Abbess

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

conferring 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 cannot 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 cases--e.g. Itzehoe--survived to designate the

heads of abbeys which since the Reformation have continued as

Stifte, 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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Source: An unnamed encyclopedia from a project that puts out-of-copyright texts into the public domain.

This is from a *very* old source, and reflects the thinking of the turn of the last century. -- BryceHarrington