Chaplain

A chaplain is a priest or a member of the clergy serving a group of people who are not organized as a mission or church. For example a chaplain is often attached to a military unit (often known as padre), a private chapel, a ship, a prison, a hospital, a college or other (especially boarding) school, even a parliamentary assembly and so on.

Related Topics:
Priest - Clergy - Church - Military - Chapel - Ship - Prison - Hospital - Parliament

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Favorite theories are that the term derives from the relic cloak (capa or capella) of St. Martin of Tours or from the Latin term Capellanus.

Related Topics:
Relic - Cloak - Martin of Tours

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In various languages, the word equivalent to Almoner (e.g. Aumonier in French, Aalmoezenier in Dutch) is used in many instances where English uses chaplain, sometimes there are still other terms (e.g. also Proost, otherwise equivalent to Provost, in Dutch).

Related Topics:
Almoner - Provost

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