This page gathers the 66 dictionary entries belonging to the domain “Ecclesiastical”, as labelled by Wiktionary. Each word leads to its full entry: definitions, etymology, pronunciation, examples.
- absolution noun An absolving of sins from ecclesiastical penalties by an authority.
- abstinence noun Abstention from certain foods on days of penitential observance.
- accentuation noun Pitch or modulation of the voice in reciting portions of the liturgy.
- acephali noun Bishops and certain clergymen not under regular diocesan control.
- admission noun Declaration of the bishop that he approves of the presentee as a fit person to serve the cure of the church to which he is presented.
- adultery noun The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop.
- anathema noun A ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity by ecclesiastical authority, often accompanied by excommunication; something denounced…
- appropriate verb To annex (for example a benefice, to a spiritual corporation, as its property).
- archabbot noun In certain Catholic (notably Benedictine) congregations, the title of the general superior, ranking above all other abbots, vested in a…
- archbishopric noun The rank or office of an archbishop.
- archiepiscopacy noun The form of episcopacy in which the chief power is in the hands of archbishops.
- avowry noun Advowson, the right to appoint to a benefice or office.
- beadle noun An attendant to the minister.
- bigamy noun A second marriage after the death of a spouse.
- bullary noun A collection of papal bulls.
- burse noun An ornamental case to hold the corporal when not in use.
- charge noun An address given at a church service concluding a visitation.
- chrismation noun The sacrament of applying chrism to complete baptism in the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches.
- coadjutor noun An assistant to a bishop.
- collation noun The presentation of a clergyman to a benefice by a bishop, who has it in his own gift.
- collative adj In which the ordinary (or bishop) is the same person as the patron.
- Consistorialrath noun councillor of the consistory
- convocation noun An assembly of the clergy, by their representatives, to consult on ecclesiastical affairs.
- corporal noun The white linen cloth on which the elements of the Eucharist are placed; a communion cloth.
- cross-staff noun An archbishop's cross.
- deacon verb To ordain to the diaconate.
- defensor noun the patron of a church; an officer having charge of the temporal affairs of a church
- devotion noun A prayer (often found in the plural).
- donative noun A benefice conferred on a person by the founder or patron, without either presentation or institution by the ordinary, or induction by his…
- duplex querela noun A complaint in the nature of an appeal from the ordinary to his immediate superior, as from a bishop to an archbishop.
- east noun In a church: the direction of the altar and chancel; the direction faced by the priest when celebrating ad orientem.
- ecclesia noun A church, either as a body or as a building.
- ecumenical adj Pertaining to the universal Church, representing the entire Christian world; interdenominational; sometimes by extension, interreligious.
- endura noun A fast or series of privations undertaken by the Cathars to purify the soul, often resulting in death.
- erection noun Formal approval and official establishment of an institution such as a society or a monastery by higher church authorities.
- fascia noun A sash worn with a cassock by clergy of the Catholic and Anglican churches.
- ferial adj Pertaining to an ordinary weekday, rather than a festival or fast.
- Holy Bible noun Honorific name for the collection of the books of the Bible according to a Christian canon.
- horary noun A book containing the divine offices for the various canonical hours.
- indispensable adj Not admitting ecclesiastical dispensation; not subject to release or exemption; that cannot be allowed by bending the canonical rules.
- institute verb To invest with the spiritual charge of a benefice, or the care of souls.
- insufflate verb To exhale upon baptismal water, or the one being baptised, as a ritual act.
- lection noun A reading of a religious text; a lesson to be read in church etc.
- north noun In a church: the direction to the left-hand side of a person facing the altar.
- oeconomus noun A married priest (chiefly Orthodox Christian and Uniate usage), as opposed to a hieromonk.
- ordinary noun A person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese.
- patron noun One who has gift and disposition of a benefice.
- pectoral noun A clasp, cross, or ornamental square of cloth etc. worn upon the breast.
- pica noun A pie or directory: the book directing Roman Catholic observance of saints' days and other feasts under various calendars.
- pluralism noun The state of a pluralist; the holding of more than one ecclesiastical living at a time.
- plurality noun The holding of multiple benefices.
- presentable adj Capable of being presented to a church living.
- presentative adj Of a benefice, or the advowsons, tithes, etc., associated with a benefice: that a patron has the right to present.
- presentment noun A formal complaint submitted to a bishop or archdeacon.
- primer noun A prayer or devotional book intended for laity, initially an abridgment of the breviary and manual including the hours of the Virgin Mary…
- privilege noun An exemption from certain laws granted by the Pope.
- procession noun Litanies said in procession and not kneeling.
- pseudocardinal noun A cardinal appointed by an antipope and consequently seen as illegitimate by the pope and those who recognize him.
- read oneself in verb To read aloud the Thirty-nine Articles and the Declaration of Assent; required of a clergyman of the Church of England when he first…
- sindon noun The shroud of Jesus following the crucifixion.
- soulscot noun A funeral payment, formerly made at the grave, usually to the parish priest in whose church service for the departed had been said; a…
- south noun In a church: the direction to the right-hand side of a person facing the altar.
- spoliation noun The action of an incumbent (“holder of an ecclesiastical benefice”) wrongfully depriving another of the emoluments of a benefice.
- switch verb To shift to another circuit.
- trigamy noun A third marriage.
- west noun In a church: the direction of the gallery, opposite to the altar, and opposite to the direction faced by the priest when celebrating ad…