What is "vicar"

Vicar \Vic"ar\, n. [OE. vicar, viker, vicair, F. vicaire, fr. L. vicarius. See Vicarious.]

1. One deputed or authorized to perform the functions of another; a substitute in office; a deputy. [R.]

2. (Eng. Eccl. Law) The incumbent of an appropriated benefice. Note: The distinction between a parson [or rector] and vicar is this: The parson has, for the most part, the whole right to the ecclesiastical dues in his parish; but a vicar has generally an appropriator over him, entitled to the best part of the profits, to whom he is in fact perpetual curate with a standing salary. --Burrill. Apostolic vicar, or Vicar apostolic. (R. C. Ch.)

   1. A bishop to whom the Roman pontiff delegates a portion of his jurisdiction.

   2. Any ecclesiastic acting under a papal brief, commissioned to exercise episcopal authority.

   3. A titular bishop in a country where there is no episcopal see, or where the succession has been interrupted. Vicar forane. [Cf. LL. foraneus situated outside of the episcopal city, rural. See Vicar, and Foreign.] (R. C. Ch.) A dignitary or parish priest appointed by a bishop to exercise a limited jurisdiction in a particular town or district of a diocese. --Addis & Arnold. Vicar-general.

      1. (Ch. of Eng.) The deputy of the Archbishop of Canterbury or York, in whose court the bishops of the province are confirmed.
         --Encyc. Brit.

      2. (R. C. Ch.) An assistant to a bishop in the discharge of his official functions.

         Vicar of Jesus Christ (R. C. Ch.), the pope as representing Christ on earth.

early 14c., from Anglo-French vicare, Old French vicaire "deputy, second in command," also in the ecclesiastical sense (12c.), from Latin vicarius "a substitute, deputy, proxy," noun use of adjective vicarius "substituted, delegated," from vicis "change, interchange, succession; a place, position" (see vicarious). The original notion is of "earthly representative of God or Christ;" but also used in sense of "person acting as parish priest in place of a real parson" (early 14c.).\n

\nThe original Vicar of Bray (in figurative use from 1660s) seems to have been Simon Allen, who held the benefice from c.1540 to 1588, thus serving from the time of Henry VIII to Elizabeth I, being twice a Catholic and twice a Protestant but always vicar of Bray. The village is near Maidenhead in Berkshire.

n. In the Church of England, the priest of a parish, receiving a salary or stipend but not tithes.

1. n. a Roman Catholic priest who acts for another higher-ranking clergyman

2. (Episcopal Church) a clergyman in charge of a chapel

3. (Church of England) a clergyman appointed to act as priest of a parish

A vicar (; Latin: vicarius) is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, vicar is cognate with the English prefix "vice", similarly meaning "deputy". The title appears in a number of Christian ecclesiastical contexts, but also as an administrative title, or title modifier, in the Roman Empire. In addition, in the Holy Roman Empire a local representative of the emperor, perhaps an archduke, might be styled "vicar".

Vicar, a pseudonym for Victor Arriagada Rios (April 16, 1934 – January 3, 2012), was a Chilean cartoonist.

Vícar is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.

Vicar typically refers to a clergy position in various Christian traditions or to an administrative political post ( Vicarius) in Roman history.

Vicar or vicars or variant, may also refer to:

Vicar is the title given to certain parish priests in the Church of England. It has played a significant role in Anglican Church organisation in ways that are different from other Christian denominations. The title is very old and arises from the medieval situation where priests were appointed either by a secular lord, by a bishop or by a religious foundation. Wherever there is a vicar he shares the benefice with a rector (usually non-resident) to whom the great tithes were paid. Vicar derives from the Latin "vicarius" meaning a substitute.

Historically, Anglican parish priests were divided into rectors, vicars and (rarely) perpetual curates. These were distinguished according to the way in which they were appointed and remunerated. The church was supported by tithes: taxes (traditionally of ten percent) levied on the personal and agricultural output of the parish.