prioracy en · NOUN
Etymology
From prior + -acy. First use appears c. 1895. See cite below.
Meanings
-
(dated, obsolete, uncountable) The office of a prior.
St. Hugh's immediate successor in the prioracy was Bovo, who at the Chartreuse had had a prophetic vision of him as a bishop.
1895, E. Margaret Thompson, A History of the Somerset Carthusians, page 71:... livestock and crop output between the beginning and end of Semeno's prioracy.
1984, Charles Julian Bishko, Spanish and Portuguese Monastic History, 600-1300, page 349:... that he may be able to get himself a prioracy or abbacy, where he can first introduce a numerous retinue of his relatives.
2023, Jill Mann, Nigel of Longchamp, Speculum Stultorum, page lvi:Whenever a prior of that place should die, another prior, who should be appointed in succession from Marmoutier (de majori Monasteri) by the abbot of that place to the dignity of that prioracy, should come and dwell there ...
1906, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series - Volume 37, page 130: