Senior
Senior (1), a monk from the age of forty to fifty years who was excused from the external offices of provisor, procurator, cellarer, almoner, kitchener, master of the works, etc., but took his turn in singing masses. (2) The head of a college of secular calons, as at Christ-church, Hants, 1099. (3) At Osnaburg, Trent, Lübeck, and in some Italian cathedrals, the antianus, or senior, corresponds to the archpriest of certain French cathedrals, in which he acted in the bishop's absence as his representative in the administration of sacraments and the benediction of ashes, palms, and the font. Such an archpriest was required in every cathedral by the Council of Merida.
