682
PARISH SCHOOLS
civil functions of the parish officers are now performed in the main by the town organization. The term parish is .'dso nsed in a popular but inaccurate way to signify the members of the congregation worshipping in any local church of any denomination.
It may not be out of place here to add that the Prot- estant Episcopal notion of the parish is fast dying out in this country. Tliere is now an agitation on foot to give it greater efficiency by creating such a suslentation finid as the Irish Church has established; but if that slionld fail, it is likel}' the parish system will have to be altogether abandoned, or be confined to the narrow lim- its of its own membership. In 18G7 the parochial dis- tribution gave rise to a most animated discussion. Dr. Stephen Tyng, Jr., by invitation of the deceased prin- cipal editor of tliis C/jclopa'dia. preached in a Methodist church (St. James's) at New Brimswick, N. J. The rec- tor of the rrotestant Episcopal church held his ground invaded, as Ur. Tyng had not asUed his consent, and the matter was carried to the liighest courts in the Protes- tant r.piscopal Church. Tliere has never been a defi- nite settlement reached. Dr. Tyng, though an offender against the canon, remains in that Cliurch, and his own congregation support the action, frequently repeated since by him and other clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal Church. One of the ablest editorials for the Low-Church view was (jresented by the A merican Pres- hyterian, March '_'C, 1808. Tlie High-Church view was taken by the New York Church Journal, and we refer to its pages for a general representation of the parish question from 18G8 to our own time, especially to their publications of Dec. 9, 1875, and Feb. 3, 1876. For gen- eral inquiry on the parish system we refer to Kiddle, Christian A ntiquities, p. 727 sq. ; Coleman, Ancient Chris- tianili/ JCxempliJied ; Bingham, Christian Antiquities ; Siegel, Christliche Alterthiimer, iv, 578 sq. ; Hook, A'c- cles. Diet. s. v.; Blunt, Hist. Diet. s. v.; Green, Short Hist, of the Enrjlish Peojile, p. 6G sq. ; Walcott, Saa'ed Archveolofjy, s. v.; Freeman, Com2}a?'ative Politics, p. 11G.417.
Parish Chaplain is an assistant stipendiary, tem- porary or permanent; the mediieval curate, whose pay was six marks a year in 1347. In 13G-2 they had be- come scarce, preference being given Ly unbeneficed cler- gy to the ofBce of mass priests, who celebrated annals only, without cure of souls. Very stringent regulations were then made in order to secure curates, while the pay of the others was not to exceed five marks a year. — Walcott. Surred A rchceolof/i/, s. v.
Parish Churches existed in a monastic or catlie- dral church, as at Norwich. Kilkenny, Carlisle, Chester, Salisbury, and Hereford. Spanish cathedrals have nsu- ally an attached sagrario or parroquia, or parish church, whichcommunicates with the main Iniilding; at Streng- niis, in the south aisle, there is a peasants' church. Nice, like jNIanchester and liipon, are also parish churches. The Austin canons of Thornton, Carlisle, and Christ- church, and the secular canons at Hereford and Chi- chester, left the naves open for the parish altar; the Benedictines, who at Rochester, Westminster, St. Al- ban's, and other places, built a separate parish church, yet tolerated it within the nave at Bodmin and Tyne- "mouth. At Bonisey, IMarrick, St. Helen's (Bishops- gate), Croyland, and Dunstable, the north aisle, and at Leominster the soutii aisle, formed a parish church. At Lincoln bishi)]) Sutton removed the parishioners of St. jMary I^lagdalene out of the nave. In order to give still further relief at Chichester, Scarborougli, and Man- chester, side chapels were erected externally to the nave aisles; a large chapel at York and a church of St. Cross at Ely were appended on tlie north, as at I.'ochester and Waltham on the south, of the nave; and at Sher- borne a western ante-church. — Walcott, s. v.
Parish Clerk, in England, is an officer of the par- ish of some importance, his (Uiiy being to lca<l tlie re- sponses during the reading of the service in the parish
church. He is appointed by the parson, unless some otlier custom of a peculiar kind exists in the parish. He must be twenty years of age, and has his office for life, but is removable by the parson for sufficient cause. By the statute 7 and 8 Vict. c. 59, a person in holy or- ders may be elected a parish clerk. Under some of the Church Building Acts governing the new churches built in populous parishes, he is annually appointed by the minister. The salary of the parish clerk is paid out of the church-rate Chambers, s. v.
Parish Priest. (1.) A medieval reader in a par- ish church in 1127; a temporary assistant in choir to a resident incumbent, without cure of souls. In 1287 he received forty shillings a year, while the chaplain had five marks, and the mass priest was paid fifty shillings. He is called a temporary vicar in 1408. (2.) In 1362, a curate in a parish church. (3.) A rector or vicar in 1268 ; called by John de Athon perpetual curate or perpetual vicar. The temporary parish priests only preached if they had a license. Either of the three meanings of the word can only be ascertained by the context of the passages in which it occurs. Annual chaplains, in 1236, were required not to be removed by the rectors without reasonable cause. In 1305 these stipendiaries, or chaplains, were often maintained by their friends; they attended choir in surplice, and could only celebrate mass, bury, and hear confessions by the permission of the incumbent. — Walcott, Sacred Archce- olorjy, s. v. See CuKATii.