Servite, n. and a.
(ˈsɜːvaɪt)
[ad. med.L. Servītæ pl., f. L. serv-us servant (in Servi Beatæ Mariæ, the formal name of the order): see -ite1.]
A. n. A friar or nun of the order of ‘Servants of Blessed Mary’, founded in 1233.
| a 1550 Image Ipocr. iv. 180 in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 441/1 Servi and Servytes, And sondry Jacobites. 1607 Sir H. Wotton Let. 13 Sept. Lett. (1907) I. 399 A very true picture..of Maestro Paolo the Servite. 1768 Boswell Corsica iii. (ed. 2) 175 There are two colleges of Jesuits, two convents of Dominicans, five of Servites. 1857 F. W. Faber Foot of the Cross Pref., It is now twelve years since the Author became a tertiary of the ancient order of the Servites. 1884 Addis & Arnold Cath. Dict. (1897) 840/1 The habit finally adopted by the Servites was black, with a leather girdle, a scapulary, and a cope. |
B. adj. Of or pertaining to this order.
| 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 88 Poggibonzo of Tuscany, who was a Servite monk in the convent. 1862 Howells Venet. Life xv. (1866) 208 The old Servite Convent..associated with the great name of Paolo Sarpi. 1884 Addis & Arnold Cath. Dict. (1897) 840/1 In England there is a flourishing Servite community established in the Fulham Road, London,..also three convents of Servite nuns. |