Historical reference: Do not rely on this information. It is very old. About this collection
Convent is an ecclesiastical word used to denote a community of religious persons of either sex, who unite together to carry on a common life in obedience to a fixed constitution and in observance of a fixed discipline. Among Protestants the word is often restricted to a community of nuns, the word monastery being used to denote a community of men; but there is no such real distinction.