Information about Primate (religion)

Primate (from the Latin Primus, "first") is a title or rank bestowed on some bishops in certain Christian churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority (title of authority) or ceremonial precedence (title of honour).

Roman Catholic Church

In the Western Church, a Primate is an archbishop—or rarely a suffragan or exempt bishop—of a specific episcopal see (called a primas) which confers precedence over the bishops of one or more neighboring ecclesiastical provinces, such as a 'national' church in historical, political, and cultural terms. Historically, primates were granted privileges including the authority to call and preside at national synods, the jurisdiction to hear appeals from metropolitan tribunals, the right to crown the sovereign of the nation, and presiding at the investiture (installation) of bishops in their sees.

The office is generally found in the older Catholic countries, and is now purely honorific, enjoying no single real right under canon law. The title, if it exists, may be vested in one of the oldest archdioceses in a country. The see city may no longer have the prominence it had when the diocese was created, or its circumscription may no longer exist as a state, nation or country — for example, the Archbishop of Toledo originated as the "Primate of the Visigothic Kingdom", while the Archbishop of Lyon is the "Primate of the Gauls".

Some of the leadership functions once exercised by primates, specifically presiding at meetings of the bishops of a nation or region, are now vested in the president of the national conference of bishops. With the exception of the President of the Conferenza Episcopale Italiana, these presidents are elected by the other bishops of the conference for a fixed term in office. Other functions of primates, such as hearing appeals from metropolitan tribunals, are now reserved to the Holy See.

The equivalent position in the Eastern Catholic Churches is an exarch. In the order of precedence of the Catholic Church, primates and exarchs rank immediately below major archbishops, and precede metropolitan archbishops. Primates who have been made cardinals follow the precedence established for cardinals, unlike the higher ranks enjoying no precedence, not even the right to join a high order of the sacred college.

At the First Vatican Council (Coll. Lacens., VII, pp. 34, 488, 726) the only (arch)bishops figuring as primates, in virtue of then recent concessions, were these (by country) :

• Hungary — Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, styled Prince-primate of Gran (now Esztergom) (uniquely, a legal status under imperial Habsburg rule)
• Germany — Archbishop of Mainz (before 1801)
• the exempt archbishopric Antivari (Bar in Servo-Croatian, now in Montenegro) is primate of Dalmatia since the 12th century (formal papal confirmation 1902)
• the Archbishop of Salerno, in the historical Neapolitan kingdom as "Primate of Servia"
• Belgium — Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussel (previously Mechelen, primate of all the Netherlands = Low Countries)
• Brazil — Archbishop of Sao Salvador da Bahia
• Ireland — Archbishop of Armagh, known as "Primate of All Ireland"; not to be confused with the Archbishop of Dublin's concurrent title "Primate of Ireland", both titles predating the political division of Ireland and therefore related to the whole island
• Poland — traditionally Archbishop of Gniezno (Gnesen in German, Gnesna in Latin), an exception for the incumbent Senior Archbishop of Warsaw who headed both archdioceses until 1992
• in Spain — Tarragona (under the Aragonese crown, now in Catalonia; for its Castilian rival Toledo, see below).

A selection of primatial pretences in other countries (here grouped by modern states, but sometimes the claimed 'primas' had a smaller or overlapping territory) and their Roman Catholic primates (some historical claims are dormant or have been void for centuries; new titles can only be awarded by the Holy See):

• Argentina — Archbishop of Córdoba, Argentina (being the oldest see in the country- though Buenos Aires, the far larger capital, was the first archdiocese);
• Australia — Archbishop of Sydney, who is effectively primate by precedence due to his usually being a cardinal.
• Canada — Archbishop of Quebec
• Colombia — Archbishop of Bogotá
• Cuba — Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba
• Ecuador — Archbishop of Quito (over three more provinces)
• France — Archbishop of Lyon ("Primate of the Gauls"); also Archbishop of Reims, Archbishop of Bourges, Archbishop of Vienne (once titled Primate of Primates), Archbishop of Narbonne, Archbishop of Bordeaux, Archbishop of Rouen
• Germany — the Elector-Archbishop of Mainz (Mayence; before 1801); also Trier (old imperial capital of a Tetrach) and Magdeburg (for the eastern colonisation)
• Austria — Archbishop of Salzburg (since 1648, confusingly styled "Primas Germaniae")
• Italy — Bishop of Rome (the Pope)
• Kenya — Archbishop of Nairobi (over three more provinces)
• Mexico — Archbishop of Mexico, the main and oldest diocese of the country.
• Netherlands — Archbishop of Utrecht (sole Metropolitan; formerly Prince-bishop while still suffragan)
• Nicaragua — Archbishop of Managua (sole Metropolitan)
• Philippines — Archbishop of Manila
• across the Pyrenees, the French archbishoprics of Auch (western) and Narbonne (eastern) claimed, in 714-1019, primacy over the northern parts of Spain, ultimately relinquished to Tarragona (in Catalonia)
• in England, Canterbury and the old imperial Tetrarch's capital, York; both remained primatial within Anglicanism, there solidly institutionalized as the country's only provinces
• Portugal — the Archbishop of Braga, claiming primacy over the Spanish Roman province of Galicia to its north, where the pilgrimage mecca of Santiago de Compostela itself later claimed to be a primas - his Portuguese precedence was lost when the national capital was raised to the higher rank of Patriarch of Lisbon
• Scandinavia — Lund, now in southern Sweden (lost even its Metropolitan dignity, but still exists as a simple diocese) was primas of a larger Denmark, above the other, slightly younger Swedish Archbishopric, Uppsala (famous for its university), also extending into Finland and even Reval (Teutonic Order, but not under Riga; now in Estonia)- all these countries turned predominantly Protestant
• Scotland — Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh
• Tunisia's Carthage was 'restored' a primacy (though originally it held the position without the title in Roman times) in 1893, under French colonial protectorate
• primate of all Spain by papal bull of 1088 — the Archbishop of Toledo (originally of the Visigothic kingdom), under the Castilian crown
• Zimbabwe — Archbishop of Harare (over one other province: Bulawayo)

When England and Wales was split into three ecclesiastical provinces in 1911, the pre-existent Archbishop of Westminster was given certain privileges of pre-eminence constituting him 'chief metropolitan', but without the title of primate. Similarly the Archbishop of Seoul is often considered to be the primate of Korea, but such title has never been granted by the Vatican. Such 'analogous' use of the title is confusing and technically incorrect.

"Honorary" titles

The following are often called by the title "Primate" of the area indicated, for historical, or other reasons. However, the titles do not have official ecclesiastical standing:

• In the United States, where an official primacy was never awarded, the Archbishop of Baltimore is sometimes called "honorary primate" -- since Baltimore was the first diocese in the nation, its bishop is granted ceremonial precedence before all the bishops (except those nominally created cardinals) of all other sees in the United States.
• Archbishop of Prague - Primate of Bohemia.^[1]

Orthodox Christianity

In the Orthodox churches, Primate is often used in the general sense of the head of an autocephalous or autonomous church, but not as a specific title. Thus, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, the Archbishop of Athens, the Archbishop of Washington and New York, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, and the Archbishop of Karelia and All Finland are all primates of their respective churches, regardless of their individual titles.

Anglican Communion

An Anglican primate is the chief bishop or archbishop of one of the thirty-eight churches (also known as provinces) of the Anglican Communion [1]. Some of these provinces are stand-alone ecclesiastical provinces (such as the Church of the Province of West Africa), while others are national churches comprising several ecclesiastical provinces (such as the Church of England). Since 1978, the Anglican primates have met annually for an Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is regarded as the chief (though primus-inter-pares) of the Anglican primates. While the gathering has no legal jurisdiction, it acts as one of the informal instruments of unity among the autonomous provinces of the Communion.

In stand-alone ecclesiastical provinces, the Primate is the metropolitan archbishop of the province. In national churches composed of several ecclesiastical provinces, the Primate will be senior to the metropolitan archbishops of the various provinces, and may also be a metropolitan archbishop. In those churches which do not have a tradition of archiepiscopacy, the Primate is a bishop styled "Primus" (in the case of the Scottish Episcopal Church, "Presiding Bishop", "President-Bishop", "Prime Bishop" or simply "Primate". In the case of the Episcopal Church in the United States, which is composed of several ecclesiastical provinces, there is a Presiding Bishop who is its Primate, but the individual provinces are not led by metropolitans.

The Moderators of the United Churches of North and South India, which are united with other originally non-Anglican churches, and which are part of the Anglican Communion, while not primates, participate in the Primates' Meetings.

Anglican primates may be attached to a fixed See (e.g., the Archbishop of Canterbury is invariably the Primate of All England), he or she may be chosen from among sitting metropolitans or diocesan bishops and retain their See (as with, for example, the Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia), or he or she may have no See (as in the Anglican Church of Canada). Primates are generally chosen by election (either by a Synod consisting of laity, clergy and bishops, or by a House of Bishops). In some instances, the primacy is awarded on the basis of seniority among the episcopal college. In the Church of England, the Primate, like all bishops, is appointed by the British Sovereign, in his or her capacity as Supreme Governor of the established church, on the advice of the Crown Appointments Commission.

It should be noted that in the Church of England and in the Church of Ireland, the metropolitan of the second province has since medieval times also been accorded the title of Primate. In England, the Archbishop of Canterbury is known as the "Primate of All England" while the Archbishop of York is "Primate of England" (see also Primacy of Canterbury). In Ireland both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh are titled "Primate of All Ireland", while the Archbishops of Dublin are titled "Primate of Ireland". The junior primates of these churches do not normally participate in the Primates' Meeting.

Regular clergy equivalent

In the modern confederation of the Benedictine Order, all the Black Monks of St. Benedict were united under the presidency of an Abbot Primate (Leo XIII, Summum semper, 12 July, 1893); but the unification, fraternal in its nature, brought no modification to the abbatial dignity, and the various congregations preserved their autonomy intact. The loose structure of the Benedictine Confederation is claimed to have made Pope Leo XIII exclaim that the Benedictines were ordo sine ordine ("an order without order"). The powers of the Abbot Primate are specified, and his position defined, in a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars dated 16 September, 1893. The primacy is attached to the Abbey and International Benedictine College of St. Anselm in Rome and the Primate, who takes precedence of all other abbots, is empowered to pronounce on all doubtful matters of discipline, to settle difficulties arising between monasteries, to hold a canonical visitation, if necessary, in any congregation of the order, and to exercise a general supervision for the regular observance of monastic discipline. The Primatial powers are only vested in the Abbot Primate to act by virtue of the proper law of its autonomous Benedictine congregation, which at the present is minimal to none. However, certain branches of the Benedictine Order seem to have lost their original autonomy to some extent.

In a similar way the Confederation of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, elects an Abbot Primate as figurehead of the Confederation and indeed the whole Canonical Order. The Abbots and Superiors General of the nine congregations of confederated congregations of Canons Regular elect a new Abbot Primate for a term of office lasting six years. The Current Abbot General is Rt. Rev. Fr Maurice Bitz, Abbot of St. Pierre, and Abbot General of the Canons Regular of St. Victor.

Notes

Sources and references

• Catholic Encyclopaedia (also other articles)
• Catholic Hierarchy
• GCatholic.com
• Westermann Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German)