Dictionary Definition
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɑː(r)sən
Noun
parson- An Anglican cleric having full legal control of a parish under ecclesiastical law; a rector
- A Protestant minister
Derived terms
Extensive Definition
In the pre-Reformation
church, a parson was the priest of an independent parish
church, that is, a parish church not under the control of a
larger ecclesiastical or monastic organisation. The term is similar
to rector and is in
contrast to a vicar, a
cleric whose revenue is usually, at least partially, appropriated
by a larger organisation. Today the term is normally used for some
parish clergy of non-Roman Catholic churches, in particular in the
Anglican
tradition in which a parson is the incumbent
of a parochial benefice: a parish priest or a rector; in this sense a parson
can be contrasted with a vicar. The title parson is also
applied to clergy from other denominations.
A parson is often housed in a church-owned home known as a rectory or parsonage.
Anglicanism
William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England says that a parson is a parish priest with the fullest legal rights to the parish properties:- A parson, persona ecclesiae, is one that has full possession of all the rights of a parochial church. He is called parson, persona, because by his person the church, which is an invisible body, is represented; and he is in himself a body corporate, in order to protect and defend the rights of the church (which he personates) by a perpetual succession. He is sometimes called the rector, or governor, of the church: but the appellation of parson, (however it may be depreciated by familia, clownish, and indiscriminate use) is the most legal, most beneficial, and most honorable title that a parish priest can enjoy; because such a one, (Sir Edward Coke observes) and he only, is said vicem seu personam ecclesiae gerere ("to carry out the business of the church in person")
-
- — Bl. Comm. I.11.V, p. *372
Legally, parish priests are separately given
spiritual and temporal jurisdiction (they are inducted and
installed). The spiritual responsibility is termed the cure of
souls, and one holding such a cure is a curate, which was also given to
parish assistants, or assistant curates. The title parson, however,
refers to the temporal jurisdiction over the churches and glebe. Depending on how the
tithes were apportioned, a
parson may be a rector or
a vicar. A parish priest
who received no tithes was legally a perpetual curate (to
distinguish him from assistant curates). However, historically,
many perpetual curates, as they were technically parsons (having
temporal jurisdiction), preferred to use this latter title. This
led to the term parson having three senses. It could refer to all
parish priests (rectors, vicars and perpetual curates) without
distinction; it could, through actual use, refer simply to
perpetual curates, or it could, through popular use, refer to any
member of the clergy, even assistant curates. An Act of Parliament
in 1868, changed the way that parochial clergy were paid, and
permitted perpetual curates to be called vicars. This led to the
rapid abandonment of the title parson in favour of vicar, to the
extent that now, as previously for parson, the term vicar is often
used for any cleric of the Church of England.
Ireland
In Ulster, in the early 17th century, every parish had a vicar and a parson instead of a co-arb and an erenagh. The vicar, like the co-arb, was always in orders. He said the mass (‘serveth the cure’) and received a share of the tithes. The parson, like the erenagh, had a major portion of the tithes, maintained the church and provided hospitality. As he was not usually in clerical orders, his responsibilities were mainly temporal.However, there were differences in the divisions
of the tithes between various dioceses in Tyrone. In the
Diocese
of Clogher, the vicar and the parson shared the tithes equally
between them; in the Diocese of
Derry, church income came from both tithes and the rental of
church lands (‘temporalities’). The vicar and the parson each
received one third of the tithes and paid an annual tribute to the
bishop. In places where there was no parson, the erenagh continued
to receive two thirds of the income in kind from the church lands,
and delivered the balance, after defraying maintenance, to the
Bishop in cash as a yearly rental. In other places, the parson, the
vicar and the erenagh shared the costs of church repairs equally
between them. In the Diocese
of Armagh the parson received two-thirds of the tithes and the
vicar one third. The archbishop and the erenagh impropriated no
part thereof because they received the entire income from the
termon lands.
The division of responsibilities between vicar
and parson seems to derive from a much earlier precedent
established in the old Celtic
Church of St Columcille.
Culture
- The Parson is a character from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. He tells "The Parson's Prologue and Tale", which is the final tale that Chaucer wrote.
- The song "Winter Wonderland" mentions they can "build a snowman, and pretend that he is Parson Brown." This is most likely a reference to a clergyman, as they tell him that he can do the job of probably performing a marriage ceremony for them when he is in town.
- In Roald Dahl's short-story, "Parson's Pleasure", the main character, Mr. Boggis, is disguised as a parson.
- The "Country Parson" is a stereotypical character in English rural life and literature.
- In 1963 The New Christy Minstrels released the album Merry Christmas!. On it was the song Parsons Brown (Our Christmas Dinner) which showed the parson in the story to hold much wealth and high regard in their town.
See also
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
DD, Doctor
of Divinity, Holy Joe, abbe, chaplain, churchman, clergyman, cleric, clerical, clerk, curate, cure, divine, ecclesiastic, man of God,
military chaplain, minister, padre, pastor, rector, reverend, servant of God,
shepherd, sky pilot,
supply clergy, supply minister, the Reverend, the very Reverend,
tonsured cleric