a. [f. prec. + -AL.]
1. = ECCLESIASTIC A. 1.
1538. Coverdale, N. T., Ded. Jurisdiction ecclesiastical.
1593. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., I. xvi. 47. Our whole question concerneth the qualitie of ecclesiasticall lawes.
1635. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., II. xiv. 235. Their Churches haue no perfect platforme of Ecclesiasticall gouernment.
1704. Nelson, Fest. & Fasts (1739), 1. Festivals … are of Ecclesiastical Institution.
1865. Maffei, Brigand Life, II. 15. Both the ecclesiastical and civil tribunals.
b. Ecclesiastical Commission, Commissioners: a body of commissioners, acting in subordination to the Privy Council, for administering certain portions of the revenues of the Established Church of England. Ecclesiastical Corporations: corporations consisting solely of ecclesiastical persons. Ecclesiastical Courts: courts for administering ecclesiastical law and maintaining the discipline of the Established Church. Ecclesiastical law: the law, derived from Canon and Civil law, administered by such courts. Ecclesiastical judge: a judge of an ecclesiastical court.
1649. Bp. Hall, Cases Consc., II. v. (1654), 113. I see not why the Ecclesiastical Judge may not convent the person accused.
1651. Hobbes, Govt. & Soc., xiv. § 5. 215. The humane Lawes (which are also called Ecclesiasticall) concerning things sacred.
1681. Nevile, Plato Rediv., 178. The Clergy … had and will have … inferior Courts in their own Power, called Ecclesiastical.
1827. Hallam, Const. Hist. (1876), III. xiv. 63. No legal defence could be made for the Ecclesiastical commission of 1686.
1836. H. Rogers, J. Howe, viii. (1863), 195. Dignitaries of the Church … put into motion all the … machinery of the ecclesiastical courts.
1846. M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), II. 250. All bishops have chancellors to assist them in … matters of ecclesiastical law.
2. Of or pertaining to the church viewed as consisting of the clergy; pertaining to or characteristic of an ecclesiastic or ecclesiastics.
1538. Starkey, England, iv. 138. Are gyuen to the Church and Ecclesyastycal personys.
1576. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 137. How hee might … without offence to the Ecclesiasticall estate … conteine that treasure within the Realme.
1841. Miall, Nonconf., I. 2. A final grapple with ecclesiastical tyranny.
1845. Sarah Austin, trans. Ranke’s Hist. Ref., I. 17. To maintain the ecclesiastical rights and privileges.
† b. spect. Ecclesiastical State(s, the provinces formerly ruled by the Pope as Head of the Roman Church; = States of the Church, Papal States. Obs.
1689. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), I. 543. The pope has published a bull, excommunicating all persons … that shal hinder the commerce … of the ecclesiastical state.
1815. Wellington, Lett., in Gurw., Disp., XII. 238. This officer says that he already in fact governs the Ecclesiastical States.
3. quasi-sb. a. = ECCLESIASTIC B. 2, a. pl. Matters concerning the church.
1641. C. Burges, Serm., 26. To adhere to the Pope as supreme in all Spiritualls and Ecclesiasticalls.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., I. Add. ix. 143. Their … greater ministeries in Ecclesiasticals.
1710. W. Hume, Sacr. Success., 249. What is said to vindicate pope Joan’s negotiation in Ecclesiasticals, may be apply’d to any sort of hypocrites.
b. = ECCLESIASTIC B. 1. rare.
1882–3. Schaff, Relig. Encycl., II. 911/2. Nor could any ecclesiastical receive his office from a layman.
