A particular system of faith and worship.

spec. A member of a religious order having temporal possessions or endowments; an endowed clergyman or ecclesiastic. Now historical.

Christian Church. A member of a religious order observing a rule (rule, n.1 1); a member of the regular clergy. Cf. sense A. 1a.

= possessioner, n. 2. Obsolete. rare.

In the formal designation of certain monastic orders: e.g. Eremites (Hermits) of St. Augustine, a branch of the Augustinian Friars.