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A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.
The title became prevost in Old French, before being adopted as provost in English. Prévôt is the equivalent in modern French.
Until the 19th century the parishes were not only religious districts, but also the core territorial units in the state administration, and the modern municipalities were based upon them; in the same way that the parish priest was normally the foremost government official in most parishes (corresponding to the modern municipalities), the provost was not only a regional religious leader, but one of the highest-ranking government officials within a larger region comprising multiple parishes, in many cases arguably the highest-ranking government official alongside the governor. In the church hierarchy in Denmark and Norway the rank of provost was broadly comparable to the secular rank of governor (amtmand), while the higher rank of bishop corresponded to stiftamtmand (governor of a larger region traditionally based on a diocese or stift).
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Northern Germany uses the title Propst for pastors who are the leaders of a church district (Propstei).
In cathedrals which were also — especially the newly created cathedrals of the 19th and 20th centuries — the senior priest (who was also the parish priest) was known as the provost from 1931 until 2000. Prior to 1931, they were simply either Vicar or Rector; the passage of the Cathedrals Measure 1931 gave them all the additional title of Provost (they remained Rector/Vicar). This title was used by the head priests of Birmingham Cathedral, Blackburn Cathedral, Bradford Cathedral, Chelmsford Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral, Derby Cathedral, Leicester Cathedral, Newcastle Cathedral, Portsmouth Cathedral, St. Edmundsbury Cathedral, Sheffield Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, Southwell Minster, and Wakefield Cathedral, but all were redesignated deans in 2000 (following the Cathedrals Measure 1999).
In the Scottish Episcopal Church the leading priests of the cathedrals, with the exception of the Cathedral of The Isles on Cumbrae, continue to be called provosts.
The usage is preserved in the title of the heads of some colleges in England formerly administered by the Church.
In certain within the Evangelical Church in Germany, the title is still used for a pastor officiating as chairperson in a provostry (e.g. in the Lutheran Evangelical Lutheran State Church in Brunswick, Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Mecklenburg and in the united Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau, and the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony). In the above-mentioned Lutheran churches, a provostry is equal to a deanery, and, in the two united churches, it is a unit comprising several deaneries.
Moreover, in the united Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia, the provost is the theological leader of the consistory.
In a society of apostolic life such as an Oratory of St Philip Neri, the provost is the major religious superior of his particular oratory. It is customary among Oratorians to call the provost "THE father" as he is primus inter pares, and a father in the place of the founder, Philip Neri. In some dioceses it may be an honorary title given to senior priests, while in others it may be granted to vicars in charge of coordinating the pastoral care in a portion of territory and with a certain authority over the parish priests who fall under that particular jurisdiction.
In Germany, the heads of certain chapters under the Catholic Church are still known as provosts (German: probst or propst), while propstei or propstei(pfarr)gemeinde is an honorary designation for some important, old Roman Catholic churches in Germany; most honorary titles date back to the 20th century. Parish priests who are provosts have the privilege of wearing a prelate's dress (black-purple) and using a pectoral cross hung by a ribbon.
The earliest documented testimonies of praepositi date back to the 12th century and refer not only to the city of Milan, but above all to the rest of Lombardy which belonged to the Ambrosian Rite diocese: the provosts were in fact the head of the parishes that constituted the territory of the Duchy of Milan. One of the most important prepositural offices, for example, is that of Lecco, which in the past was a very important strategic position for commercial traffic with northern Europe and for the military defense of the duchy.
The provosts were based in the of cities and officiated in the main church of the city; as with the rest of the archdiocese, they followed the Ambrosian Rite for the celebration of the liturgy (except in parishes which for historical reasons followed the Aquileian Rite). In some historical periods they were directly appointed by the papal curia.
They also had the right to appoint the canons of their colleges and to assign for the benefit of the rents of land owned by their parish. Moreover, within the territory of their competence, they established vicariates entrusted to other priests which later revolved into rural parishes.
In the case of the provosts without ecclesiastical jurisdiction over a territory, these were mainly located in the city of Milan where they were placed at the head of the oldest or most outstanding basilicas of the city. Since the provost also had the role of prefect of the chapter, the Milan cathedral also had its own provost.
Following a diocesan synod presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Colombo in 1972, the Pieve were suppressed, and the title of provost became as an exclusively honorary title preserved within the archdiocese to be granted to distinguished parish priests.
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