BENEFICE: A term used within the Church of England to describe a priest's living. In the Victorian-era book A Church Dictionary, Rev. Walter Farquhar Hook offers a more technical definition: "BENEFICE, in the ecclesiastical sense, means a church endowed with a revenue for the performance of Divine service, or the revenue itself assigned to an ecclesiastical person, by way of stipend for the service he is to do that church" (94). For a more detailed discussion.
CURATE: "is a word of ambiguous signification," writes Thomas Anthony Trollope (father of the novelist) in his 1834 book Encyclopedia Ecclesiastica (461). The word derives from the Latin "cura" or "care" or "charge," and in a technical sense could apply to any local priest within the Church of England who has responsibility for "cure of souls." In practice, though, the term was generally applied two ways in the Victorian period. The first was to describe a priest who was subcontracted by a rector or vicar to handle tasks such as conducting services in the rector's absence. This party was known as an "assistant curate." The second applied to parishes that didn't pay for a rector or vicar directly out of its tithes. In this case, a lay impropriator (i.e. a layman in control of the tithes) would provide for a "perpetual curate" whose day job was basically the same as that of a rector or vicar. An act of Parliament in 1868 allowed perpetual curates to call themselves the more dignified title of vicar. For a more detailed discussion.
PARISH: A term used within the Church of England and Roman Catholicism to describe the area of land in which a priest is responsible for regularly holding religious services and providing pastoral care. In the Victorian-era book A Church Dictionary, Rev. Walter Farquhar Hook defines a parish as "that circuit of ground which is committed to the charge of one parson or vicar or other minister having cure of souls therein" (561). For a more detailed discussion.
PARSON: A minister within the Church of England who had responsibilities in and drew income from a specific parish or parishes. In the Victorian-era book A Church Dictionary, Rev. Walter Farquhar Hook defines parson as "One that has full possession of all the rectorial rights of a parochial church. He is called parson, persona, because by his person the Church, which is an invisible body, is in his parish represented. He sustains in the eye of the law the person of the Church, in any action touching the same" (564). For a more detailed discussion.
RECTOR: one of the chief titles for local priests within Church of England parishes. When installed by a bishop, a rector was charged with "cure of souls" within the parish, which entailed administering the sacraments, leading the liturgy (i.e. worship services), conducting weddings and funerals, and providing pastoral care. In the Victorian-era book A Church Dictionary, Rev. Walter Farquhar Hook explains that "The rector of a parish is a clergyman who has the charge and care of a parish, and possesses all the tithes, &c. When a layman has the great tithes he is called the 'lay rector'" (611). For a more detailed discussion.
TITHES: "in the religious application of the phrase, are a certain portion or allotment, for the maintenance of the priesthood, being the tenth part of the produce of land, cattle, or other branches of wealth. It is an income, or revenue, common both to the Jewish and Christian priesthood," explains the Rev. Walter Farquhar Hook in the Victorian-era book A Church Dictionary. In the middle ages, tithes were applied directly to crops and the products of animal husbandry (such as milk) as well as money. Following those medieval precedents, the Church of England traditionally divided tithes into different kinds, which in some parishes were then doled out to different parties or purposes. (A vicar, for example, only received what were called the "small tithes," which included one tenth of parishioners' yield of crops such as potatoes and certain products of animal husbandry such as milk.) Over time, most parishes converted those gifts "in kind" to monetary payments (basically rent charges), a practice that was then universalized by an act of Parliament in 1836. For a more detailed discussion.
VICAR: one of the chief titles for local priests within Church of England parishes. When installed by a bishop, a vicar was charged with "cure of souls" within the parish, which entailed administering the sacraments, leading the liturgy (i.e. worship services), conducting weddings and funerals, and providing pastoral care. Traditionally, the vicar was supported out of a portion of the tithes known as the "small tithes" (in contrast to a rector who received the great tithes or more), though by the arrival of the Victorian period the terms of payment were often more complicated in many parishes. An act of Parliament in 1868 allowed all perpetual curates to called "vicar," and thus in the later Victorian period vicar became a common way to refer to any local priest. For a more detailed discussion.
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Last modified 9 April 2021