a. and sb. [ad. L. type *titulār-is, f. titul-us TITLE: see -AR1. Cf. F. titulaire (16th c.).]
A. adj. 1. That exists or is such only in title or name, as distinct from real or actual; holding or bearing a title without exercising the functions implied by it; nominal, so-styled. (Cf. NOMINAL a. 4.)
Titular bishop, in R. C. Ch., a bishop deriving his title from an ancient see lost to the control of the Roman pontificate: cf. quot. 1885.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., VI. xli. § 2. 145. After hee had enioyed a Titular Soueraignty only eighty dayes.
1612. Brerewood, Lang. & Relig., xvi. (1614), 133. Euer since then … the Church of Rome, hath, and doth still create successiuely, imaginary or titular Patriarchs (without iurisdiction) of Constantinople, Antiochia, Ierusalem, and Alexandria.
1640. Yorke, Union Hon., 22. Hee was invested tituler King of Sicile and Apulia.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), I. 58. Her mother the titular queen of Naples and Jerusalem.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), II. viii. 247. Nothing reinained of Strongbow’s conquests save the shadow of a titular sovereignty.
1885. Catholic Dict., 797. His Holiness Leo XIII. has therefore, by a recent decision, substituted the phrase ‘Titular Bishop’ for ‘Bishop in Partibus Infidelium.’
1907. Q. Rev., Jan., 100. His titular successors never once visited their confiscated diocese.
b. With limiting words, as but, mere(ly, only, expressing entire absence of the reality.
1591. G. Fletcher, Russe Commw. (Hakl. Soc.), 44. They are but men of a titular dignitie,… of no power, authoritie, nor credit.
1681–6. J. Scott, Chr. Life (1747), III. 36. To convince us that he is not a mere titular Deity.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1877), II. vii. 49. Recent events have abolished even the titular position of the city as the see of a Bishop.
2. Of, pertaining to, consisting of, or denoted by a title of dignity; also, having a title of rank, titled; bearing, or conferring, the appropriate title.
1611. Speed, Theat. Gt. Brit. (1614), Pref. Armes of the titular nobles.
1623. Hexham, Tongue-Combat, 50. You finde them without traine, or pompe, or titular vanities.
1669. Penn (title), No Cross, no Crown; or several sober Reasons against Hat-Honour, Titular Respects, You to a Single Person, with the Apparel and Recreations of the Times.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Praise Poverty, Wks. 1730, I. 97. A vain pride of birth and titular dignity.
1863. Kinglake, Crimea (1876), I. vii. 103. So far as concerns official and titular rank [he] was one of the chief of the Czar’s subjects.
3. Of or pertaining to a title or name; of the nature of or constituting a title (in various senses). Titular character, title-rôle.
1656. Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini, Pol. Touchstone (1674), 269. Upon such a titular occasion as this.
1659. Pearson, Creed (1839), 292. By the propriety of the punishment, and the titular inscription, we know what crime was then objected to the immaculate Lamb.
1771. Luckombe, Hist. Print., 390. They set the first line of a Titular Summary all in Capitals.
1889. Daily News, 7 June, 2/3. Madame Gargano in the titular character appeared to far better advantage than in ‘Il Barbiere.’
4. From whom or which a title or name is taken; spec. noting the parish churches of Rome from which the titles of the cardinals are derived (see TITLE sb. 9); hence transf. of a cardinal.
1664. Fuller, Triana & Paduana, in Wounded Consc., etc. (1867), 185. As for Bondi, in a large oration he expressed his thankfulness before the company to his titular Saint.
a. 1668. Lassels, Voy. Italy (1670), II. 162. [The church of St. Lawrence] is one of the five Patriarchal Churches, and therefore not titular of any Cardinal.
1706. trans. Dupin’s Eccl. Hist. 16th C., II. v. 93. There are five Patriarchal Churches in Rome, Twenty-eight Titular ones, and Eighteen Diaconal ones.
1745. Butler, Lives Saints, 11 May (1759), V. 199. He [St. Cataldus] is titular saint of the cathedral [Tarentum].
1854. Cdl. Wiseman, Fabiola (1855), 141. The cardinals, or titular priests, received instructions about the administration of sacraments … during the persecution.
B. sb. 1. Sc. Law. In full titular of the teinds (tithes): a layman who became possessed of the title to the tithes of an ecclesiastical benefice at or after the Reformation; a lord of erection.
1613. Earl Wigton, Lett., in Hunter, Biggar & Ho. Fleming, xxvi. (1862), 337. Purchessing the Titular’s consent to the samin did stand me at no less rate than ten thousand poundis Scottis.
1630. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 1634. 13/2. Johnne lord Halyruidhous, titular of the personage teyndis of the parochin.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 398. Every land-holder may buy up the tiends affecting his estate at a specific price from the titular, who now holds them.
1838. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., s.v. Teinds, At the Reformation, the King … created the monasteries and priories into temporal lordships, the grantees to which were styled Lords of Erection, or Titulars of the Tithes.
1845. McCulloch, Taxation, II. iv. (1852), 191. The tithes in possession of the titulars or lay impropriators were more rigorously exacted than they had ever been by the clergy.
1894. J. Russell, Reminisc. Yarrow, ix. 219. The Deans of the Chapel Royal, under the Crown, are the titulars of the tiends.
2. One who holds a title to an office, benefice, or possession, irrespective of the functions, duties, or rights attaching to it; spec. a cleric who bears a title (TITLE sb. 8) whether he performs the duties or not; esp. short for titular bishop.
1620. Brent, trans. Sarpi’s Counc. Trent, VI. 569. The Titular of Philadelphia, though a Dutch-man, said, that to deny it … was dangerous, and pernicious to grant it.
1682. T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 66 (1713), II. 159. The whiffling Titular of Nova Scotia pretends to say something against our Veracity.
1826. Southey, Vind. Eccl. Angl., 204. The candid and urbane Titular says that the poet ought to be dragged down to the solid ground of authentic documents.
1883. Pall Mall G., 31 Dec., 4/1. One addresses … a small advocate who has become the titular of a portfolio as ‘M. le Minstre.’
b. transf. One who has a title or appellation of some kind.
1824. Landor, Imag. Conv., Washington & Franklin, Wks. 1846, I. 125/1. Gaming is the vice of those nations … which unite the worst qualities of both conditions [barbarous and civilized]; as for example, the rags and lace of Naples, its lazzaroni and other titulars. Ibid. (1846), Emp. China & Tsing-Ti, II. 117/1. He employed a humbler observer, known … by the more ordinary appellation of Spy, though the titular is never gazetted.
1828. P. Cunningham, N. S. Wales (ed. 3), II. 115. If he inquires his way through Sydney of one of our titulars [a convict with a mark or badge], (even decorated with a C. B. appendage), he runs a risk of having his pocket picked.
3. One who bears a title of rank; a titled person.
1757. Herald, No. 8 (1758), I. 126. No titular among them will accept … an employment beneath that of ambassador.
1829. Landor, Imag. Conv., Penn & Ld. Peterb., Wks. 1846, I. 521/2. All titulars else must be produced by others; a knight by a knight, a peer by a king, while a gentleman is self-existent.
4. R. C. Ch. (See quot. 1885.)
1621. Bp. Mountagu, Diatribæ, 496. They now, and the Pagans then, did vse to bestow them vpon the Saint and deity Tutelar and titular of the place.
1885. Cath. Dict., Patron and Titular of church, place, &c.… The titular is a wider term comprehending the persons of the Trinity, mysteries (e.g. Corpus Christi), and saints; the patron of a church can only be a saint or an angel…. The feast of the principal [titular or] patron is a double of the first class with an octave.
