Abad (men of power - superior of a monastery or convent)

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in traditions including Christianity. You may also be granted the honorary title to a person (usually clergy) is not really the head of a monastery. Abad is the female equivalent of abbess.

Abad - Origins

The title has its origin in the monasteries of Egypt and Syria, the title is spread over the eastern Mediterranean, and soon became general in all languages ​​as the designation of the head of a monastery being widely accepted and used the word to appoint the most senior cleric in an abbey. 

At first it was used as a title of respect for any monk, but was soon restricted by canon law to certain priestly superiors. Sometimes applied to various priests, for example: In the court of the Frankish monarchy the Abbas palate (the palace) and castrensis Abbas (the field) were chaplains Merovingian and Carolingian sovereign body, and the army respectively. The title of "abbot" came into widespread use in western monastic orders whose members included priests. 

Monastic history 

An abbot (from the Hebrew ab "אב" or abba "אבא", "a parent" by Latin Abbas (genitive form, Abbatis), Old English Abbad, Abt German, French abbé) is the head and head, which in turn governed by a community of monks, also called East hegumen or Archimandrite. The English version for a female monastic head is abbess.

Abad - Early

In Egypt, the first home of monasticism, the jurisdiction of the Abbot and Archimandrite, was only vaguely defined. Sometimes it is ruled a single community, sometimes each had its own abbot also without a specific appointment or order or control. St. John Cassian speaks of an abbot of the Thebaid who had 500 monks under him. For the Rule of St. Benedict, who until the Cluniac reform, was the norm in the West, the abbot has jurisdiction over a single community. The rule, as was inevitable, was subject to frequent violations, but it was not until the foundation of the Cluniac Order that the idea of ​​a supreme abbot, exercising jurisdiction over all the houses of the order, was definitely recognized. 

The monks, as a rule, were laymen, nor at the outset was the abbot exception to this rule. For reception of the sacraments, and for other religious offices, the abbot and his monks were ordered to attend the nearest church. This rule proved inconvenient when a monastery in a desert or at a distance of a city, forced the need for coordination of monks making a superior indispensable to lead them in a given community. 

This innovation was not introduced without fighting church as this was considered against the church and spiritual standards of the time, but before the late V, at least in the East, begins to take hold religious groups led by an abbot and thus begin to emerge the first abbey in the East, becoming deacons or priests.

The change spread more slowly in the west, where church communities were led by an abbot until the end of the seventh century. Since the appointment of abbots was something more serious and somewhat democráctica by a congregation of clerics to the council which was called and there is the first Council of Constantinople in the year 448 where 23 archimandrites or appointing abbots signs, with 30 bishops. 

The Second Council of Nicaea in 787, recognized the right of abbots to ordain their monks to the lower orders beneath the diaconate, a power usually reserved to bishops. 

Abbots were originally subject to episcopal jurisdiction, and continued generally so, in fact, in the West until the eleventh century. The Code of Justinian (lib. i. tit. Iii.'s Ep. Leg. Xl.) Expressly subordinates the abbot to episcopal supervision. The first reported case of partial exemption of an abbot from episcopal control is that of Faustus, abbot of Lerins, at the Council of Arles, in 456 AD, but the exorbitant claims and ex-actions of bishops, which this attitude repugnant to control the episcopate in its origin, and each time was more the arrogance of abbots.

In the sixth century, the practice of partially exempting religious houses full of episcopal control, and hold them accountable to the pope alone, received a boost from Pope Gregory the Great. These exceptions, introduced with a good purpose, had become a widespread problem in the twelfth century, virtually creating an empire within the empire, thus depriving the bishop of all authority over the major centers of influence in his diocese.

Abad - After the Middle Ages

In the twelfth century the abbots of Fulda claimed precedence of the archbishop of Cologne. The abbots increasingly assumed almost episcopal state, and in defiance of the prohibition of early councils and the protests of St. Bernard and others, adopted the episcopal insignia then miter, ring, gloves and sandals.

It has been said to carry the miter to the right was granted at times by the popes to abbots before the eleventh century, but the documents on which this claim is based are not genuine (J. Braun, Liturgische Gewandung, P. 453 .) The first case is undoubtedly why the bull in 1063 Alexander II granted the use of miter Egelsinus, abbot of St. Augustine in Canterbury.

The abbots assembled mitered in England were those of Abingdon, St Alban, Bardney, Battle, Bury St Edmunds, St Augustine of Canterbury, Colchester, Croyland, Evesham, Glastonbury, Gloucester, St Benet Hulme, Hyde, Malmesbury, Peterborough, Ramsey, Reading, Selby, Shrewsbury, Tavistock, Thorney, Westminster, Winchcombe, and York St Mary. Of these the precedence was originally surrendered to the Abbot of Glastonbury, until the 1154 Adrian IV (Nicholas Breakspear) granted it to the abbot of St. Alban, in whose monastery he had raised.

After the abbot of St. Alban followed the abbot of Westminster. To distinguish abbots from bishops, was then ordered his miter should make less expensive materials, and should not be adorned with gold, a rule which was soon entirely neglected, and that the thief had to skip his pastoral staff for their own benefit, indicating that its jurisdiction was limited to their own home.

The adoption of certain episcopal insignia (pontificalia) by abbots was followed by an encroachment on episcopal functions, which were required to specially but ineffectually against by the Lateran Council in 1123.

In the abbots of this, if in priests' orders with the consent of the bishop, were, as we have seen, permitted by the second Nicene Council in 787, to confer the tonsure and admit to the order of reader; but gradually abbots, in the West also moved to higher demands and greater privileges, until we find them in 1489 permitted by Innocent IV to give the subdiaconate and diaconate. Of course, always and everywhere had the power to admit its own monks and grant them the religious habit.

The power of the abbot was paternal and absolute, but limited, however, canon law. One of the main goals of monasticism was the purgation of self and selfishness. Obedience was regarded as the path to that perfection. It was sacred duty to execute the orders of the abbot, and even act without his orders was sometimes considered a transgression. Examples among the Egyptian monks of this submission to the commands of superiors, exalted into a virtue by those who regarded the entire crushing of the individual as a goal, are detailed by Cassian and others, eg monk watering a dry stick, day after day for months, struggling to remove a huge rock immensely exceeding his strength.

Abad - Fun Facts

When a vacancy appeared, the bishop of the diocese chose the abbot of the monks of the convent, but this right of election was transferred by the competition of the monks themselves, reserving to the bishop the confirmation of the election and the blessing of the new abbot .

In abbeys exempt under the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop and blessing confirmation had to be granted by the pope himself, the house was burdened with the costs of the new abbot's journey to Rome. It was necessary at the time that an abbot should be at least 25 years old, legitimate birth, a monk of the house, unless not provide suitable candidate, when he was allowed a free choice of another monastery, likewise the instructions, and able to instruct others also who had learned to command by having practiced obedience.

In some exceptional cases an abbot was allowed to appoint his successor. Cassian speaks of an abbot in Egypt doing this, and in recent times we have another example in the case of San Bruno. Popes and sovereigns gradually impacting on the rights of the monks, until in Italy, the pope had usurped the nomination of all abbots, and the king of France, with the exception of Cluny, Prémontré and other houses, chiefs of their order . The election was for life, unless the abbot was canonically deprived him of the heads of your order, or when he was directly dependent on them, by the pope or the bishop.

The ceremony of the formal admission of a Benedictine abbot in medieval times is thus prescribed by the customary Abingdon. The newly elected abbot off her shoes at the door of the church, and went barefoot to meet members of the house in a ceremonial procession. After proceeding to the ship, going to kneel and pray at the last step of the entrance to the choir, which was to be presented by the bishop or his commissary, and placed in his post. The monks, then kneeling, gave him the kiss of peace in his hand, and the increase in the mouth, the abbot holding his baton. Next, put the shoes in the sacristy, and a chapter was finished, then the bishop or his delegate preached a sermon appropriate.

Abad - Overview

Before the late modern era, the abbot was treated with the utmost respect for the brothers of his home. When he appeared, whether in church or at the Abbey all those present stood and bowed. His letters were received kneeling, like those of the pope and king.

No monk might sit in his presence, leaving him without his permission, reflecting the hierarchical label families and society at that time. The high point was assigned to him in church and at the table. In the East he was commanded to eat with the other monks. In the West, the Rule of St. Benedict appointed him a separate table, where you can entertain guests and strangers. This permission opening the door to a life of luxury, the council of Aachen in 817, decreed that the abbot must eat in the refectory what we now call room, and be content with the ordinary fare of the monks, unless he had to entertain a guest. These ordinances proved, however, generally ineffective in ensuring the integrity of the diet and contemporary literature in which there are many satirical remarks and complaints of excessive extravagance of the tables of the abbots. 

When the abbot condescended to eat in the refectory, his chaplains waited for this with the dishes intact and a servant, if necessary, to assist them. The abbots dined in their private room, but the Rule of St. Benedict commanded them to invite their monks to the table, there was always room in which guests were occasions to refrain from quarrels, slander and idle talk of others but this does not always fulfilled.

In the coat of arms of a Roman Catholic abbot were distinguished by having a staff of gold in the center with a black veil as a cap or hat and attached a kind of candelabra, also known galero with twelve tassels (one gallery owner territorial abbot would be green)

The ordinary attire of the abbot was according to the standard that should be the same as that of the monks. But in the tenth century the rule was commonly set aside, and we find frequent complaints of abbots as dressed in silk, and adopting sumptuous costumes was widespread. Sometimes they even left completely aside the monastic habit, and assumed a secular dress. 

With the increase of wealth and power of the abbots had lost much of their special religious character, and became great lords, chiefly distinguished by being except lay lords by celibacy. Thus we hear of abbots going out to hunt, with men carrying bows and arrows, keeping horses, dogs and hunters, and special mention is made of an abbot of Leicester in 1360, was described by Most of all the nobility to be one of the greatest hunters of rabbits. 

In magnificence of baggage and retinue the abbots vied with the nobles of the kingdom, as it rode on mules with gilded bridles, saddles and gloves to accommodate the hawks on their wrists, followed by an immense chain of attendees. The church bells rang to pass. Partners on an equal footing with the lay of the highest distinction shared with all its pleasures and pastimes. This rank and power, however, were often used for personal gain. 

For example, we read of Whiting, the last Abbot of Glastonbury, judicial murdered by Henry VIII, where home was a sort of court-ordered and where they were staying as 300 sons of noblemen and wealthy gentlemen of the day, who had been sent for virtuous education. He had been educated as well as others of lesser rank, who prepared for the universities. His table, attendance and the officers were a credit to the nation. He entertained over 500 people at a time range, in addition to helping the poor around twice a week. He had his country houses and fishing, and when he traveled to attend parliament his retinue amounted to more than 100 people. The abbots of Cluny and Vendôme were, by virtue of their office, cardinals of the Roman church.

During the time the title abbot was extended to clerics who had no connection with the monastic system, as the director of a body of parochial clergy, and under the Carolingians to the chief chaplain of the king, Abbas Curiae, or military chaplain of the emperor, Abbas castrensis. It even became the title adopted by purely secular officials. Thus, the first magistrate of the republic at Genoa was called Abbas Populi.

Lay abbots (M. Lat. Defenders abbacomites, abbate laici abbate milites, abbate saeculares or irreligiosi, abbatiarii, or sometimes simply abbate) were the result of growth of the feudal system from the eighth century. The practice of the recommendation, in which to meet a contemporary emergency income of the community were handed over to a lay lord, in exchange for their protection, it emerged in the early emperors and kings reward the attitude of his warriors with abbeys.

During the Carolingian epoch the custom grew up of granting these as regular hereditary fiefs or benefits, and in the 10 th century, before the great Cluniac reform, the system was firmly established. Even the Abbey of Saint-Denis was held in encomienda by Hugh Capet. The example of the kings was followed by the feudal nobles, sometimes by a temporary grant permanent, sometimes without any kind of praise.