The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

DEAN

A Dean is an ecclesiastical dignitary, said to have been so called because he presided over ten canons or prebendaries ; but more probably because each diocese was divided into deaneries, each comprising ten parishes or churches, and with a dean presiding over each. In England, in respect of their differences of office, deans are of several kinds. Deans of chapters are governors over the canons in cathedral and collegiate churches. The dean and chapter are the bishop's council to aid him with their advice in affairs of religion and in the temporal concerns of his see, and the property of the cathedral is vested in them as a corporation, the dean being himself a 'corporation sole'. Rural deans are beneficed clergymen appointed by the bishop or archdeacon to exercise a certain supervision over the clergy and ecclesiastical affairs in districts of a diocese. Dean of the chapel royal is a title held by the Bishop of London, under whom there is also a sub-dean. In Scotland there is also a clergyman holding the same title, and the revenues which formerly belonged to the chapel royal are in the gift of the crown.
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