Curia

views updated May 23 2018

Cu·ri·a / ˈkyoŏrēə/ the papal court at the Vatican, by which the Roman Catholic Church is governed. It comprises various Congregations, Tribunals, and other commissions and departments.DERIVATIVES: Cu·ri·al adj.

Curia

views updated Jun 08 2018

Curia the papal court at the Vatican, by which the Roman Catholic Church is governed. It comprises various Congregations, Tribunals, and other commissions and departments.

The word is recorded from the mid 19th century, and comes from Latin curia, denoting a division of an ancient Roman tribe, also (by extension) the senate of cities other than Rome; later the term came to denote a feudal or Roman Catholic court of justice, whence the current sense.

Curia

views updated May 23 2018

CURIA

[Latin, Court.] A judicial tribunal or court convened in the sovereign's palace to dispense justice. A court that exercised jurisdiction over civil matters, as distinguished from religious matters, which were determined by ecclesiastical courts, a system of courts in England that were held by authority of the sovereign and had jurisdiction over matters concerning the religion and ritual of the established church.

In England the tribunal of the king's justice was the curia regis, so named because the king originally presided over its proceedings.

curia

views updated May 17 2018

curia (Rom. antiq.) XVI; Papal Court XIX. — L. cūria division of the Roman people, its place of assembly, (hence) senate; of unkn. orig.
So curial XV. — F. — L.