Vicar is one who supplies the place of another. Anciently, when a church was appropriated to any of the religious houses, the monks sup])lied the cure by one of their own brotherhood, and received the reve- nues of the Churcli to their own use. Afterwards, in almost all appropriate churches, it became customarj' tliat they should be supplied by a secular clerk, and not a member of their own house, from wliich fact and duty he received the name of vicariiis ; and for tlie maintenance of this vicar about a third part of the tithes was set apart, the rest of the tithes being re- served to the use of those houses. The tithes set apart for the maintenance of the vicar were called lesser or vicarial tithes, and the others were called great or rec- torial titlies. After the religious houses were dissolved, the king became possessed of that share which belong- ed to the monasteries, who granted them to divers per- sons, now termed lay improprietors, to whom ordinari- ly belong the whole of the great tithes. In the Angli- can Church the vicar is a clergyman who is the incum- bent of a parish under a rector, the former receiving the great tithes, and the latter the lesser tithes. The vicar is superior in rank to the curate, but in France the opposite usage obtains.
VICAR Apostolic is a bishop who possesses no dio- cese, but who exercises jurisdiction over a certain ap- pointed district by direct authority of the pope. Such officers have been appointed from time to time in vari- ous parts of the Latin Church. There were vicars ap- ostolic in France, Spain, and Italy in the 7th and 8th centuries, and officers possessing similar powers have been appointed from Rome in different countries ever since. In England, Dr. William Bishop was conse- crated to this office by the title of bishop of Chalcedon, June 4, 1023. In 1GS8 four districts were created by pope Iimocent XI; and to these four more were added by pope (iregory XVI, July 30, 1840. In place of this a new hierarchy was established in England by pojje Pius IX in 1850".
VICAR AposTOt.ic of the North Pole is a priest of the Romish Church possessing certain ejiiscopal juris- diction in Orkney, Shetland, Iceland, and the adjacent islands.
VICAR Capitular is the administrator of a diocese chosen by the chapter in case of vacancy. He can per- form acts for the government of the diocese, but has no episcopal authority.
VICAR Choral is a minor canon attached to a cathedral or collegiate church; also a layman appointed to assist in chanting divine service in cathedral and collegiate churches.
VICAR OF Christ is a term by which Roman Cath- olics sometimes designate the pope.
VICAR Episcopal is an officer of the Roman Church corresponding to the English ar-chihacon or the Greek chorepiscopos. In Africa the city priest was one of the cathedral body, who ministered in the ad- joining villages. According to Sidonins, he was the bishop's chaplain, vidam, notary, treasurer, theologian, and steward.
VICAR FORANE
771
VICARIOUS SUFFERING
VICAK FoRAjni (^vicarms foranfits. lit. "vicar out of doors" ) is tho delegate of a bishop who exercises certain episcopal rights in a part of the diocese only. Such officers are not provided for all dioceses.
VICAR General is a principal official, now called chancellor of the diocese; an ecclesiastical judge in the bishop's court, as the official belonging to the arch- deacon.
VICAR OF THE Holy See is an officer who has been from time to time appointed by the pope to exer- cise quasi-episcopal jurisdiction in certain dioceses. His finictions and duties are almost precisely the same as those of the vicar apostolic (q. v.). Vicars of the Holy See were tirst appointed in Gaul by pope Zosimus in 417.
VICAR OK Petek is a term by which the pope of Rome is sometimes designated.
Vicarage (or Vicarage House) is the official house of residence for the vicar of a parish.
Vicarial Tithes are the lesser tithes (q. v.) be- longing to a benefice. See Vicar.
Vicariate, one having delegated power as a vicar,
Vicarii is a name given to certain officers ordered to be appointed by pope Innocent IH in I'ilS, who were to have the care of souls in the larger dioceses neglected by the worldly-minded bishops. The name was em- )iioyed to distinguish them from the ojjiciales, who had simply a coercive jurisdiction.
Vicarious Suffering of Jesus Christ. Under the head of Atonement we have given a historical re- view of opinions on this subject, and in the article Me- 1>IA tion we have discussed the character and extent of Ihe expiation effected; it remains to consider the ulti- mate ground or virtue of such a redemptive act. Why was it necessary that any victim should suffer in man's stead? The real need, as we conceive, lies not alto- gether in God's disposition, but quite as imperatively in that of the sinner himself. As the divine law — being a transcript of the moral attributes of Deity, and there- fore of all moral intelligences — was but the product or creature (so to speak) of God himself, he may be con- ceived as having the sovereign right — so far as his own attitude or interests are concerned — to abrogate, waive, or suspend it or its penalty in any case upon his own terms or at his simple pleasure. But he could not do this arbitrarily, or in such a way as to contradict his own nature — that is, in such a manner as to countenance sin, to which he is essentially, absolutely, and forever opposed. Human sin, be it borne in mind, consists not so much in contravening God's express command as in violating the inherent prescriptions of the moral sense of the universe, including man himself. If, therefore, (Jod should be so weak as to overlook or condone man's crimes, without the fulfilment of such conditions as should conserve that moral instinct, he would incur the contempt of the criminal himself. In other words, man. if pardoned at all, and if so as to feel himself really and justly forgiven, must be pardoned in accordance with the ordinance graven on his own moral constitution. That ordinance may be summed up, if we may inter- pret it by consciousness, by the analogies of parental conduct and social release, and by the ex|)licit terms of Holy Writ, in the one essential re(iuirement of such a state of mind, on the part of the culprit, as warrants the jiresumption of voluntary non-repetition for the future of a like offence; that is, in one word, repentance. With- out tliis no one feels that he can properly for himself, or safely for others, either forgive or be forgiven any faidt. The question now is, How can this state of mind most certainly, effectually, and permanently be pnxkiced ? That (Jod could infallibly bring it about by a direct in- fhience upon man's mind no one can doubt, and some liave gone so far as to assert that this is the actual and invariable fact; but this is to deny free agency, and to stuhify the whole course of the divine procedure in per- mitting any sin whatever. We know of no means so