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• vicar-general
  vicar-general

  noun

  a priest deputized by a bishop to assist him in the administration of a diocese.
• vicar general
  vicar general

  noun

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

vicar-general

American  

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

noun

• vicars-general
  plural

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

Derived Forms

• vicar-generalship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• vicars-general
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of vicar-general

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vicar-general vicar general vicars-general

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

Its leadership had always been white, but nine years later he became their vicar-general, or second-in-command, the first black to hold such an office in any religious order.

From Time Magazine Archive

The father vicar-general immediately began to give his attention to the convent which was to be established in Manila; but when he looked for a situation he did not find a suitable one.

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 Antonio Alvarez de Abreu

The Rev. James Anguiano, moderator of the Curia and vicar general of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, delivered a homily in Spanish and English.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2024

Eugine H. Pereira, vicar general of the archdiocese leading the protesters, said they would not be removing the shelter despite the court order.

From Reuters ● Nov. 23, 2022

Above them, the Rev. Giovanni Mammino, the city’s vicar general, came out of the St. John the Baptist church after celebrating a christening.

From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2021

In such cases, the day-to-day running of the diocese shifts to an auxiliary bishop, a vicar general or someone else.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2021

He was 'way up once, but he lost his big job as vicar general, and then he lost all his big jobs.

From Charred Wood by J. Clinton Shepherd

The order of Dominicans was equally divided, and elected different vicars-general.

From The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII. by Juan Antonio Llorente

The bishops also commonly held visitations in person, or by vicars-general or chancellors, once every third year throughout their dioceses.

From The Elizabethan Parish in its Ecclesiastical and Financial Aspects by Sedley Lynch Ware

Formerly Brazil constituted an ecclesiastical province under the metropolitan jurisdiction of an archbishop residing at Bahia, with 11 suffragan bishops, 12 vicars-general and about 2000 curates.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 4 "Bradford, William" to "Brequigny, Louis" by Various

The provincials, the vicars-general, and other officers of the Religious Orders were elected by the Chapters and held office for four years.

From The Philippine Islands by John Foreman

In 1518 Hugo von Landenberg, bishop of Constance, made him one of his vicars-general, and Pope Leo X. appointed him papal protonotary.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 1 "Evangelical Church Conference" to "Fairbairn, Sir William" by Various

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