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obedience
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Obedience \O*be"di*ence\, n. [F. ob['e]dience, L. obedientia, oboedientia. See Obedient, and cf. Obeisance.] 1. The act of obeying, or the state of being obedient; compliance with that which is required by authority; subjection to rightful restraint or control. [1913 Webster] Government must compel the obedience of individuals. --Ames. [1913 Webster] 2. Words or actions denoting submission to authority; dutifulness. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 3. (Eccl.) (a) A following; a body of adherents; as, the Roman Catholic obedience, or the whole body of persons who submit to the authority of the pope. (b) A cell (or offshoot of a larger monastery) governed by a prior. (c) One of the three monastic vows. --Shipley. (d) The written precept of a superior in a religious order or congregation to a subject. [1913 Webster] Canonical obedience. See under Canonical. Passive obedience. See under Passive. [1913 Webster] .
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Priory \Pri"o*ry\, n.; pl. Priories. [Cf. LL. prioria. See Prior, n.] A religious house presided over by a prior or prioress; -- sometimes an offshoot of, an subordinate to, an abbey, and called also cell, and obedience. See Cell, 2. [1913 Webster] Note: Of such houses there were two sorts: one where the prior was chosen by the inmates, and governed as independently as an abbot in an abbey; the other where the priory was subordinate to an abbey, and the prior was placed or displaced at the will of the abbot. [1913 Webster] Alien priory, a small religious house dependent on a large monastery in some other country. [1913 Webster] Syn: See Cloister. [1913 Webster]
