Reverend
REVEREND
Venerable; deserving awe and respect. It is a title of respect given to ecclesiastics. The religious abroad are called reverend fathers; and abbesses, prioresses, &c. reverend mothers. In England, bishops are right reverend, and archbishops most reverend; private clergymen, reverend. In France, before the revolution, their bishops, archbishops, and abbots, were all alike, most reverend. In Scotland, the clergy individually are, reverend; a synod is, very reverend; and the general assembly is, venerable. The Dissenters, also, in England have the title of reverend; though some of them suppose the term implies too much to be given to a mere creature, and that of God only it may be said with propriety, “Holy and reverend is his name, ” Psa 111:4.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
Reverend
A form of address given to the clergy. Thus a priest is called Reverend Father; a Bishop, Right Reverend; an Archbishop, Most Reverend.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Reverend
a title prefixed by courtesy to the name of any clergyman, though clerk (clericus) is the legal and strictly proper description of clergymen, and is, in official documents, placed after (as Reverend is before) their names. In the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches the title is given to ecclesiastics of the second and third orders, the bishops being styled right reverend. In some churches ordained abbesses and prioresses are called reverend mothers.