Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/239

Rh CATHEDRAL 227 bishop s see to another church, which by that transference at once assumes the dignity lost by the other. Thus the Oxfordshire Dorchester was the cathedral of the vast East Mercian diocese, until in 1072 Eemigius removed the cathedra to Lincoln, while the West Mercian prelates at one time had their see at Chester before it was finally fixed in its earlier habitation at Lichfield. Thus also in 1088 the abbey church of Bath became the cathedral of Somerset shire, which for nearly two centuries had been at Wells, where after a brief sojourn at Glastonbury the bishop s throne was again permanently set up in 120G. Towards the close of the 12th century the cathedral of Canterbury was in some danger of losing its rank, the contumacy of the monks having caused Archbishop Baldwin to conceive the idea of transferring his official seat to the church of Hackington, which would in that event have become the cathedral of the Kentish diocese, and the metropolitan church of England. Such a plan was actually carried out when, early in the 13th century (1220), Bishop Poore deserted the cathedral of Old Sarum, and founded the existing cathedral of Salisbury. The period of the Reformation saw the abbey churches of Bristol, Chester, Gloucester, Oxford, and Peterborough, and for a short space Westminster, elevated to cathedral rank by being made the seat of a bishop, a change which has been witnessed in the present century by the establishment of the sees of Eipon and Manchester. While we are writing, the church of Cumbrae has become the cathedral of the Scottish diocese of Argyll and the Isles, and the abbey church of St Albans is only waiting for the completion of preliminary necessary arrangements to be constituted the cathedral for the coun ties of Hertfordshire and Essex. By very early canons it was decreed that cathedrals should only be established in chief cities. The Council of Laodicea (361), following the legislation of the Council of Sardica (347), prohibited the appointment of bishops in villages or country places. Throughout the Roman empire, where the ecclesiastical coincided with the civil divisions, the seats of religious authority were fixed in the same spots as the seats of temporal authority, the bishop placing his cathedra in the city where the temporal governor had planted his curule chair. In Britain, however, where, in the early days when the church first developed her power, cities were but few and insignificant, the case was different. The bishop was rather the bishop of a district or of a tribe than of a city. The position of his cathedral was dictated by motives of convenience and security rather than by the dignity and populousness of the site. Not unfrequently the cathedra was migratory. This state of things drew to an end with the conclusion of the 10th century, when the country became more settled, and the Roman system was finally ratified by the Council of London (1075), which ordered that episcopal sees should be removed from unwalled villages to walled cities. In obedience to this decree the cathedrals of Salisbury, Chichester, and Chester (the last only temporarily) were created, succeeding to the episcopal dignity of those of Sherborne, Selsey, and Lichfield (Freeman, Hist, of Gorman Conquest, vol. iv. pp. 414-420). Other transferences of only slightly later date were those already mentioned from Dorchester to Lincoln, and from Wells to Bath, as well as that of the East Anglian see from Elmham to Thetford and thence to Norwich. Wherever established, the cathedral church was regarded as being, what it usually was in fact, the mother-church of the district dependent upon it. This district was for the first three centuries designated the parochia (TrapotKta) of the bishop. Gradually the term diocese (8101/070-15), originally signifying a civil province of the lesser sort, came to be transferred to ecclesiastical divisions, to the exclusion of the earlier name, which in its forms, parish, paroisse, parrocchia, &c., was restricted to the smaller ecclesiastical districts, each containing a single church. Cathedrals in their original idea possessed much of a mis sionary character. The district of which they were the ecclesiastical centre in general received the light of reli gious truth from them. They were the headquarters of the bishop and his clergy, from which they went forth for the evangelization of the heathen inhabitants pagani, i.e., dwellers in the pagi, or surrounding country villages. To this also they returned as their home for rest and refreshment, as well as for necessary conference. In the words of Dean Milrnan, &quot;Christianity was first estab lished in the towns and cities, and from each centre diffused itself with more or less success into the adjacent country. . . . The churches adjacent to the towns or cities either originally were or became the diocese of the city bishop &quot; (Hist, of Christianity, bk. iv. c. 1. 2). Thus, as Hooker says, &quot; Towns and villages abroad receiving the faith of Christ from cities whereunto they were adjacent, did, as spiritual and heavenly colonies, by their subjection honour those ancient mother churches out of which they grew &quot; (Eccl. Polit., bk. vii. c. 8, 2). In some cases, however, especially in Britain, the history of the cathedral was different. The missionary element was the same ; but instead of starting with a bishop as the centre of organized action, establishments of missionary priests were formed, with a church as the focus of their religious life and a monastery as their home, which only tardily attained cathedral rank by the appointment of a bishop to preside over them. The cathedral of Worcester is instanced by Professor Stubbs in this relation, as an example, &quot;like Canterbury itself, of a successful missionary establishment, thus attaining its due development &quot; (&quot; Cathedral of Worcester in the 8th century,&quot; Archceol. Jour., vol. xix. p. 244). The history of the missionary work of the Church of England during the early part of the present century reproduced this same system. The missionary clergy pre ceded the bishop, and cathedral dignity was imposed on a church not originally erected with any such object. The last twenty years have seen a return to the other more primitive plan of operations. In newly-constituted dioceses in Africa and elsewhere, the bishop takes the lead among his clergy in date of constitution as he does in official rank, and the cathedral church is one of the first require ments to be provided for. The true character and object of a cathedral church and establishment are thus well set forth by Bishop Stillingfleet : &quot; Every cathedral in its first institution was as a temple to the whole diocese, where the worship was to be performed in the most decent and con stant manner ; for which end it was necessary to have such a number of ecclesiastical persons there attending as might still be ready to do all the offices which did belong to the Christian church, such as constant prayer and hymns and preaching and celebration of sacraments, which were to be kept up in such a church, as the daily sacrifice was in the Temple.&quot; Though it was the church of the bishop, it was essential for its completeness that he should be surrounded by his college of presbyters, as the members of the body of which he was the head. The purpose of this collective body was threefold : (1.) Con sultative, as the concilium episcopi, by whose advice he might be strengthened in all important matters concern ing the diocese; ^2.) Ministerial, for the maintenance and celebration of public worship in its most reverent and dignified form, cum cantu et jubilatione ; and (3.) Diocesan, as the bishop s officials in the administration of his diocese, prepared also to go forth at his bidding to act as missionaries or evangelists in any part to which ha might see fit to send them. In this way there sprang up