Priory

<p>A priory is a <a href="/facts/Monastery/t8MRXpsM">monastery</a> of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a <a href="/facts/Prior_(ecclesiastical)/yBLasbeS">prior</a> or prioress. They were created by the <a href="/facts/Catholic_Church/rJ4F4gqH">Catholic Church</a>. Priories may be monastic houses of <a href="/facts/Monks/mDhTrNcB">monks</a> or <a href="/facts/Nuns/XAqMnnVQ">nuns</a> (such as the <a href="/facts/Benedictines/wPDY4zrT">Benedictines</a>, the <a href="/facts/Cistercians/dQPQRWTg">Cistercians</a>, or the <a href="/facts/Carthusians/U1sgmFIl">Charterhouses</a>). Houses of <a href="/facts/Canon_regular/dwXQGC5p">canons & canonesses regular</a> also use this term, the alternative being "canonry". <a href="/facts/Mendicant_order/Y0ka8G4z">Mendicant</a> houses, of <a href="/facts/Friar/NA6kEJb6">friars</a>, nuns, or tertiary sisters (such as the <a href="/facts/Dominican_Order/n9l5y8Yk">Friars Preachers</a>, <a href="/facts/Augustinian_Hermits/ze6oEuGM">Augustinian Hermits</a>, and <a href="/facts/Carmelites/SkSa7mkf">Carmelites</a>) also exclusively use this term. 
</p><p>In <a href="/facts/English_Reformation/BNESA0Ab">pre-Reformation England</a>, if an <a href="/facts/Abbey/AWbEHRgm">abbey</a> church was raised to cathedral status, the abbey became a <a href="/facts/Cathedral/qFuYNxuh">cathedral</a> priory. The <a href="/facts/Bishop/n2QGsDWx">bishop</a>, in effect, took the place of the abbot, and the monastery itself was headed by a prior.
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Priory open-in-new

Priory