(from Lat. *curare*, to take care of), properly, an incumbent who has a cure of souls; in which general sense it is frequently used in the rubrics of the English Prayer-book, and applied to any clergyman lawfully appointed to a parish, whether he be rector, vicar, or perpetual curate. But the term is now almost exclusively used to signify the spiritual assistant of a rector or a vicar in his cure. Curates form the lowest order of the clergy, and are divided into two classes—perpetual and stipendiary. Perpetual curates are such as are appointed to the church of a parish in which the tithes are impropriated, and no vicarage is endowed. These are not removable, and the impropriators are obliged to find them. In some cases a certain portion of the tithes is settled on them. A stipendiary curate, having no fixed estate in his curacy, may be removed at pleasure by the bishop or the incumbent.