The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justin Welby, who was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013. Welby is the 105th person to hold the position, as part of a line of succession going back to the "Apostle to the English" Augustine of Canterbury, who was sent to the island by the church in Rome in 597. Welby succeeded Rowan Williams.
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdiocese, or are otherwise granted a titular archbishopric. In others, such as the Lutheran Church of Sweden, the title is only borne by the leader of the denomination.
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are entitled to courtesy titles. The collective "Lords" can refer to a group or body of peers.
The Reverend is an honorific style given before the names of certain Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. The Reverend is correctly called a style, but is sometimes referred to as a title, form of address, or title of respect. The style is also sometimes used by leaders in other religions such as Judaism and Buddhism.
A style of office or form of address, also called manner of address, is an official or legally recognized form of address for a person or other entity, and may often be used in conjunction with a personal title. A style, by tradition or law, precedes a reference to a person who holds a post or political office, and is sometimes used to refer to the office itself. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal capacity. Such styles are particularly associated with monarchies, where they may be used by a wife of an office holder or of a prince of the blood, for the duration of their marriage. They are also almost universally used for presidents in republics and in many countries for members of legislative bodies, higher-ranking judges, and senior constitutional office holders. Leading religious figures also have styles.
David Michael Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes, is a retired Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Wakefield between 1985 and 1990 and the Bishop of London between 1990 and 1995. From 1995 to 2005, he was the Archbishop of York in the Church of England. In March 2005, he was made a life peer and therefore a member of the House of Lords; he had already sat in the house as a Lord Spiritual when he was a bishop. He retired from the Lords in April 2015.
The Lords Spiritual are the bishops of the Church of England who serve in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. Twenty-six out of the 42 diocesan bishops and archbishops of the Church of England serve as Lords Spiritual. The Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, and the Anglican churches in Wales and Northern Ireland, which are no longer established churches, are not represented. The Lords Spiritual are distinct from the Lords Temporal, their secular counterparts who also sit in the House of Lords.
Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury, was an English Anglican bishop and life peer. He served as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was appointed on 31 May 1961 and held the office until 1974, having previously been appointed Bishop of Durham in 1952 and the Archbishop of York in 1956.
Monsignor is an honorific form of address or title for certain male members of the clergy, usually of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons or Msgr. In some countries, the title "monsignor" is used as a form of address for bishops. However, in English-speaking countries, the title is dropped when a priest is appointed as bishop.
In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community. The term is taken from Latin minister. In some church traditions the term is usually used for people who have been ordained, but in other traditions it can also be used for non-ordained people who have a pastoral or liturgical ministry.
In the English language, an honorific is a form of address conveying esteem, courtesy or respect. These can be titles prefixing a person's name, e.g.: Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, Mx,Sir, Dame, Dr, Cllr, Lady or Lord, or titles or positions that can appear as a form of address without the person's name, as in Mr President, General, Captain, Father, Doctor or Earl.
His Eminence is a style of reference for high nobility, still in use in various religious contexts.
The Anglican Catholic Church (ACC), also known as the Anglican Catholic Church (Original Province), is a body of Christians in the continuing Anglican movement, which is separate from the Anglican Communion led by the Archbishop of Canterbury (and symbolically and ceremonially, by the British monarch, as Supreme Governor of the Church of England). This denomination is separate from the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia and the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada.
The Right Reverend is an honorific style given to certain religious figures and members of a clergy.
Stephen Geoffrey Cottrell is a Church of England bishop. Since 9 July 2020, he has been the Archbishop of York and Primate of England; the second-most senior bishop of the church and the most senior in northern England. He previously served as Bishop of Reading, 2004–2010, and as Bishop of Chelmsford, 2010–2020.
The Most Reverend is an honorific style given to certain high-ranking religious figures, primarily within the historic denominations of Christianity, but occasionally also in more modern traditions. It is a variant of the more common style "The Reverend".
The Very Reverend is an honorific style given to higher-ranking members of a clergy. The definite article "the" should always precede "Reverend" when used before a name, because "Reverend" is an honorific adjective, not a title.
Ecclesiastical titles are the formal styles of address used for members of the clergy.
Robert Ronald Atwell is a British Anglican bishop, writer, and former Benedictine monk. Since April 2014, he has been the Bishop of Exeter. From 2008 to 2014, he was Bishop of Stockport, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Chester.
John Law (1745–1810) was an English mathematician and clergyman who began his career as a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, and went on to become chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Church of Ireland bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh (1782–1787), Killala and Achonry (1787–1795), and finally of Elphin (1795–1810).
