Penitentiary

The pen provost (usually just provost ) is the head of a collegiate pen or a regular canon pen .

Constitution

appointment

The pen is mostly chosen by the pen chapter and is often used by the bishop for secular canons . In the past, provosts were often used by the sovereign or the bishop without consulting the chapter of the monastery.

tasks

The provost directs the pen and represents it externally. Its tasks are defined differently in the statutes of the various collegiate chapters. Mostly he shares the management with the monastery dean , who is responsible for the internal management.

history

In the Middle Ages, collegiate chapters were mostly founded by sovereigns as a church counterweight to the respective cathedral chapter. The provosts were therefore close to the sovereigns and also acted as their councilors and agents.

Some collegiate colleges had a great influence in their territory.

literature

• Stephan Haering u. a .: Statutes of the German cathedral chapters. 2003.
• Klaus Blaschke / Udo Breitbach : Art. Propst . In: Lexicon for Church and State Church Law , Vol. 3, N – Z, F. Schöningh, Paderborn 2004, ISBN 3-506-75142-5 .
• Philipp Hofmeister : Provost . In: Lexicon for Theology and Church , 2nd edition, Vol. 8, Freiburg im Breisgau 1963, Col. 809.