Canon (title)

Canon (Ancient Greek: κανονικός, romanized: kanonikós) is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule.

Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct of or close to a cathedral or other major church and conducting his life according to the customary discipline or rules of the church. This way of life grew common (and is first documented) in the 8th century AD. In the 11th century, some churches required clergy thus living together to adopt the rule first proposed by Saint Augustine that they renounce private wealth. Those who embraced this change were known as Augustinians or Canons Regular, whilst those who did not were known as secular canons.

Secular canons

Latin Church

In the Latin Church, canons are the members of a chapter, that is a body of senior clergy overseeing either a cathedral (a cathedral chapter) or a collegiate church. Depending on the title of the church, several languages use specific titles, e.g., in German Domherr or Domkapitular in a Dom (i.e., cathedral), Stiftsherr in a prelature that has the status of a Stift (notably under a prince of the Church).

One of the functions of the cathedral chapter in the Latin Church was to elect a vicar capitular (now named a diocesan administrator) to serve during a sede vacante period of the diocese. Since the 1983 revision of the Code of Canon Law, this responsibility belongs to the college of consultors, unless the national bishops conference decides that the functions that canon law ascribes to the college of consultors, including this one, are to be entrusted to the cathedral chapter.

Church of England

All canons of the Church of England have been secular since the Reformation, although an individual canon may also be a member of a religious order. Mostly, however, they are ordained, that is, priests or other clergy.