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Encyclopedia Britannica



ABBESS (Lat. abbatissa, fem. form of abbas, abbot)

This article appears in Volume V01, Page 11 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: A10-ADA
ABBESS (Lat. abbatissa, fem. form of abbas, abbot) , the female superior of an abbey or convent of nuns. The mode of election, position, rights and authority of an abbess correspond generally with those of an abbot (q.v.). The office is elective, the choice being by the
secret
  votes of the sisters from their own
body
 . The abbess is solemnly admitted to her office by episcopal benediction, together with the conIrring of a staff and pectoral
cross
 , and holds for life, though liable to be deprived for misconduct. The council of Trent fixed the qualifying age at
forty
 , with eight years of profession. Abbesses have a right to demand absolute obedience of their nuns, over whom they exercise discipline, extending even to the power of expulsion, subject, however, to the
bishop
 . As a female an abbess is incapable of performing the spiritual functions of the priesthood belonging to an abbot. She can-not ordain, confer the veil, nor excommunicate. In England abbesses attended ecclesiastical councils, e.g. that of Becanfield in 694, where they signed before the presbyters.
By Celtic usage abbesses presided over
joint
 -houses of monks and nuns. This custom accompanied Celtic monastic missions to France and Spain, and even to Rome itself. At a later period, A.D. 1115, Robert, the founder of Fontevraud, committed the government of the whole order, men as well as women, to a female superior.
In the German Evangelical church the title of abbess (Aebtissin) has in some casese.g. Itzehoesurvived to designate the heads of abbeys which since the Reformation have continued as Stifle, i.e. collegiate
foundations
 , which provide a
home
  and an income for unmarried ladies, generally of noble
birth
 , called canonesses (Kanonissinen) or more usually Stiftsdamen. This office of abbess is of considerable social dignity, and is sometimes filled by princesses of the reigning houses.


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