Vicars and Curates
Darcy’s Decision features a VIP–very important vicar. Let’s dig more into who they were and what they did!
Continue reading →Tag Archives: ordination
A Country Parson’s Life
I’d like to welcome Brenda Cox today as she shares a fascinating article on a country parson’s life during the regency era. Country clergymen appear in each of Jane Austen’s novels. Some are satirized, like Mr. Collins of Pride and Prejudice and Mr. Elton of Emma. Others are men of integrity, like Edmund Bertram of Mansfield Park and Edward Ferrars of Sense and Sensibility. Austen’s father, two of her brothers, and many of her friends were clergymen, … Continue reading →
Taking Orders
In Jane Austen’s writing we encounter a number of characters like Edward Ferrars and Edmund Bertram who are planning on taking orders. Her readers understood what that meant, but the concept is a little foreign to us, so here’s a quick rundown on what ‘taking orders’ meant. The English laws or primogenitor, intended to preserve the integrity of large landed estates, made it a challenge for younger sons of the landed gentry to establish themselves … Continue reading →
It’s a (church) living…
What was a church living in Jane Austen’s day and how did one acquire one?
Continue reading →Rectors and Vicars and Curates…Oh My!
The three different types of clergy might populate a parish church: the rector, the vicar and the curate. The latter two are the ones we hear about most but it is worth taking a moment to consider the rector, too. Rector One of the reasons for confusion about this position is that the rector did not have to be an ordained man — it might well be a college, a group, bishop, a nobleman, or even a … Continue reading →