CHANTRY (Fr. chanterie, from chanter, to sing; Med.

See also:

• LAT

Lat. cantuaria)  , a small chapel built out from a church, endowed in pre-Ref ormation times for the express purpose of maintaining priests for the chanting of masses for the soul of the founder or of some one named by him . It generally contained the tomb of the founder, and, as the officiator or mass-priest was often unconnected with the parochial clergy, had an entrance from the outside . The word passed through graduations of meaning . Its first sense was singing or chanting . Then it meant the endowment funds, next the priests, and then the church or chapel itself .