a denomination of nuns of St Peter of Alcantara, instituted in 1676, the design of which was to imitate the severe penitent life of that saint. Thus they are to keep a continual silence, never to open their mouths to a stranger; to employ their time wholly in spiritual exercises, and leave their temporal concerns to a number of maids, who have a particular superior in a separate part of the monastery: they always go bare-footed, without sandals; gird themselves with a thick cord, and wear no linen.