Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

VICAR (Lat. vicarius, substitute)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 18 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

VICAR (See also:Lat. vicarius, substitute) ,a See also:title,more especially ecclesiastical, describing various officials acting in some See also:special way for a See also:superior. See also:Cicero uses the name vicarius to describe an under-slave kept by another as See also:part of his private See also:property. The vicarius was an important See also:official in the reorganized See also:empire of See also:Diocletian. It remained as a title of See also:secular officials in the See also:middle ages, being applied to persons appointed by the See also:Roman See also:emperor to See also:judge cases in distant parts of the empire,' or to wield See also:power in certain districts, or, in the See also:absence of the emperor, over the whole empire. The prefects of the See also:city at See also:Rome were called Vicarai Romae. In the See also:early middle ages the See also:term was applied to representatives of a See also:count administering See also:justice for him in the See also:country or small towns and dealing with unimportant cases, levying taxes, &c. Monasteries and religious houses often employed a vicar to See also:answer to their feudal lords for those of their lands which did not pass into See also:mortmain. The title of " vicar of Jesus See also:Christ," See also:borne by the popes, was introduced as their special designation during the 8th See also:century, in See also:place of the older See also:style of " vicar of St See also:Peter " (or vicarius principis apostolorum). In the early See also:Church other bishops commonly described themselves as vicars of Christ (Du Cange gives an example as See also:late as the 9th century from the capitularies of See also:Charles the Bald); but there is no See also:proof in their See also:case, or indeed in that of " vicar of St Peter " given to the popes, that it was part of their formal style. The See also:assumption of the style " vicar of Christ " by the popes coincided with a tendency on the part of the Roman See also:chancery to insist on placing the pontiff's name before that of emperors and See also:kings and to refuse to other bishops the right to address him as " See also:brother " (Mas Latrie, s." Sabinien," p. 1047). It was not till the 13th century that the alternative style " vicar of St Peter " was definitively forbidden, this See also:prohibition thus coinciding with the extreme claims of the See also:pope to See also:rule the See also:world as the immediate " vicar of See also:God " (see See also:INNOCENT III.).

All bishops were looked upon as in some sort vicars of the pope, but the title vicarius sedis apostolicae came especially to be applied as an alternative to legatus sedis apostolicae to describe papal legates to whom in certain places the pope delegated a portion of his authority. Pope See also:

Benedict XIV. tells us in his See also:treatise De synodo dioecesana that the pope often names vicars-apostolic for the See also:government of a particular See also:diocese because the episcopal see is vacant or, being filled, the titular See also:bishop cannot fulfil his functions. The Roman See also:Catholic Church in See also:England was governed by vicars-apostolic from 1685 until 185o, when Pope See also:Pius IX. re-established the See also:hierarchy. Vicars-apostolic at the See also:present See also:day are nearly always titular bishops taking their titles from places not acknowledging See also:allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church. The title is generally given by the pope to bishops sent on Eastern See also:missions. A neighbouring bishop was sometimes appointed by the pope vicar of a church which happened to be without a pastor. A special vicar was appointed by the pope to superintend the spiritual affairs of Rome and its suburbs, to visit its churches, monasteries, &c., and to correct abuses. It became early a See also:custom for the prebendaries and canons of a See also:cathedral to employ " See also:priest-vicars " or " vicars-choral " as their substitutes when it was their turn as hebdomedary to sing High See also:Mass and conduct divine See also:office. In the See also:English Church these priest-vicars remain in the cathedrals of the old See also:foundations as beneficed See also:clergy on the See also:foundation; in the cathedrals of the new foundation they are paid by the chapters. " See also:Lay vicars " also were and are employed to sing those parts of the office which can be sung by laymen. In the early Church the assistant bishops (chorepiscopi) were sometimes described as vicarii episcoporum. The employment of such vicars was by no means See also:general in the early Church, but towards the 13th century it became very general for a bishop to employ a vicar-general, often to curb the growing authority of the archdeacons.

In the middle ages there was not a very cleardistinction See also:

drawn between the vicar and the official of the bishop. When the voluntary and contentious See also:jurisdiction came to be distinguished, the 'former See also:fell generally to the vicars, the latter to the officials. In the style of the Roman chancery, official documents are addressed to the bishops or their vicars for dioceses beyond the See also:Alps, but for See also:French dioceses to the bishops or their officials. The institution of vicars-general to help the bishops is now general in the Catholic Church, but it is not certain that a bishop is obliged to have such an official. He may have two. Such a vicar possesses an See also:ordinary and not a delegated jurisdiction, which he exercises like the bishop. He cannot, however, exercise functions which concern the episcopal See also:order, or confer benefices without See also:express and particular See also:commission. In the See also:Anglican Church a vicar-general is employed by the See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury and some other bishops to assist in such matters as ecclesiastical visitations. In the Roman Catholic Church bishops sometimes appoint lesser vicars to exercise a more limited authority over a limited See also:district. They are called " vicars-forane " or rural deans. They are entrusted especially with the surveillance of the See also:parish priests and other priests of their districts, and with matters of ecclesiastical discipline. They are charged especially with the care of sick priests and in case of See also:death with the celebration of their funerals and the See also:charge of their vacant parishes.

In See also:

canon See also:law priests doing See also:work in place of the parish priest are called vicars. Thus in See also:France the cure or See also:head priest in a parish church is assisted by several vicaires. Formerly, and especially in England, many churches were appropriated to monasteries or colleges of canons, whose custom it was to appoint one of their own See also:body to perform divine service in such churches, but in the 13th century such corporations were obliged to appoint permanent paid vicars who were called perpetual vicars. Hence in England the distinction between rectors, who draw both the greater and lesser See also:tithes, and vicars, who are attached to parishes of which the See also:great tithes, formerly held by monasteries, are now drawn by lay rectors. (See See also:APPROPRIATION.) See Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et infiniae Latinitatis, ed. L. See also:Favre (See also:Niort, 1883, &c.) ; See also:Migne, Encyclopedie theologique, See also:series i. vol. to (See also:Droit Canon) ; See also:Comte de Mas Latrie, Tresor de chronologie (See also:Paris, 1889); and See also:Sir R. J. See also:Phillimore, Ecclesiastical Law of the Church of England (2nd ed. 1895). (E.

End of Article: VICAR (Lat. vicarius, substitute)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
VICAIRE, LOUIS GABRIEL CHARLES (1848-1900) 		[next]
VICE

Site © 2006 - Net Industries