conventicle
/kənˈvɛntɪk(ə)l
/noun historical
A secret or unlawful religious meeting, typically of nonconformists.Despite the attempts to prevent unlawful conventicles, the Baptists, Quakers, and other radicals were not to be uprooted....
- The Orthodox among us were at least as imaginative as any of the rest, though, of course, always insisting upon strict obedience to Jewish law in our conventicles and retreats.
- Gerhard, a quiet dreamy boy, found himself attracted to the conventicles, but although he heard numerous gospel sermons, his mind remained confused and his heart untouched.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the general sense 'assembly, meeting', particularly a clandestine or illegal one): from Latin conventiculum '(place of) assembly', diminutive of conventus 'assembly, company', from the verb convenire (see convene).