Vicar

(vik'ar.) [From L. vicarius, a substitute.] (Eccl.) The title given to the substitute, whether temporary or permanent, employed to act in the place of certain ecclesiastical officials, whether individuals or corporations; as of the pope, a bishop, a chapter, a parish priest, . Vicars take different names from these various considerations. Vicars of the Pope are called "vicars-apostolic," and they are generally invested with episcopal authority, in some place where there is no canonical bishop. [s. 937]