CANONRY

A canonry is a name of office, and a canon is the officer; in like manner as a prebendary ; and a prebend is the maintenance or stipend both of the one and the other.— Gibson. It is not easy to a ign a reason why this name should have been given to members of cathedral churches. Some have thought it was because a great number of them were regular priests, and obliged to observe the canons or rules of their respective orders, or founders, or visitors. According to Nicholls, the name is of a higher origin, and not so directly from the Greek word κάνων , regula , a statute or ordinance, as from the Latin word canon , an allowance or stated quantity of provision. Thus it is used by Cicero. So the collection of the respective quotas of the provinces sent in corn to Rome for the subsistence of the poorer citizens was called the canon . Afterwards, when Christianity prevailed, the word was adapted to an ecclesiastical use, and those clergymen that had the canon , or sportula , taken from the common bank of the church offerings delivered out to them for their maintenance, come to be called canonic i . As the church revenues were divided into four parts—one for the maintenance of the bishop, a second for the fabric of the church, and a third for the poor, so a fourth part was divided among the subordinate clergy, who lived in a collegiate manner about the bishop. It seems most likely, however, that the word canon meant to designate one who resided at the cathedral church constantly, and followed the rule of Divine service there. So the application of the word at home and abroad would seem to indicate. Thus, till a very late enactment, 3 & 4 Vic. c. 113, the word canon was restricted in cathedrals of the old foundation to the residentiaries. Prebendary was statutably applied to all, because all had a præbend a, either fixed stipend, or an estate in fee: while in the cathedrals of new foundation all were called indifferently canons or prebendaries, because all were equally bound to residence. The act referred to has now directed that all shall be styled canons (except perhaps the prebendaries retained, but without their ancient stipends or estates) in the cathedrals of old foundation. Neverthele , all canons are still really prebendaries , as long as they have any property. In Ireland, the only prebendaries denominated canons, are those of Kildare. These form the le er chapter. Canons in most cathedrals were divided into two cla es, major, or minor. (See Minor Canons .) The fellowships of the collegiate church in Manchester, since its elevation into a cathedral, have been recently erected into canonries, and the warden of former times is now called dean. Canonry, or chanonrie, in Scotland, was the same as the cathedral precinct in England. Thus at Aberdeen the canonry included the cathedral, bishop’s palace, prebendal houses, gardens, and an hospital, all surrounded by a stone wall. ( Kennedy’s Annals of Aberdeen. ) The cathedral town of Rosemarkie, or Fort rose, in the diocese of Ro , was sometimes called the canonry town, or channery town.