Canon (priest) - Secular Canons

Secular Canons

In the Roman Catholic Church, the members of the chapter of a cathedral (cathedral chapter) or of a collegiate church (so called after their chapter) are canons. Depending on the title of the church, several languages use specific titles, e.g., in German Domherr or Domkapitular in a Dom (i.e., cathedral), Stiftsherr in a prelature that has the status of a Stift (notably under a prince of the Church).

One of the functions of the cathedral chapter in the Roman Catholic Church was to elect a Vicar Capitular (now named a Diocesan Administrator) to serve during a sede vacante period of the diocese. Since the 1983 revision of the Code of Canon Law, this responsibility belongs to the college of consultors, unless the national Bishops Conference decides that the functions that canon law ascribes to the college of consultors, including this one, are to be entrusted to the cathedral chapter.

All canons of the Church of England have been secular since the Reformation, although an individual canon may himself also be a member of a religious order. Mostly, however, they are ordained, that is, priests or members of the clergy. Today, the system of canons is retained almost exclusively in connection with cathedral churches. A canon is a member of the chapter of (for the most part) priests, headed by a dean, which is responsible for administering a cathedral or certain other churches that are styled collegiate churches. The dean and chapter are the formal body which has legal responsibility for the cathedral and for electing the (arch)bishop.