Bible Encyclopedias
Vice-Domini

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(in place of the master) is a term applied to certain ecclesiastical officers, often called beadles or bailiffs, appointed about the 8th century from the order of laymen, to protect the churches and defend them against wrongs. Their work was of such a character that it could not properly be performed by ecclesiastics. See Neander, Hist. of the Church, 3, 101. (See VIDAM).