Patriarch
the father and ruler of a family; one who governs his family term is usually applied to Abraham, or descendants by paternal right. The Isaac, Jacob, and his sons, or the heads of families before the flood. In Church history, the highest grade in the hierarchy of ordinary jurisdiction, the see of Rome excepted. The title came into use in the 5th century. In the 4th Constantinople and in the 5th Jerusalem occupied the position of patriarchates. These Eastern sees have long been lost to the Latin Church, which admits a Maronite, a Melchite and a Syrian Patriarch of Antioch, a Patriarch of Cilicia, of the Armenian, and a Patriarch of Babylon, of the Chaldean rite. There are also three minor patriarchs in the Western Church, the Patriarch of the Indies, the prelate of the highest rank PATRICIA PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES in the church of Spain, the Patriarch of inating in the Civil War. Other so- Lisbon, and the Patriarch of Venice.