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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.

References in periodicals archive ?
The Ecclesiastical Ordinances (1541) mandated that the city's pastors and twelve lay elders meet weekly in consistory to oversee public morality and doctrine, applying church discipline when necessary as a "medicine to bring sinners back to the Lord.
18 consistory in Rome, when Pope Benedict XVI inducted 22 new cardinals into the church's most exclusive club, is that perhaps the lone new consensus papal candidate was an American: Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.
However under the Measure, and to eliminate as far as possible continued pressure and gossip, I have decided to inhibit the Dean from the exercise of his office until such time as these matters are disposed of, either by a rejection of the complaints by an independent examiner, or by means of a trial in a Consistory Court.
The consistory minutes even record the case of a former priest who presented himself to the church council as "one who has served the Roman idol" and "who has been transferred out of the fraudulent Babel into the true sanctuary.
Charles Mynors, a consistory court judge and chancellor of the Diocese of Worcester, said there was nothing to link the skull with the age old story it was stolen hundreds of years ago for a PS300 wager.
The Consistory Court heard that approaches have been made to other museums and galleries but the church has been unable to find a home for it.
20 consistory of cardinals at the Vatican--called by Francis specifically to address the plight of Christians in the Middle East--the pontiff told the prelates "we are facing terrorism on a scale that was [previously] unimaginable.
Landlord and tenant relationship within the permission: Owner loan: Finance with permission of owner occupied another loan is such that the parties merely borrowed putting yours or the other purpose be borrowed from the line and accessories such as wedding deposit to borrow a phrase (the consistory contracts Azn p.
He continued his Masonic journey as a 32 Degree Mason with memberships in the Scottish Rite Bodies of Worcester, Massachusetts Consistory, Melha Shrine, and the Hampshire Shrine Club.
The Mass took place the day after the Consistory which created 19 new cardinals across the globe, including England and Wales' new cardinal, Vincent Nichols, the cardinal Archbishop of Westminster.