PRIORY. A priory is a monastery associated with an abbey and whose superior is called a prior .

However, there are also parish priories and simple priories which function as benefices but where there is no longer any conventuality. [1] See the following subdivisions and those above under the word Prior.

A principal priory is a monastery which is established under the title of priory and which is the headquarters of a religious order.

A claustral priory is the office of the claustral prior.

A collative priory or simply a collative is a benefice conferred by an abbot, who confers it as a dependency specific and immediate to his monastery. There are other priories that are elective in origin and that pertain to the major abbots only incidentally, that is to say that these priories are under the jurisdiction of other monasteries or abbeys due to the strict observance of monastic discipline and to the great power of those other monasteries or abbeys. See below Elective collative priory and confirmative election .

A priory in commendam is a regular priory which is held in trust by a secular cleric. See Commendam and Priory in title .

A confirmative priory is a benefice pertaining to a priory that is conferred by election and confirmation, i.e., in which the election must be confirmed by the superior. There are few such priories and benefices in the kingdom [of France].

A conventual priory is a monastery established under the title of priory where there is a conventuality . This is in contrast to simple priories or social priories where the conventuality has not been established. See Semi-conventual priory and simple priory .

A parish priory is a benefice under the title of priory to which is attached a parish or a perpetual vicariate.

A collative-elective priory receives this designation from electors by the very act of electing without their election requiring confirmation. The deaneries of several cathedral and collegial churches belong to this category.

An elective or elective with confirmation priory received this designation by election and confirmation of the superior. See supra s.v. Confirmative Priory .

A great priory is the headquarters or mother-house upon which many other local priories depend. The Order of Malta has such great priories which are properly superior to other particular institutions in the same province. In France there are six great priories of the Order of Malta, namely the great priory of Provence, of Auvergne, of France, of Aquitaine, of Champagne, and of Toulouse. They are ranked among themselves in the order just enumerated. Of these six, three are French-speaking, namely those of France, Aquitaine, and Champagne. The great prior of France is the Grand Hospitaller of the order.

A perpetual priory is one conferred by virtue of a benefice. It differs from the claustral priories which only consist of simple offices and fixed-term administrations.

A regular priory is one which has been assigned to regular clerics by virtue of its founding.

A secular priory is one which has been assigned to secular ecclesiastics by virtue of its founding. See supra s.v. Regular priory .

A secularized priory is one which was regular at its founding but which subsequently was converted to a secular benefice.

A semi-conventual priory is one which is effectively conventual and one where the rule is observed in its entirety but with less ceremony since the number of religious is smaller and there are certain offices that are not sung. See supra s.v. Conventual priory .

A simple priory for simple tonsure is one for which it suffices to be a tonsured cleric. It thus differs from the parish priories for which it is necessary to be a priest or at least in the process of becoming a priest within the year.

A social priory is a religious house composed of several religious but where conventuality has not been established.

A priory in title is one which is conferred upon a person who has the requisite qualities to possess the priory, following its founding such as when a regular priory is conferred upon a secular person. When it is conferred upon a secular person, it is not conferred in title but in commendam.

1. Conventuality: “The status of a religious house in which one lives under a Rule.” Dictionnaire de l’Académie française (1762).