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ARCHDEACON (Lat. archidiaconus, Gr. &...

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 359 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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ARCHDEACON (Lat. archidiaconus, Gr. &oxt3tauovor)

ARCHDEACON (See also:
LAT
Lat. archidiaconus, Gr. &oxt3tauovor) , a high See also:

OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official of the See also:

Christian See also:

Church. The See also:

OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")

office of archdeacon is of See also:

GREAT

great antiquity. So See also:

early as the 4th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century it is mentioned as an established office, and it is probable that it was in existence in the 3rd. Originally the archdeacon was, as the name implies, the See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief of the deacons attached to the See also:

bishop's See also:

CATHEDRAL

cathedral, his See also:

DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

duty being, besides See also:

PREACHING (Fr. preecher, from Lat. praedicare, to proclaim)

preaching, to supervise the deacons and their See also:

WORK

work, i.e. more especially the care of the sick and the arrangement of the externals of divine See also:

WORSHIP (i.e. " worth-ship," O. Eng. weor8scipe)

worship. Even thus early their See also:

close relation to the bishop and their employment in matters of episcopal See also:

ADMINISTRATION (Lat. administrare, to serve)

administration gave them, though only in deacons' orders, great importance, which continually See also:

DEVELOPED

developed. In the See also:

East, in the 5th century, the archdeacons were already charged with the See also:

PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)

proof of the qualifications of candidates for ordination; they attended the bishops at ecclesiastical synods, and sometimes acted as their representatives; they shared in the administration of See also:

SEES

sees during a vacancy. In the See also:

West, in the 6th and 7th centuries, besides the See also:

ORIGINAL

original -functions of their office, See also:

arch-deacons had certain well-defined rights of visitation and super-See also:

VISION (from Lat. videre, to see), or SIGHT

vision, being responsible for the See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good See also:

order of the See also:

LOWER

lower See also:

clergy, the upkeep of ecclesiastical buildings and the safe-guarding of the church furniture—functions which involved a considerable disciplinary See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power. During the 8th and 9th centuries the office tended to become more and more exclusively purely administrative, the archdeacon by his visitations relieving the bishop of the minutiae of See also:

government and keeping him informed in detail of the See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of his See also:

DIOCESE (formed on Fr. diocese, in place of the Eng. form diocess—current until the 19th century—from Lat. dioecesis, med. Lat. variant diocesis, from Gr. Swucio•tc, " house-keeping," " administration," &miceas, " to keep house," " to govern ")

diocese. The archdeacon had thus become, on the one See also:

hand, the oculus episcopi, but on the other hand, armed as he was with See also:

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

powers of imposing See also:

PENANCE (Old Fr. penance, fr. Lat. poenitentia, penitence)

penance and, in See also:

case of stubborn disobedience, of excommunicating offenders, his power tended more and more to grow at the bishop's expense. This See also:

PROCESS

process received a great impulse from the erection in the 11th and 12th centuries of defined territorial jurisdictions for the archdeacons, who had hitherto been itinerant representatives of the central power of the diocese. The dioceses were now mapped out into several archdeaconries (archidiaconatus), which corresponded with the See also:

POLITICAL

political divisions of the countries; and these defined See also:

SPHERES, MUSIC OF THE

spheres, in accordance with the prevailing feudal tendencies of the See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age, gradually came to be regarded as See also:

INDEPENDENT

independent centres of See also:

jurisdiction.' The bishops, now increasingly absorbed in See also:

SECULAR (Lat. saecularis, of or belonging to an age or generation, saeculum)

secular affairs, were content with a somewhat theoretical power of See also:

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

control, while the archdeacons rigorously asserted an independent position which implied great power and possibilities of See also:

WEALTH

wealth.

The See also:

CUSTOM (from O. Fr. costume, costume or coustume; Low Lat. costuma, a shortened form of consuetudo)

custom, moreover, had grown up of bestowing the coveted office of archdeacon on the provosts, deans and canons of the cathedral churches, and the archdeacons were thus involved in the struggle of the chapters against the episcopal authority. By the 12th century the archdeacon had become practically independent of the bishop, whose consent was only required in certain specified cases. The power of the archdeacon reached its See also:

ZENITH (from the Arabic)

zenith at the outset of the 13th century. See also:

Innocent III. describes him as judex ordinarius, and he possesses i'n his own right the powers of visitation, of holding courts and imposing penalties, of deciding in matrimonial causes and cases of disputed jurisdiction, of testing candidates for orders, of inducting into benefices. He has the right to certain procurations, and to appoint and depose archpriests and rural deans. And these powers he may exercise through delegated officiates. His jurisdiction has become, in fact, not subordinate to, but co-See also:

ORDINATE

ordinate with that of the bishop. Yet, so far as orders were concerned, he remained a See also:

DEACON (Gr. S&& ovos, minister, servant)

deacon; and if archdeacons were often priests, this was because priests who were members of chapters were appointed to the office. From the 13th century onward a reaction set in. The power of the archdeacons rested upon custom and See also:

PRESCRIPTION

prescription, not upon the See also:

CANON

canon See also:

law; and though the bishops could not break, they could circumvent it. This they did by appointing new officials to exercise in their name the rights still reserved to them, or to which they laid claim. These were the officiates: the officiates foranei, whose jurisdiction was parallel with that of the arfhdeacons, and the officiates principales and vicars-See also:

general, who presided over the courts of See also:

APPEAL

appeal.

The clergy having thus another authority, and one moreover more canonical, to appeal to, the power of the archdeacons gradually declined; and, so far as the See also:

ROMAN

Roman See also:

CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, universal)

Catholic Church is concerned, it received its See also:

DEATH

death-See also:

BLOW, JOHN (1648-1708)

blow from the See also:

COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, from cum, together, and the root cal, to call)

council of See also:

Trent (1564), which withdrew all matrimonial and criminal causes from the competence of the archdeacons, forbade them to pronounce excommunications, and allowed them only to hold visitations in connexion with those of the bishop and with his consent. These decrees were not, indeed, at once universally enforced; but the See also:

CONVULSIONS

convulsions of the Revolutionary See also:

EPOCH (Gr. E7roxij, holding in suspense, a pause, from E1rxav, to hold up, to stop)

epoch and the religious reorganization that followed completed the work. In the Roman Church to-See also:

day the office of archdeacon is merely titular, his See also:

SOLE (Solea)

sole See also:

FUNCTION

function being to See also:

PRESENT

present the candidates for ordination to the bishop. The See also:

TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title, indeed, hardly exists See also:

SAVE, or SAVA (Ger. Sau; Hungarian Szdva; Lat. Savus)

save in See also:

Italy, where the archdeacon is no more than a dignified member of a See also:

CHAPTER (a shortened form of chapiter, a word still used in architecture for a capital; derived from O. Fr. chapitre, Lat. capitellum, diminutive of caput, head)

chapter, who takes See also:

RANK (O.Fr. rant or rent, mod. rang, generally connected with the O.E. and O.H.G. bring, a ring)

rank after the bishop. The See also:

ancient functions of the archdeacon are exercised by the See also:

VICAR (Lat. vicarius, substitute)

vicar-general. In the Lutheran church the title Archidiakonus is given in some places to the See also:

SENIOR, NASSAU WILLIAM (1790-1864)

senior assistant pastor of a church. ' Archdeaconries were, indeed, sometimes treated as See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary fiefs and were held as such by laymen. Thus Ordericus Vitalis says that (See also:

Fulk) granted to the monks the archdeaconry which he and his predecessors held in See also:

fee of the See also:

ARCHBISHOP (Lat. archiepiscopus, from Gr. apxceatorcoros)

archbishop of See also:

ROUEN

Rouen " (Hist. Eccl. iii. 12). In the Church of See also:

England, on the other hand, the office of archdeacon, which was first introduced at the See also:

Norman See also:

CONQUEST

conquest, survives, with many of its ancient duties and prerogatives. Since 1836 there have been at least two archdeaconries in each diocese, and in some dioceses there are four archdeacons.

The archdeacons are appointed by their respective bishops, and they are, by an See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act of 1840, required to have been six full years in See also:

PRIEST (Ger. Priester, Fr. pretre)

priest's orders. The functions of the archdeacon are in the present day See also:

ANCILLARY (from the Lat. ancilla, a handmaid)

ancillary in a general way to those of the bishop of the diocese. It is his especial duty to inspect the churches within his archdeaconry, to see that the fabrics are kept in repair, and to hold See also:

ANNUAL

annual visitations of the clergy and church-wardens of each See also:

PARISH (Gr. irapouda, district, neighbourhood; 7r&poucos, one dwelling near or beside, from crap&, OtKOS, house; Lat. paroecur, Late Lat. parochia; cf. Fr. paroisse)

parish, for the purpose of ascertaining that the clergy are in See also:

RESIDENCE (Latin residere, to remain behind, to dwell, reside)

residence, of admitting the newly elected church-wardens into office, and of receiving the presentments of the outgoing churchwardens. It is his See also:

PRIVILEGE

privilege to present all candidates for ordination to the bishop of the diocese. It is his duty also to induct the clergy of his archdeaconry into the temporalities Of their benefices after they have been instituted into the spiritualities by the bishop or his vicar-general. Every archdeacon is entitled to appoint an official to preside over his archidiaconal See also:

court, from which there is an appeal to the See also:

CONSISTORY (Lat. consistorium, literally, a standing place, hence meeting place, waiting or audience chamber)

consistory court of the bishop. The archdeacons are ex officio members of the convocations of their respective provinces. It is the privilege of the archdeacon of See also:

Canterbury to induct the archbishop and all the bishops of the See also:

province of Canterbury into their respective bishoprics, and this he does in the case of a bishop under a See also:

MANDATE (Mandatum)

mandate from the archbishop of Canterbury, directing him to induct the bishop into the real, actual, and See also:

CORPORAL

corporal See also:

possession of the bishopric, and to install and to enthrone him; and in the case of the archbishop, under an analogous mandate from the See also:

dean and chapter of Canterbury, as being guardians of the spiritualities during the vacancy of the archiepiscopal see. In the colonies there are two or more archdeacons in each diocese, and their functions correspond to those of See also:

ENGLISH

English archdeacons. In the Episcopal church of See also:

AMERICA

America the office of archdeacon exists in only one or two dioceses. See See also:

HINSCHIUS, PAUL (1835–1898)

Hinschius, Kirchenrecht, ii., §§ 86, 87; See also:

Schroder, See also:

Die Entwicklung See also:

des Archdiakonats bis zum zr. Jahrhundert (See also:

MUNICH (Ger. Munchen)

Munich, 1890) ; Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexikon (See also:

FREIBURG

Freiburg-See also:

IM(K2+a2+h2—2 ah cos 0)

im-See also:

BREISGAU

Breisgau, 1882–1901) ; See also:

Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopddie (ed.

1896) ; See also:

PHILLIMORE, SIR ROBERT JOSEPH (1810-1885)

Phillimore, Ecclesiastical Law, See also:

PART

part ii. See also:

CHAP

chap. v. (See also:

LONDON

London, 1895). (W. A.

End of Article: ARCHDEACON (Lat. archidiaconus, Gr. &oxt3tauovor)

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