Richard Morris - Evensong: People, Discoveries and Reflections on the Church in England

For Rosemary Cramp

CONTENTS

Angel: a messenger, intermediate between God and people

Anglicanism: doctrine and practice maintained by Christians in communion with the see of Canterbury

Ant[iphon]: sentence sung or said before or after a psalm or canticle

Archdeacon: cleric with an administrative role delegated by a diocesan bishop

Archdeaconry: group of parishes overseen by an archdeacon

Benefice: originally a grant of property in exchange for services, the term has evolved to signify an ecclesiastical office normally a rectory, vicarage, or perpetual curacy in which revenues assigned to it are used to support the holders performance of specified duties (whence also beneficed and unbeneficed). Historically, a benefice was usually coextensive with a parish; today, it may embrace a number of pastoral units

Bishop: the highest order in Christian ministry. In the Anglican Communion, a bishop is held to be differentiated from a priest by the power to confer Holy Orders and to dispense the rite of confirmation

Canon (1): title of clergy belonging to a cathedral or collegiate church

Canon (2): in law, a term that distinguishes ecclesiastical from civil enactments. Today, Canon Law is used to cover the Churchs organisational and administrative rules generally

Canticle: song or prayer derived from the Bible which forms a part of liturgical worship

Cathedral: church containing a cathedra (chair) that denotes the office and authority of a diocesan bishop

Chantry: an office or benefice endowed for the singing or saying of masses for the souls of the founder and others in the founders circle. By extension, an altar or chapel at or in which such masses were said

Chapel (1): church subordinate to a parish church, often provided for the ease of parishioners living in outlying parts or where access to the parish church is difficult

Chapel (2): space within a church with a separate altar, often dedicated to its own saint

Chapel (3): place of worship reserved for an institution (e.g., college, royal household)

Chapel (4): term used in contradistinction to Church to denote members of dissenting denominations (as in Church and Chapel)

Chaplain (1): priest who serves a chapel

Chaplain (2): priest appointed to serve an institution (e.g., hospital, branch of armed services, prison)

Chapter: body of self-governing clergy

Church Assembly: body made up of Houses of Bishops, Clergy and Laity, brought into being by the Enabling Act 1919 to deliberate on all matters concerning the Church of England and make provision for them. Replaced by General Synod in 1970

Clerk in Holy Orders: formal term denoting a bishop, priest, or deacon

Close: enclosed area around a cathedral, originally walled and gated, containing ancillary buildings, houses for clergy, and a bishops palace

Collegiate church: church served by a self-governing body of secular (i.e., not monastic) clergy under the charge of a dean or provost

Confirmation: rite whereby grace of the Holy Spirit is gifted and ratifies vows taken at baptism

Crypt: in original sense, somewhere hidden; now: a chamber, usually subterranean or semi-subterranean, beneath the main body of a church

Curate: the word today denotes an unbeneficed cleric often newly or recently ordained and under training who assists an incumbent. In earlier use it denoted any clergyman who had the cure of souls

Deacon: one ordained into the lowest of the three ranks of Anglican ministry (deacon, priest, bishop)

Dean (1): head of a cathedral chapter or collegiate church

Dean (2): a rural dean assists the bishop in administration of a group of churches that form a subdivision of archdeaconry

Diocese: basic territorial unit of ecclesiastical governance, administered by a bishop

Eucharist: act of thanksgiving in Christian worship, and focus of controversy at the Reformation as between those who upheld the doctrine that Christs body and blood coexist in consecrated bread and wine, and those who regarded the Lords Supper either as commemorative or as a transfer of virtue

Evangelicalism: outlook founded on the tenet that salvation comes only by divine grace, awarded in response to faith, not as something a sinner may earn through merit

Faculty: legal grant of permission enabling work to a church or churchyard to be done

General Synod: Church of England governing body (from 1970), which considers and approves legislation, frames new forms of worship, debates matters of importance, and approves the Churchs annual national budget

Glebe: land assigned for the maintenance of a parochial incumbent

High Church: tendency in the Church of England that puts weight on continuity from Catholicism, and upholds the nature of the sacraments and exceptional role of bishops. High Church opinion can be traced from the sixteenth century, but following abeyance from the late seventeenth through the eighteenth century it was restored to prominence from the 1830s by the movement centred on Oriel College, Oxford, which produced Tracts for the Times (whence Tractarian)

Incumbent: holder of a benefice

Liturgy: a formal set of words, music and actions prescribed for use in worship

Lych-gate: (from OE lic , a corpse) covered gateway into a churchyard

Mass: an early medieval term for the Eucharist which in Anglican usage has become associated with High Churchmanship

Minister: (from Latin minister , a servant) one who is authorised to perform spiritual duties in the Church

Monastery: community living under religious discipline; by extension, the site and buildings so occupied

Ordination: consecration that translates an individual from lay to clerical status and authorises the performance of particular rites and ceremonies

Parish: territorial unit for the cure of souls, which today may be served by a rector, vicar, priest-in-charge, group, or team

Parson: originally and strictly, the holder of a benefice who possesses its rights that is, the rector (from Latin persona , literally the person to whom Gods property in a parish was assigned)

Parsonage: house assigned for the use of a rector or vicar

Patron: in Anglican use, an individual, office, or institution with the right to appoint or present a member of the clergy for a vacant benefice. In the past, this right could be bought, sold, or gifted

Priest: one who has been admitted to the order of priesthood by a bishop, with authority to celebrate mass and provide cure of souls

Priest-in-charge: one who is in charge of a parish but is not its incumbent

Real presence: doctrine that Jesus is present sacramentally in the Eucharist

Rector: an individual or body in receipt of the income of a rectory. The rector may appoint a vicar (from Latin vicarius , a deputy) to perform the duties of the rectory

Rectory: the rights and duties of a rector; by extension, the rectors house

Saint: one who has a close and special relationship with God, and by extension may be regarded as a protector or advocate for instance, of a nation, place, or family

R[esponse]: congregational reply to a versicle

See: (from Latin sedes , a seat) in ecclesiastical use, a chair that symbolises the authority of a bishop

Stipend: money paid to enable work to be done, but not in commercial proportion to it

Suffragan: in the Anglican Church, a bishop under the authority of a diocesan bishop

Tithe: former tax of one tenth on produce or earnings taken for support of clergy

V[ersicle]: sentence sung or said by a minister to which the congregation responds

Vicar: (from Latin vicarius , a deputy) one who is appointed to undertake the parish duties of a rector