Consistory
Originally, the Latin word
consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek
syn(h)edrion (of which the Biblical
sanhedrin was a corruption).
In the Roman empire, it was specifically applied to a formal meeting of the
Comites consistoriales, i.e. those members of the Emperor's court with the title of
Comes (the translation count is rather confusing) who were assigned—and this conferred the highest rank amongst Comites—to advise him in official, important matters, suching as drafting bills and other written decisions, rather like the
privy council of a feudal king. As the senate—in law still retaining the highest constitutional position, as the republic was never formally ended—lost most of its political importance, almost reducing it to a rubber stamp as a single-party state's parliament usually is, they stepped in as an official alternative power besides the throne, but real power could just as well lay mainly elsewhere, depending on the imperial favor and personal machinations.
Roman Catholic
The
consistory is a formal meeting of the Sacred
College of Cardinals of the
Roman Catholic Church, except when convened to elect a new pope (then the name is
conclave, and specific rules apply, also to its composition). Consistories are held in
Vatican City for taking care of the business of the college, which usually involves advising the
Pope on important matters concerning the church.
Since the Pope creates new
cardinals in the presence of the college, the consistory is where this takes place. The identities of the cardinals-to-be are generally announced some time in advance, but only at the time of the consistory does the elevation to the cardinalate take effect, since that is when the Pope formally publishes the decree of elevation. Some men have died before the consistory date, and if a Pope dies before the consistory all the nominations are voided. However, the cardinal himself does not have to attend the consistory for his elevation to be effective.
Those new cardinals present are presented with their rings,
zucchetti (small skullcaps), and
biretti (four-cornered silk hats) by the Pope. Formerly they also received an elaborate broad-brimmed tasseled hat, the
galerum rubrum, at the ceremony, but
Pope Paul VI abolished this in
1967 and those cardinals who want these obtain them privately from a maker in Rome.
The zucchetto, the biretta, and the galerum rubrum are all
scarlet, the distinctive color of cardinals' vestments. When a diocesan cardinal dies, his galerum rubrum is suspended from the ceiling of his cathedral.
At the consistory cardinals are generally assigned titular churches in the
diocese of Rome, though Paul VI abolished their functional involvement in the governance of these churches; the cardinals formally "take possession" of these churches at a later date.
In Germany and Scandinavia, the word
consistory (
Konsistorium etc.) has been used for the chapter of a cathedral.
In the
Reformed churches, a Consistory is a congregation's governing body of elected officials that include the Elders and the Deacons, thus making the body similar to the
Session in
Presbyterian churches.
A
consistory is a somewhat comparable body of a Jewish community in an area, e.g. a country.There may be more than one sharing a territory, but defined by an 'ideological' tendency, e.g. an orthodox, a conservative one, and a liberal one in Belgium
The word
consistory (
konsistorium) is also used in the sense of "university board" at some universities in Germany, Scandinavia and Finland (when Swedish is used). In other countries another august assembly lends an alternative name to an equivalent body, e.g.
senat in Belgium.
In Freemasonry a consistory is the name of the body which houses the highest (non-honorary) degrees of the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The 31st and 32nd degrees of Scottish Rite Freemasonry (Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A) meet in a consistory. Often, the Scottish Rite Temple in a town in referred to, by the members, as simply "the consistory".
