provincial council of church

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provincial council of church [S]. Ordained to be annual meetings of a metropolitan and his suffragans; bishops in Scotland received special permission to hold provincial councils in a papal bull dated 1225, despite having no archbishop until 1472. These councils were to deal with clerical excesses and the reformation of morals, to ensure canonical laws were read and observed, and, generally, to act as the governing body of the Church in Scotland. The provincial councils of 1549, 1552, and 1559, for example, passed numerous statutes for the internal reform of the church, designed to counter the criticisms and growth of the reform movement in Scotland.

Pamela E. Ritchie

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provincial council of church

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