The Right Reverend

The Right Reverend is the formal style, or form of address, used for a bishop in the Church of England and in much of the Anglican Communion. It is a style of respect attached to the episcopal office, not a personal name: in ordinary speech and in the salutation of a letter a bishop is simply addressed as "Bishop," while the full style belongs to formal writing and to the first, formal mention of a bishop by name.

The Anglican styles

Anglican usage grades the basic style "the Reverend" according to office. A priest or a deacon is "the Reverend"; a dean is "the Very Reverend"; an archdeacon is "the Venerable"; a bishop, whether diocesan, suffragan, or assisting, is "the Right Reverend"; and an archbishop is "the Most Reverend." In abbreviated written form these are "the Rt Revd," "the Most Revd," "the Very Revd," and "the Ven." An English diocesan bishop is formally addressed in writing as "the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of" his see, and the Archbishop of Canterbury as "the Most Reverend and Right Honourable the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury." In speech an archbishop is traditionally addressed as "Your Grace," and a bishop was traditionally addressed as "My Lord"; both are now commonly addressed simply as "Archbishop" and "Bishop," and a letter to either begins "Dear Archbishop" or "Dear Bishop."

The key convention is that the style precedes a full name, never a surname alone: "the Right Reverend John Smith," using the Christian name (or an initial), never "the Right Reverend Smith." A bishop who retires or resigns his see keeps the style for life, but with his personal name in place of his see. An archbishop, by contrast, on resignation reverts in principle to the style of a bishop, "the Right Reverend."

Origin and Prayer Book use

"Reverend" is the English form of the Latin reverendus, the gerundive of revereri, "to revere" — hence "[one who is] to be revered." The superlative reverendissimus lies behind "the Most Reverend." The word began as a general term of respectful address and became particularly associated with the clergy in the early modern period.

The styles are embedded in the Church's own liturgy. In the Ordinal of the Book of Common Prayer of 1662, the archdeacon presents those to be made deacons, and those to be ordered priests, to the bishop with the words, "Reverend Father in God, I present unto you these persons present." At the consecration of a bishop, two bishops present the bishop-elect to the archbishop, saying, "Most reverend Father in God, we present unto you this godly and well-learned man to be ordained and consecrated Bishop." In formal legal documents a diocesan bishop was likewise described in full as "the Right Reverend Father in God, [name], by Divine Permission Lord Bishop of" his diocese.

Usage elsewhere differs in detail. In the United States, a Roman Catholic bishop or archbishop is styled in writing "the Most Reverend," where an Anglican bishop remains "the Right Reverend" and only a primate or presiding bishop is "the Most Reverend." The grades described here are therefore the Anglican, and specifically the English, pattern.

References

• The Book of Common Prayer (1662), the Ordinal: "The Form and Manner of Making of Deacons"; "The Form and Manner of Ordering of Priests"; "The Form of Ordaining or Consecrating of an Archbishop or Bishop" (text as published by the Church of England).
• Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, "Formal Modes of Addressing Persons of Title" (entries for Bishop and Retired Bishops; consulted in facsimile).