Suffragan

views updated May 29 2018

Suffragan. A Christian bishop, who gives his suffrage (help). It may be any bishop, subordinate to his metropolitan or archbishop. In the Church of England, it is a bishop appointed as an assistant to the bishop of a diocese.

suffragan

views updated Jun 27 2018

suffragan bishop considered in relation to his metropolitan, by whom he may be summoned to give his suffrage; subsidiary bishop in the Church of England. — AN., OF, suffragan, medL. suffragāneus, f. L. suffragium SUFFRAGE; see -AN.

suffragan

views updated Jun 27 2018

suffragan an assistant or subsidiary bishop peforming episcopal functions in a certain diocese but having no jurisdiction; in the Church of England, a bishop appointed to help a diocesan bishop. The word is recorded from late Middle English, and comes ultimately from medieval Latin suffraganeus ‘assistant bishop’.

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