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I. Epiphanius (IJcer. 68) speaks of Alexander of Alexandria, who lived about 320, as archbishop of that see, and this is the first mention of that title on record ; nor is at all clear whether Epiphanius in that passage is not rather speaking after the custom of his own time, than intending to assert that Alexander bore the title of archbishop ; for the titles of pope and bishop are given to this Alexander in a letter of Arius addressed to him. Be this as it may, Alexandria was the first see which assumed the title, which, however, was at first thought to savor too much of pride ; for in the twenty-sixth canon of the Council of Carthage, A.D. 397, at which Augustine was present, it was or- dered to be laid aside, and the ancient style of " bishop of the first see" used instead. -This impression ap- pears not to have worn out until the Council of Ephesus, where the title of archbishop was attributed to the bishops of the first three sees of the world, viz. Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, as well as to John of Antioch, and Memuon of Ephesus. In process of time, when the bishops of the great sees assumed the higher title of patriarch, that of archbishop became gradually to be applied to those metropolitans who had other metropolitans under them, i. e. to those whom the I rreeks called exarchs, and the Latins, in the mid- dle and subsequent ages, primates. The archbishop differed from the metropolitan in the Eastern Church in that the former had only seme privileges of honor and respect above the other bishops, whereas the me- tropolitans had juri.«Iir/ii»i over the bishops of their provinces I Landon, Eccl. Diet. a. v.).
II. In the Roman Church archbishops have a two- fold character and authority: (1) Episcopal charge of their own dioceses; (2) Superintendence, to a certain extent, of all the bishops (not exempt) in their prov- ince. Their jurisdiction includes (a) the power to call synods {Cone. Tricknt. sess. xxiv, c. 2): (It) the right
of visitation, on call of a provincial synod (Cone. Trid. sess. xxiv, c. 3). They rank in the hierarchy next to cardinals and patriarchs. They must receive the pallium (q. v.) from the pope before exercising their functions. A full account may be found in Thomas- sin, vet. ac. nov. Eccl. disciplina, etc., pt. i, lib. i, caps. 68, 69.
The number of archbishops in authority was, in 1805, as follows : In Europe (Roman Catholic), 112 : viz. Italy, 47; Austria, 16; France, 17; Spain, 9 ; Turkey, 4; Ireland, 4; Portugal, 2; Prussia, Bavaria, Russia (counting in Polocz, which exists only by name), Greece (inclusive of the Ionian Islands), 2 each ; Bel- gium, Holland, England, Baden, Poland, Malta, 1 each. In Asia, 12: viz. Turkey, 10 ; Spanish posses- sions, 1; Portuguese possessions, 1. In Africa, 1: viz. Alger. In America, 22 : viz. United States, 7 ; Brit- ish possessions, 3; Mexico, Spanish possessions, Cen- tral America, United States of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Chili, Dominican Re- public, and Hayti, each 1. In Australia, 1. Fourteen (in Turkey, Russia, and Austria) belong to the United Greek, Armenian, Syrian, Maronite, Chaldean (q. v.) rites. There are also some archbishops "in partibus infidelium," who are, of course, not included in the above list. Also the patriarchs (q. v.), though they exercise archiepiscopal rights, have been excluded from this list. The Jansenists (q. v.) in Holland have still one archbishop at Utrecht. We give a list of arch- bishoprics in our articles on the various countries.
In the United States there were, in 18C5, seven prov- inces of the Roman Catholic Church, viz. Baltimore, Abp. Spaulding; New Orleans, Abp. Odin (died 1860) ; New York, Abp. McCloskey; Cincinnati, Abp. Purcell ; St. Louis, Abp. Ken rick; Oregon, Abp. Blanchet; San Francisco, Abp. Ah many. In the year 1828 Pope Leo XII appointed, after much delay, an archbishop in Colombia, whom Bolivar had proposed.
III. In all the Eastern Churches the difference be- tween archbishops and bishops is less marked than in the Roman Catholic Church. The Greek Church of Turkey has four patriarchs, independent archbishops of Cyprus, Mount Sinai, and Montenegro, and sev- eral archbishops or metropolitans in the patriarchate of Constantinople. In Russia, in 1865, 25 prelates had the title archbishop; in Greece, 12; in Austria, 2. With regard to the other Eastern Churches, compare the articles Armenians, Nestorians, Jacobites, Copts, A byssinian Church.
IV. In Protestant countries, archbishops are found in Finland (Russia), 1 ; Sweden, 1 ; England, 2 ; and Ireland, 2. Bede assigns the first establishment of archbishoprics in England to the time of Lucius, said to be the first Christian king of England, who, after the conversion of his subjects, erected three archbish- oprics, viz. London, York, and Llandaff (Caerleon). The dignity of archbishop continued in the see of Lon- don one hundred and eighty years, and was then, in the time of the Saxons, transferred to Canterbury. Augustin, the monk who was sent by Pope Gregory to convert the English nation, in the reign of Ethel- bert, king of Kent, was the first bishop of Canterbury ; but Theodore, the sixth in succession after him. was the first archbishop of that see. The archbishop of Canterbury had anciently the primacy, not only over England, but Ireland also, and all the bishops of the latter were consecrated by him. He was styled by Pope Urban II AUerius OrbisPapa; he had a perpet- ual legatine power annexed to his archbishopric: he had some marks of royalty, such as the power of coin- ing money, etc Since the Reformation he is styled Primate and Metropolitan of all England. Archbishop Cranmer was the first who bore this title. As to pre- cedency, there have been many contests about it, as also about the oath of canonical obedience between the two archiepiscopal sees. Some antiquarians will