On the Canonicæ, pious women who devoted themselves to education, district visiting, funerals, and various charitable works, and living in a community apart from men, cf. Soc. i. 17, “virgins in the register,” and Sozomen viii. 23, on Nicarete.  They were distinguished from nuns as not being bound by vows, and from deaconesses as not so distinctly discharging ministerial duties.