Archdeacon
ARCHDEACON
A priest invested with authority or jurisdiction over the clergy and laity, next to the bishop, either through the whole diocese, or only a part of it. There are sixty in England, who visit every two years in three, when they inquire into the reparations and moveables belonging to churches; reform abuses; suspend; excommunicate; in some places prove wills; and induct all clerks into benefices within their respective jurisdictions.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
archdeacon
(Greek: archos, chief; diakonos, servant)
Formerly an important official who, in virtue of jurisdiction delegated by his bishop , administered part of a diocese ; today his duties are performed by the vicar-general and vicars-forane (rural deans). In the Anglican Church the assistants of the bishops are still called archdeacons.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Archdeacon
(Lat. archidiaconos; Gr. archidaikonos).
The incumbent of an ecclesiastical office dating back to antiquity and up to the fifteenth century of great importance in diocesan administration, particularly in the West. The term does not appear before the fourth century, and is then first met with in the history of the Donatist schism, written about 370 by Optatus of Mileve (I, xvi, ed. Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat., XXVI, 18). However, as he here bestows the title on Caecilian, a deacon of Carthage early in the fourth century, it would appear that since that period there was an occasional use of the name. Towards the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century, the term begins to appear more frequently both among Latin and Greek authors. We also occasionally find other names used to indicate the office, e.g. ho tou chorou diakonon hegoumenos (Theodoret, Hist. Eccl., I, xxvi, in P.G., LXXXII, 981). The term soon acquired fixity, all the more rapidly as the archdiaconal office became more prominent and its duties were more sharply defined.
The beginnings of the archdiaconate are found in the first three centuries of the Christian era. The immediate predecessor of the archdeacon is the diaconus episcopi of primitive Christian times, the deacon whom the bishop selected from the diaconal college (see DEACON) for his personal service. He was made an assistant in the work of ecclesiastical administration, was charged with the care of the poor, and was supervisor of the other deacons in their administration of church property. He thus became the special procurator, or oeconomus of the Christian community, and was also entrusted with the surveillance of the subordinate clergy. In this early period the duties of the diaconus episcopi were not juridically defined, but were performed under the direction of the bishop and for the time specified by him. Beginning with the fourth century this specialized activity of the diaconus episcopi takes on gradually the character of a juridical ecclesiastical office. In the round of ecclesiastical administration certain duties appear attached by the law to the office of the archdeacon. Thus, in the period from the fourth to the eighth century the archdeacon is the official supervisor of the subordinate clergy, has disciplinary authority over them in all cases of wrong doing, and exercises a certain surveillance over their discharge of the duties assigned them. It was also within the archdeacon’s province to examine candidates for the priesthood; he had also the right of making visitation among the rural clergy. It was even his duty, in exceptional cases of episcopal neglect, to safeguard the interests of the Church; to his hands were entrusted the preservation of the Faith in its primitive purity, the custody of ecclesiastical discipline, and the prevention of damage to the property of the Church. The archdeacon was, moreover, the bishop’s chief confidant, his assistant, and when it was necessary, his representative in the exercise of the manifold duties of the episcopal office. This was especially the case in the administration of ecclesiastical property, the care of the sick, the visitation of prisoners, and the training of the clergy.
In the East there was no further development of the archdiaconate, but in the West a new stage was inaugurated with the eighth century. By virtue of his office the archdeacon became, next to the bishop, the regular organ of supervision and discipline in the diocese. In this respect he was assigned a proper and independent jurisdiction (jurisdictio propria) and even as late as the twelfth century there was a constant effort to increase the scope of this authority. The great amount of business to be transacted necessitated in large dioceses the appointment of several archdeacons. The first bishop to introduce this innovation was Heddo of Strasburg, who in 774 divided his diocese into seven archdiaconates (archidiaconatus rurales). His example was quickly followed throughout Western Christendom, except in Italy where the majority of the dioceses were so small as to need no such division of authority. Henceforth the archdiaconus magnus of the cathedral (usually the provost or praepositus of the chapter), whose duties chiefly concerned the city clergy, is offset by the archidiaconi rurales placed over the deans (archipresbyteri rurales). These archdeacons were generally priests, either canons of the cathedral or provosts of the principal (collegiate) churches in small towns. The authority of the archdeacons culminated in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. At that time they exercised within the province of their archdiaconates a quasi-episcopal jurisdiction. They made visitations, during which they were empowered to levy certain assessments on the clergy; they conducted courts of first instance, and had the right to punish clerics guilty of lapses; they could also hold synodal courts. But the archdeacon was not only as judge; he was also prominent in ecclesiastical administration. He saw that the archpriests performed their duties, gave canonical investiture to the holders of prebends, and authorized incorporation of the same; he supervised the administration of church revenues, and kept in repair the places of worship. He could also draw up the legal documents called for in the exercise of the duties of his office and the performance of the juridical acts that it entailed. It came about frequently that the archdeacons were not appointed by the bishop but were chosen by the cathedral chapter; sometimes they received their office from the king. After the twelfth century, on account of the vast extent of their duties, they were aided by various officials and vicars appointed by themselves. This great authority proved in time very burdensome to the clergy and brought with it too great a limitation of the episcopal authority. In the thirteenth century numerous synods began to restrict the jurisdiction of the archdeacons. They were forbidden to employ their own special officiales and were prohibited from exercising their authority when the bishop was present in their territory. They were also deprived of the right of freely visiting the parishes of their archdiaconate, of deciding important points of matrimonial causes, and of passing sentence on clerics guilty of grave crimes. Moreover, by the creation of the diocesan office of vicar-general, there was opened a court of higher resort than that of the archdeacon, and to it reverted the greater part of the business once transacted in the court of the archdeacon. When finally the Council of Trent (1553) provided that all matrimonial and criminal causes should be henceforth brought before the bishop (Sess. XIV, xx, De reform.); that the archdeacon should no longer have the power to excommunicate (Sess. XXV, iii, De ref.); that proceedings against ecclesiastics unfaithful to their vows of celibacy should no longer be carried on before the archdeacon (Sess. XXV, xiv, De ref.) and that archdeacons should make visitations only when authorized by the bishop, and then render to him an account of them (Sess. XXIV, iii, De ref.), the archdiaconate was completely bereft of its independent character. From this time the archidiaconatus rurales gradually disappeared from the places where they still existed. The archdiaconate of the cathedral, where the office was still retained, soon became practically an empty title; the chief duties of the incumbent were to assist the bishop in his pontifical duties and to vouch for the moral worthiness of candidates for ordination. Among Protestants, the Anglicans preserved, along with the primitive ecclesiastical organization, the office of archdeacon with its own special jurisdiction. In German Protestant parishes, with less congruity, the title of archdeacon was conferred on the first Unterpfarrer, or assistant pastor.
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Kress, Erlaueterung des Archidiaconatwesens (Helmstaedt, 1725); Neller, De Archidiaconis (Trier, 1771); Pertch, Von der Ursprung der Archidiakonen, Officiale und Vikare (Hildesheim, 1743); Spitz, De archidiaconatibus in Germania ac ecclesia Coloniensi (Bonne, 1749); Kranold, Das apostolische Alter der Archidiakonalwuerde (Wittenburg 1768); Grea, Essai historique sur les archidiacres in Biblioth. de l’Ecole des chartres (1851), III, 39 sqq., 215 sqq.; Thomassinus, Vetus et nova eccles. disciplina (London, 1706) I, 174 sqq.; Schroeder, Die Entwickelung des Archidiakonats bis zum 11, Jahrh. (Munich, 1890); Glasschroeder, Das Archidiakonat in der Diozese Speyer, in Archivalische Zeitshrift, N.F., X, 114 sqq.; Leder, Die Diakonen der Bischoefe und Presbyter, in Stutz, Kirchenrechtl. Abhandlungen (Stuttgart, 1905), nos. 23 ,24.
J.P. KIRSCH Transcribed by Tom Crossett
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Archdeacon
(chief of the deacons), an ecclesiastical officer whose duty originally consisted chiefly in superintending the temporal affairs of the church.
1. The office was one of great honor in the early church; but how it grew into such importance is matter of dispute. The antiquity of this office is held to be so high by many Roman Catholic writers that they derive its origin from the appointment of the seven deacons, and suppose that St. Stephen was the first archdeacon; but there is no authority to warrant this conclusion. Mention is also made of Laurentius, archdeacon of Rome, who suffered A.D. 260; but, although he was called archdeacon (according to Prudentius), he was no more than the principal man of the seven deacons who stood at the altar. Hic primus e septem viris qui stant ad aram proximi’ (Prudent. Hymnn. de St. Steph.). Jerome says that the archdeacon was chosen out of the deacons, and was the principal deacon in every church, just as the archpresbyter was the principal presbyter.’ But even in Jerome’s time the office of archdeacon had certainly grown to great importance (Hook, s.v.). It was usual for one of the deacons to stand by the bishop at the altar, while the other deacons discharged their duty in the assembly. This deacon was called primus, primicerius diaconumn, the first or chief deacon; and he was usually the bishop’s man of business. Jerome speaks of the archdeacon as necessary to ecclesiastical order in his epistle ad Rusticum; and Optatus, bishop of Milevi, says that it was the rebuke of the archdeacon Cecilianus to Lucilla which caused eventually the Donatist schism. It is probable that, at first, the deacon senior both in years and office was elevated to the rank of archdeacon; but as the office increased in importance, it became necessary to elect the most able and proper person to discharge the duties. Athanasius was made archdeacon while he was yet a young man. This mode of election to office did not, however, prevail universally; for in some places the choice rested solely with the bishop; and when the relation of bishop and archdeacon became very intimate, and the latter was of special importance to his superior in the discharge of his episcopal functions, it was natural that the bishop should have considerable influence in his appointment. The powers of the archdeacons were extensive and influential. They had charge of the instruction and education of the younger clerks, were overseers over the deacons, superintended the support of the poor, and assisted the bishops in matters of administration and jurisdiction. Without his certificate no one was admitted to the orders, and frequently he represented the bishop at synods. Still greater became his powers in the sixth century, when he even received punitive power over the priests, and a rank above all the priests, even the archpriest. This is clearly stated by Isidor of Sevilla, who, in his Epistola ad Evagrium, plainly says: The archpriest must know that he is subordinate to the archdeacon, and must obey his orders, as well as those of his bishop (archipresbyter vero se esse sub archidiacono, ejus praeseptis sicut episcopi sui sciat obedere). Until the eighth century every diocese had only one archdeacon, but in 774, Bishop Heddo, of Strasburg, divided his diocese into seven archdiaconates (archidiaconatus rurales), and most of the other bishops imitated this institution, with the exception of Italy, where the smallness of the diocese seemed to make a division of the dioceses superfluous. The rural archdeacons, to whom the deans (archipresbyteri rurales) were subordinate, were mostly priests, while the archdeacon of the cathedral church (archidiaconus magnus) was usually only a deacon. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the powers of the archdeacons reached their climax. They received a jurisdiction of their own (jurisdictio propria), suspended and excommunicated priests, held synods, and in many ways tried to enlarge their rights at the expense of the bishops. As the position had now become a very lucrative one, many members of noble, princely, and even royal families intruded themselves into it, even without having received the ordination of deacons. In many instances their powers even became dangerous to the bishops, and thus a reaction was called forth. Many of the synods of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as those of Tours (1239), Liege (1287), Mentz (1310), took from them some of their powers, reserving them to the bishop and his vicar-general. This limitation of their powers was confirmed by the Council of Trent. Many of the archidiaconates had already disappeared before the latter synod, and in many others this was the case in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. At some cathedral churches the office of archdeacon still exists, but the former rights are no longer connected with it.
In the Greek Church the office of rural archdeacon never existed; the office of cathedral archdeacon was early displaced by the chartophylax, and even the title of archdeacon early disappeared. In Constantinople the title was retained, but the archdeacon was an officer of the court, not of the cathedral church.
In some of the Protestant state churches of Germany the title archdeacon has been retained for the head ministers of ecclesiastical districts.
See Thomassin, Vet. et Nov. Eccles. Disciplina, 1, 1. 2, c. 17; Herzog, Real-Encyklopadie, s.v.; Eadie, Eccles. Cyclopedia, s.v. SEE DEACON.
2. In the Church of England there are 71 archdeaconries several in each diocese. The archdeacon is a clergyman of the cathedral, and as the income of the office is limited, he generally holds a benefice besides. He is appointed by the bishop, and is himself a sort of vice-bishop. He has the right of visitation every two years in three, to inquire into the reparations and movables belonging to churches; to reform abuses; to suspend; excommunicate; in some places to prove wills; and to induct all clerks into benefices within his Jurisdictions. He has power to keep a court, which is called the Court of the Archdeacon, or his commissary, and this he may hold in any place within his archdeaconry. In this court the church- warden’s business is generally decided. The revenue of the archdeacon arises chiefly from pensions paid by the incumbents. These pensions originally bore no contemptible ratio to the whole value of the benefice, and formed a sufficient income for an active and useful officer of the church; but now, by the great change which has taken place in the value of money, the payments are little more than nominal, and the whole income of the archdeacons is very inconsiderable. The office, therefore, is generally held by persons who have also benefices or other preferment in the church. See Cripps, Law Pelating to the Church and Clergy (Edinb. 1859). Bingham, Oriq. Eccles. bk. 2, ch. 21;. Marsden, Churches and Sects, 1, 330.