Not to be confused with some religious orders which have been subdivided into provinces for purposes of administration
An ecclesiastical province (or churchly province) is a large jurisdiction of religious government, so named by analogy with the secular Roman province. In those hierarchical Christian churches that have dioceses, a province is a collection of those dioceses. The Catholic Church (both Latin and Eastern Catholic) and Orthodox Churches and in the Anglican Communion all have provinces. These provinces are led by an archbishop.
In the early church and in some modern churches, a province's cathedral (sometimes called a "seat") and the cathedral's city is called a metropolis and the province's bishop is called, in turn, a metropolitan bishop or a metropolitan.
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Ecclesiastical provinces first assumed a fixed form in the Eastern Roman Empire. The more important centres (e.g. Antioch for Syria, Ephesus for the Province of Asia, Alexandria for Egypt, Rome for Italy), whence Christian missionaries issued to preach the Gospel, were regarded as the mother-churches (hence the Greek term metropolitan) of the newly-founded Christian communities. From the second half of the second century, the bishops of the territories within the same natural geographical boundaries were accustomed to assemble on important occasions for common counsel in synods. From the end of that century the summons to attend these increasingly important synods was usually issued by the bishop of the capital of the state province (eparchy), who also presided over the assembly, especially in the East. Important communications were also forwarded to the bishop of the provincial capital to be brought to the notice of the other bishops. Thus in the East during the third century the bishop of the provincial metropolis came gradually to occupy a certain superior position, and received the name of metropolitan.
At the First Council of Nicaea (325) this position of the metropolitan was taken for granted, and was made the basis for conceding to him definite rights over the other bishops and dioceses of the state province. In Eastern canon law since the fourth century (cf. also the Synod of Antioch of 341, can. ix), it was a principle that every civil province was likewise a church province under the supreme direction of the metropolitan, i.e. of the bishop of the provincial capital.
This division into ecclesiastical provinces did not develop so early in the Western Empire. In North Africa the first metropolitan appears during the fourth century, the Bishop of Carthage being recognized as primate of the dioceses of Northern Africa; metropolitans of the separate provinces gradually appear, although the boundaries of these provinces did not coincide with the divisions of the empire. A similar development was witnessed in Spain, Gaul, and Italy. The migration of the nations, however, prevented an equally stable formation of ecclesiastical provinces in the Christian West as in the East. It was only after the fifth century that such gradually developed, mostly in accordance with the ancient divisions of the Roman Empire. In Italy alone, on account of the central ecclesiastical position of Rome, this development was slower. However, at the end of Antiquity the existence of church provinces as the basis of ecclesiastical administration was fairly universal in the West. In the Carolingian period they were reorganized, and have retained their place ever since.
After the East-West schism the early Christian communities and structures remained. In Eastern Orthodoxy all parishes belong to an eparchy, the equivalent of a diocese, which is governed by a bishop. Eparchies normally follow civil boundaries, but there are exceptions. Eparchies are part of an autonomous church, headed by an archbishop, metropolitan or patriarch depending on the status of the particular autonomous church. Autonomous churches normally follow civil or national boundaries.
In the Catholic Church, a province consists of a metropolitan archdiocese and one or more of other particular churches, usually dioceses. The archbishop of the metropolitan see is the Metropolitan of the province. The delimitation of church provinces in the Latin Church is reserved to the Holy See.
However, there have always been individual dioceses which do not belong to any province, but are directly subject to the Holy See. There are also some archdioceses that are not metropolitan sees and some that are suffragan to another archdiocese; their archbishops do not receive the pallium.
The authority of the metropolitan over the sees within his province is very limited. During a vacancy in a suffragan see, the metropolitan can name a temporary diocesan administrator if the College of Consultors of the diocese fails to elect one within the prescribed period.[1] A metropolitan generally presides at the installation and consecration of new bishops in the province, and serves as the first court of appeal regarding canonical matters of provincial diocesan tribunals. The metropolitan's insignia is the pallium.
In the Eastern Catholic Churches, the term metropolitan is used in a similar way to the Eastern Orthodox churches. In some of the sui iuris Eastern Churches, the head of the Church is a metropolitan. These sui iuris metropolitan churches are generally less populous than patriarchal or major archiepiscopal churches, and are subject to greater oversight by the pope and the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
The authority exercised by the metropolitan over his suffragan dioceses is as limited today as it ever has been in history. Emphasis is placed on each bishop having a direct relationship with the pope and not dependent on the metropolitan. The metropolitan is supposed to hold a provincial council every three year. Because of restrictions, he probably cannot officially visit dioceses other than his own, that are technically within his jurisdiction. He can nominate candidates for vacancies to the bishopric within his province.[2]
The borders of provinces have often been inspired, or even determined, by historical and/or present political borders; the same is often true of diocesan borders within a province. The following are some examples:
Member churches of the Anglican Communion are often referred to as provinces. Some provinces are coterminous with the boundaries of political states, some include multiple nations while others include only parts of a nation. Some, such as the Church of the Province of West Africa, have the word "province" in their names. A list of all member churches of the Anglican Communion is available at the main Anglican Communion article. These member churches are known as "provinces of the Anglican Communion," and are headed by a primate, who may also be referred to as a primus (for example, the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church), presiding bishop, or moderator.
The word "province" is also used to refer to groupings of dioceses within a member church. The Church of England is divided into two provinces: Canterbury and York. The Anglican Church of Australia has five provinces: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia, and an extraprovincial diocese. The Anglican Church of Canada has four: British Columbia and the Yukon, Canada, Ontario, and Rupert's Land. The Church of Ireland has two: Armagh and Dublin. The Episcopal Church in the United States of America numbers, rather than names, its nine provinces.
The term province, or occasionally religious province, also refers to a geographical and administrative subdivision in a number of religious orders or congregations. This is true of most, though not all, religious communities founded after the year AD 1000, as well as the Augustinians, who date from earlier.
A province of a religious community is typically headed by a provincial superior. The title differs by each congregational tradition (provincial minister for Franciscans; provincial prior for Dominicans; provincial for the Augustinians, simply "provincial" or "provincial father" for the Jesuits and many others, for instance).
The borders of the religious orders' provinces are determined independently of any diocesan structure, and so the borders often differ from the 'secular', or diocesan, ecclesiastical provinces. The orders' provinces are usually far larger than a diocese, a secular province, or even a country, though sometimes they are smaller in a congregation's heartland.
Most monastic orders are not organized by provinces. In general, they organise their administration through autonomous houses, in some cases grouped in larger families. For example, each Benedictine abbey is an independent foundation, but will often choose to group themselves into congregations based on historical connections.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). "Ecclesiastical Province". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.