Provost
|
|
- This article is about the ecclesiastical title of provost. For the higher education title, see Provost (education). For the local government title see Provost (civil).
Provost (through O. Fr. prevost, mod. prévôt, Lat. praepositus, set over, from praeponere, to place in front), a title attached to various ecclesiastical and secular offices.
Origins of the title and present clerical uses
In ecclesiastical usage the word praepositus was at first applied by the Church fathers to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary. It early, however, gained a more specific sense as applied to the official next in dignity to the abbot of a monastery, or to the superior of a single cell. Thus in the rule of St. Benedict the provost (praepositus) is the superior of the monastery immediately subordinate to the abbot, the dean (decanus) being associated with him. From the Benedictine rule this arrangement was taken over by Chrodegang of Metz when he introduced the monastic organization of cathedral chapters. In these the provostship (praepositura) was normally held by the archdeacon, while the office of dean fell to the archpriest. In many cathedrals the temporal duties of the archdeacons made it impossible for them to fulfil those of the provostship, and the headship of the chapter thus fell to the dean.
In English the title "provost" at Cathedrals has universally given way to that of "dean," although sometimes when a Bishop nominates himself as Dean of his own cathedral, a "provost" is sometimes appointed as a deputy. In Germany, on the other hand, "Probst" is still the style of the heads of certain chapters. The title has also been preserved in certain dioceses of the German Evangelical Church as the equivalent of Superintendent, and both the Roman Catholic and Protestant chaplains-general of the forces have sometimes, e.g. as was the case in Prussia, the title Feldprobst. The heads of Augustinian and Dominican friaries are termed "provost or prior" (praepositus vel prior), those of Cistercian monasteries "provost or warden." (praepositus vel custos). Finally the name praepositus was sometimes used for the secular advocatus of a monastery.
With the ecclesiastical use of the title is connected its English application to the heads of certain colleges; "provost" is still the style of the principals of Oriel, Queen's and Worcester Colleges at Oxford, King's College, Cambridge, and Trinity College, Dublin, and of the chairman of the governors of Eton College.
See also