A Consistory

1. A place of standing or staying together; hence, any solemn assembly or council.
2. The spiritual court of a diocesan bishop held before his chancellor or commissioner in his cathedral church or elsewhere.(Can we find and add a quotation of Hook to this entry?)
3. An assembly of prelates; a session of the college of cardinals at Rome.
4. A church tribunal or governing body, especially of elders in a Reformed church.
5. (obsolete) A civil court of justice