Vicar-Apostolic
in the Roman Church, a name formerly given to a bishop or archbishop, generally of some remote see, to whom the Pope delegated a portion of his authority, or to any ecclesiastic invested with power to exercise episcopal jurisdiction in some place where the ordinary was for some reason incapable of discharging his duties efficiently. Now vicars-apostolic, who are nearly always titular bishops, are appointed where no episcopate has been established, or where the succession has been interrupted. There are at present a large number of such vicariates in existence.