priory, conventual
priory, conventual
A monastery having a prior for superior. A conventual priory is an autonomous house having no abbot ; a simple or obedientiary priory is a dependency of an abbey. In England, monasteries attached to cathedral churches were termed cathedral priories. Only one priory exists today as a diocesan organization, Ciudad Real, in Spain, founded in 1875, and ruled by a prior, who is always titular Bishop of Dora.