Definition of "curia" [cu•ri•a]

• One of the ten primitive subdivisions of a tribe in early Rome, consisting of ten gentes. (noun)
• The assembly place of such a subdivision. (noun)
• The Roman senate or any of the various buildings in which it met in republican Rome. (noun)
• The place of assembly of high councils in various Italian cities under Roman administration. (noun)
• The ensemble of central administrative and governmental services in imperial Rome. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And as such the Jews were shy of conversing with him, and expected Christ should be so; but he shows that, being a true penitent, he is become rectus in curia -- upright in court, as good a son of Abraham as if he had never been an publican, which therefore ought not to be mentioned against him."
• "He not only has his sins pardoned, and is furnished with grace sufficient for himself, but, as rectus in curia -- acquitted in court, he is restored to his former honours and trusts."
• "They are recti in curia -- right in court; no sin that ever they have been guilty of shall come against them, to condemn them."