Glossary of the Catholic Church

This is a glossary of terms used within the Catholic Church.

Contents: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z— See also

A

• Abbot
• Ad limina visits - visit by diocesan bishop to the Holy See, usually every five years
• Altarage - the revenue reserved for the chaplain (altarist or altar-thane) in contradistinction to the income of the parish priest, it came to signify the fees received by a priest from the laity when discharging any function for them
• Apostolic administrator
• Apostolic nuncio – see: Nuncio (below)
• Apostolic prefect
• Apostolic succession
• Apostolic vicar
• Archbishop
• Auxiliary bishop

B

• Bishop - an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church
• Bishop emeritus (or Archbishop emeritus) - the title given to a retired bishop or archbishop
• Bishops' conference – see: Episcopal conference (below)
• Brother - a lay member of a Catholic religious institute

C

• Canon law
• Cardinal
• Catholicism - a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioural characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole.
• Catechism - an official exposition of Church teachings
• Chancery – see: Diocesan chancery (below)
• Clergy, Regular – see: Regular clergy (below)
• Clergy, Secular – see: Secular clergy (below)
• Coadjutor bishop
• Code of Canon Law
• Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches
• Communion - see: Eucharist (below) and Full communion (below)
• Communion rite
• Communion of Saints
• Confession – see: Sacrament of Penance (below)
• Confirmation
• Congregation, Sacred – see: Dicastery (below)
• Consecrated life
• Council, Pontifical – see: Dicastery (below)
• Counter-Reformation - the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War.
• Curia, Moderator of the - see: Moderator of the Curia (below)
• Curia (Roman Catholic Church)
• Curia, Roman - see: Roman Curia (below)

D

• Deacon
• Dean – see: Vicar forane (below)
• Diaconate – see: Deacon (above)
• Dicastery
• Diocesan bishop
• Diocesan chancery
• Diocesan curia – see: "Curia (Roman Catholic Church)" (above)
• Diocesan priest
• Discalceation

E

• East–West Schism - divided medieval Christianity into Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin) branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively
• Eastern Catholic Churches
• Eminence – see: His Eminence (below)
• Eparchy
• Episcopal conference
• Episcopal see
• Episcopal vicar
• Eucharist - a Christian sacrament or ordinance, generally considered to be a commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest and eventual crucifixion
• Exarch
• Excommunication - a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community
• Exorcism - the practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed

F

• Fall of Man - the transition of the first humans from a state of innocent obedience to God, to a state of guilty disobedience to God
• Family wage
• Father -
• Friar
• Full communion

G

H

• Hierarchy
• His Eminence
• Holy Communion - see: Eucharist (above)
• Holy See - the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome (who is commonly known as the Pope), and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church

I

• Incarnation
• Institute - see: Religious institute (below)

L

• Lapsed Catholic - a Catholic who has ceased practicing the Catholic faith. Such a person is said to have lapsed from the faith
• Latin Church
• Latin liturgical rites
• Lay communion - a term used to describe the status of a cleric who is in communion with the Church, but only with the standing of a lay person.
• Limbo - a speculative idea about the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the damned. Limbo is not an official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church or any other
• Liturgy - public worship
• Local ordinary

M

• Mass - the usual English-language name for the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church
• Mariology - the theology concerned with the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ
• Mediatrix - refers to the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a mediator in the salvation process
• Military ordinariate
• Monk
• Monsignor

N

• Novitiate
• Nuncio

O

• Order, Religious - see: Religious order (below)
• Ordinariate, Military – see: Military ordinariate (above)
• Ordinariate, Personal – see: Personal ordinariate (below)
• Ordinary – see: Local ordinary (above)

P

• Papal court
• Penance – see: Sacrament of Penance (below)
• Permanent deacon – see: Deacon (above)
• Personal ordinariate
• Personal prelature
• Pontifical council – see: Dicastery (above)
• Pope -
• Prefect apostolic – see: Apostolic prefect
• Prelate
• Prelature, Personal – see: Personal prelature (above)
• Prelature, Territorial – see: Territorial prelature (below)
• Priest -
• Priest, Diocesan – see: Diocesan priest (above)

R

• Reconciliation – see: Sacrament of Penance (below)
• Regular clergy
• Religious institute
• Religious order
• Right of Option - a way of obtaining a benefice or a title, by the choice of the new titulary himself
• Roman Catholic -
• Roman Curia

S

• Sacrament of Penance - (commonly called Confession, Reconciliation or Penance) is the method given by Christ to the Church by which individual men and women may be freed from sins committed after receiving Baptism
• Sacred congregation – see: Dicastery (above)
• Saints, Communion of – see: Communion of Saints (above)
• Secular clergy
• Sede vacante
• See, Episcopal - see: Episcopal see (above)
• Simple vow -
• Sister -
• Solemn vow -

T

• Territorial prelature
• Titular bishop
• Transitional deacon – see: Deacon (above)
• Transubstantiation
• Trinity

V

• Vacant see - see: Sede vacante (above)
• Vatican (disambiguation)
• Vicar apostolic – see: Apostolic vicar
• Vicar forane
• Vicar general
• Vow – see: Simple vow (above) or Solemn vow (above)

W

• Wage, Family – see: Family wage (above)

See also

• Catholic Encyclopedia