Collegiate church
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page. |
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church served and administered by a college of canons or prebendaries, presided over by a dean or provost. In its governing a collegiate church is similar to a cathedral, although a collegiate church is not the seat of a bishop. Collegiate churches were often supported by (sometimes extensive) lands held by the church.
A collegiate church typically has its seating arranged parallel with the south and north walls, facing inwards rather than towards the altar at the eastern end. Such an arrangement is found in university chapels and in cathedrals. It has influenced the design of other churches in that the singing choir is seen as representing the idea of a college. The Westminster model of parliamentary seating arrangement arose from Parliament's use of such a chapel for its sittings until Westminster Palace chapel burnt down in 1834.
Contents |
[edit] Contemporary examples
The idea of a "collegiate church" has continued to develop a contemporary equivalent. Many contemporary Collegiate Churches draw on the idea that collegiate means a "church with more than one minister", often understood as reflected in the "priesthood of all believers" and local, congregational governance.
Two different examples of contemporary collegiate churches in America today are The Collegiate Church (New York, NY) (http://www.collegiatechurch.org) and St. Paul's Collegiate Church at Storrs (Storrs, CT) (http://www.stpaulswired.org). St. Paul's Collegiate Church at Storrs features contemporary architecture that reflects traditional collegiate church architecture (see above).
St. Paul's Collegiate Church at Storrs, unlike most historical collegiate churches, is a post-denominational, evangelical church. According to church leaders, they chose the name "collegiate" to emphasize "the priesthood of all believers" and that "every member of the Body of Christ is a minister."
While collegiate churches typically have its seating arranged parallel with the south and north walls, facing inwards rather than towards the altar at the eastern end, St. Paul's Collegiate Church has adapted this by creating a chapel fully in the round, with the altar/communion station in the center.
[edit] Historical examples
[edit] England
In pre-Reformation England there were usually a number of collegiate churches in each diocese, with several hundred in total. They were almost all abolished by Henry VIII in 1547 as part of the Reformation by the Act for the Dissolution of Collegiate Churches and Chantries. Many continued to serve as parish churches with a resident vicar or curate and a limited number retained aspects of their collegiate past down to the 19th century. But the royal peculiars alone have survived with collegiate status.
In England at the end of the twentieth century there were sixteen churches or chapels with the title of Royal Peculiar not all of which were still in regular use for worship. Of these only two are collegiate, each with a Dean and a Chapter of four secular Canons. These are:
[edit] Ireland
In Ireland, there are a number of ancient churches still in regular use that are collegiate churches. Most notably the church known as St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, is in fact a collegiate church. St. Mary's Collegiate Church ([1] in Youghal, County Cork, a building of very remote antiquity, home to a fine choir, The Clerks Choral. St. Nicholas Collegiate Church in Galway is another fine example of a pre-reformation Collegiate Church.
[edit] Scotland
The church now refererred to as 'St Giles Cathedral', in Edinburgh, became a collegiate church in 1466, less than a century before the Scottish Reformation.
[edit] References
G.H. Cook English Collegiate Churches of the Middle Ages (Phoenix House, 1959) P.N. Jeffery The Collegiate Churches of England and Wales (Robert Hale, 2004)
