is properly that part of the choir of a church, between the altar or communion-table, and the balustrade or rail that incloses it; where the mi- nister is placed at the celebration of the communion. The word comes from the Latin cancellus, which in the lower Latin is used in the same sense, from can- celli, "lattices or crofs bars," wherewith the chancels were anciently inclosed, as they now are with rails. The right of a seat and a sepulchre in the chancel, is one of the privileges of founders.