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CANONESS (Fr. chanoinesse, Ger. Kanon...

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 192 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CANONESS (Fr. chanoinesse, Ger. Kanonissin, See also:Lat. canonica or canonica See also:virgo) , a See also:female See also:beneficiary of a religious See also:college. In the 8th See also:century chapters of canons were instituted in the Frankish See also:empire, and in See also:imitation of these certain See also:women took See also:common vows of obedience and chastity, though not of poverty. Like nuns they had common table and See also:dormitory, and recited the See also:breviary, but generally the See also:rule was not so strict as in the See also:case of nuns. The canonesses often taught girls, and were also employed in embroidering ecclesiastical See also:vestments and transcribing liturgical books. A distinction was See also:drawn between See also:regular and See also:secular canonesses, the latter being of See also:noble See also:family and not practising, any austerity. Some of their abbesses were notable feudal princesses. In See also:Germany several See also:foundations of this See also:kind (e.g. See also:Gandersheim, See also:Herford and Quedlinburg), which were practically secular institutions before the See also:Reformation, adopted the See also:Protestant faith, and still exist, requiring of their members the See also:simple conditions of See also:celibacy and obedience to their See also:superior during membership. These institutions (Stiller) are now practically almshouses for the unmarried daughters of noble families. In some cases the right of presentation belongs to the See also:head of the family, sometimes See also:admission is gained by See also:purchase; but in See also:modern times a certain number of prebends have been created for the daughters of deserving officials. The organization of the Stift is collegiate, the head bearing the See also:ancient titles of See also:abbess, prioress ^r provostess (Probstin), and the canonesses (Stiftsdamen) meet periodically in Konvent for the discussion of the affairs of the community.

The ladies are not See also:

bound to See also:residence. In many of these See also:Stifter See also:quaint pre-Reformation customs and ceremonies still survive; thus, at the See also:convent of St See also:John the Baptist at See also:Schleswig, on the See also:day of the See also:patron See also:saint, the See also:room in which the Konvent is held is draped in See also:black and a realistic See also:life-See also:size See also:wax head of St John on a charger is placed in the centre of the table See also:round which the canonesses sit.

End of Article: CANONESS (Fr. chanoinesse, Ger. Kanonissin, Lat. canonica or canonica virgo)

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