a. and sb. [mod. ad. med.L. comprōvinciālis: see COM-.]
A. adj. Of or belonging to the same province.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. iii. 32. The six islands, comprouinciall In ancient times vnto great Britannee.
1652. Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 251. King Arthur … recover’d six Comprovincial Isles of the Sea (which are the very words of Geofferie of Monmouth).
b. Of the same archiepiscopal province.
1593. Bilson, Govt. Christ’s Ch., 369. The comprovincial bishops.
1709. J. Johnson, Clergym. Vade-m., II. 270. They are not to be reckoned Bishops, who are not … consecrated by the comprovincial bishops.
1850. Bp. Phillpotts, Lett. Abp. Canterb., 90. Call together your com-provincial Bishops; invite them to declare what is the faith of the Church on the Articles impugned in this Judgment.
1889. Guardian, 15 May, 1. That a bishop should be tried by his metropolitan, sitting with his comprovincial bishops.
B. sb. A fellow-provincial; a bishop of the same province.
1642. Jer. Taylor, Episc., xxv. If any of the Comprovincialls be wanting he must be certifi’d by the Primate.
1701. Jura Populi Angl., Pref. 13. Synodal Rights enjoy’d and exercis’d by Metropolitans and their Comprovincials.
1880. T. W. Allies, Life’s Decision, 102. The jurisdiction of … a Primate over his com-provincials.
1887. Hatch, Growth Ch. Instit., vii. 127. The other bishops came to be less frequently spoken of as his ‘comprovincials,’ and to be more commonly designated by the new word ‘suffragans.’
