In conventual cathedrals, where the bishop occupied the place of the abbot, the functions usually devolving on the superior of the monastery were performed by a prior.
The title abbe (Ital. abbate), as commonly used in the Catholic church on the European continent, is the equivalent of the English "Father," being loosely applied to all who have received the tonsure. This use of the title is said to have originated in the right conceded to the king of France, by the concordat between Pope Leo X. and Francis I. (1516), to appoint abbes commendataires to most of the abbeys in France. The expectation of obtaining these sinecures drew young men towards the church in considerable numbers, and the class of abbes so formed ---abbes de cour they were sometimes called, and sometimes (ironically) abbes de sainte esperance, abbes of St Hope---came to hold a recognized position. The connexion many of them had with the church was of the slenderest kind, consisting mainly in adopting the name of abbe, after a remarkably moderate course of theological study, practising celibacy and wearing a distinctive dress--a short dark-violet coat with narrow collar. Being men of presumed learning and undoubted leisure, many of the class found admission to the houses of the French nobility as tutors or advisers. Nearly every great family had its abbe. The class did not survive the Revolution; but the courtesy title of abbe, having long lost all connexion in people's minds with any special ecclesiastical function, remained as a convenient general term applicable to any clergyman.
In the German Evangelical church the title of abbot (Abt) is sometimes bestowed, like abbe, as an honorary distinction, and sometimes survives to designate the heads of monasteries converted at the Reformation into collegiate foundations. Of these the most noteworthy is the abbey of Lokkum in Hanover, founded as a Cistercian house in 1163 by Count Wilbrand of Hallermund, and reformed in 1593. The abbot of Lokkum, who still carries a pastoral staff, takes precedence of all the clergy of Hanover, and is ex officio a member of the consistory of the kingdom. The governing body of the abbey consists of abbot, prior and the "convent" of canons (Stiftsherren).
See Joseph Bingham, Origines ecclesiasticae (1840). Du Cange, Glossarium med. et inf. Lat. (ed. 1883). J. Craigie Robertson, Hist. of the Christian Church (1858-1873). Edmond Martene, De antiquis ecclesiae ritibus (Venice, 1783). C. F. R. de Montalembert, Les moines d'occident depuis S. Benoit jusqu'a S. Bernard (1860--1877). Achille Luchaire, Manuel des institutions francaises (Par. 1892). (E.V.; W.A.P.)
The above article is from the 1911 edition of an encyclopedia which is out of copyright here in the U.S. The article is in the public domain, and you may copy, download, print and distribute this work as you see fit.
Every effort has been made to present this text accurately and cleanly, but no guarantees are made against errors. Neither Melissa Snell nor About may be held liable for any problems you experience with the text version or with any electronic form of this document.
