Curate

Curate, strictly one that has a cure of souls, and the word is so used in the Church liturgy and rubrics. But it is generally now confined to a clergyman who has no benefice, and whose tenure of his office depends upon the will of his rector or vicar, and bishop. The status and the lot of the ordinary curate form one of the most perplexing questions of ecclesiastical organisation. A perpetual curate was one who was employed to fulfil the spiritual functions of a benefice whose emoluments were in the hands of a layman. Recent legislation has almost led to the disuse of the term perpetual curate.