ABBESS (
Latin abbatissa, fem. form of abbas,
abbot),
the female superior
? of an
abbey or convent
? of
nuns. The mode of
election, position, rights and authority of an
abbess correspond generally with those of an
abbot. The office is elective, the choice
being by the secret votes of the sisters from
their own body. The abbess is solemnly admitted
to her office by
episcopal benediction
?, together with the
conferring of a staff and pectoral cross, and holds for life,
though liable to be deprived for misconduct.
The
council of Trent fixed the qualifying age at
forty, with eight years of profession. Abbesses have a right to demand absolute obedience
of their nuns, over whom they exercise discipline, extending
even to the power of expulsion, subject, however, to the
bishop. As a female an abbess is incapable of performing the
spiritual functions of the priesthood belonging to an abbot.
She cannot ordain, confer the veil, nor excommunicate. In
England abbesses attended ecclesiastical councils, e.g. that
of Becanfield in 694, where they signed before the
presbyter
?s.
By Celtic? usage abbesses presided over joint-houses of monks and
nuns. This custom accompanied Celtic monastic missions to France
and Spain, and even to Rome itself. At a later period, A.D.
1115, Robert, the founder of Fontevraud?, committed the government
of the whole order, men as well as women, to a female superior.
In the German Evangelical church the title of abbess (Aebtissin)
has in some cases--e.g. Itzehoe--survived to designate the
heads of abbeys which since the Protestant
Reformation? have continued as Stifte, i.e.
collegiate foundations, which provide a home
and an income for unmarried ladies, generally of noble birth,
called canonesses (Kanonissinen) or more usually Stiftsdamen.
This office of abbess is of considerable social dignity, and
is sometimes filled by princesses of the reigning houses.
Source: An unnamed encyclopedia from a project
that puts out-of-copyright texts onto the
Internet.
This is from a
very old source, and
reflects the thinking of about 1900 in the UK.
--
BryceHarrington
--
Jason Scribner