Abbé
A French word meaning primarily and strictly an abbot or superior
of a monastery of men. It came eventually to be applied, in France,
to every man who wears the dress of a secular ecclesiastic (Littré).
This extension of meaning dates from the time of Francis I
(1515-47), who, by consent of the Holy See, named secular clerics
Abbots in commendam (See ABBOT, under III, Kinds of Abbot). During
the following centuries the name was applied to clerics, often not
in sacred Orders, engaged as professors or tutors, or in some
similar capacity in the houses of the nobility.
JOHN J. A'BECKET
Transcribed by Christine J. Murray
The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia