The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Abbé

ABBÉ, ab-ā, originally the French name for an abbot, but later used in the general sense of a priest of clergyman. By a concordant between Pope Leo X and Francis I in 1516, the French king had the right to nominate upward of 200 abbés commendataires, who drew a third of the revenues of the monasteries without having any duty to perform. They were not necessarily clergy, but were expected to take orders unless exempted by a dispensation. The hope of obtaining one of these sinecures led multitudes of young men, many of them of noble birth, to enter the clerical career, which however seldom went further than taking the inferior orders; and it became customary to call such aspirants abbés, jocularly, Abbés of St. Hope. They formed a considerable and influential class in society; and an abbé, distinguished by a short violet-colored robe, was often found as chaplain or tutor in noble households, or engaged in literary work. This class of nominal clergy disappeared at the Revolution. In Italy they are called abbate.