Archpriest
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The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogous to a monsignor, vicar forane or dean in the Latin Church, but in the Eastern churches an archpriest wears an additional vestment and, typically, a pectoral cross, and becomes an archpriest via a liturgical ceremony.
In ancient times, the archdeacon was the head of the deacons of a diocese, as is still the case in the Eastern Orthodox Church, while the archpriest was the chief of the presbyterate of the diocese, i.e. of the priests as a body. The latter's duties included deputising for the bishop in spiritual matters when necessary.
By the time of the Council of Trent the office of archpriest was replaced by the office of vicar forane, also known in English as \"dean\". The first recorded use of this meaning of the title comes from St Charles Borromeo's reforms in his own diocese. Unlike vicars general and vicars episcopal, vicars forane are not prelates, which means they do not possess ordinary power. Their role is entirely supervisory, and they perform visitations for the bishop and report to the bishop or vicar general any problems in their territory.
In 1598, during the persecution of Catholics in England, an archpriest was appointed by the Holy See as head of the Catholic Church in England. The archpriest had authority over all of the secular clergy in the country.[1] The Archpriest Controversy was a dispute between Roman Catholics supporting and opposed to this structure. In 1623 the Apostolic Vicariate of England was established, headed by an apostolic vicar rather than an archpriest.
The title of archpriest has survived in Rome, in Malta and elsewhere, where it is now held by the rectors of the principal basilicas. However, the title is entirely honorary, reflecting the fact that these churches held archpriestly status in the past.
According to the specific historical tradition, many churches throughout the world, other than basilicas, are under the authority of a priest who bears the title of archpriest. However, the title is mostly honorary and today, such an archpriest has no control over subordinate clergy other than that of a parish priest over junior clergy assigned to assist him in meeting pastoral needs.
In the Latin Catholic Church, it was traditional in some localities for a priest to be assisted at his First Mass by another priest termed for the occasion the archpriest, who functioned as the deacon otherwise does. This was not a permanent title but referred only to the particular occasion.
In the Church of England there is at least one archpriest, the Archpriest of Haccombe. The title is a survival of local practice of Latin Catholic Church prior to the Reformation. It was first employed in AD 1315 and has been held ever since. It was confirmed by an order in council on 1 April 1913 under King George V.[2] The title reflects the fact that the archpriest has the right to sit beside the bishop and acknowledges no authority below that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, although today it is more appropriate to go through the usual channels of the church's hierarchy. Haccombe is a village in Devon, near Newton Abbot, where the parish is combined with that of Stoke-in-Teignhead with Combe-in-Teignhead. There is an hereditary patron for the Church of St Blaise, Haccombe. The modern office most closely resembling that of archpriest is the role of rural dean (rural dioceses) or area dean (urban dioceses). Like the archpriest of old, these officers have supervisory duties, but not ordinary jurisdiction, and are entitled to carry out visitations of subordinate parishes when so commissioned. With this in mind, although the Archpriest of Haccombe holds a unique role in the Church of England, it is considered analogous with certain incumbencies which bear the title \"Dean\" regardless of whether or not their incumbent is the actual rural or area dean. One example of this historical oddity is the office of Dean of Bocking in Essex.[citation needed] The current Archpriest of St Blaise, Haccombe is the current incumbent, the Reverend Annie Church, the first female priest to hold this office in Haccombe.
Just as among the deacons of the bishop's church one stood out as the special assistant and representative of the bishop, and, as archdeacon, acquired a jurisdiction of his own, so do we find since the fourth century in numerous dioceses an archpriest, or head of the college of presbyters, who aided and represented the bishop in the discharge of his liturgical and religious duties. As a rule, and especially in Rome, whence the custom spread, the oldest of the presbyters was invested with this rank; in the Greek Church, on the other hand, his appointment often lay in the hands of the bishop. By the seventeenth canon of the Fourth Synod of Carthage, the archpriest was also associated with the bishop as his representative in the care of the poor. After the complete Christianization of the Roman and Germanic peoples, we meet in the West with another kind of archpriest. The spiritual needs of the population scattered through the rural districts multiplied so rapidly that it became impossible for the clergy of the episcopal city to attend to all. Consequently, we soon find the larger rural centres equipped with their own churches, a permanent clergy, and their own sources of support. The inhabitants of the neighbouring hamlets, and of the widely scattered manors were, from the beginning, subject to these larger, or mother-churches (ecclesia rusticana, dioecesana, parochia), in so far as it was there that they heard Mass and received the sacraments. The entire parish was known as christianitas or plebs.
The archpriest was the first in rank among priests attached to such mother-churches. He was at the head of the local clergy, had charge of Divine worship, and supervised the duties of the ecclesiastical ministry. He was, however, subject to the archdeacon; several such large rural communities, or parishes, constituted an archidiaconate. The private chapels, which gradually multiplied on the estates of the great landowners and to which priests were attached, with the bishop's permission, were not exempt from the jurisdiction of the archpriest. All parishioners were obliged to be present at the principal Mass on Sunday in the mother-church (ecclesia baptismalis, titulus major). All baptisms took place there and burial services were held nowhere else. In the lesser churches of the territory (tituli minores) there were permitted only the daily Mass, the usual devotions, and instruction in the elements of Christian faith. The archpriest of the mother-church was the head of all the clergy in his parish, and was responsible for the proper execution of their ecclesiastical duties and for their manner of life. Gradually, it came about, especially in the Carlovingian period, that many tituli minores became independent parish churches, where all religious ceremonies, including Sunday Mass and baptism, were performed; the number of parishes was thus notably increased. It came about also that when a diocese was very extensive, the entire diocese was subdivided into a number of districts (called archipresbyterates, decanates, or christianitates), over each of which a priest was placed as dean or archpriest. The use of the term archipresbyterate for these diocesan districts proves that the former extensive parishes made a basis for this division, though the boundary lines of the new districts did not necessarily correspond with the limits of the original parishes. In many cases entirely new ecclesiastical districts were created, and sometimes several former archipresbyterates were united. Sometimes, also, attention was paid to the civil subdivisions of the territory in question. The entire clergy of such a district constituted the rural chapter, at the head of which was the archpriest or rural dean. It was his duty, as representative to the bishop, to supervise the entire religious and ecclesiastical life of the entire territory. He enforced the regulations of the bishop and the decrees of the diocesan synods, and watched over their observance; presented to the bishop for ordination all candidates for ecclesiastical office; adjusted minor differences among the clergy, and made known to the archdeacon any grosser misdeeds of the clergy or laity in order that the suitable penance might be imposed upon the offender. It was customary in the Carlovingian period that on the first of every month the archpriest and clergy of his deanery should meet in common in order to discuss matters of importance. At a later date such meetings were called only once or twice a year. The rural chapter acquired in time the right of presentation to the deanery; it also elected a camerarius for the administration of certain common funds, and a diffinator, or assistant to the dean. The union of such archipresbyterates formed an archidiaconate, whose deans were subject to the archdeacon.
In the course of time, the office of dean or archpriest underwent many changes. This development was not the same in every country, and to this fact are traceable many local differences. The Council of Trent was content with the establishment of regulations concerning the visitations of parishes by the deans (Sess. XXIV, cap. 3, De reform.). St. Charles Borromeo abolished the office of dean in his diocese and established in its place that of rural vicar, or vicar forane (vicarii foranei), an office at all times revocable. In France, and in those neighbouring territories affected by the ecclesiastical reorganization that followed the French Revolution, each of the new dioceses was divided into deaneries whose limits was calculated to correspond with the civil subdivisions. In each district the parish priest of the principal church was u