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.

Origins

History records various 'equivalents' from ancient Assyria onwards, sometimes redered as 'chaplains', but such anachronistic term has no real meaning.

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Originally a Christian chaplain had a function of serving as an aide to a bishop and various chaplains still help the pope in his ecclesiastical duties. In other circumstances their duties were limited to saying a mass in certain functions. In many catholic parishes the curate has (or had, manpower is usually to low for such luxury) one or more younger priests, styled Chaplains, attached to him, under his ordinary jurisdiction.

Related Topics:
Christian - Bishop - Pope - Mass

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