What is "apostolical succession"

Succession \Suc*ces"sion\, n. [L. successio: cf. F. succession. See Succeed.]

1. The act of succeeding, or following after; a following of things in order of time or place, or a series of things so following; sequence; as, a succession of good crops; a succession of disasters.

2. A series of persons or things according to some established rule of precedence; as, a succession of kings, or of bishops; a succession of events in chronology.

   He was in the succession to an earldom.
   --Macaulay.

3. An order or series of descendants; lineage; race; descent. ``A long succession must ensue.''
   --Milton.

4. The power or right of succeeding to the station or title of a father or other predecessor; the right to enter upon the office, rank, position, etc., held ny another; also, the entrance into the office, station, or rank of a predecessor; specifically, the succeeding, or right of succeeding, to a throne.

   You have the voice of the king himself for your succession in Denmark.
   --Shak.

   The animosity of these factions did not really arise from the dispute about the succession.
   --Macaulay.

5. The right to enter upon the possession of the property of an ancestor, or one near of kin, or one preceding in an established order.

6. The person succeeding to rank or office; a successor or heir. [R.]
   --Milton.

   Apostolical succession. (Theol.) See under Apostolical.

   Succession duty, a tax imposed on every succession to property, according to its value and the relation of the person who succeeds to the previous owner. [Eng.]

   Succession of crops. (Agric.) See Rotation of crops, under Rotation.

Apostolic \Ap`os*tol"ic\, Apostolical \Ap`os*tol"ic*al\, a. [L. apostolicus, Gr. ?: cf. F. apostolique.]

1. Pertaining to an apostle, or to the apostles, their times, or their peculiar spirit; as, an apostolical mission; the apostolic age.

2. According to the doctrines of the apostles; delivered or taught by the apostles; as, apostolic faith or practice.

3. Of or pertaining to the pope or the papacy; papal.

   Apostolical brief. See under Brief.

   Apostolic canons, a collection of rules and precepts relating to the duty of Christians, and particularly to the ceremonies and discipline of the church in the second and third centuries.

   Apostolic church, the Christian church; -- so called on account of its apostolic foundation, doctrine, and order. The churches of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem were called apostolic churches.

   Apostolic constitutions, directions of a nature similar to the apostolic canons, and perhaps compiled by the same authors or author.

   Apostolic fathers, early Christian writers, who were born in the first century, and thus touched on the age of the apostles. They were Polycarp, Clement, Ignatius, and Hermas; to these Barnabas has sometimes been added.

   Apostolic king (or majesty), a title granted by the pope to the kings of Hungary on account of the extensive propagation of Christianity by St. Stephen, the founder of the royal line. It is now a title of the emperor of Austria in right of the throne of Hungary.

   Apostolic see, a see founded and governed by an apostle; specifically, the Church of Rome; -- so called because, in the Roman Catholic belief, the pope is the successor of St. Peter, the prince of the apostles, and the only apostle who has successors in the apostolic office.

   Apostolical succession, the regular and uninterrupted transmission of ministerial authority by a succession of bishops from the apostles to any subsequent period.
   --Hook.