there is a hierarchy of precedence or authority among abbots. In some cases, this is the result of an abbey being considered the "mother" of several "daughter" abbeys founded as dependent priories of the "mother." In other cases, abbeys have affiliated in networks known as "congregations." Some monastic families recognize one abbey as the motherhouse of the entire order. The abbot of Sant'Anselmo di Aventino, in Rome, is styled the "abbot primate," and is acknowledged the senior abbot for the Order of St. Benedict (O.S.B.) An abbot president is the head of a congregation (federation) of abbeys within the Order of St. Benedict (for instance, the English Congregation, The American Cassinese Congregation, etc.), or of the Cistercians (O. Cist.) An archabbot is the head of some monasteries which are the motherhouses of other monasteries (for instance, Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania) Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori O. Cist. is the current Abbot General of the Cistercians of the Common Observance. Modern abbots not as superior The title abbé (French; Ital. abate), as commonly used in the Catholic Church on the European continent, is the equivalent of the English "Father" (parallel etymology), being loosely applied to all who have received the tonsure. This use of the title is said to have originated in the right conceded to the king of France, by the concordat between Pope Leo X and Francis I (1516), to appoint commendatory abbots () to most of the abbeys in France. The expectation of obtaining these sinecures drew young men towards the church in considerable numbers, and the class of abbés so formed they were sometimes called, and sometimes (ironically) ("abbés of holy hope; or in a jeu de mots, "of St. Hope")came to hold a recognized position. The connection many of them had with the church was of the slenderest kind, consisting mainly in adopting the title of abbé, after a remarkably moderate course of theological study, practising celibacy and wearing distinctive dress, a short dark-violet coat with narrow collar. Being men of presumed learning and undoubted leisure, many of the class found admission to the houses of the French nobility as tutors or advisers. Nearly every great family had its abbé. The class did not survive the Revolution; but the courtesy title of abbé, having long lost all connection in people's minds with any special ecclesiastical function, remained as a convenient general term applicable to any clergyman. Eastern Christian