CONSISTORY

From Agepedia

CONSISTORY (from the Latin consistorium). This word has been handed down from the time of the Roman emperors, particularly from the time of the emperor Adrian, who died A. D. 138. The emperors had a college of counsellors (consistoriani) about them, who were obliged to be always together (consistere), in order to determine the cases which were brought before the emperor. The council was called consistorium sacrum, or consistorium principum. When the Roman hierarchy had become firmly established, and the bishops had acquired jurisdiction in many cases, they imitated the institutions and 38* names appertaining to the secular power. Thus, down to the present time, the highest council of state, in the papal government, has been called consistory. The ordinary consistory of the pope assembles every week in the papal palace; the extraordinary consistories are called together, by the pope, according as occasions arise for regulating anew the affairs of the church. These are called secret consistories* All political affairs of importance, the election of cardinals, archbishops and bishops, &c.,are transacted in the consistory. Also in Protestant countries, on the European continent, consistories exist, which manage the affairs of the church as far as the monarch, the highest bishop, allows them. In Russia, they are little more than the executive officers of the minister, through whom he manages the concerns of schools and churches. In Vienna, and in Paris, likewise, Protestant consistories exist, which are the highest Protestant ecclesiastical bodies in those countries.