ARCHBISHOP, iirch'bish'ilp (Gk. cipxc-, arehi-, chief + erto-Koros, caiskopos, overseer). The title given to a metropolitan bishop who superintends the conduct of the suffragan bishops in his province, and also exercises episcopal authority in his own diocese. The archbishop was profitably originally the bishop of the chief town. The office appears as early as the Fourth Century. In the Oriental Church the archbishops are still called 'metropolitans,' from the cir cumstance mentioned. In the African Church, on the other hand, the term used was 'primus.' The great archbishoprics of the early Church were those of Jerusalem. Antioch. Ephesus. Alexan dria. Constantinople, and Rome. Since the Sixth Century the of Rome has borne the name of Pope (papa). There is an official letter by Justinian. addressed to "John, Archbishop of Rome and Patriarch," and several ecclesiasti cal constitution are addressed to "Epiphanies, Archbishop of Constantinople and Patriarch." The Synod of Antioch. in 341, assigned to tho archbishop the superintendence over all the bish oprics and a precedence in rank over all the bishops of the Church. who, on important mat ters. were bound to consult him and be guided by his advice. By degrees there arose, out of this superiority of rank, privileges which at length assumed the character of positive juris diction in ecclesiastical matters. Many of these rights passed to the patriarchs (q.v.) toward the end of the Fourth and clueing the Fifth Cen tury, and still more to the Pope in the Ninth. The archbishops still retained jurisdiction, in the first instance, over their suffragans in matters which were not criminal. and over those who were subject to them they acted as a court of appeal. They possessed also the right of calling together, and presiding in, the provincial synods; the superintendence and power of visitation over the bishops of the metropolitan see; the power of enforcing the laws of the Church; the dispen sation of indulgences, and the like. The arch bishops further enjoyed the honor of having the cross carried before them in their own archi episcopate, even in presence of the Pope himself, and of wearing the punium.
In the Established Church of England there are two archbishops, both appointed by the sovereign, of whom the one has his seat at Can terbury. the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kent ; the other at York, the capital of North umbria. But though, as ruling over a province in place of a single diocese, both have enjoyed the rank of metropolitans from the first, the Arch bishop of Canterbury has all along enjoyed, not merely precedence as the successor of Augustine and the senior archbishop, but as possessing a preeminent and universal authority over the whole kingdom. This preeminence is marked in the titles which they respectively assume—the Archbishop of Canterbury being styled the Pri mate of All England (mctropolitanUS et print us lotins Anglim), while the Archbishop of York is simply called Primate of England (primus et metropolitanus It is also indicated by the places which they occupy in proeessions the Archbishop of Canterbnry, who has precedence of all the nobility, not only preceding the Arch bishop of York, but the Lord Chancellor being in terposed between them. Previous to the creation of an archbishopric in Ireland the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury extended to that island. The amount of control which belongs to an archbishop over the bishops of his province is not very accurately defined ; but if any bishop introduces irregularities into his diocese, or is guilty of immorality, the archbishop may call him to account and even deprive him. In 1822.
the Archbishop of Armagh, who is Primate of All Ireland, deposed the Bishop of Clogher on the latter To the Archbishop of Canter bury belongs the honor of placing the crown on the sovereign's head at his coronation: and the Archbishop of York claims the like privilege in the case of the Queen-Consort. whose perpetual chaplain he is. The province of the Archbishop of York consists of the six northern counties, with Cheshire and Nottinghamshire. The,rest of Eng land and \Vales form the province of the Arch bishop of Canterbury. The dioceses of the two arehbishops—that is to say, the districts in which they exercise ordinary episcopal functions —were remodeled by 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 77. The diocese of Canterbury comprises Kent, except the city and deanery of Rochester, and some parishes transferred by this act; a number of parishes in Sussex called 'peculiar': with small districts in other dioceses,particularly London. The diocese of the Archbishop of York embraces the county of York, except that portion of it now included in the dioceses of Ripon and INIanehester; the whole county I if Nottingham, and some other de tached districts. In Ireland there are two Protestant archbishops, elected by their fellow bishops out of their number, and four Roman Catholic. Of the former, the Archbishop of Ar magh is Primate of All Ireland; the Archbishop of Dublin being Primate of Ireland. They for merly sat alternately in the House of Lords; the three bishops who, along with them, represented the Church of Ireland, being chosen by rotation.
The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has one archbishop; in Scotland two arch bishops, while the Episcopal Church in that country has no archbishop, but a prim us. An English archbishop writes himself. "by divine providence•; a bishop being, "by divine per mission"; and an archbishop has the title of "Grace," and "Most Reverend Father in God," while a bishop is styled and "Right Rev erend Father in God." The archbishop it enti tled to present to all ecclesiastical livings in the disposal of diocesan bishops, if not filled within six months; and every bishop, whether created or translated, was formerly bound to make a legal conveyance to the archbishop of the next avoid ance of one such dignity or benefice belonging to Ids see as the archbishop should choose.
The onlN archbishops in the United States are those of the Roman Catholic Church, now four teen in number. Up to 1789 the ecclesiastical government of that Church in this country con tinued under the vicar apostolic of the London district, the local superior at that time being Father John C-arroll. of Baltimore. In 1789 Baltimore was erected into an episcopal see, and Father Carroll became bishop. In 1808, after New Orleans, New York, and Boston had been erected into sees, Baltimore was raised to metro politan rank. Father Carroll becoming the first archbishop, as lie had been the first bishop, in this country. The dates of the establishments of other archiepiscopal sees in this country are as follows—the tirst (late being that of the founda tion of the see, and the second of its elevation to a metropolis: Oregon City, 1846. 1846; Saint Louis, 1826, 1847; New Orleans, 1793, 1850; New York. 1808. 1850; Cincinnati, 1821, 1850; Dubuque, 1837, 1893; San Francisco, 1853, 1853; Milwaukee, 1844, 1875; Boston, 1808, 1875; Philadelphia, 180S, 1875: Santa F5, 1850, Chicago, 1844, 1880; Saint Paul, 1850, 1888.