CATHEDRAL (ante). As Christianity was at first established chiefly in cities, the churches that grew up adjacent to them were, either originally or eventually, included in the diocese of the city bishop. Throughout the Roman empire the ecclesiastical divisions were the same as the civil, and the bishop's seat was placed in the same city with the governor's chair of state. From this point the transition was easy to the formal decree requiring that a C. as the seat of a bishop should be established in cities only. In Britain, however, where in the early days of Christianity cities were few and small, this rule could not be enforced. The bishop was over a district or tribe rather than a city, and naturally placed his seat where he found it most convenient and safe. Often he was compelled to remove it from one place to another. As the country became more settled this necessity ceased to exist, and at the close of the 11th century a law was passed requiring that the sees of bishops should be removed from villages to walled cities. In the early missionary work, especially of Britain, instead of beginning with a bishop, companies of priests were organized, with the church as their center of work and the monastery as their home. After sufficient progress had been made, a bishop was appointed over them, and the church became a cathedral. The revival of missionary work by the church of England, at the beginning of the present century, led to a renewal of this system. The bishop followed the missionaries, and placed his seat in a church not originally designed for the honor. In colonial and foreign missionary work, within the last 25 years. there has been a return to the earlier plan. In the dioceses of Africa, New Zealand, and elsewhere, the bishop takes the lead in the date of his appointment as well as in rank, and his cathedral church is at once erected and manned. In this way the original design of such an establishment as described by bishop Stillingfieet is accom plished. "Every C., in its first institution, was as a temple to the whole diocese, where the worship was to be performed in the most decent and constant manner; for which end it was necessary to have such a number of ecclesiastical persons there attending as might still be ready to do all the offices which did belong to the Christian church— such as constant offering of prayer, singing, preaching, and administering sacraments— which were to be kept up in such a church as the daily sacrifice was in the temple." The bishop in his church was surrounded by his college of presbyters, of which lie was the head, and the design of which was: 1. To strengthen him by wise counsel. 2. To maintain public worship with reverence and dignity. 3. To go forth at his command, as evangelists, whithersoever he might send them. In this way the chapter of the C. was established, originally in closest connection with the bishop, and having no corporate existence separate from him. It sometimes consisted of "secular clergy," who were not bound by monastic vows, and had separate homes of their own ; and sometimes of "regulars," who were under monastic rule and lived in buildings common to all. Of both kinds of chapters the bishop was the head: of the latter, as the abbot of the mon astery to which his cathedral church belonged; and of the former, as having sole authority over it. In early times, there was an arch-presbyter, who had chief authority among the cathedral clergy, always in strict subordination to the bishop. He was gradually
supplanted by the archdeacon, who was followed in the 8th and 9th centuries by the " prxpositus" or provost. The "dean," the present head of all English cathedral chap ters, first appears in the 10th or 11th century. Gradually, as the bishop's diocesan duties increased and important political functions also were assigned him, he was obliged to leave the affairs of his C. to the head of the chapter, who consequently, in time, became the actual chief; and when the chapter was organized as an independent corporation, the bishop, seldom present, sank into a mere " visitor, " called in occasionally to correct abuses or settle disputes. This is the explanation of the strange anomaly, witnessed in modern times, that in his own cathedral church, of which he is the titular head, and which is dignified by the presence of his seat, the bishop has less authority than in any other church of his diocese. Under the bishop as its nominal head, the chapter of a fully organized C., formed of secular priests, consisted of four chief dignitaries and a body of canons. I. The four high officers were: 1, the "dean," as the general head of the chapter charged with its internal discipline; 2, the precentor, presiding over the choir and musical arrangements; 3, the chancellor, who superintended the religious and liter ary instruction of the younger members, took care of the library, and wrote the letters; 4, the treasurer, to whom were intrusted, not the money of the church (as might appear from the modern use of the word), but its sacred vessels, altar-furniture, reliquaries, and similar treasures. II. In addition to these dignitaries, a cathedral chapter consisted of a board of officers called canons, because they were inrolled on the list and perhaps because they were subjected to the rules; some of them who enjoyed a separate estate (prrebentla) in addition to their share of the corporate funds, were called prebendaries. A preben dary was always a canon, but a canon was not always a prebendary. Each canon had his own house and personal establishment. In the middle ages an attempt was made to impose on them, in part, monastic rules with dining-hall and lodging-rooms in common; but the restriction was never acceptable, and was gradually given up. Monastic cathe drals closely resembled other monasteries, except that in the almost constant absence of the bishop—their nominal abbot—they were governed by a prior. At the reformation the distinction between secular and monastio cathedrals was maintained under the titles of cathedrals of the old and new foundations. And when the monasteries were sup pressed, the cathedrals connected with them were furnished with new chapters of secular canons, presided over by a dean. In the early part of queen Victoria's reign all the cathedrals in England and Wales were reduced to a uniform constitution.
In the Protestant Episcopal church in the United States, there is in recent years an evident movement in some dioceses toward the establishment of the cathedral system of England, with such modifications as the circumstances may require. For the diocese of Long island, noble structures are now in process of erection at Garden City, including schools of various grades, and institutions of beneficence, grouped around a magnificent cathedral church. The funds for this great work are from the estate of the late Alex ander T. Stewart, of New York.