CURATE, properly a presbyter who has the cure of souls within a parish (from the Lat. curare, to take care of). The term is used in this general sense in the English Book of Common Prayer; and in continental Europe the cognate term (Fr. cure, Ital. curato, Span. cura, etc.) is applied to parish priests.
The term is now used almost exclusively, in English-speaking countries, to signify an unbeneficed clergyman who is assistant to a parish priest. This usage, which hardly goes back further than the early 19th century, was at first restricted to the Church of England, and to the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland; but has now become general in both churches, though the more exact title "assistant curate" is used by Anglican bishops in licensing such persons. The term "perpetual curate" denotes, in the Church of England, the incumbent of a parish where the tithes are impro priate (i.e., transferred to lay hands) and no vicarage has been endowed ; but an act of parliament was passed in 1868, authorizing perpetual curates to style themselves vicars (see VICAR), and the former name has fallen into desuetude.