Search the Dictionary

A crowd; an assembly; a congregation.

The chief of an order of monks, or of all the houses or congregations under the same rule.

tremes; situated at an intermediate point; midway. Halfway covenant, a practice among the Congregational churches of New England, between 1657 and 1662, of permitting baptized persons of moral life and orthodox faith to enjoy all the privileges of church membership, save the partaking of the Lord's Supper. They were al…

ewish Feast of the Dedication, instituted by Judas Maccabæus, his brothers, and the whole congregation of Israel, in 165 b. c., to commemorate the dedication of the new altar set up at the purification of the temple of Jerusalem to replace the altar which had been polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Maccabees i. 58, iv.…

The cross as the symbol of Christ's crucifixion. Congregation of the Holy Cross (R. C. Ch.), a community of lay brothers and priests, in France and the United States, engaged chiefly in teaching and manual Labor. Originally called Brethren of St. Joseph. The Sisters of the Holy Cross engage in similar work. Addis & Arn…

One who prepares homilies; one who preaches to a congregation.

s can read them. These catalogues are published with additions, from time to time, by the Congregation of the Index, composed of cardinals, theologians, etc., under the sanction of the pope. Hook. -- Index rerum Etym: [L.], a tabulated and alphabetized notebook, for systematic preservation of items, quotations, etc.…

The settlement of a minister over 3 congregation without their consent.

s, but not in holy orders. -- Lay clerk (Eccl.), a layman who leads the responses of the congregation, etc., in the church service. Hook. -- Lay days (Com.), time allowed in a charter party for taking in and discharging cargo. McElrath. -- Lay elder. See 2d Elder, 3, note.

One of the Congregation of the Priests of the Mission, a religious institute founded by Vincent de Paul in 1624, and popularly called Lazarists or Lazarites from the College of St. Lazare in Paris, which was occupied by them until 1792.

n form of supplication in the public worship of various churches, in which the clergy and congregation join, the former leading and the latter responding in alternate sentences. It is usually of a penitential character. Supplications . . . for the appeasing of God's wrath were of the Greek church termed litanies, and r…

Members of a congregation of nuns founded by Mrs. Mary Teresa Ball, near Dublin, Ireland, in 1822, and now spread over Ireland, India, Canada, and the United States. The nuns are called also Ladies of Loreto. They are engaged in teaching girls.

A member of the Congregation of Saint Maur, an offshoot of the Benedictines, originating in France in the early part of the seventeenth century. The Maurists have been distinguished for their interest in literature.

One of a religious congregation of the Roman Catholic Church devoted to the improvement of Armenians.

A congregation; a collection of people; a convention; as, a large meeting; an harmonius meeting.

A decree of the Congregation of the Council declaring invalid [so far as the laws of the Roman Catholic Church are concerned] any marriage of a Roman Catholic, or of a person who has ever been a Roman Catholic, if not contracted before a duty qualified priest (or the bishop of the diocese) and at least two witnesses. T…

The written precept of a superior in a religious order or congregation to a subject. Canonical obedience. See under Canonical. -- Passive obedience. See under Passive.

rch.), the placing of a church so that the chancel, containing the altar toward which the congregation fronts in worship, will be on the east end.

ar priest, clergyman, or minister; also, loosely, the territory in which the members of a congregation live. [U. S.]

to urge with earnestness by public teaching. "I have preached righteousness in the great congregation." Ps. xl. 9.