Religious order founded in 1120 by Saint Norbert at Premontre, near Laon, France, composed of priests, clerics, nuns, and members of the Third Order of Saint Norbert. They follow the rule of Saint Augustine with austere supplementary statutes, and have five particular ends
The order spread rapidly in countries throughout Europe and Asia, and abbeys, priories, convents, and colleges were founded. Owing to the continuous wars in many countries, and in the East the invasions of the Tatars and the Turks, the heresies of Hus and Luther, and the French Revolution, many abbeys were confiscated but provinces were established in England, Canada, the United States, and South America. In 1856 a new congregation of Norbertine canons, since incorporated with the order, was formed at Frigolet by Dom Edmund Boulbon and possessed 4 convents and 70 religious. The Norbertine Nuns form a Second Order of Premonstratensians, established in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Poland, and Switzerland. A Third Order, Norbertine Sisters, have convents at Olmütz and Prague, Czechoslovakia.