abbacy

[ab-uh-see]

noun

plural

abbacies 

1. the rank, rights, privileges, or jurisdiction of an abbot.

2. the term of office of an abbot.

abbacy

/ ˈæbəsɪ /

noun

1. the office, term of office, or jurisdiction of an abbot or abbess

Word History and Origins

Origin of abbacy¹

1400–50; late Middle English abbacie, abbat ( h ) ie < Late Latin abbātia ( abbey ), equivalent to abbāt- ( abbot ) + -ia -ia

Word History and Origins

Origin of abbacy¹

C15: from Church Latin abbātia, from abbāt- _abbot

Example Sentences

The vilest traffickers in souls are all His chapmen, and for gold a prebend’s stall He’ll sell them, or an abbacy or mitre.

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This church is of unknown origin, but is known to have existed in the time of St. Gregory the Great, and to have been one of the fourteen privileged abbacies of Rome.

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The Four Masters tell us it was the monks of Drogheda who had expelled him from the abbacy for his own crime.

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Dioceses were reduced in number; cathedral chapters, abbacies, and prebenderies were suppressed; the fees to the nuncio and to the seminaries were discontinued.

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And then were the charters of the King concerning the gift of the abbacy produced and read in full audience.

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