ABBOT, the head and chief governor of a community of monks, called also in the East hegumenos or archimandrite. The title abbot is derived ultimately from the Hebrew ab, "father," through the Syriac abbas, and had its origin in the monasteries of Syria, whence it spread through the East, and soon became accepted in all languages as the designation of the head of a monastery. But though general in the West, it was never universal. Among the Dominicans, Carmelites, Augustinians, etc., the superior was called Prior; among the Franciscans, Custos ("guardian").
In Egypt, the first home of monasticism, the abbot or archi mandrite sometimes ruled over only one community, sometimes over several, each of which had its own abbot as well. By the rule of St. Benedict, which, until the reform of Cluny, governed mo nasticism in the West, the abbot has jurisdiction over only one community. The rule was subject to frequent violations; but it was not until the foundation of the Cluniac Order that the idea of a supreme abbot, exercising jurisdiction over all the houses of an order, was definitely recognized. New styles expressed this new relation; thus the abbot of Monte Cassino was called abbas abbatum ("abbot of abbots"), while the chiefs of other orders had the titles abbas generalis ("abbot general"), or magister ("master") or minister generalis ("minister general").
Monks, as a rule, were laymen, nor at the outset was the abbot any exception. All orders of clergy, therefore, took precedence of him. For religious offices the abbot and his monks were com manded to attend the nearest church.
Abbots were originally subject to episcopal jurisdiction, and continued generally so in the West till the 11th century. The first case recorded of the partial exemption of an abbot from episcopal control is that of Faustus, abbot of Lerins, at the council of Arles, A.D. 456; but the exorbitant claims and exactions of bishops ren dered it increasingly frequent, and, in the 6th century, the practice of making religious houses responsible to the Pope alone received an impulse from Gregory the Great. These exceptions, introduced with a good object, had grown into a widespread evil by the 12th century, the bishop being deprived of all authority over the chief centres of influence in his diocese. Abbots more and more assumed almost episcopal state, and adopted the episcopal insignia of mitre, ring, gloves and sandals, a custom which arose out of the granting by the Pope of the right to wear the mitre to particular distinguished abbots.
The first undoubted instance is the bull by which Alexander II. in 1063 granted the use of the mitre to Egelsinus, abbot of St. Augustine at Canterbury (see MITRE).
The adoption of episcopal insignia by abbots was followed by an encroachment on episcopal functions, which was ineffectually guarded against by the Lateran Council, A.D. 1123. In A.D. 1489 they were permitted by Innocent IV. to confer both the sub diaconate and diaconate. They always and everywhere had the power of admitting their own monks and vesting them with the religious habit. Originally the bishop of the diocese chose the abbot out of the monks of the convent, but the right of election was transferred by jurisdiction to the monks themselves, reserving to the bishop the confirmation of the election and the benediction of the new abbot. In abbeys exempt from episcopal jurisdiction the confirmation and benediction had to be conferred by the Pope in person, the house being taxed with the expenses of the new abbot's journey to Rome. An abbot had to be at least 25 years of age, of legitimate birth, and a monk of the house, unless it furnished no suitable candidate. The election was for life, unless the abbot was canonically deprived by the chiefs of his order, or, when he was directly subject to them, by the Pope or the bishop. The power of the abbot was absolute, limited only by the canons of the church and, until the general establishment of exemptions, by episcopal control. As a rule, however, implicit obedience was enforced.
The abbot was treated with the utmost reverence by the breth ren of his house. If he gave a command, the monk receiving it was to kneel. No monk might sit in his presence, or leave it without his permission. In the East he was commanded to eat with the other monks. In the West the rule of St. Benedict ap pointed him a separate table, at which he might entertain guests and strangers. This permission opening the door to luxurious living, the Council of Aix, A.D. 817, decreed that the abbot should dine in the refectory on the same fare as the monks, unless he had to entertain a guest. These ordinances proved, however, gen erally ineffectual, and contemporaneous literature abounds with satirical remarks and complaints concerning the inordinate extrav agance of the tables of the abbots.
The ordinary dress of the abbot was according to rule to be the same as that of the monks. But by the loth century the rule was commonly set aside, and we find frequent complaints of abbots adopting sumptuous attire. They sometimes even laid aside the monastic habit altogether. With the increase of wealth and power, abbots, in fact, lost much of their religious character, and vied in magnificence with the first nobles of the realm. They rode on mules with gilded bridles, rich saddles and housings, carrying hawks on their wrists, followed by an immense train of attendants. They associated on equal terms with laymen of the highest dis tinction, and shared all their pleasures and pursuits. This rank and power was, however, often used most beneficially. For instance, Richard Whiting, the last abbot of Glastonbury, judi cially murdered by Henry VIII. in 1539, educated in his household as many as 30o sons of noblemen and gentlemen, besides others of a meaner rank, whom he fitted for the universities. The abbots of Cluny and Vendome were, by virtue of their office, cardinals of the Roman church.
In process of time the title abbot was improperly transferred to clerics who had no connection with the monastic system, as to the principal of a body of parochial clergy. It even came to be adopted by purely secular officials. Thus the chief magistrate of the republic at Genoa was called Abbas Populi ("the abbot of the people"). Lay abbots were the outcome of the growth of the feudal system from the 8th century onwards. The practice of commendation, by which (to meet a temporary emergency) the revenues of the community were handed over to a lay lord and in return for his protection, early suggested to the emperors and kings the expedient of rewarding their warriors with rich abbeys held in commendam. During the Carolingian epoch the custom grew up of granting these as regular heritable fiefs or benefices, and by the loth century the system was firmly established. The example of the kings was followed by the feudal nobles, some times by making a temporary concession permanent, sometimes without any form of commendation whatever.
These lay abbacies were not merely a question of overlordship, but implied the concentration in lay hands of all the rights, im munities and jurisdiction of the foundations; i.e., the more or less complete secularization of spiritual institutions. The lay abbot took his recognized rank in the feudal hierarchy, and was free to dispose of his fief as in the case of any other.
In conventual cathedrals, where the bishop occupied the place of the abbot, the functions usually devolving on the superior of the monastery were performed by a prior.
The title abbe (Ital. abbate), as commonly used in the Roman Catholic church on the European continent, is the equivalent of the English "Father," being loosely applied to all who have received the tonsure. In the German Evangelical church the title of abbot (Abt) is sometimes bestowed, like abbe, as an honorary distinction, and sometimes survives to designate the heads of monasteries converted at the Reformation into collegiate founda tions. Of these the most noteworthy is the abbey of Lokkum in Hanover, founded as a Cistercian house in 1163 by Count Wil brand of Hallermund, and reformed in 1593.
Joseph Bingham, Origines ecclesiasticae (1840) ; Du Cange, Glossarium med. et inf. Lat. (ed. 1883) ; J. Craigie Robert son, Hist. of the Christian Church (1858-73) ; Edmond Martene, De antiquis ecclesiae ritibus (Venice, 1783) ; C. F. R. de Montalembert, Les moines d'occident depuis S. Benoit jusqu'a S. Bernard (186o-77) ; Achille Luchaire, Manuel des institutions francaises (Paris, 1892).