I keep having clergymen as interesting characters in my books. I am a Christian and am familiar with the methodology to become a pastor of a church here in the United States in 2020.
It was WAY different in Regency England. A man went to Cambridge or Oxford and was then ordained. After that, he hoped to obtain a "living". A living was given either by a member of the gentry (associated with an estate) or by the government. Once a man obtained a living, it was his until he keeled over dead or decided he didn't want it anymore. He could lose it if he did something so lousy that he was thrown out. I believe a Bishop had to do that.
Mr. William Collins is an important figure in Pride and Prejudice. He was ordained and received a living from Lady Catherine de Bourgh and after that, he was golden in terms of having the living for as long as he wanted it. In P & P, he expected to ditch his job as a clergyman when Mr. Bennet died, because Mr. Collins was heir to Longbourn.
Here is another oddity; a clergyman could hold more than one living! If the two livings were far apart, he could work at one and hire a curate (also an ordained man) to take care of his second flock, typically at some lesser pay than what the living was providing, which meant he still earned money from it. Or, if he wanted to, he could work at NEITHER and just hire curates for both. So he'd be getting the money for the livings (from the tithes of the congregations) and could, if he was making enough, just lie around eating bon bons instead of working.
Another peculiarity was that a clergyman did not need to be particularly interested in God. It was a job like any other job for some men. That, in my view, is reprehensible; a man preaching should believe in God and genuinely care for the people under his care, but sadly some men did and some men did not.
All very interesting!
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