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Thanks Chris. I still don't like the clue much.
In fact, I didn't enjoy the crossword as a whole!

Hi Chris, hi Rossim,

I'm going to stand up for the clue here. Chambers gives "oblate" as "A dedicated person, especially one dedicated to monastic life........." so "they vowed" as in 'people in a monastic life who took vows' could easily be described as "oblates".

Yes, brendan. I learned about OBLATES from Cadfael, of course! They take a vow before they become oblates, so the vow is in the past.

Ha! I remember Cadfael, I think it starred Derek Jacobi, he of I Claudius fame.

I get that they took their vows in the past but they're still the people that took it in the present day. Take a lawyer, for example, who takes their bar exam in their 20's - they will still be a lawyer in their thirties, forties.....etc. They don't stop being "oblates" after they take their vows because the term refers to the person that took them not the act of taking it so, as long as they are still living, they are still oblates.

....unless they become full monks, of course.

i thought rossim was objecting to past tense "they vowed", but i'm quite happy with it.

Good point, plus I'm wrong about 50% of the time anyway so...you know....

Only 50% Brendan? I'd put my own score higher than that!
Thanks for all your explanations. I'm happy enough with it now.

You got me! More like 40% - I was just bigging myself up 😉