Thursday, October 5, 2006

All Those Initials

A reader asks:
Could you explain all the initials some of the Catholic groups use. I know SJ is for Jesuits, and OSB is for the order of St Francis but what is OP and are there others??
I, myself, have wondered that same thing from time to time. It is like a secret code.

Gradually I picked up on the fact that SJ does not stand for Social Justice as one might think from many Jesuits' writing but is for Society of Jesus (aka Jesuits).

On Wikipedia I found OSB means Order of Saint Benedict.

However, I was unable to find a source that has a list of all those various initials that orders string behind their names. Granted I did not put tons of time into it but did look around Catholic Encyclopedia, Wikipedia and Google.

Anyone know of a good spot to find those? Or perhaps we should compile a list here and I'll stow it away for future reference?

UPDATE
Ask and you shall receive ... what knowledgable commenters we have here!

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