Collegiate church

A collegiate church is a Christian church building where special daily worship services are led by a group of priests called a college of canons. These priests are not part of a monastery but work together as a self-governing group. They are led by a leader who may be called a dean or a provost.

Unlike some other big churches, a collegiate church is not where a bishop has their main office, so it does not have certain important church duties that a bishop’s church has.

These churches are often helped by money from land or special payments called tithe from certain church jobs known as appropriated benefices. The building usually has special areas for people to gather for worship and for the canons to sing their services.

History

In the early days of Christianity in Europe, before local parishes were common, many new churches were run by groups of priests who lived together and cared for large areas. In England, these were called minsters. By the 9th and 10th centuries, these churches started using formal rules, and were called "collegiate" churches.

Over time, these churches were supported by money and land. Some richer churches gave each priest their own share of income, called a prebend, while others shared money equally. As time went on, many of these churches followed strict rules, becoming like monasteries.

From the 13th century, people began leaving money to support prayers for their families, leading to new collegiate churches. Some of these were linked to universities, where teachers and students lived together and worshipped in special chapels. This style of church continued even after big changes in religious practices.

Contemporary examples

Three traditional collegiate churches have survived in England since the Middle Ages: at Westminster Abbey in London, St George's Chapel of Windsor Castle and Church of St Endelienta, St Endellion, Cornwall.

Today, similar churches continue in places like New York City. These include the Marble Collegiate Church, founded in 1628, and the Middle Collegiate, Fort Washington Collegiate and West End Collegiate churches, which are part of the Reformed Church in America.

In the Catholic Church, many cathedrals have groups of clergy called chapters and are considered collegiate churches. There are also a few special collegiate churches, such as St. Peter and St. Mary Major in Rome, and others in Germany, Portugal, and the Czech Republic.

Historical examples

Belgium

Historical Collegiate Churches include:

• Antwerp: Saint James' Church
• Bruges: Church of Our Lady
• Kortrijk: Church of Our Lady
• Liège: see: Seven collegiate churches of Liège.
  • Church of St John the Evangelist
  • Church of St. Denis
  • Collegiate Church of St. Bartholomew
• Mons: Saint Waltrude Collegiate Church; Chapter of Noble Canonesses.
• Nivelles: Collegiate Church of Saint Gertrude; Chapter of Noble Canonesses.

England

Main article: List of collegiate churches in England

In pre-Reformation England there were usually a number of collegiate churches in each diocese, with over a hundred in total. They were mostly abolished during the reign of Edward VI in 1547, as part of the Reformation, by the Act for the Dissolution of Collegiate Churches and Chantries (Dissolution of Colleges Act 1547). Almost all continue to serve as parish churches with a resident rector, vicar or curate (although the appointment of a vicar in succession to the priestly services of the Augustinian priory at St Paul's Church, Bedford predates this by nineteen years). Two major collegiate churches, however, Manchester and Southwell, were refounded with a collegiate body after the Reformation; and these were joined by the revived college at Ripon in 1604, all three churches maintaining choral foundations for daily worship. These three churches became cathedrals in the 19th century. Hence, at the beginning the 20th century, the royal peculiars of Westminster and Windsor alone survived with a functioning non-cathedral and non-academic collegiate body.

The colleges of Oxford and Cambridge universities, and the schools of Eton and Winchester, successfully resisted dissolution at the Reformation, arguing that their chantry origins had effectively been subsumed within their continuing academic and religious functions; and pleading that they be permitted simply to cease maintaining their chantries and obituaries. For the most part, they had already ceased to undertake collegiate worship in their appropriated churches, which reverted to normal parish status. The chapel of Merton College, Oxford, however, continued to serve as a collegiate church until 1891; just as the chapel of Christ Church, Oxford doubles as the cathedral of Oxford; while the chapel of Eton College serves as the parish church of Eton to this day. The Church of St Mary Magdalene, Newark-on-Trent, though never collegiate in the medieval period, maintained a choral foundation for collegiate worship after the Reformation in association with the Magnus Bequest, an arrangement that continued till 1901.

Otherwise, twelve colleges survived the Reformation in England and Wales in nominal form. In some cases these were refoundations under Queen Mary (as for instance the college of Wolverhampton); in other cases, they may simply have been overlooked by the suppression commissioners. Unlike at Manchester, Ripon and Southwell, these churches did not continue to maintain regular collegiate worship, but their prebends or portioners persisted as non-resident sinecures, and as such were mostly dissolved by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act 1840 (3 & 4 Vict. c. 113). However, the Victorian legislators themselves overlooked two churches of portioners in Shropshire – St Mary's, Burford and St George's, Pontesbury; and also the college of Saint Endellion in Cornwall, which uniquely continues collegiate to this day, having in 1929 been provided with new statutes that re-established non-resident unpaid prebends and an annual chapter.

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 a collegiate church. St Mary's Collegiate Church (in Youghal founded 1220, County Cork, a building of very remote antiquity, home to a fine choir, The Clerks Choral. St Nicholas' Collegiate Church in Galway, founded in 1320 and granted collegiate status in 1484, is another fine example of a pre-reformation Collegiate Church. The Collegiate Church of St Peter and St Paul is located in Kilmallock; founded by 1241, it was dedicated as a collegiate church in 1410.

Scotland

Main article: List of collegiate churches in Scotland

The church now referred to as 'St Giles Cathedral', in Edinburgh, became a collegiate church in 1466, less than a century before the Scottish Reformation.

Wales

St Peter's Collegiate Church, Ruthin, was built by John de Grey in 1310, following the erection of Ruthin Castle by his father, Reginald de Grey in 1277. For some time before this, Ruthin had been the home of a nunnery and a prior. From 1310 to 1536 St Peter's was a Collegiate Church served by a Warden and seven priests. Following the dissolution of the college its work was restored on a new pattern by Gabriel Goodman (1528–1601), a Ruthin man who became Dean of Westminster in 1561. Goodman re-established Ruthin school in 1574 and refounded the Almshouses of Christ's Hospital, together with the Wardenship of Ruthin in 1590. Since then, St Peter's has continued as a Parochial and Collegiate Church with its Warden, Churchwardens and Parochial Church Council. A close relationship is maintained between the Church, Ruthin School and the Almshouses of Christ's Hospital.

St Padarn's Church, Llanbadarn Fawr was a collegiate church, having originally been founded as a clas church by Saint Padarn, after whom it was named, in the early sixth century. The church had been the seat of a bishop during the years immediately following St Padarn, who was its first bishop. The church was re-founded as a cell of St Peter's, Gloucester (a Benedictine abbey), by Gilbert fitzRichard. Monastic life at Llanbadarn Fawr was short-lived for the Welsh drove the English monks away when they re-conquered Cardigan. The priory later became a college of priests. Thomas Bradwardine, later briefly Archbishop of Canterbury, was Rector of Llanbadarn Fawr 1347–1349, and thereafter the Abbot of the Cistercian Vale Royal Abbey, Chester, was ex officio Rector 1360–1538.

The old Bishop's Palace at Abergwili, home to the Bishop of St David's since 1542, when Bishop William Barlow transferred his palace from St David's to Abergwili, re-using the premises of an older college of priests. The building is believed to have been built between 1283 and 1291, when Thomas Bek was made bishop of St Davids. It was known as a college until it was amalgamated with the Dominican friary now known as Christ College Brecon, refounded as a public school in 1541. It was almost completely rebuilt in 1903 following a disastrous fire. It contains the chapel originally added by Archbishop Laud in 1625, when he was Bishop of St David's. In 1974 the old episcopal palace was purchased by Carmarthenshire County Council for use as a museum, whilst a new residence for the bishops, "Llys Esgob", was built in part of the grounds, together with Diocesan Offices – thereby continuing a connection with Abergwili which has now lasted for well over 400 years.

St. Cybi's Collegiate and Parish Church, Holyhead, was another collegiate church, as is the Collegiate and Parish Church of St Mary, St Mary's Square, Swansea, along with St Beuno's Church, Clynnog Fawr