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Concubinary. The married and concubinarian, as well as looser clergy. Milman.

An assembly of the clergy, by their representatives, to consult on ecclesiastical affairs.

The legislative assembly, composed of nobility, clergy, and representatives of cities, which in Spain and in Portugal answers, in some measure, to the Parliament of Great Britain.

d on the mill. Black crape is much used for mourning garments, also for the dress of some clergymen. A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn. Pope. Crape myrtle (Bot.), a very ornamental shrub (Lagerströmia Indica) from the East Indies, often planted in the Southern United States. Its foliage is like that of the myrt…

One who has the cure souls; originally, any clergyman, but now usually limited to one who assist a rector or vicar Hook. All this the good old man performed alone, He spared no pains, for curate he had none. Dryden.

ng.] -- Rural dean, one having, under the bishop, the especial care and inspection of the clergy within certain parishes or districts of the diocese.

tence. Blackstone. Declinatory plea (O. Eng. Law), the plea of sanctuary or of benefit of clergy, before trial or conviction; -- now abolished.

To manage; to conduct; to treat. [Our] clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. Milton.

the taking away from a clergyman his benefice, or other spiritual promotion or dignity.

y of; to profane; to put to an unworthy use; -- the opposite of consecrate. The [Russian] clergy can not suffer corporal punishment without being previously desecrated. W. Tooke. The founders of monasteries imprecated evil on those who should desecrate their donations. Salmon.

nor; especially, one who holds an ecclesiastical rank above that of a parochial priest or clergyman.

The clergy or the people of a diocese. Strype.

A minister of the gospel; a priest; a clergyman. The first divines of New England were surpassed by none in extensive erudition. J. Woodbridge.

urch. The word is also applied locally in the United States, in colloquial speech, to any clergyman.

A clergyman. See Domine, 1. [Scot. & Colloq. U. S.]

Master; sir; -- a title of respect formerly applied to a knight or a clergyman, and sometimes to the lord of a manor. Cowell.

a free gift. Bouvier. Donation party, a party assembled at the house of some one, as of a clergyman, each one bringing some present. [U.S.] Bartlett.

n both kinds (using leavened bread) and to infants as well as adults, permits its secular clergy to marry before ordination and to keep their wives afterward, but not to marry a second time, selects its bishops from the monastic clergy only, recognizes the offices of bishop, priest, and deacon as the three necessary de…

holy orders, or consecrated to the service of the church and the ministry of religion; a clergyman; a priest. From a humble ecclesiastic, he was subsequently preferred to the highest dignities of the church. Prescott.

A clergyman authorized to administer all the sacraments; as, a traveling elder. Presiding elder (Meth. Ch.), an elder commissioned by a bishop to have the oversight of the churches and preachers in a certain district. -- Ruling elder, a lay presbyter or member of a Presbyterian church session. Schaff.…