Designing Your Character & Other Handy Things 2

Medieval Clergy

Pope (Bishop of Rome) - The bishop of Rome is head of the Roman Catholic Church. In Western Church, "pope" applied especially to the Bishop of Rome since the time of Leo the Great (440-461) and claimed exclusively by them from 1073. The pope is believed by his church to be the successor to the Apostle Peter. He is bishop of Rome and lives in a tiny nation within Rome called the Vatican.

Bishop - Bishops were the leaders of the church, serving under the pope. Most bishops were noblemen. Bishops supervised the church's priests, monks and nuns and administered its business. In many parts of Europe the church owned vast areas of land and commanded a large number of knights. In the early Middle Ages, it was not unusual for a bishop to lead his own knights into battle.

Arch Deacon - An ecclesiastic, ranking next below a bishop and having charge of the temporal and external administration of a diocese, with jurisdiction delegated from the bishop.

Abbot- A man who is the head or superior, usually elected, of a monastery.

Prior - An officer in a monastic order or religious house, sometimes next in rank below an abbot

Dean - The head of the chapter of a cathedral or a collegiate church. A priest in the Roman Catholic Church appointed by a bishop to take care of the affairs of a division of a diocese.

Priest - Priests provided spiritual instruction and conducted religious ceremonies in local, or parish, churches.

Monk - Monks and nuns were men and women who gave up their possessions and left ordinary life to live in monasteries and convents. They lived very simply, could not marry and devoted themselves to prayer, study, and helping the poor. They also served as doctors. Members of special male groups whose lives are devoted to the service of the church, especially in Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox denominations. A MONK is properly a member of a monastery, under a superior; he is bound by a vow of stability, and is a co-owner of the community property of the monastery. Since the Reformation, MONK and FRIAR have been used as if they were the same. A FRIAR is, however, strictly speaking, a member of a mendicant order, whose members are not attached to a monastery and own no community property.

Friar - Friars were traveling preachers who lived by begging and spread the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi. A member of a mendicant order, whose members are not attached to a monastery and own no community property.

Cleric - A member of the clergy.

Vicar - A word from the Latin "substitute" it was a clergymen paid to act in the true parish priest's stead. A vicar was often very corrupt.

Barber- Surgeon - A monastic who shaved faces/heads and performed light surgery.

Chaplain - An ecclesiastic attached to the chapel of a royal court, college, etc., or to a military unit. a person who says the prayer, invocation, etc., for an organization or at an assembly.

Confessor - A priest authorized to hear confessions.

Scribe - A person who copied books by hand before the invention of printing.

Culdees - Meaning "servant of God," they were Irish/Scottish preservers of old Gaelic customs.

            

Abbess - superior of a convent

Almoner - a distributer of money and food to the poor

Archbishop

Beadle - church official -- ushers preserves order at sermons

Beguine - member of certain Netherland lay sisterhoods

Canon - a prebend attached to a cathedral (the definition is somewhat wider, but that's the most common usage)

Cantor - a choir leader in churches, the man who sings hymns and leads the congregation in prayer in a synagogue

Cardinal

Chantry priest - a priest employed to say prayers for the dead; often taught on the side (thus so-called chantry schools)

Clark - see clerk

Clerk - a priest

Curate - priest in charge of a church

Metropolitan - a bishop in charge of other bishops; an archbishop

Nun

Ostiary - a church's doorkeeper

Palmer - a pilgrim who's been to the Holy Land

Pardoner - seller of indulgences

Parish priest

Pilgrim

Primate - head of the Church in a country or region (i.e. the Archbishop of Canterbury was Primate of England)

Sacristan - a person in charge of the relics and religious items of a church

Sexton - minor church officer - rings bells, digs graves

Summoner - officer who brings people to episcopal courts

(Found on http://musicians4freedom.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Medieval-People.pdf & http://www.svincent.com/MagicJar/Economics/MedievalOccupations.html)