Episcopus Puerorum - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition episcopus-puerorum

Definition :

Episcopus puerorum. It was an old custom that upon certain feasts some lay person should plait his hair and put on the garments of a bishop, and in them pretend to exercise episcopal jurisdiction, and do several ludicrous actions, for which reason he was called bishop of the boys; and this custom obtained here long after several constitutions were made to abolish it, Blount. Such an officer is mentioned in the statutes of some of the cathedrals of the old foundation in England.