What is a solemn agreement?

Answer 1

Catholic AnswerSolemn vows are the binding vows that are recognized by the Church as such. All other vows made in a Church render the contrary action illicit, solemn vows render the contrary action invalid. Most religious make simple vows, or promises. Most monastic communities make solemn vows. Simple vows made by lifelong or for a period of time, Solemn vows are until death. Solemn vows for anyone in the Benedictine tradition are stability, conversato morum (roughly conversion of manners), and obedience. Solemn vows in all other communities are poverty, chastity, and obedience.

from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980

Solemn vows. Public vows pronounced in a religious order and recognized as such by the Church. The term has become technical since the recognition of simple but public vows in religious congregations and societies of common life. In practice, a solemn vow of poverty means the actual renunciation of ownership and not merely the independent use of material possessions; and a solemn vow of chastity invalidates attempted marriage.

Answer 2

a binding agreement to do or keep from doing a specified thing