For those of you who wonder about now-archaic words, "Cloistered (or claustral) life is also another name for the life of a monk or nun in the enclosed religious orders." Enclosed religious (another term for cloistered nun/monk) spend their days in prayer, mostly, and do not leave the enclosed place where they leave. There are actually physical barriers such as walls and gates between them and the world outside.
Other words that may confuse in this particular vocabulary are "Convent" vrs. "Monastery." Both have religious women who live in them, in "community" as we say. The difference is that a convent is home to sisters who minister "in the world," in schools or hospitals or anywhere their particular order is engaged. A monastery houses a religious community of men or women whose ministry is that of contemplation and prayer.
Across the street from where I work is a monastery of cloistered Dominican nuns. The buildings are over 100 years old, and typical of traditional monastic architecture. The chapel is divided in half, with a wall behind the alter that has openings which can be closed off with large wooden doors. Once a Sister takes her final monastic vows, she enters the monastery never to leave again. Even after she dies, her body is displayed on the enclosed side of the chapel grill, and she is laid to rest in a crypt under the Monastery itself.
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