FATHER, the begetter of a child, the male parent. The word is used of male ancestors more remote than the actual male parent, and of ancestors in general, and is the orthodox term for the First Person of the Trinity. One who stands as a spiritual parent to another is his "father," e.g., godfather, and bishops or archbishops are given the title Right or Most Reverend Father in God. In the Roman church the pope is the Holy Father, while "father" is applied to a "regular," a member of one of the religious orders, and so to a confessor, whether regular or secular, and to any Roman priest. It is also used sometimes of sub-members of a religious society or fraternity in the English church. Of trans ferred uses, other than religious, mention may be made of the ap plication of the word Father to the first founders of an institu tion, a constitution, an epoch, and so on; thus the earliest settlers at Plymouth, Mass., are called Pilgrim Fathers, the ear liest settlers in other portions of New England, Puritan Fathers, and the framers of the United States constitution are the Fathers of the Constitution. In ancient Rome the members of the senate are the Patres conscripti, the "conscript fathers." The senior member of a society is often called the father. Thus the member of the British House of Commons or of the U.S. House of Repre sentatives, who has sat for the longest period uninterruptedly, is the Father of the House. (See FATHERS of THE CHURCH.)