vicar-general

American  

[vik-er-jen-er-uhl] / ˈvɪk ərˈdʒɛn ər əl /

noun

plural

vicars-general

1. Roman Catholic Church. a priest deputized by a bishop to assist him in the administration of a diocese.

2. Church of England. an ecclesiastical officer, usually a layperson, who assists a bishop or an archbishop in the discharge of his judicial or administrative duties.

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vicar general British  

noun

1. an official, usually a layman, appointed to assist the bishop of a diocese in discharging his administrative or judicial duties

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Other Word Forms

• vicar-generalship noun

Etymology

Origin of vicar-general

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Example Sentences

Monsignor Stephen Doktorczyk, vicar-general for the Diocese of Orange, said McElroy’s leadership skills have been impressive.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 22, 2022

The project has personal significance for the Rev. Alex Karloutsos, longtime vicar-general for the archdiocese.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 8, 2021

Rossi was for years the vicar-general to DiNardo, the Catholic archbishop of Galveston-Houston and president of the U.S. bishops conference who has been leading the U.S. hierarchy’s response to the sexual abuse scandal.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 21, 2019

John F. Donovan, vicar-general of the Maryknoll Fathers last week, looking back over Bishop Walsh's long career.

From Time Magazine Archive

The father vicar-general remained with the others in the convent which was to be established in Manila, and was intended for the conversion of the Chinese.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 30 of 55 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XXX, 1640 by Abreu, Antonio Alvarez de