Active life. The active life of practical service in the everyday world involved the performance of charitable works (see the SevenWorks of Mercy), a simplified regime of prayer (see Primer) and, for those wishing to go further in the spiritual life, the practice of self-denial or ascesis. It was generally considered inferior to the contemplative life.

Affective. When allied to ‘spirituality/piety/devotion’, this describes religious devotions that nourish and build on the human affections, encouraging empathy with the sufferings of Christ and imaginative participation in the events of the life of Christ and the saints; sometimes these are located as a stage between the practices of active and contemplative lives.

Anchorite/anchoritic. A specific form of religious existence, where a person (anchorite/anchoress) spends his or her life in solitude and prayer, typically in a cell (anchorhold) attached to a church

Apophatic. A way of talking about God only by negatives, what God is not; also called via negativa, and represented most strikingly in the work of Pseudo- Dionysius (c.500).

Ascesis/ascetic. Practices associated with self-denial, designed to combat vice and develop virtues, so as to prepare the practitioner for fuller encounter with God or to realise a more perfect imitation of Christ.

Books of Hours. Books for private lay use, usually containing Offices of the Dead and the Virgin and the Seven Penitential Psalms. See also primers.

Canon. Cleric belonging to a cathedral or collegiate church (secular canon), or living under a semi-monastic Rule such as the Rule of St Augustine (regular canon), by contrast with clerics living under fully monastic Rules such as the Rule of St Benedict.

Canon law. The body of ecclesiastical rules or laws covering matters of faith, morals and discipline.

Canonical hours. See Office.

Cataphatic. A way of talking positively about God by analogy and image, in terms of what God is like, also called via positiva, and contrasted with the apophatic. For Christians, this way is focused most immediately and totally in the human person of Christ as the perfect image of God.

Confessional. Of or relating to the sacrament of confession.