Consistory

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

  Consistory \Con*sis"to*ry\, a.
     Of the nature of, or pertaining to, a consistory. "To hold
     consistory session." --Strype.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  consistory
       n : a church tribunal or governing body

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CONSISTORY, ecclesiastical law. An assembly of cardinals convoked by the 
  pope. The consistory is public or secret. It is public, when the pope 
  receives princes or gives audience to ambassadors; secret, when he fills 
  vacant sees, proceeds to the canonization of saints, or judges and settles 
  certain contestations submitted to him. 
       2. A court which was formerly held among protestants, in which the 
  bishop presided, assisted by some of his clergy, also bears this name. It is 
  now held in England, by the bishop's chancellor or commissary, and some 
  other ecclesiastical officers, either in the cathedral, church, or other 
  place in his diocese, for the determination of ecclesiastical cases arising 
  in that diocese. Merl. Rep. h.t.; Burns' Dict. h.t.