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Chapter (Latin capitulum) designates certain corporate ecclesiastical
Ecclesiology

Ecclesiology is the study of the Christian theology understanding of the Christian church. Specific areas of concern include the church's role in salvation, its origin, its relationship to the historical Jesus, its discipline, its eschatology, and its clergy....
 bodies in the Roman Catholic, Anglican
Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition of Christianity faith. Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs, worship and church structures....
 and Nordic Lutheran
Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century Germans Reformer Martin Luther....
 churches.

The word is said to be derived from the chapter
Chapter (books)

A chapter is one of the main divisions of a piece of writing of relative length, such as a book. Chapters can be numbered in the case of such writings as law code or they can be titled....
 of the rule book: it is a custom under the Rule of Saint Benedict that monk
Monk

A Monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, the unconditioning of mind and body in favor of the realization of one's true nature, and does so living either alone or with any number of like-minded people, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose....
s gather daily for a meeting to discuss monastery business, hear a sermon or lecture, or receive instructions from the abbot, and as the meeting begins with a reading of a chapter from the Rule, the meeting itself acquired the name "chapter," and the place where it is held, "chapter house
Chapter house

A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room attached to a cathedral or collegiate church in which meetings are held. They can also be found in medieval monastery....
" or "chapter room."

The term was then extended to apply to other meetings.






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Chapter (Latin capitulum) designates certain corporate ecclesiastical
Ecclesiology

Ecclesiology is the study of the Christian theology understanding of the Christian church. Specific areas of concern include the church's role in salvation, its origin, its relationship to the historical Jesus, its discipline, its eschatology, and its clergy....
 bodies in the Roman Catholic, Anglican
Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition of Christianity faith. Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs, worship and church structures....
 and Nordic Lutheran
Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century Germans Reformer Martin Luther....
 churches.

The word is said to be derived from the chapter
Chapter (books)

A chapter is one of the main divisions of a piece of writing of relative length, such as a book. Chapters can be numbered in the case of such writings as law code or they can be titled....
 of the rule book: it is a custom under the Rule of Saint Benedict that monk
Monk

A Monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, the unconditioning of mind and body in favor of the realization of one's true nature, and does so living either alone or with any number of like-minded people, whilst always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose....
s gather daily for a meeting to discuss monastery business, hear a sermon or lecture, or receive instructions from the abbot, and as the meeting begins with a reading of a chapter from the Rule, the meeting itself acquired the name "chapter," and the place where it is held, "chapter house
Chapter house

A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room attached to a cathedral or collegiate church in which meetings are held. They can also be found in medieval monastery....
" or "chapter room."

The term was then extended to apply to other meetings. The term general chapter designates a monastic general assembly, usually of representatives from all of the monasteries of an order or congregation. The "Chapter of Mats" is the term for a similar meeting of representatives of various provinces and subgroups of the Franciscan family of communities. A "chapter of faults" is held regularly by many religious communities at which members are both corrected for infractions against the community's rule, or accuse themselves of their faults and ask for a penance to be prescribed.

From these conventual chapters or meetings of monks for the transaction of business connected with their monasteries or orders, the designation passed over to somewhat analogous assemblies of other ecclesiastics. Hence, one speaks of collegiate chapters and of cathedral chapters, both of which comprise the canons
Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest who is a member of certain bodies of the Christianity clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule .Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergyhouse or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct or close of a cathedral and ordering his life according to the orders or rules of the church....
 connected to the cathedral or other church ("collegiate" here refers to the "college" or community of canons to whom the church has been entrusted). In general a chapter may be defined as an association of clerics of a certain church forming a moral body and instituted by ecclesiastical authority for the purpose of promoting the divine worship
Worship

Worship usually refers to acts of religion devotion typically directed to one or more deity. It is the informal term in English for what sociology of religion call cult —traditional beliefs and practices, the individual study of which is one of the chief concerns of theology....
 by means of choir service. If it be a cathedral chapter
Cathedral chapter

In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a body of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy in the bishop?s seat, to govern the diocese in his stead....
, however, its principal object is to assist the bishop
Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
 in the government of his diocese
Diocese

In many rites of the Roman Catholic Church and in Anglicanism, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop. It is also referred to as a bishopric or Episcopal Area or episcopal see, though strictly the term episcopal see refers to the domain of ecclesiastical authority officially held by the bi...
, and the choir service is only secondary. Members of chapters are called canons
Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest who is a member of certain bodies of the Christianity clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule .Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergyhouse or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct or close of a cathedral and ordering his life according to the orders or rules of the church....
.

Sources and references