Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Sending away; dismissing to another jurisdiction.
  • Granting leave to depart.
  • In the modern church, a letter authorizing the bearer as a candidate for ordination. In the Church of England it is used when a candidate has a title in one diocese and is to be ordained in another. It can be issued only by the bishop, or, under special circumstances, by the vicar-general. In the Roman Catholic Church it may be given by the pope to ordinands from any part of the world, by a bishop to one of his own subjects, by the superior of a religious order to subordinates, and by a vicar capitular in a vacant see. Also called dimissorial and letter dismissory.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Sending away; dismissing to another jurisdiction; granting leave to depart.
  • adjective (Eccl.) letters given by a bishop dismissing a person who is removing into another diocese, and recommending him for reception there.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Granting permission to be ordained.
  • adjective Granting permission to depart.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The Bishop of London gave letters dimissory to the Bishop of

    The Christian A Story Hall Caine 1892

  • First, there are those which are not letters at all, -- as letters patent, letters dimissory, letters inclosing bills, letters of administration,

    The Biglow Papers James Russell Lowell 1855

  • In the development of the polity of the Church, as the first councils determined the relation of clergy to bishop, and of bishop to bishop, it became necessary to assign to a special official, in a place separate from the depository for the sacred vessels, the duty of registering ordinations, the issuing of dimissory letters, the recording of synodal and conciliar decrees, and the safe keeping of documents pertaining to the administration and temporalities of the church.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913

  • (_b_) Since such a brother desires to dwell in another monastery, where, as it seems to him, he can save his soul and serve God, know then that by these letters dimissory, we have given him license to go to another monastery.

    A Source Book for Ancient Church History Joseph Cullen Ayer 1905

  • Trent, however, decreed that "it shall not henceforth be lawful for abbots, ... howsoever exempted, ... to confer the tonsure and minor orders on any but their regular subjects, nor shall the said abbots grant letters dimissory to any secular clerics to be ordained by others" [Can. et Decret.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1: Aachen-Assize 1840-1916 1913

  • VII, cap. x, "De Ref.") forbids chapters, during the vacancy of a see, to grant dimissory letters within a year dating from the vacancy, unless to clerics who are arctati, i.e. obliged to obtain ordination on account of a benefice; this prohibition carries with it the penalty of interdict.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 8: Infamy-Lapparent 1840-1916 1913

  • "De Ref.") obliged the chapter to name a vicar capitular within eight days, the interdict can be incurred by the chapter only for dimissory letters granted during these eight days.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 8: Infamy-Lapparent 1840-1916 1913

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