consistory Meaning, Definition & Usage

L. consistorium a place of assembly, the place where the emperor's council met, fr. consistere: cf. F. consistoire, It. consistorio. See Consist.

plural Consistories

Primarily, a place of standing or staying together; hence, any solemn assembly or council.
To council summons all his mighty peers, Within thick clouds and dark tenfold involved, A gloomy consistory. Milton.
(Eng. Ch.) The spiritual court of a diocesan bishop held before his chancellor or commissioner in his cathedral church or elsewhere. Hook.
(R. C. Ch.) An assembly of prelates; a session of the college of cardinals at Rome.
Pius was then hearing of causes in consistory. Bacon.
A church tribunal or governing body. ✍ 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.
A civil court of justice. Obs. Chaucer.

Of the nature of, or pertaining to, a consistory. "To hold consistory session." Strype.