Coenobium

/siːˈnəʊ.bɪ.əm/ · noun

Meaning

A conventual or monastic community; also, a convent or monastery..

Definitions by Sense

1. A conventual or monastic community; also, a convent or monastery.
2. A fruit of a plant from either of the families Boraginaceae (the borages) or Lamiaceae which has small loculi or compartments, reminiscent of the cells in a convent or monastery.
3. A colony of algae which acts as a single organism; a coenobe.
4. A colony of unicellular organisms (such as protozoa) which acts as a single organism.

Example Sentences

[T]his profeſſion of a ſingle life vvas propagated in Egypt by Antony, and in Syria by Hilarion; and ſpred ſo faſt, that ſoon after the time of Julian the Apoſtate a third part of Egyptians vvere got into the deſarts of Egypt. They lived firſt ſingly in cells, then aſſociated into cœnobia or convents; and at length came into tovvns, and filled the Churches vvith Biſhops, Presbyters and Deacons.

Some carts are entirely filled with representatives of the Church, but these are jolly, portly fellows, who pay loyally, and hasten to secure the most delicate fare for the table of their different cœnobiums.

[A]fter I had passed thirty years living in a cœnobium, I rejoice that I have also spent twenty more, so that I can never be accused of sloth among those who tried it in a half-hearted way.

There were the cenobia, or monasteries proper, where the life was according to the lines laid down by St Basil; and there were the lauras, wherein a semi-eremitical life was followed, the monks living in separate huts within the enclosure.

Sometimes it [the church] is called Martyrium, when raised in honour of any Martyr; somes capella, (chapel,) … sometimes caenobium, at others sacrificium; sometimes sacellum; sometimes the House of Prayer; sometimes monastery; sometimes oratory.

The Encomiast refers to St. Bertin's and St. Omer's as monasteria (II, 21, I and II) and caenobia (ibid., 15). […] The words monasterium and caenobium are, however, both freely used in medieval Latin in the sense 'collegiate church'.

Psalmody refers to singing or reciting psalms; in the cenobium this was performed communally seven times a day.

It is no exaggeration to say that among these foundations, those of [Vincent of] Lérins and St. Victor of Marseilles were so outstanding that the Gallic monasticism of the 5ᵗʰ century has to be identified with the history of these two coenobiums, and only partly with that of the monastic settlement in the Jura.

Synonyms for coenobium

Antonyms for coenobium

Related Words

Word Forms

• coenobiums
• coenobia
• caenobium
• cenobium
• cœnobium

Usage Notes

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