an assembly of several ecclesiastics, united so as to constitute a body.

The term is principally used to signify assemblies of cardinals appointed by the pope, and distributed into several chambers, for the discharge of certain functions and jurisdictions, after the manner of our offices and courts. The first is the congregation of the holy office, or the inquisition; the second that of jurisdiction over bishops and regulars; the third that of councils, which has power to interpret the Council of Trent; the fourth that of customs, ceremonies, precedencies, canonizations, called the congregation of rites; the fifth, that of St Peter's fabric, which takes cognizance of all causes relating to piety and charity, part of which is due to the church of St Peter; the sixth, that of waters, rivers, roads; the seventh that of fountains and streets; the eighth that of the index, which examines the books to be printed or corrected; the ninth that of the council of state, for the management of the territories belonging to the pope and church; the tenth, de bono regimine, the cardinal nephew being the chief of this and the preceding one; the eleventh that of money; the twelfth that of bishops, in which those who are to be promoted to bishoprics in Italy are examined, and which is held before the pope; the thirteenth that of consistorial matters, the chief of which is the cardinal dean; the fourteenth a congregation for propagating the faith; and the fifteenth that of ecclesiastical immunity, for settling suits against churchmen. There is also a congregation of alms, which takes care of every thing that relates to the subsistence of Rome and the state of the church.

CONGREGATION is also used to signify a company or society of religious persons cantoned out of this or that order, and forming, as it were, an inferior order, or a subdivision of the order itself. Such are the congregations of the oratory, and those of Cluny, and so on, among the Benedictines.

The word is also applied to assemblies of pious persons in the manner of fraternities, frequent among the Jesuits, in honour of the Virgin, &c.

It is likewise applied to the audience in a church, particularly as consisting of the inhabitants of the same parish.