THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
(Roman Catholic); C. Pesch, Prmlectiones dogmaticce, ii. 166-173, Freiburg, 1899 (Roman Catholic); O. Kirn, Vorsehungsglaube und Naturwissenschaft, Berlin, 1903; R. Otto, Xaturalistisehe und religiSse Weltanschauung, Tubingen, 1904, Eng. transl.. Naturalism and Religion, Xew York, 1907; A. Titius, Religion und Naturwissenschaft, Tubingen, 1904; KL, xii. 1097-1113; W. Lerch, Bedenken gegen die giittliche Vorschung, Warnsdorf, 1906.
In connection with § 11 consult especially J. Le Conte, Evolution and its Relation to Religious Thought, part iii., 2d ed., Xew York, 1894; A. C. Fraser, Philosophy of Theism, Gifford Lectures, 2 ser., pp. 82 sqq., London, 1896; A. B. Bruce, The Providential Order of the World, New York, 1897; idem. The Moral Order of the World, ib. 1899.
PROVINCIAL (provincialis superior): The regular ecclesiastic who presides over a number of cloisters which collectively form a province. The monks constitute a peculiar hierarchy, which, while not in all points alike in the various orders, essentially conforms to the following gradation. Within any given district the cloisters of an order constitute a department, which among the Franciscans is termed custodia. Several of these compose a province, in charge of a provincial; whereas the entire order is under the general. The province may embrace one or several countries, according to circumstances. Notwithstanding the obedience commanded by the hierarchical organization of the cloister system, the superior's authority is limited through the necessity of conference with ecclesiastics of the order when important objects are under advisement. Thus the prior of the separate cloister is offset by the fathers of the same; the superior of the province by the superiors of the separate cloisters; the general of the order by the provincials. The provincials, who at the same time are superiors of some chief cloister of their province, appear in still other connections as members of the chapter general of an entire order.
E. Sehling.
PROVISOR: A person appointed as administrator of part of the church property. Originally, church property was administered by the bishop. As the wealth of the Church came to be specialized, the administration of the parochial property devolved upon the parish priest under supervision of bishop and archdeacon. Very soon, however, there also grew up an influence on the side of the secular parishioners, and suitable persons from their midst were either elected by the parochians, or appointed by the church dignitaries, as administrators of the church structure. They bore various designations, among others vitrici and provisores. As clergy were termed " fathers " of the Church (patres ecclesice), so the prorixnrrs were termed " patronal " fathers.
The designation provisor is applied also to the auxiliary clergy, specifically to parish incumbents.
E. Sehling.
PROVOST, SAMUEL: First Protestant Episcopal bishop of New York; b. in New York City Mar. 11, 1742; d. there Sept. 6, 1815. He received his education at King's College (now Columbia University), graduating in 1761, and at the University of Cambridge, England, entering St. Peter's House (now Si. Peter's College); he was made deacon und priest in London, 1766; and on his return to America became one of the clergy of Trinity Church, New
York, where he became noted for his patriotism and received the title of " the patriot rector " after his selection to the rectorship in 1784. His service with Trinity was not continuous, however, as in 1774 political conditions led him to retire to a small estate in what was then Dutchess county. Here he indulged his love of botany (at Cambridge he prepared a manuscript index to Baubin's Historia planetarum) as a disciple of Linnaeus. In 1786 he was elected bishop of New York, and was consecrated at Lambeth Palace. He offered his resignation of the bishopric in 1801, but it was declined and he was given a bishop-coadjutor. He published nothing, but was a scholar of notable attainments, being proficient in not only the classical languages, but in French, German, and Italian, translating but not publishing Tassot's "Jerusalem Delivered." He did excellent service for his church during a period when episcopacy was not popular in this country.
Bibliography: W E. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, v. 240-246, New York, 1859; J. G. Wilson and others. Centennial Hist, of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New York, 1785-1886, ib., 1886; W S. Perry, The Episcopate in America, p. 9, ib., 1895; M. Dix, Hist, of the Parish of Trinity Church, vol. ii., ib., 1901.
PROVOST (PROPOSITUS) : In general, a presiding officer, whether temporal or spiritual; as a special term it was applied to a monastic official subordinate to the prior. According to the Benedictine rule, the provost ranks immediately after the abbot; later a dean was also appointed, coordinate with the provost. In the nunneries a praeposita or priorissa followed in rank the abbess. At the cathedral church, the archdeacon became cathedral provost; in the chapters of the churches, he kept the simpler designation of provost. Thenceforth provost and dean occupied the two uppermost positions in the chapters, ranking as prelates (see Prelate). Their position varied in the different foundations according to the appertaining statutes. Inasmuch as the administration of temporalia frequently interfered with the provost's actual residence and prevented him from giving his attention to other business of the chapter, he sometimes withdrew from the chapter altogether, and was replaced by the dean as capitulary chief.
In later times provosts were largely retained as priors of cloisters, as among the Augustinians, Dominicans (" provost or prior "), and Cistercians (" provost or guardian "). As distinguished from these provosts of the regular clergy, there were temporal provosts of cloisters, whose business it was to administer the property as stewards or to serve as their protectors. The term occasionally denotes other custodians who hold membership offices in the church councils of particular congregations. The chief of the army chaplains, or military clergy, is sometimes called " field provost," " principal chaplain."
The title also passed over to the Evangelical church, and is sometimes borne by superintendents, as under the Swedish occupancy of Pomerania, and in Mecklenburg. In foundations retained from the medieval Church, the provost's office continued active, as at the cathedral foundation in Naum-