an institute of consecrated life in which the Christian faithful living in the world strive for the perfection of charity and work for the sanctification of the world especially from within

Institutes in which lay people who do not join religious congregations strive to live the consecrated life. These people do make the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience according to the constitutions of their institute.

In the Roman Catholic Church, a secular institute is an organization of individuals who are consecrated -- professing the Evangelical counsels of poverty, obedience and chastity -- while living in the world as lay people, not members of a religious order. Secular institutes first received papal recognition from Pope Pius XII in Provida Mater Ecclesia (1947). Currently, up to 60,000 members belong to more than 20 secular institutes.