vicar
(ˈvɪkə(r))
Forms: α. 4 vikere, 4–6 vykere, vyker (5 vykeyr), viker; 4 veker, 6 -ere; 4, 6 vicker (6 ficker, fycker, vyckyr). β. 4–6 vicare (4 wic-, 6 vycare), 4– vicar (5–6 vycar, 6 Sc. wicar; 5 vikar, 6 vykar), 6 Sc., 7 viccar (6 Sc. vyccar, wickar); 5 vicour. γ. 4, 7 vicaire, 5 vic-, vycayre; 4, 7 vicair, 5 vicayr, 6 vycayr.
[a. AF. vikere, vicare, vicaire (OF. and F. vicaire), ad. L. vicārius substitute (vicary n.1), f. vic-is change, occasion, place (of another), etc. Cf. It. and Sp. vicario, Pg. vigario.]
One who takes the place of, or acts instead of, another; a substitute, representative, or proxy. Chiefly Eccl.
1. a. Applied to persons, etc., as earthly representatives of God or Christ; also to Christ or the Holy Ghost as representing the Father.
The second line of the first quot. is partly corrupt.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 27106 Noght anes to preist his sinnes [to] scriue, Bot elles to godd bot was wicare In mans scappe he sittes þare. c 1366 Chaucer A.B.C. 140 God..hath þee maked vicair & maistresse Of al þe world. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 30 Siþ prelatis ben vikeris of crist. c 1400 Love Bonavent. Mirr. (1908) 122 The preostes that he hath specially ordeyned in his stede as his vikeres. 1546 Supplic. Poore Commons (E.E.T.S.) 73 These hierlinges intend..to be taken for Goddes vicars upon earthe. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. St. John xviii. 102 b, If thou [sc. Peter] wylt succede me as my vicar, thou must fight with no other swerde than of Gods woorde. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. i. i. i. 290 He calls a Magician Gods Minister and his Vicar. 1651 C. Cartwright Cert. Relig. ii. 32 Christ sitting at the right hand of his Father, holds but a second degree with him in honour, and rule, and is but his Vicar. 1678 R. Barclay Apol. Quakers ii. §2. 21 Knowledge might be..brought to perfection by the holy Spirit, that Vicar of the Lord. 1829 I. Taylor Enthus. vii. 161 Though the vicar of Christ [sc. every true Christian minister] be not unconditionally responsible for the happy result of his labours. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. viii. Introd., By and by comes along the State, God's vicar. c 1850 Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 496, I tell you again I am Commander of the Faithful, and vicar upon earth of the Lord of both worlds. |
b. spec. Applied to the Pope (
† or the Patriarch of Jerusalem); also to
St. Peter in a similiar sense (
cf. quot. 1548 above).
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3837 Þat falles hym of office to halde, For he es in erthe, Godes vicar calde. ? 1370 Robt. Cisyle 50 Hys oon brodur in ȝovthe Godes generalle vykere, Pope of Rome, as ye may here. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xix. 66 (Harl. MS.) ‘How of the Pope?’ ‘For god is oon,’ seid he, ‘and þerfore he hath made a vyker’. 1481 Caxton Godfrey ccv. 301 The duc godeffroy and the prynce buymont,..whiche had gyuen to hym this honour as for to be the vycayre of Ihesu Criste in that londe,..assygned rentes to the newe Patriark. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 203 Heare deuoute chrystyan what saynt Peter the apostle and hye viccar of Chrystes chirche sayth. 1570 Jewel Sedit. Bull (1609) 17 Would the Vicar of Christ give this counsell? 1638 Penit. Conf. vii. (1657) 132 God and the Pope..are not alwayes of one mind; and if Christ confirm not in heaven the sentence of his Vicar on earth, we [etc.]. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The Pope pretends to be Vicar of Jesus Christ on Earth. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 244 The victory gained by the Most Christian King, Lewis XII. when he made war upon the Vicar of Christ. 1847 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 311 The divine right of the catholic church, and the character of its head as Vicar of Christ. 1864 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. x. (1875) 160 Proclaiming that to the Pope, as God's vicar, all mankind are subject, and all rulers responsible. |
c. nonce-use. (See
quot.)
| 1641 Milton Animadv. Wks. 1851 III. 198 For Anti⁓christ wee know is but the Devils Vicar, and therefore please him with your Liturgie, and you please his maister. |
2. a. In early use, a person acting as priest in a parish in place of the real parson or rector, or as the representative of a religious community to which the tithes had been appropriated; hence, in later use in the Church of England, the incumbent of a parish of which the tithes were impropriated or appropriated, in contrast to a
rector. Now also a priest who is a member (team vicar) of a team ministry (
team n. 11) under the leadership of a team rector.
| α c 1325 Metr. Hom. 87 Erles, knihtes, and baronnes, Prestes, vikers, and parsonnes. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 76 Þei..don neiþer office of prelatis,..nei er þe office of parsones ne vekeris to here parischenes. Ibid. 424 Þe fend haþ founden cautels to bringe in vikeris in persouns stede. 1425 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 290/2 All maner of Persones, and Vykeyrs, and Hospitilers. c 1456 Pecock Bk. of Faith (1909) 224 A greet famed kunnyng mayster of divinite is curat, and parsoun and viker. 1533 in Archaeologia XXV. 523 To the vykers woman of Dokkynge. Ibid., The vykere of Snettysham servante. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 49 A gret generalle processione of alle parsons, vekeres, curattes, with alle other prestes. 1588 J. Udall Diotrephes (Arb.) 28 How shall we doe for the parsons and vickers? |
| β ? 1388 in Wyclif's Sel. Wks. III. 493 Þat no persone ne vicare ne prelate is excusud fro personele residense..in þer beneficys. 1402 J. Upland 279 Sith persounes and vicares alone,..with bishops above hem, were y-nough to..do prestes office. 1439 Rolls of Parlt. V. 15 She..openly seide unto y⊇ seide Vicar, that she wold never..have hym to hur Husbond. 1482 ― VI. 210 Upon the same apropriation, ther shuld be a vicour endowed sufficiently. 1521 Lincoln Wills (1914) I. 90 Sir Thomas Markby vykar off the sayd church. 1531 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 24 The vicare to have iiijd. and the clerke ijd. 1560– [see parson 1]. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. vi. 52 Ile to the Vicar, Bring you the Maid, you shall not lacke a Priest. 1609 Dekker Guls Horn-bk. Wks. (Grosart) II. 206 Like some pedantical Vicar stammering out a most false and crackt latine oration. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §185 He was preferred..to the Bishoprick of Coventry and Litchfield..before he had been..Vicar or Curate of any Parish Church in England. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 2 Mar. 1682, Our Viccar preached on Proverbs. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. i. xi. 301 A vicar has generally an appropriator over him. 1796 H. Hunter St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 482 Not a simple village Vicar ought to be without the actual necessaries of life. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 59 Where the vicar produces an endowment, then the situation of the parties is reversed. 1870 F. R. Wilson Ch. Lindisf. 99 The present vicar..speedily brought about a different aspect. 1972 Daily Tel. 7 Aug. 10/5 Only the leader of the team, usually called ‘Rector’, is the beneficed freeholder incumbent inducted by the bishop. His colleagues (‘vicars’) are licensed by the bishop as members of the team. 1977 [see rector 3 a]. 1984 Church Times 27 Jan. 17/1 (Advt.), Vicar required... N. Birmingham Team Ministry, modern vicarage. |
| γ c 1395 Plowman's Tale 830 (Skeat), Pope, bishoppes, and cardinals, Chanons, persons, and vicaire, In goddes service. 1520 Caxton's Chron. Eng. vii. 90/1 There was decreed y{supt} all persones & vycayres sholde be called prestes. |
b. fig. or
transf.| 1563 Homilies ii. Perils Idolatry iii. Yy iij b, We nede not to complayne of the lacke of one dombe person, hauyng so manye dombe deuyllyshe vycars (I meane these ydolles and paynted puppettes) to teache in theyr steade. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 38, I doubt not..to get a hundreth of these stratagemes, especially if I trauell neere where any of the vickers of hell are. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iv. ii. 1722 And you Maister Amoretto, that art the chiefe Carpenter of Sonets, a priuileged Vicar for the lawlesse marriage of Inke and Paper. 1660 Tatham Rump v. i, Sure the viccar of fools was his ghostly father. |
c. Vicar of Bray, one who readily changes his principles to suit the times or circumstances.
Bray is the village of that name near Maidenhead in Berkshire. According to Fuller (see ref. below) the ‘vivacious vicar’ held the benefice from the reign of Henry VIII to that of Elizabeth, and was twice a Catholic and twice a Protestant. In the later song, to which the currency of the phrase is mainly due, the sovereigns under whom the vicar successively changes his religion and politics are those from Charles II to George I.
| [a 1661 Fuller Worthies i. Berks. (1662) 82 But first we will dispatch that sole Proverb of this County, viz. The Vicar of Bray, will be Vicar of Bray still. c 1720 Song, Vicar of Bray (Chorus), This is the law, I will maintain, Until my dying day, Sir, That whatsoever King may reign, Still I'll be the Vicar of Bray, Sir. 1735 Brome in Lett. by Eminent Persons (1813) II. 100, I have had a long chase after the Vicar of Bray, on whom the proverb... I am informed it is Simon Aleyn or Allen, who was Vicar of Bray about 1540, and died 1588.] |
| 1725 Ld. Harley in Dk. Portland's MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) VI. 116 His chief crime is having been once Episcopal, and playing the Vicar of Bray upon them, and keeping his living, when the rest of his Episcopal brethren were ejected. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. T. s.v. Bray, A vicar of Bray, one who frequently changes his principles, always siding with the strongest party. 1828 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 248 The regularly educated thieves..are Vicars of Bray to every man whom it is their interest to humour,—blaspheming with the blasphemer and praying with the saint. |
| transf. 1895 Daily News 12 June 5/4 A habit which the Iguana shares with many lizards..is the habit of changing its colour; most lizards are Vicars of Bray to this extent. |
† d. temporal vicar (see
quot.).
Obs.| 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 509 Temporal vicars..are much the same with our Curates as we now call them; and these are constituted for some particular Acts and Seasons. |
3. a. = vicar choral.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 465 For clerkes fliȝ þe travayle of þe queere,..and dede vikers in here stede þat hadde ful litel for to lyve by. 1531 Protocols Town Clerks Glasgow (1897) IV. 33 To the wiccaris of the qweyr; with the borrow maell. 1641 Baker Chron., Eliz. 116 This Queen..ordained a Dean,..forty Schollars, Vicars, Singing⁓men, &c. 1700 J. Brome Trav. Eng. 248 A Collegiate Church, consisting of a Dean, four Prebendaries, five Singing-Men, three Vicars, and four Deacons. 1878 Grove's Dict. Mus. I. 52 His choir was well appointed, and every vicar, clerical as well as lay, gave his daily and efficient aid in it. |
b. lay vicar,
= prec. (Also
priest-vicar: see
priest n. 10.)
| 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 110 The Choir is also the term by which the lay-vicars, or lay-clerks, and choristers, i.e. the singers, of a cathedral, are collectively designated. 1843 Jebb Choral Service xii. 108 The Lay Vicars of the old Cathedrals..are sometimes members of the inferior Colleges, sometimes merely part of the foundation at large. 1877 Lee Gloss. Liturg. & Eccl. Terms 184 Lay vicar, a term used in the statutes of some of our cathedrals to designate the superior grade of singing men. |
4. a. One who takes the place of, or acts as the representative of, another (
esp. the Pope or other high dignitary) in the performance of ecclesiastical or religious functions;
spec. in the Roman Catholic Church, a bishop's deputy.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 18 Ȝif þe Pope and his vikeris wolden studie wel þis mater. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 1393 And sempte that he sholde be Lyk a vyker douteles Off Aaron & of Moyses. 1576 W. Lambarde Peramb. Kent 130 This Prelate [the Bishop of Ely], hauing nowe by the Kings commission the power of a Viceroy, and besides by the Popes gifte the authoritie of a Legate and Vicar. 1586 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. V. 129 Directed to the Archbishopp of Cant: or to his vicar or Commissary generale. 1611 Sir D. Carleton Let. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. I. 546 Upon y⊇ late remove of our patriarch's vicar there hath fallen vacant a benefice annexed to y⊇ vicariat. 1642 Jer. Taylor Episc. l. 372 When S. Paul sent for Timothy from Ephesus, he sent Tychicus to be his Vicar. a 1677 Barrow Pope's Supremacy vi. Wks. 1687 I. 261 The Popes..began to practise a fine trick,..which was to confer on certain Bishops..the title of their Vicar or Lieutenant; thereby pretending to impart Authority to them. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. x. i. 238 They [the patriarchs] appointed vicars, or deputies, to act for them in the remoter provinces. 1820 Milner Suppl. Mem. Eng. Cath. 108 The late B. Berington's Vicar, Dr. Bew. 1898 W. Bright Some Aspects Prim. Ch. Life ii. §6. 83 This ‘high and Divine power’, which Cyprian claimed as inherent in the episcopate, was larger than that which St. Paul had entrusted to his own ‘vicars’. |
b. With defining term preceding, as
grand vicar,
papal vicar,
Pope's vicar.
| 1662 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. VIII. 236 M{supr} Hoden *Grand Vicair of Paris being Superior. 1688 [see grand a. 2]. 1696 Phillips s.v., The Pope's Grand Vicar, who is a Cardinal, has a Jurisdiction..over all Secular and Regular Priests [etc.]. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 249 Some days since,..the king unexpectedly nominated him grand vicar to the archbishop. 1796 Helen M. Williams Lett. France IV. 102 (Jod.), One of my college companions had become grand-vicar and first confidant to the archbishop of my diocese. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 827/2 Faber, grand-vicar of the bishop of Constance. |
| 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. App. E. 341 The bishop of Arles the *papal vicar in Gaul, in place of the pope, whose representative he was. 1902 H. K. Mann Hist. Popes I. i. 22 He came to Thessalonica;..its metropolitan..was a papal vicar. |
| 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. iii. 84 And first I shall begin with the *Popes Vicar, which office is the most antient of all, and was for a long time executed by Bishops, and other Prelats. 1902 H. K. Mann Hist. Popes I. i. 159 Augustine..was consecrated bishop by Virgilius of Arles, the Pope's vicar in Gaul. |
c. With defining term appended, as
vicar apostolic,
vicar apostolical,
vicar capitular,
vicar episcopal,
vicar foran(e) or
vicar foreign,
vicar provincial.
See also vicar-general.
| 1766 in E. H. Burton Life Challoner (1909) II. xxvii. 83 After all, by the terms of the circular letter, the Vicars *Apostolic have, in case of necessity, a power to dispense. 1799 C. Butler Life A. Butler vii, The vicar-apostolic of the middle district claimed him as belonging to that district, and appointed him to a mission in Staffordshire. 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 373/1 Where the succession of the Catholic hierarchy has been interrupted, as in England,..the bishops who superintend the Catholic church and represent the papal authority, are known by the name of vicars apostolic. 1851 Bright Sp., Eccles. Titles Bill 12 May (1876) 518 The changing of vicars-apostolic to bishops in ordinary. |
| 1731 in O. Blundell Catholic Highlands Scotland (1917) II. 99 His Holiness..appoints him also Vicar *Apostolical with singular powers. 1847 J. A. Manning Pius XI I. 168 Differences broke out between the Vicar Apostolical and the Chilian government. 1849 Stovel Canne's Necess. p. xxxv, Wolsey, to carry on the policy of his church, obtained his own appointment as vicar-apostolical of England. |
| 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 305 On the death of a bishop, the clergy of the diocese elect a vicar *capitular, who exercises spiritual jurisdiction during the vacancy. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 7 Sept. 10/2 A special meeting..for the purpose of electing a Vicar-Capitular to administer the See of Southwark during the vacancy. |
| 1877 Lee Gloss. Eccl. Terms 439 Vicar *Episcopal, an office corresponding in some particulars to the English archdeacon, as well as to the Greek ‘Chorepiscopus’. |
| 1825 Doyle in Fitzpatrick Life xi. (1861) I. 282 Whenever a priest falls into any dangerous illness, the Vicar-*Foreign within whose deanery he lives shall visit him. 1888 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. s.v., Vicar-forane, Roman Church, a dignitary or parish priest appointed by a bishop to exercise a limited jurisdiction in a particular town or district of his diocese. 1896 Tablet 18 Apr. 619 The curé and vicar-foran at Castries..receives {pstlg}200 a year. |
| 1856 Vaughan Mystics (1860) II. 134 Vicar-*provincial of Andalusia, he plies his task anew. |
5. a. In general use: One acting, or appointed to act, in place of another,
esp. in administrative functions; a vicegerent.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xli. (Agnes) 250 [The prefect] deput in his sted þare, Þe law to hald þaim, a vicare, & sorouful went away. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 109 Folwe þanne vche comandour tene vicaires, & vche vicaire tene lederes. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas viii. viii. (1558) 6 In his empyre he set two vicars, Gaue them power in euery region [etc.]. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 169/2 Gordyan that was vicayr unto Julyan themperour. 1533 Bellenden Livy v. vii. (S.T.S.) II. 170, I wil mak him (for he is weil institute in chevelrie) vicare and lieutenent for me. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 278 He commandes that women, barnes, and citisenis all to him cum and craue mercie as to the Kingis vicare. 1602 T. Fitzherbert Apol. 38 To assemble his friends, and witnesses of his wil, and those whome he meant to make his heyres, his vicars, and substituts. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. xxv. 207 Lord Cromwell..sate in state above all the Bishops, as the King's Vicar, or Vicegerent-Generall in all spirituall matters. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3814/3 It is said, the King of Spain has made the Duke of Burgundy Vicar of the Spanish Low-Countries, which Title gives him a Power over those Provinces, equal to that which the King would have if he were there in Person. 1753 Scots Mag. XV. 27/1 During a vacancy of the Imperial throne, the government of the empire devolves upon the two vicars. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xvii. (1787) II. 37 The eleven remaining dioceses [= provinces]..were governed by twelve vicars, or vice-præfects, whose name sufficiently explains the nature and dependence of their office. 1835 Lytton Rienzi iii. iii, He was chosen afterwards vicar (or vice-gerent) of Louis in Aversa. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 169 We may be very sure that Heminge and Condell did not, as vicars, take upon themselves a disagreeable task. |
| transf. 1474 Caxton Chesse 45 The rookes ben vycayrs and legates of the kynge. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. C iv b, All the synewes of the body brede and come out of the brayne by it selfe, or of the noddle that is his vycare. |
b. A thing substituted for another.
rare.
| 1675 Evelyn Terra (1676) 16 All dungings and other sordid temperings, being but the vicars succedaneous to this improvement. 1846 Thackeray Cornhill to Cairo xiii, Abraham caught the Ram, which was to serve as the vicar of Isaac. |