appointment of all the bishops; but the exercise of this right is modified by concordats with the sovereigns of the respective states. In France, since the concordat between Pope Leo X. and King Francis I, the sovereign has had the exclusive right of nominating the bishops, but the nomination is subject to the Pope s confirmation. In Austria (with the exception of four bishoprics), in Bavaria, in Spain, and in Portugal, the bishops are also nominated by the sovereign. In some countries the bishops are elected by the chapter of the cathedral church, as in "Wiirtemberg, or by the bishops of the province, as in Ireland. In England, in the United States of America, and in Belgium, the Pope selects one out of a list of candidates submitted to him by the chapter. In all cases the bishop-nominate or the bishop-elect, as the case may be, has to obtain from the Holy See certain letters, entitled provisions, to authorize his consecration, and to recommend him to the protection of the sovereign and to the good
offices of his metropolitan.In the Church of Russia, after its separation from that of Constantinople, the right to elect a bishop was for some centuries vested in a synod of bishops, but by a regulation of the Emperor Peter the Great, the Holy Synod was restricted to recommend two persons to the sovereign for him to select one of them to be bishop. This regulation, .however, is not always observed, and the sovereign, if he thinks fit, sets aside the list submitted to him by the Synod, .and nominates of his own choice a person whom the Synod is obliged to elect. In Russia a diocese sometimes contains two capital cities, and the bishop has his title from both.
In the Church of the Levant, properly called the Greek Church, which is governed by the four patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, each patriarch has the right of confirming the election of the bishops within his patriarchate ; but the firman or barat of the sultan is likewise necessary to give full authority to .the bishops after their confirmation.
The bishops of the Church of England are twenty-eight in number, two of them being metropolitans, namely, Canterbury and York, who enjoy the more dignified title of archbishop, and have a special precedence assigned to them by law (see Archbishop). The twenty-six diocesan bishops, with the exception of the bishop of the Isle of Man, who is designated the bishop of Sodor and Man, are lords of parliament, and take precedence of the barons in the House of Lords ; but the junior bishop for the time being is, by statute, disentitled from being summoned to parliament. From this disqualification the bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester are exempt. These three bishops have precedence over one another in the order in which their names are above mentioned, and they precede all the other bishops, the latter taking precedence of one another according to the date of their appointment. The junior bishop who has a seat in parliament acts as chaplain to the House of Lords.
In the Church of England the bishops exercise certain spiritual functions which are held not to be within the competence of the presbyters. They alone can administer the rite of confirmation to baptized persons, and they alone can ordain candidates for the sacred ministry. These functions the bishops exercise in virtue of their order, but they are also empowered by law to exercise a certain jurisdiction over all consecrated places and over all ordained persons. This jurisdiction they exercise for the most part through their consistorial courts, or through commissioners appointed under 3 and 4 Viet. c. 86, called the Church Discipline Act. The bishops also exercise a certain jurisdiction over marriages, inasmuch as they have by the canons of the Church of England a power of dispensing with the proclamation of banns before marriage. These dispensations are termed marriage licences, and their legal validity is recognized by the Marriage Act, 4 Geo. IV. c. 76. The bishops had formerly jurisdiction over all questions touching the validity of marriages and the status of married persons, but this jurisdiction has been transferred from the consistorial courts of the bishops to a court of the Crown by 20 and 21 Viet. c. 85. They have in a similar manner been relieved of their jnrisdiction in testamentary matters, and in matters of defamation and of brawling in churches ; and the only jurisdiction which they continue to exercise over the general laity is with regard to their use of the churches and churchyards. The churchwardens, who are representative officers of the parishes, are also executive officers of the bishops in all matters touching the decency and order of the churches and of the churchyards, and they are responsible to the bishops for the due discharge of their duties ; but the abolition of church-rates has relieved the churchwardens of- the most onerous part of their duties, which was connected with the stewardship of the church funds of their parishes.
The bishops are still authorized by law to dedicate and set apart buildings for the solemnization of divine service, and grounds for the performance of burials, according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England ; and such buildings and grounds, after they have been duly con secrated according to law, cannot be diverted to any secular purpose except under the authority of an Act of parliament.
The bishops of England have also jurisdiction to examine clerks who may be presented to benefices within their respective dioceses, and they are bound in each case by the 95th canon of 1604 to inquire and inform themselves of the sufficiency of each clerk within twenty-eight days, after which time, if they have not rejected him as insuffi ciently qualified, they are bound to institute him, or to license him, as the case may be, to the benefice, and thereupon to send their mandate to the archdeacon to induct him into the temporalities of the benefice. Where the bishop himself is patron of a benefice within his own diocese he is empowered to collate a clerk to it, in other words, to confer it on the clerk without the latter being presented to him. Where the clerk himself is patron of the living, the bishop may institute him on his. own petition. See Benefice.
are, that he should be a learned presbyter of at least thirty years of age, born in lawful matrimony, and of good life and behaviour. The mode of his appointment is regulated by 24 Henry VIII. c. 20. Upon the avoidance of a bishopric the Crown is authorized to issue to the dean and chapter of the cathedral church of the see a licence for them to proceed to the election of a bishop, accompanied by a letter missive containing the name of the person whom they are to elect. The dean and chapter are thereupon required, within twelve days, to elect the person so named by the Crown to be the bishop of the vacant see, failing which election the Crown is impowered to name, by letters patent under the Great Seal addressed to the archbishop and metropolitan of the province, such person to be bishop as the Crown shall think able and convenient. Upon the election being reported to the Crown, a mandate issues from the Crown to the archbishop and metropolitan, requesting him and commanding him to confirm the election, and to invest and consecrate the bishop-elect. Thereupon the archbishop issues a commission to his vicar-general to examine formally the process of the election of the bishop, and to supply by his authority all defects in matters of form, and to administer to the bishop-elect the oaths of
allegiance, of supremacy, and of canonical obedience.