July 2012

Greetings Sisters and Brothers, we are pleased to announce that our Sister Kristina Henriques has been promoted to the rank of Hon. Lady LKHT. Thank you Hon. Lady Kristina Henriques LKHT for your continued support of our work and Order, congratulations.

We would also like to welcome a new Companion to our Outer Order - Jennifer Blair CHT. Welcome Jennifer, we all look forward to getting to know you.
 

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We now hear from Tau Graham where he explains about Titular titles.

Some of you have asked what the word ‘Titular’ means, in regards to our titles, so I thought I would do a little piece on it for this month’s newsletter.

I’ll start with the obvious dictionary definition:
tit•u•lar  [tich-uh-ler, tit-yuh-]

adjective
1. Existing or being such in title only; nominal; having the title but none of the associated
duties, powers, etc.: the titular head of the company.
2. From whom or which a title or name is taken: His titular Saint is Michael.
3. Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a title.
4. Having a title, especially of rank.
5. Designating any of the Roman Catholic churches in Rome whose nominal incumbents are
cardinals.

noun
6. A person who bears a title.
7. A person from whom or thing from which a title or name is taken.
8. Ecclesiastical. A person entitled to a benefice but not required to perform its duties.

etymology
Titular is formed from a combination of the Latin titulus (title) and the English suffix -ar, which means "of or belonging to."

Normally within the larger mainstream churches, when someone is consecrated to the Episcopate, (made a Bishop) they are given an area, known as a Diocese or See that they are responsible for, these are usually historical areas dating back hundreds of years, sometimes these areas fall out of use and so cease to be, due to merging of Diocese, but the name remains, these then become Titular Sees, and can be granted to new Bishops, when there are no Diocese available. Titular sees are also used to avoid causing offence or confusion when a Bishop of one denomination serves a place which is also the see of a Bishop of a different denomination. 

Within some smaller independent churches the consecration of a Bishop is done ‘ad personam’ (to the person) and so they have no see, Titular or otherwise.

Historically an Abbot/Abbess was simply the head of the Abbey where they resided, and where chosen by the local Bishop and later by the other Monks/Nuns, however here in the UK & Ireland since the dissolution by Henry VIII there are very few Abbeys left so the title has largely fallen into disuse.

Within the Church of St Mary & St John we use a slightly different setup, as we are attempting to revive the old (although modified) Monastic system so we use the title of Abbot/Abbess more than the other churches of today, our titles although currently Titular are based on areas originally occupied by Hospitallers in the past, but have no current community under our guidance. As time goes by we will instigate Territorial Abbacies for our Abbots/Abbesses these will then give them similar powers to Bishops, within their territories, and will be over seen by a Bishop within that country.

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That is all for this month, I now hand over to Hon. Lady Isabella de Medici CSsM&J, Snl, OIO-LHT who will tell us a little about herself. Next month we will be learning more about Hon. Sir Andrew Cohen Snl, OIO-SqHT.


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