mother church en · NOUN
Etymology
From an association of spiritual comfort and hierarchy with familial relationships, probably originally as a calque of similar expressions in other languages, especially 2nd-century Latin mater ecclesia (“mother church”) and 12th-century Old French mere eglise (“mother church”).
Meanings
-
The Church regarded as nourishing and protecting its members.
Catholics regard Mary as Mother of the Church but an all-male hierarchy as the Mother Church.
-
A church with oversight over another or others, now especially a cathedral or metropolitan church.
Mothering Sunday arose from the custom of visiting mother churches at Mid-Lent, rather than the usual parish church.
-
The original church of a denomination, regarded as having birthed the others.
The mother church of Christian Scientists is in Boston, Massachusetts.
-
The original denomination or community of believers from which other denominations and communities of believers sprang.
Not Rome, but Ierusalem should be the Mother Church.
1667, Matthew Poole, Dialogue between a Popish Priest & an English Protestant, page 35:Puritanism is the mother church of Western democracy.
1908 February, P.T. Forsyth, Contemporary Review, page 159:The Church of England is the mother church of Anglicans around the world.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| mother churches | Number=Plur | lexicographic |