Chapter (religion)

The name derives from the habit of convening monks or canons for the reading of a chapter of the Bible or a heading of the order's rule.

[2] The 6th-century St Benedict directed that his monks begin their daily assemblies with such readings,[1] and over time expressions such as "coming together for the chapter" (convenire ad capitulum) found their meaning transferred from the text to the meeting itself and then to the body gathering for it.

[1] In the event of an episcopal vacancy, cathedral chapters are sometimes charged with election of the bishop's replacement and with the government of the diocese.

[4] The same council approved of other local offices,[5] which might include precentors, chamberlains (camerarii), almoners (eleemosynarii), hospitalarii, portarii, primicerii, or custodes.

[8] A chapter of faults is a gathering for public correction of infractions against community rules and for self-criticism separate from standard confession.

The chapter house of the Cathedral of Toledo .
The chapter room of the Cathedral of Pamplona .
Dean William Dimmick and other canons of St Mary's Cathedral in Memphis , Tennessee , in 1960.
The chapter house at Durham Cathedral .
A group photo at the 2006 general chapter of the Premonstratensians .