In relation to
religious orders, a
third order is an association of persons who live according to the ideals and spirit of a
Catholic,
Anglican, or
Lutheran religious order, but do not belong to its "first order" (generally, in the
Catholic Church, the male religious: for example
Franciscans,
Dominicans,
Carmelite and
Augustinian friars), or its "second order" (contemplative female religious associated with the "first order"). Members of third orders, known as tertiaries (
Latin tertiarii, from
tertius, third), may be lay men and women or ordained men (or women, if the tradition ordains them) who do not take
religious vows, but participate in the good works of order and may be allowed to wear at least some elements of the order's
habit, such as a
scapular. Less often, they belong to a
religious institute (a "
congregation") that is called a "third order regular".