Consecration of Bishops Abroad Act 1786

AN ACT to empower the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Archbishop of York, for the time being, to consecrate to the Office of a Bishop, Persons, being Subjects or Citizens of Countries out of His Majesty's dominions.

WHEREAS, by the laws of this realm, no person can be consecrated to the Office of a Bishop, without the King's licence for his election to that office, and the Royal mandate under the Great Seal for his confirmation and consecration; and whereas every person who shall be consecrated to the said office is required to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and also the oath of due obedience to the Archbishop: And whereas there are divers persons, subjects or citizens of countries out of his Majesty's dominions, inhabiting and residing within the said countries, who profess the publick worship of Almighty God according to the principles of the Church of England, and who, in order to provide a regular succession of Ministers for the service of their Church, are desirous of having certain of the subjects or citizens of those countries consecrated Bishops, according to the form of consecration in the Church of England: Be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the passing of this Act, it shall and may be lawful to and for the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Archbishop of York for the time being, together with such other Bishops as they shall call to their assistance, to consecrate persons being subjects or citizens of countries out of his Majesty's dominions, Bishops for the purposes aforesaid, without the King's licence for their election, or the Royal mandate under the great Seal for their confirmation and consecration, and without requiring them to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and the oath of due obedience to the Archbishop for the time being.

PROVIDED always, that no persons shall be consecrated Bishops in the manner herein provided, until the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Archbishop of York, for the time being, shall have first applied for and obtained his Majesty's licence, by warrant under his Royal signed and sign manual, authorizing and empowering him to perform such consecration, and expressing the name or names of the persons so to be consecrated; nor until the said Archbishop has been fully ascertained of their sufficiency in good learning, of the soundness of their faith, and of the purity of their manners.

PROVIDED also, and be it hereby declared, that no person or persons deriving their consecration from or under any Bishop so consecrated, nor any person or persons admitted to the Order of Deacon or Priest by any Bishop or Bishops so consecrated, shall be thereby enabled to exercise his or their respective office or offices within his Majesty's dominions.

PROVIDED always, and be it further enacted, that a certificate of such consecration shall be given under the hand and seal of the Archbishop who consecrates, containing the name of the person so consecrated, with the addition as well of the country whereof he is a subject or citizen, as of the Church in which he is appointed Bishop, and the farther description of his not having taken the said oaths, being exempted from the obligation of so doing by virtue of this Act.