Apologies for the delay in this week's offering; for which there is a potted history of the Parson's nomenclature and a poem on what to call the parish priest.
It is said that the term of rector or vicar goes back to Mediaeval times. If a parson of a university college or a cathedral chapter is employed by a living patron then the parson is said to do the job "vicariously" and thus the term vicar appears. The vicar may get tithes of a lower value compared to the patron.
However if the patron was a Bishop, the parson was then appointed in their own right and being known as the Rector gained the major tithes as a stipend. The tithes may have gone with history but there is a possibility that the local church may have the title to some property. Land that has the word "Glebe" in its name often refers to property that has a church living connected to it.
The Vicar may live in a vicarage and the Rector may live in a rectory, but hopefully neither live in the local churchyard...yet!
A past vicar of Goring gave rise to write a poem on a priest's names.
Call me 'Brother' if you will
Call me 'Padre' better still
Though plain 'Mister' fills the bill.
If that title lacketh thrill
Even 'Father' brings no chill.
Pastor, Rector, Vicar, Friend,
Titles almost without end
Do not grate nor yet offend.
But how that man my heart doth rend
Who merely calls me 'Reverend'!
I am sure that some readers of this blog will recall past vicars of Whatlington who were often tied with Sedlescombe, a later post will recall these figures of the church. If you are reading this post the week when it was written (the 9th of November 2011), a new series of Reverend is being shown on the BBC.
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