Religious take vows as an expression of their desire to give themselves totally to God through membership in a religious community. A vow is a sacred promise made to God. For religious the vow is made in public because of the witness nature of religious life. By their vows or promises religious give their lives over to God. It is a woman’s individual's free response to a call by God to follow Jesus Christ more closely under the action of the Holy Spirit.

These are the three traditional vows most religious make. They are also called the “evangelical counsels.” because they are derived from the life of Jesus as revealed in the Gospels, in Greek, evangelion. Religious are called to a radical way to living out the Gospel, that is, the Gospel is to be the root or values foundation which determines every dimension of their lives. In every age they provide a strong witness to Gospel values in the face of competing or even contrary values in the prevailing culture. Their ways of living out these traditional values vary somewhat according to the particular Rule or Constitution of each Institute and the culture in which they are to be lived but the essential values are common to all.