Wiktionary
n. (plural of custodian English)
Wikipedia
The Custodians is terminology in the Bahá'í Faith, which refers to nine Hands of the Cause assigned specifically to work at the Bahá'í World Centre top assist Shoghi Effendi as head of the religion, referred to as Guardian. After his death they were chosen by secret ballot, with all living Hands of the Cause voting.
The position of the Custodians was referred to in the Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá:
"The Hands of the Cause of God must elect from their own number nine persons that shall at all times be occupied in the important services in the work of the Guardian of the Cause of God. The election of these nine must be carried either unanimously or by majority from the company of the Hands of the Cause of God and these, whether unanimously or by a majority vote, must give their assent to the choice of the one whom the Guardian of the Cause of God hath chosen as his successor." (`Abdu'l-Bahá, The Will And Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 12)The Hands of the Cause are also referred to by Shoghi Effendi as the "Chief Stewards of Bahá'u'lláh's embryonic World Commonwealth". (Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahá'í World - 1950-1957, p. 127)
Usage examples of "custodians".
Santiago, calves were cut and branded in the hour before dawn so that the men could catch the morning bus to Los Alamos, where they worked as custodians and furnace stokers.
The priests in Memphis are the custodians of the Egyptian treasury, which is located there.
We had been custodians of wills when all the Vestals were daughters of the King, but under Aemilia we expanded the work we did, and commenced to archive.
But it is all less keenly personal, less intimate than the simple garden-house, or else, with the great troop of people going through it, and the custodians lecturing in various voices and languages to the attendant groups, the Marches had it less to themselves, and so imagined him less in it.