sedile

[se-dahy-lee]

noun, plural se·dil·i·a [se-dil-ee-uh] /sɛˈdɪl i ə/. Ecclesiastical.

one of the seats (usually three) on the south side of the chancel, often recessed, for the use of the officiating clergy.

Origin of sedile

1785–95; < Latin sedīle sitting-place, equivalent to sed(ēre) to sit¹ + -īle neuter noun suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sedilia

Historical Examples of sedilia

Little survives of the original choir but some stalls and sedilia.
Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood
J. Conway Walter
There are three sedilia, and the high altar seems to have been of marble.
Scottish Cathedrals and Abbeys
Dugald Butler and Herbert Story
The sedilia in the chancel seem to be coeval with that part of the church.
The Evolution Of An English Town
Gordon Home
Close to the sedilia is a piscina decorated in a similar manner.
The Evolution Of An English Town
Gordon Home
The Sedilia stand on the other side, in the third bay from the east.
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Rochester
G. H. Palmer

British Dictionary definitions for sedilia

sedilia

noun

(functioning as singular) the group of three seats, each called a sedile (sɛˈdaɪlɪ), often recessed, on the south side of a sanctuary where the celebrant and ministers sit at certain points during High Mass

Word Origin for sedilia

C18: from Latin, from sedīle a chair, from sedēre to sit

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012