Boy Bishop (2)
boy-bishop
A boy chosen from the monastery school or cathedral choir to preside as bishop between Saint Nicholas’s Day, 6 December , and the feast of Holy Innocents, 28 December . The custom dates from early times and was in vogue in most Catholic countries, but chiefly in England .
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Boy-Bishop
The custom of electing a boy-bishop on the feast of St. Nicholas dates from very early times, and was in vogue in most Catholic countries, but chiefly in England, where it prevailed certainly in all the larger monastic and scholastic establishments, and also in many country parishes besides, with the full approbation of authority, ecclesiastical and civil. The boy-bishop was chosen from among the children of the monastery school, the cathedral choir, or pupils of the grammar-school. Elected on St. Nicholas’s day (6 December), he was dressed in pontifical vestments and, followed by his companions in priest’s robes, went in procession round the parish, blessing the people. He then took possession of the church, where he presided at all the ceremonies and offices until Holy Innocents’ day (28 December). At Salisbury he is said to have had the power of disposing of any benefices that fell vacant during his reign, and if he died in office the funeral honours of a bishop were granted to him. A monument to such a boy-prelate still exists there, though its genuineness has been questioned, and at Lulworth Castle another is preserved, which came from Bindon Abbey. The custom was abolished by Henry VIII in 1512, restored by Queen Mary and again abolished by Elizabeth, though here and there it lingered on for some time longer. On the Continent it was suppressed by the Council of Basle in 1431, but was revived in some places from time to time, even as late as the eighteenth century.
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G. CYPRIAN ALSTON Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Boy Bishop
“the principal person in an extraordinary sacred frolic of the Middle Ages, and down to the period of the Reformation. On St. Nicholas’s day, the 6th of December, the boys forming the choir in cathedral churches elected one of their number to the honor of bishop, and robes and episcopal symbols were provided for him, while the other boys, assuming the dress of priests, took possession of the church, and went through all the ecclesiastical ceremonies but that of mass. This strange reversal of power lasted till Innocents’ day, the 28th of the same month. In Sarum, on the eve of that day, the boy went through a splendid caricature of processions, chantings, and other festive ceremonies. Dean Colet, in his statutes for St. Paul’s School, London, ordains that the boys should come to St. Paul’s Church and hear the ‘ chylde’ bishop’s sermons, and each of them present him with a penny. By a proclamation of Henry VIII, 1542, this show was abolished; but it was revived under Mary, and in 1556 the boy bishops still maintained some popularity. The similar scenes in France were yet more extravagant, and often indecent. The Council of Paris, in 1212, interdicted the pastime, and the theological faculty of the same city, in 1414, make loud complaints of the continuance of the diversion. In Scotland similar saturnalia also prevailed, as Scott has described in his Abbot, connected with ‘those jocular personages, the pope of fools, the boy bishop, and the abbot of unreason.’ This custom is supposed to have given rise to I the ceremony of the Montem at Eton. Bishop Hall, in his Triumphs of Rome, says, ‘What merry work it was here in the days of our holy fathers (and I know not whether, in some places, it may not be so still), that upon St. Nicholas, St. Catharine, St. Clement, and Holy Innocents’ day, children were wont to be arrayed in chimers, rochets, surplices, to counterfeit bishops and priests, and to be led, with songs and dances, from house to house, blessing the people, who stood grinning in the way to expect that ridiculous benediction. Yea, that boys in that holy sport were wont to sing masses, and to climb into the pulpit to preach (no doubt learnedly and edifyingly) to the simple auditory.”-Eadie, Eccles. Cyclopedia, s.v. SEE MYSTERIES.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Boy Bishop (2)
“the principal person in an extraordinary sacred frolic of the Middle Ages, and down to the period of the Reformation. On St. Nicholas’s day, the 6th of December, the boys forming the choir in cathedral churches elected one of their number to the honor of bishop, and robes and episcopal symbols were provided for him, while the other boys, assuming the dress of priests, took possession of the church, and went through all the ecclesiastical ceremonies but that of mass. This strange reversal of power lasted till Innocents’ day, the 28th of the same month. In Sarum, on the eve of that day, the boy went through a splendid caricature of processions, chantings, and other festive ceremonies. Dean Colet, in his statutes for St. Paul’s School, London, ordains that the boys should come to St. Paul’s Church and hear the ‘ chylde’ bishop’s sermons, and each of them present him with a penny. By a proclamation of Henry VIII, 1542, this show was abolished; but it was revived under Mary, and in 1556 the boy bishops still maintained some popularity. The similar scenes in France were yet more extravagant, and often indecent. The Council of Paris, in 1212, interdicted the pastime, and the theological faculty of the same city, in 1414, make loud complaints of the continuance of the diversion. In Scotland similar saturnalia also prevailed, as Scott has described in his Abbot, connected with ‘those jocular personages, the pope of fools, the boy bishop, and the abbot of unreason.’ This custom is supposed to have given rise to I the ceremony of the Montem at Eton. Bishop Hall, in his Triumphs of Rome, says, ‘What merry work it was here in the days of our holy fathers (and I know not whether, in some places, it may not be so still), that upon St. Nicholas, St. Catharine, St. Clement, and Holy Innocents’ day, children were wont to be arrayed in chimers, rochets, surplices, to counterfeit bishops and priests, and to be led, with songs and dances, from house to house, blessing the people, who stood grinning in the way to expect that ridiculous benediction. Yea, that boys in that holy sport were wont to sing masses, and to climb into the pulpit to preach (no doubt learnedly and edifyingly) to the simple auditory.”-Eadie, Eccles. Cyclopedia, s.v. SEE MYSTERIES.