rallying against the walls of Halsworthy to drive out the pagan leadership and their kin. The nuns proved to be both resourceful in the siege camps outside the township and as well as on the front lines, fighting alongside the holy knights and treating the wounded. Mother Judith, Holy Ser Heinrich, Archbishop Berdisleyev and Archbishop Yurii of Haense were the four primary leaders of the Purge of Halsworthy. The Holy Mother led her own lines of sisters as they infiltrated the walls of the town, capturing pagans and retrieving prisoners. The Purge of Halsworthy lasted for four years, eventuating in the demise of the state’s populace and driving them out of the region. The leaders of Halsworthy were executed and their kin were hunted, few being able to escape. After the Purge, the Order of Blessed Catherine received immediate acknowledgement for their martial abilities and their resourceful on the battlefield. In the years after this, Mother Judith led several independent expeditions to detain the last scions of Halsworthy, burning leaders like Luna Rose and her alleged witch daughter, Harley, on pyres by the Czena River.
