a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the centre, In early monachism, an aggregation of separate cells, under the control of a superior, the inmates meeting on the first and the last day of each week for a common meal in the refectory, and for common worship in the chapel, on other days dwelling apart from one another, every one in his cell, engaged in some light manual occupation, Roman Catholic Church A number of hermitages or cells in the same neighborhood occupied by anchorites who were under the same superior