Chapter (Latin capitulum) designates certain corporate ecclesiastical bodies in the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Nordic Lutheran churches. Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... In Christian theology, ecclesiology is a branch of study that deals with the doctrines pertaining to the Church itself as a community or organic entity, and with the understanding of what the church is —ie. ... The name Catholic Church can mean a visible organization that refers to itself as Catholic, or the invisible Christian Church, viz. ... The term Anglican (from Medieval Latin ecclesia anglicana, meaning the English Church) is used to describe the people, institutions and churches as well as the liturgical traditions and theological concepts developed by the established Church of England, the Anglican Communion and the Continuing Anglican Churches (a loosely affiliated group of... Lutheranism is a movement within Christianity that began with the theological insights of Martin Luther in the 16th century. ...

The word is said to be derived from the chapter of the rule book, which it was the custom to read in the assemblies of monks. By degrees the meeting itself was called the chapter and the place of meeting the chapter house. The term general chapter designates a monastic general assembly, either of all members in a monastery or of representatives from all monasteries of an order or congregation. A chapter is one of the main divisions of a piece of writing of relative length, such as a book, being comprised of multiple pages. ... Munichs city symbol celebrates its founding by Benedictine monks—and the origin of its name A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, the conditioning of mind and body in favor of the spirit. ... A chapter house is a building or room attached to a cathedral or collegiate church in which meetings are held. ...

From these conventual chapters or meetings of monks for the transaction of business connected with their monasteries or orders, the designation passed over to somewhat analogous assemblies of other ecclesiastics. Hence we speak of collegiate chapters and of cathedral chapters. In general a chapter may be defined as an association of clerics of a certain church forming a moral body and instituted by ecclesiastical authority for the purpose of promoting the divine worship by means of choir service. If it be a cathedral chapter, however, its principal object is to assist the bishop in the government of his diocese, and the choir service is only secondary. Members of chapters are called canons. Worship usually refers to specific acts of religious praise, honour, or devotion, typically directed to a supernatural being such as a god or goddess. ... Two bishops assist at the Exhumation of Saint Hubert, who was a bishop too, at the église Saint-Pierre in Liège. ... Pope Pius XI blesses Bishop Stephen Alencastre as fifth Apostolic Vicar of the Hawaiian Islands in a Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace window. ... A canon (from the Latin canonicus and Greek κανωνικωσ relating to a rule) is a priest who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to a rule (canon). ...

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This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. not fully exploited