Vicar

vik′ar, n. one who holds authority as the delegate or substitute of another: a parson of a parish where the tithes are impropriate to a layman or to a chapter, he receiving only the smaller tithes or a salary: ( R.C. Church ) a bishop's a istant who exercises jurisdiction in his name.— ns. Vic′arāge , the benefice or residence of a vicar; Vic′ar-apostol′ic (formerly one to whom the pope delegated some remote portion of his jurisdiction), now usually a titular bishop appointed to a country where either no sees have been formed or the episcopal succe ion has been broken; Vic′ar-chō′ral , an a istant, cleric or lay, at an English cathedral, esp. in connection with the music; Vic′ar-forāne′ , an ecclesiastic to whom a bishop gives a limited jurisdiction in a town or district of his diocese—in effect, a rural dean; Vic′ar-gen′eral , an official performing the work of an archdeacon under the bishop: in the English Church, an officer a isting the bishop, the chancellor of the diocese.— adjs. Vīcā′rial , pertaining to a vicar: substituted; Vīcā′riāte , having vicarious or delegated power.— n. (also Vic′arāte ) vicarship, delegated power.— adj. Vīcā′rio us , filling the place of another: performed or suffered in place of or for the sake of another.— adv. Vīcā′riously .— ns. Vīcā′riousne ; Vīcā′rius , a vicar; Vic′arship , the office of a vicar; Vic′ary , a vicarage.— Vicarious sacrifice ( theol. ), the suffering of Christ accepted by God in lieu of the punishment to which guilty man is liable.— Vicar-of-Bray , one who turns his coat without difficulty to suit the times—from Simon Aleyn, who kept the vicarage of Bray from 1540 to 1588, during the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth; Vicar of Christ , a title a umed by the pope, who claims to be the representative of Christ on earth as the head of His Church. [L. vicarius , supplying the place of another— vic is , change, alternation.]