AbboT

ABBOT (from the Hebrew ab, a father, through the Syriac

abba, Lat. abbas, gen. abbatis, O.E. abbad, fr. late

Lat. form abbad-em changed in 13th century under influence

of the Lat. form to abbat, used abternatively till the end

of the 17th century; Ger. Abt; Fr. abbe), the head and

chief governor of a community of monks, called also in the

East hegumenos or archimandrite. The title had its origin

in the monasteries of Syria, whence it spread through the

East, and soon became accepted generally in all languages as

the designation of the head of a monastery. At first it was

employed as a respectful title for any monk, as we learn from St

Jerome, who denounced the custom on the ground that Christ had

said, ``Call no man father on earth'' (in Epist. ad Gal.

iv. 6, in Matt. xxiii. 9), but it was soon restricted to the

superior. The name ``abbot,'' though general in the West,

was never universal. Among the Dominicans, Carmelites,

Augustinians, &c., the superior was called Praepositus,

``provost,'' and Prior; among the Franciscans, Custos,

``guardian''; and by the monks of Camaldoi, Major.

In Egypt, the first home of monasticism, the jurisdiction

of the abbot, or archimandrite, was but loosely defined.

Sometimes he ruled over only one community, sometimes over

several, each of which had its own abbot as well. Cassian

speaks of an abbot of the Thebaid who had 500 monks under

him, a number exceeded in other cases. By the rule of St

Benedict, which, until the reform of Cluny, was the norm

in the West, the abbot has jurisdiction over only one

community. The rule, as was inevitable, was subject to

frequent violations; but it was not until the foundation of

the Cluniac Order that the idea of a supreme abbot, exercising

jurisdiction over all the houses of an order, was definitely

recognized. New styles were devised to express this new

relation; thus the abbot of Monte Cassino was called abbas

abbatum, while the chiefs of other orders had the tities

abbas generails, or magister or minister generalis.

Monks, as a rule, were laymen, nor at the outset was the abbot

any exception. All orders of clergy, therefore, even the

``doorkeeper,', took precedence of him. For the reception

of the sacraments, and for other religious offices, the

abbot and his monks were commanded to attend the nearest

church (Nocellae, 133, c. ii.). This rule naturally proved

inconvenient when a monastery was situated in a desert or at

a distance from a city, and necessity compelled the ordination

of abbots. This innovation was not introduced without a

struggle, ecclesiastical dignity being regarded as inconsistent

with the higher spiritual life, but, before the close of

the 5th century, at least in the East, abbots seem almost

universally to have become deacons, if not presbyters. The

change spread more slowly in the West, where the office of

abbot was commonly filled by laymen till the end of the 7th

century, and partially so up to the 11th. Ecclesiastical

councils were, however, attended by abbots. Thus at that

held at Constantinople, A.D. 448, for the condemnation of

Eutyches, 23 archimandrites or abbots sign, with 30 bishops,

and, c A.D. 690, Archbishop Theodore promulgated a

canon, inhibiting bishops from compelling abbots to attend

councils. Examples are not uncommon in Spain and in England

in Saxon times. Abbots were permitted by the second council

of Nicaea, A.D. 787, to ordain their monks to the inferior

orders. This rule was adopted in the West, and the strong

prejudice against clerical monks having gradually broken down,

eventually monks, almost without exception, took holy orders.

Abbots were originally subject to episcopal jurisdiction, and

continued generally so, in fact, in the West till the 11th

century. The Code of Justinian (lib. i. tit. iii. de Ep. leg.

xl.) expressly subordinates the abbot to episcopal oversight.

The first case recorded of the partial exemption of an abbot

from episcopal control is that of Faustus, abbot of Lerins,

at the council of Arles, A.D. 456; but the exorbitant claims

and exactions of bishops, to which this repugnance to episcopal

control is to be traced, far more than to the arrogance of

abbots, rendered it increasingly frequent, and, in the 6th

century, the practice of exempting religious houses partly or

altogether from episcopal control, and making them responsible

to the pope alone, received an impulse from Gregory the

Great. These exceptions, introduced with a good object, had

grown into a widespread evil by the 12th century, virtually

creating an imperium in imperio, and depriving the bishop

of all authority over the chief centres of influence in his

diocese. In the 12th century the abbots of Fulda claimed

precedence of the archbishop of Cologne. Abbots more and

more assumed almost episcopal state, and in defiance of the

prohibition of early councils and the protests of St Bernard and

others, adopted the episcopal insignia of mitre, ring, gloves and

sandals. It has been maintained that the right to wear mitres

was sometimes granted by the popes to abbots before the 11th

century, but the documents on which this claim is based are

not genuine (J. Braun, Liturgische Gewandung, p. 453). The

first undoubted instance is the bull by which Alexander II.

in 1063 granted the use of the mitre to Egelsinus, abbot of

the monastery of St Augustine at Canterbury (see MITRE). The

mitred abbots in England were those of Abingdon, St Alban's,

Bardney, Battle, Bury St Edmund's, St Augustine's Canterbury,

Colchester, Croyland, Evesham, Glastonbury, Gloucester,

St Benet's Hulme, Hyde, Malmesbury, Peterborough, Ramsey,

Reading, Selby, Shrewsbury, Tavistock, Thorney, Westminster,

Winchcombe, St Mary's York. Of these the precedence was

originally yielded to the abbot of Glastonbury, until in

A.D. 1154 Adrian IV. (Nicholas Breakspear) granted it to the

abbot of St Alban's, in which monastery he had been brought

up. Next after the abbot of St Alban's ranked the abbot of

Westminster. To distinguish abbots from bishops, it was ordained

that their mitre should be made of less costly materials,

and should not be ornamented with gold, a rule which was soon

entirely disregarded, and that the crook of their pastoral

staff should turn inwards instead of outwards, indicating

that their jurisdiction was limited to their own house.

The adoption of episcopal insignia by abbots was followed

by an encroachment on episcopal functions, which had to be

specially but ineffectually guarded against by the Lateran

council, A.D. 1123. In the East, abbots, if in priests'

orders, with the consent of the bishop, were, as we have

seen, permitted by the second Nicene council, A.D. 787,

to confer the tonsure and admit to the order of reader; but

gradually abbots, in the West also, advanced higher claims,

until we find them in A.D. 1489 permitted by Innocent

IV. to confer both the subdiaconate and diaconate. Of

course, they always and everywhere had the power of admitting

their own monks and vesting them with the religious habit.

When a vacancy occurred, the bishop of the diocese chose

the abbot out of the monks of the convent, but the right

of election was transferred by jurisdiction to the monks

themselves, reserving to the bishop the confirmation of the

election and the benediction of the new abbot. In abbeys

exempt from episcopal jurisdiction, the confirmation and

benediction had to be conferred by the pope in person, the house

being taxed with the expenses of the new abbot's journey to

Rome. By the rule of St Benedict, the consent of the laity

was in some undefined way required; but this seems never

to have been practically enforced. It was necessary that

an abbot should be at least 25 years of age, of legitimate

birth, a monk of the house, unless it furnished no suitable

candidate, when a liberty was allowed of electing from another

convent, well instructed himself, and able to instruct others,

one also who had learned how to command by having practised

obedience. In some exceptional cases an abbot was allowed

to name his own successor. Cassian speaks of an abbot in

Egypt doing this; and in later times we have another example

in the case of St Bruno. Popes and sovereigns gradually

encroached on the rights of the monks, until in Italy the

pope had usurped the nomination of all abbots, and the king in

France, with the exception of Cluny, Premontre and other

houses, chiefs of their order. The election was for life,

unless the abbot was canonically deprived by the chiefs of

his order, or when he was directly subject to them, by the

pope or the bishop. The ceremony of the formal admission of

a Benedictine abbot in medieval times is thus prescribed by

the consuetudinary of Abingdon. The newly elected abbot was

to put off his shoes at the door of the church, and proceed

barefoot to meet the members of the house advancing in a

procession. After proceeding up the nave, he was to kneel

and pray at the topmost step of the entrance of the choir,

into which he was to be introduced by the bishop or his

commissary, and placed in his stall. The monks, then kneeling,

gave him the kiss of peace on the hand, and rising, on the

mouth, the abbot holding his staff of office. He then put

on his shoes in the vestry, and a chapter was held, and

the bishop or his commissary preached a suitable sermon.

The power of the abbot was paternal but absolute, limited,

however, by the canons of the church, and, until the general

establishment of exemptions, by episcopal control. As a

rule, however, implicit obedience was enforced; to act

without his orders was culpable; while it was a sacred duty

to execute his orders, however unreasonable, until they were

withdrawn. Examples among the Egyptian monks of this blind

submission to the commands of the superiors, exalted into

a virtue by those who regarded the entire crushing of the

individual will as the highest excellence, are detailed by

Cassian and others,--- e.g. a monk watering a dry stick,

day after day, for months, or endeavouring to remove a huge

rock immensely exceeding his powers. St Jerome, indeed, lays

down, as the principle of the compact between the abbot and his

monks, that they should obey their superiors in all things,

and perform whatever they commanded (Ep. 2, ad Eustoch. de

custod. virgin.). So despotic did the tyranny become in the

West, that in the time of Charlemagne it was necessary to

restrain abbots by legal enactments from mutilating their

monks and putting out their eyes; while the rule of St

Columban ordained 100 lashes as the punishment for very slight

offences. An abbot also had the power of excommunicating

refractory nuns, which he might use if desired by their abbess.

The abbot was treated with the utmost submission and reverence

by the brethren of his house. When he appeared either in

church or chapter all present rose and bowed. His letters

were received kneeling, like those of the pope and the

king. If he gave a command, the monk receiving it was also to

kneel. No monk might sit in his presence, or leave it without his

permission. The highest place was naturally assigned to him,

both in church and at table. In the East he was commanded to

eat with the other monks. In the West the rule of St Benedict

appointed him a separate table, at which he might entertain

guests and strangers. This permission opening the door to

luxurious living, the council of Aix, A.D. 817, decreed that

the abbot should dine in the refectory, and be content with

the ordinary fare of the monks, unless he had to entertain a

guest. These ordinances proved, however, generally ineffectual

to secure strictness of diet, and contemporaneous literature

abounds with satirical remarks and complaints concerning the

inordinate extravagance of the tables of the abbots. When the

abbot condescended to dine in the refectory, his chaplains waited

upon him with the dishes, a servant, if necessary, assisting

them. At St Alban's the abbot took the lord's seat, in the

centre of the high table, and was served on silver plate, and

sumptuously entertained noblemen, ambassadors and strangers of

quality. When abbots dined in their own private hall, the rule

of St Benedict charged them to invite their monks to their table,

provided there was room, on which occasions the guests were

to abstain from quarrels, slanderous talk and idle gossiping.

The ordinary attire of the abbot was according to rule to be

the same as that of the monks. But by the 10th century the

rule was commonly set aside, and we find frequent complaints of

abbots dressing in silk, and adopting sumptuous attire. They

sometimes even laid aside the monastic habit altogether, and

assumed a secular dress.1 This was a necessary consequence of

their following the chase, which was quite usual, and indeed at

that time only natural. With the increase of wealth and power,

abbots had lost much of their special religious character, and

become great lords, chiefly distinguished from lay lords by

celibacy. Thus we hear of abbots going out to sport, with

their men carrying bows and arrows; keeping horses, dogs and

huntsmen; and special mention is made of an abbot of Leicester,

c. 1360, who was the most skilled of all the nobility in

harehunting. In magnificence of equipage and retinue the

abbots vied with the first nobles of the realm. They rode

on mules with gilded bridles, rich saddles and housings,

carrying hawks on their wrist, followed by an immense train of

attendants. The bells of the churches were rung as they

passed. They associated on equal terms with laymen of the

highest distinction, and shared all their pleasures and

pursuits. This rank and power was, however, often used most

beneficially. For instance, we read of Whiting, the last

abbot of Glastonbury, judicially murdered by Henry VIII.,

that his house was a kind of well-ordered court, where as

many as 300 sons of noblemen and gentlemen, who had been sent

to him for virtuous education, had been brought up, besides

others of a meaner rank, whom he fitted for the universities.

His table, attendance and officers were an honour to the

nation. He would entertain as many as 500 persons of rank at

one time, besides relieving the poor of the vicinity twice a

week. He had his country houses and fisheries, and when

he travelled to attend parliament his retinue amounted to

upwards of 100 persons. The abbots of Cluny and Vendome

were, by virtue of their office, cardinals of the Roman church.

In process of time the title abbot was improperly transferred

to clerics who had no connexion with the monastic system,

as to the principal of a body of parochial clergy; and

under the Carolingians to the chief chaplain of the king,

Abbas Curiae, or military chaplain of the emperor, Abbas

Castrensis. It even came to be adopted by purely secular

officials. Thus the chief magistrate of the republic at Genoa

was called Abbas Populi. Du Cange, in his glossary, also gives

us Abbas Campanilis, Clocherii, Palatii, Scholaris, &c.

Lay abbots (M. Lat. defensores, abbacomites, abbates laici,

abbates milites, abbates saeculares or irreligiosi,

abbatiarii, or sometimes simply abbates) were the outcome

of the growth of the feudal system from the 8th century

onwards. The practice of commendation, by which---to meet

a contemporary emergency--the revenues of the community were

handed over to a lay lord, in return for his protection,

early suggested to the emperors and kings the expedient of

rewarding their warriors with rich abbeys held in commendam.

During the Carolingian epoch the custom grew up of granting

these as regular heritable fiefs or benefices, and by the 10th

century, before the great Cluniac reform, the system was firmly

established. Even the abbey of St Denis was held in commendam

by Hugh Capet. The example of the kings was followed by the

feudal nobles, sometimes by making a temporary concession

permanent, sometimes without any form of commendation

whatever. In England the abuse was rife in the 8th

century, as may be gathered from the acts of the council of

Cloveshoe. These lay abbacies were not merely a question of

overlordship, but implied the concentration in lay hands

of all the rights, immunities and jurisdiction of the

foundations, i.e. the more or less complete secularization of

1 Walworth, the fourth abbot of St Alban's, c. 930, is

charged by Matthew Paris with adopting the attire of a sportsman.

spiritual institutions. The lay abbot took his recognized

rank in the feudal hierarchy, and was free to dispose of

his fief as in the case of any other. The enfeoffment of

abbeys differed in form and degree. Sometimes the monks were

directly subject to the lay abbot; sometimes he appointed a

substitute to perform the spirtual functions, known usually

as dean (decanus), but also as abbot (abbas legitimas,

monasticus, regularis). When the great reform of the 11th

century had put an end to the direct jurisdiction of the lay

abbots, the honorary title of abbot continued to be held by

certain of the great feudal famines, as late as the 13th century

and later, the actual head of the community retaining that of

dean. The connexion of the lesser lay abbots with the

abbeys, especially in the south of France, lasted longer;

and certain feudal families retained the title of abbes

chevaliers (abbates milltes) for centuries, together with

certain rights over the abbey lands or revenues. The abuse was

not confined to the West. John, patriarch of Antioch, at the

beginning of the 12th Century, informs us that in his time most

monasteries had been handed over to laymen, bencficiarii,

for life, or for part of their lives, by the emperors.

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.)

1 The Architectural History of the Conventual Buildings of

the Monastery of Christ Church in Canterbury. By the Rev. Robert

Willis. Printed for the Kent Archaeological Society, 1869.

Source: An unnamed encyclopedia from a project that puts out-of-copyright texts into the public domain.

This is from a *very* old source, and reflects the thinking of the turn of the last century. -- BryceHarrington