a denomination of nuns of St. Peter of Alcantara, instituted in 1676. The design of the institution was to imitate the severe penitent life of that saint. Thus they were 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 had a particular superior in a separate part of the monastery. They were always to go barefooted, without sandals; gird themselves with a thick cord, and wear no linen.