1. The office is elective, the choice being by the secret votes of the sisters from their own body. Like the abbot, the abbess is solemnly admitted to her office by formal blessing, conferred by the bishop in whose territory the monastery is or by an abbot or another bishop with his permission.

Впервые термин встречается в 514 .В настоящее время в Римско-католической церкви служит около 200 аббатис.