canon

Canon or Domicellar (also Latin Domicellarius ), also Domizellar , is a (spiritual) office in the Catholic Church and an honorary office in the Protestant Church.

Before the 19th century, the title mostly referred to aristocratic men who had a canon or domicellarius prebende , i.e. the right to certain payments. Canons were therefore not necessarily capitulars , not even consecrated , but only officials of ecclesiastical princes , which is why children and young people who attended choir or convent schools also became zellarii after confirmation and tonsure . A distinction was made - sometimes also in the choir stalls separated - secular and spiritual canons. The latter were allowed to wear the black cassock and could be included in the cathedral chapter , which can be deduced from the résumés of several Würzburg canons (e.g. Johann Philipp von Frankenstein , Johann Adolph von Hettersdorf or Johann von Wolfskeel ). As cathedral capitals , they wore dark purple, until 1867 dark green cassocks and pileoli .

literature

• Peter Hersche : The German cathedral chapters in the 17th and 18th centuries . Self-published, Bern 1984 (3 volumes, plus habilitation thesis , University of Bern)

Web links

• Cathedral chapter - current (historical development and description of the tasks of Protestant canons using the example of Merseburg and Naumburg 2013)