Ab'bot, a prelate of high rank in the Roman Catholic Church, who governs a convent or monastery. The first abbots were laymen, but priestly abbots appeared in the Western Church in the seventeenth century and have continued to the present day. Their powers were at first limited, but as the abbeys grew in wealth the abbots grew in power, until they came to be ranked next to bishops as prelates of the Church and had the right to vote in church councils. Abbots are elected by the assembly of monks, and the election is confirmed by the pope or the bishop, who has direct control over the monastery. See ABBEY.