"SUFFRAGAN" BISHOPS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 410, 25 February 1870, Page 3 (Supplement)

"SUFFRAGAN" BISHOPS.

The appointments of Archdeacon, Mackenzie a' "Suffragan" Bishop of Nottingham, and that o' Archdeacon Parry as "Suffragan" Bishop of Dover are the firßt instances of such appointments having been made in England for upwards of two centnries It is, however, a mistake to suppose that there have been no such " suffragan bishops " nominated. Oathe contrary, at the very commencement of the Reformatio:* in .England the Aot of the Legislature was passeii uider which eueh "suffragan" seos as thosa non tilled up were proposed to be erected, and the following list is to be found in ancient chronicles: "Cambridge, Hull, Gloucester, Taunton, Shaftesbury, Bedford, Bristol, Berwiok, St. German's, Thetr'ord, Ipswich, Grantham, Huntingdon, Southampton, Guildford, Leicester, Nottingham, Marlborough, Dover, ihrewabury, Penrith, Molton, Bridgnorth, Colchester, md the Isle of Wight." However, only the followin? sees were actually ocoupied by such suffragan bishops:—Taunton (in the diocese of Bath and Wells) 1538-39; Shaftesbury (in the diocese of Salisbury) 1537-38; Marlborough (in the same diocese), 153740. Bristol (then in the diocese of Worcester), in 153S . Dover ( in tho archdiocese of Canterbury ), ii* 1537-58, and again in 1569-97 ; Bedford (iD th<liocese of Lincoln), in 1537-60; Shrewsbury (in the diocese of Lichfield), in 1537; Ipswich (in the liocese of Norwich), iu 1536; Thetford (in thi diocese of Norwioh), in 1536-70; Colchester (then in the diocese of London), in 1536, and again in 1592-1607; Hull-(in the archdiocese of York), in 1551-2, and again in 1553 79; Berwick (in the diocese of Durham), in 1536-70; Ponrith (in tho diooese of Carlisle), in 1537-39; and Nottingham (then in the archdiocese of York), in 1567-70. The oerm "suffragan"—which is derived from the Latin svjfragium —wo may here remark originally denoted any diocesan prelate who had tho right jf voting (sujragandi) in a provincial Bynod, or at the eleotiou of a Metropolitan. And hence the Bishops of London, Winchester, Oxford, Exeter. 40., are called " suffragans," in respect of the Metropolitan See of Canterbury. The idea of a suffragan bishop, however, is not a novelty anions oho colonial bench; thus, Dr. Hesry Parry last year was oDnsecrated as a " suffragan " bishop to hi ather, the Bishop of Barbadoes; and Dr. Kelly, t *ear or so previously, was consecrated " coadjutor ' >r " suffragan " under Dr. Field, tho Bishop of Now nundland; and Dr. Mountain, the present Bishop ol Quebec, we believe, was a " suffragan " for some years before he succeeded to the see which he now holds.