DEAN

(Lat. decanus.) An ecclesiastical dignitary in cathedral and collegiate churches, being the head of the chapter of canons or prebendaries, and. forming together with them a council to advise the bishop in the affairs of fcis see. (See Chapter.) In England there are, properly speaking, three cla es of ecclesiastical presidencies to v/hich the title dean belongs; deans rural, deans of cathedrals, and deans in peculiars. Rural deans were originally beneficed clergymen appointed by the bishop to exercise a certain jurisdiction in districts of his diocese remote from his personal superintendence. They seem to have been equivalent in many respects to the cho rep is cop i of the early church, and many parts of their office are now discharged by the archdeacons. By degrees this office fell into disuse; and though rural deans are still occasionalljr employed in visitations, to examine into the state of repair of churches, and performance of divine service, their functions have for many years become almost obsolete. Deans of cathedrals have already been noticed. The third species of deans, or deans in peculiar, are those of "particular parishes and chur-ches, or rural districts that have jurisdiction within themselves, and are not vmder the ordinary of the diocese." These peculiars are of different kinds; and their functions consist sometimes of jurisdiction united to spiritual cure, as the dean of Battel in Su ex, and sometimes of jurisdiction only, as in the case of the Dean of the Arches, London. [s. 329]