a. and sb. [ad. med.L. conventuāl-is, f. convent-us CONVENT: in F. conventuel 13th c.]
1. Of or belonging to a religious convent.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xiv. 10. In Saynct Andrewys Cathedrale Kyrk the Conwentuale Chanownys togyddyr gaddryd all.
c. 1475. Partenay, 3412. The Abbot And monkes conuentuall … scorched and brend were to Askes small.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 297. The Priorie at Leedes was a conventuall house of regular Chanons.
1659. B. Harris, Parival’s Iron Age, 57. Some Religious or Conventuall men dwelling in the town.
1820. Scott, Monast., vi. He turned with conventual reverence to the Lord Abbot.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., I. II. xii. 277. Neither monk nor nun ventured to go abroad in the conventual garb.
b. Conventual church, prior, priory: see quots.
1533–4. Act 25 Hen. VIII., c. 21 § 25. Conuentuall churches, parochiall churches, chappels.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 3/2. Abbasies, priories conventuall, and other benefices elective.
1603. in Stow, Surv. (1842), 181/2. There were in this city … thirteen great conventual churches, besides the lesser sort called parish churches, to the number of one hundred and twenty-six.
1726. Ayliffe, Parerg., 6. Conventual Priors that have the chief ruling Power over a Monastery, and wherein no Abbot or other Person is of greater Dignity than they themselves are. Ibid., 167. A Conventual Church is that which is appropriated to some Religious House.
1852. Miss Yonge, Cameos (1877), IV. xiv. 152. To be daily said in all churches instead of in only the conventual ones.
c. Belonging to the Franciscan order of the Conventuals: see B. 2.
1706. in Dupin’s Eccl. Hist. 16th C., II. IV. xi. 449. The Franciscans were divided into Conventual Friars, and Friars of the Strict Observance.
1873. Dixon, Two Queens, IV. xx. i. 63. The Franciscan orders … observant or conventual.
d. transf. Characteristic of a convent.
1870. Lowell, Among my Bks., Ser. I. (1873), 153. [He] compels his clipped fancy to the conventual discipline of prose.
1882. Stevenson, New Arab. Nts. (1884), 144. The garden was conventual, the house had the air of a prison.
† 2. Pertaining to an assembly. Obs. rare–1.
1569. J. Sanford, trans. Agrippa’s Van. Artes, 107. Or els Conventual, or belonging to companie.
† 3. (See quot.) Obs. (Cf. CONVENTIONARY.)
1610. W. Folkingham, Art of Survey, IV. i. 80. These Reuenewes may be said to be Conuentuall and Incident. Conuentuall Reuenewes comprize al Rents both in Esse and in Posse.
B. sb.
1. A member or inmate of a convent.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. viii. § 53. In this time of Interdict, both Conuentuals and Seculars might in their Churches celebrate diuine seruice.
1762. trans. Busching’s Syst. Geog., VI. 343. It [a Lutheran convent] consists of an abbot, a prior, and four conventuals.
1849. Sidonia, II. 132. Sidonia von Bork, Conventual (and not Prioress) of the noble convent of Marienfliess.
1889. Jessopp, Coming of Friars, iii. 132. That large class of conventuals which comprehended the mendicant order.
2. A member of that branch of the order of Franciscan friars who live in large convents and follow a mitigated rule; the other branch being the Observants.
1533. More, Apol., xv. Wks. 875/2. And some question hath arisen in the order of saint Francise, betwene the obseruauntes and ye conuentualles.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xx. (1632), 995. Sixe religious Houses for Franciscan Friers, three of them for Obseruants, and the other three for Conuentuals.
1868. J. H. Blunt. Ref. Ch. Eng., I. 9. An Observant Friar, that is a strict Franciscan, who observed his rule, as distinguished from the Conventuals, who lived in great luxury and managed to secure great estates.
