he place in which the cardinals of the Roman Catholic church meet and are shut up for the election of a pope.

The conclave is a range of small cells each ten feet square made of wainscot which are numbered and drawn by lot. They stand in a line along the galleries and hall of the Vatican with a small space between each. Every cell has the arms of the cardinal over it. The conclave is not fixed to any one determinate place for the constitutions of the church allow the cardinals to make choice of such a place for the conclave as they think most convenient; yet it is generally held in the Vatican.

The conclave is very strictly guarded by troops; neither the cardinals nor any person shut up in the conclave are spoken to but at the hours allowed of and then in Italian or Latin. Even the provisions for the conclave are examined that no letters be conveyed by that means from the ministers of foreign powers or other persons who may have an interest in the election of the pontiff.

Conclave is also used for the assembly or meeting of the cardinals shut up for the election of a pope.