Advowson

For the process for appointing a parish priest in the Church of England, see Parish § England.

Advowson (/ədˈvaʊzən/)[1] or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a process known as presentation (jus praesentandi, Latin: "the right of presenting").

The word derives, via French, from the Latin advocare, from vocare "to call" plus ad, "to, towards", thus a "summoning".[2] It is the right to nominate a person to be parish priest (subject to episcopal – that is, one bishop's – approval), and each such right in each parish was mainly first held by the lord of the principal manor. Many small parishes only had one manor of the same name.[3]

  1. ^ "advowson". Oxford English Dictionary third edition. Oxford University Press. December 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  2. ^ Collins (1986), Dictionary of the English Language, London{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  3. ^ Saul, Nigel (2000). A Companion to Medieval England 1066–1485. Stroud: Tempus. p. 11. ISBN 0-7524-2969-8.