Consistories

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Consistory \Con*sis"to*ry\ (? or ?; 277) n.; pl. {Consistories}.
     [L. consistorium a place of assembly, the place where the
     emperor's council met, fr. consistere: cf. F. consistoire,
     It. consistorio. See {Consist}.]
     1. Primarily, a place of standing or staying together; hence,
        any solemn assembly or council.


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              To council summons all his mighty peers,
              Within thick clouds and dark tenfold involved,
              A gloomy consistory.                  --Milton.
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     2. (Eng. Ch.) The spiritual court of a diocesan bishop held
        before his chancellor or commissioner in his cathedral
        church or elsewhere. --Hook.
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     3. (R. C. Ch.) An assembly of prelates; a session of the
        college of cardinals at Rome.
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              Pius was then hearing of causes in consistory.
                                                    --Bacon.
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     4. A church tribunal or governing body.
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     Note: In some churches, as the Dutch Reformed in America, a
           consistory is composed of the minister and elders of an
           individual church, corresponding to a Presbyterian
           church session, and in others, as the Reformed church
           in France, it is composed of ministers and elders,
           corresponding to a presbytery. In some Lutheran
           countries it is a body of clerical and lay officers
           appointed by the sovereign to superintend
           ecclesiastical affairs.
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     5. A civil court of justice. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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