Question:

What is the meaning of the letters that professed religious have after their names?

Answer:

The Catholic Church includes hundreds of religious communities. The priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, and nuns of these communities (which are often referred to as “religious orders”) are committed to particular spiritual traditions and often to a particular charism (such as teaching, healthcare, social work, or pastoral care).

To help identify a person as a member of a particular religious community, the custom developed of including post-nominal letters that provide a sort of shorthand for the name of the community that the priest, brother, sister or nun is part of. So, for example OSB after a person’s name would indicate that they are a member of the Order of St. Benedict (the Benedictines), just as SJ would indicate that a priest or brother is a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) or RSM would show that a woman is a Sister of Mercy.

Other common examples include:

DC = Daughters of Charity

FSC = The Brothers of the Christian Schools/Christian Brothers

OCist = The Order of Cistercians

OCD = Order of Discalced Carmelites

OFM = The Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans)

OFM Cap = The Capuchin Franciscans

OP = The Order of Preachers (Dominicans)

OSF=Franciscan Sisters

SC = Sisters of Charity

SDS = Society of the Divine Savior (Salvatorian Priests and Brothers and Salvatorian Sisters)

SSND = School Sisters of Notre Dame

SVD = Society of the Divine Word (Divine Word Missionaries)

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