An ecclesiastical province is a unit of religious government existing in certain Christian churches. It consists of a metropolitan archdiocese and a number of other dioceses known as suffragan sees. The archbishop of the metropolitan see is the metropolitan of the province. In its simplist form, a Christian is a follower of and a believer in Jesus of Nazareth. ... A church building is a building used in Christian worship. ... In some Christian churches, the diocese is an administrative territorial unit governed by a bishop, sometimes also referred to as a bishopric or episcopal see, though more often the term episcopal see means the office held by the bishop. ... Pope Pius XI blesses Bishop Stephen Alencastre as fifth Apostolic Vicar of the Hawaiian Islands in a Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace window. ... In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop heading a diocese of particular importance due to either its size, history, or both, called an archdiocese. ... In hierarchical Christian churches, the rank of metropolitan, pertains to the bishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of an old Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital. ...

In the Roman Catholic Church, the authority of the metropolitan over the suffragan sees is very limited (for example, during a vacancy, a Roman Catholic metropolitan can name a temporary administrator if the College of Consultors fail to elect one within a set time and the Pope has not named an apostolic administrator). Thus, the metropolitan is not an ordinary with respect to the ecclesiastical province. In the United States Roman Catholic ecclesiastical provinces typically follow state lines, with less populous states being typically grouped into provinces and more populous states being a province by themselves. California and Texas are the only states in multiple provinces, each having two archdioceses. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian body in the world. ... The Pope is the Catholic Bishop and patriarch of Rome, and head of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Pope Pius XI, depicted in this window at Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Honolulu, was ordinary of the universal Roman Catholic Church and local ordinary of Rome. ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ... This article is actively undergoing a major edit for 30 minutes to format the entire page. ...

In the Anglican Communion, national churches are often by themselves considered a "province", whether or not their head bears the title of Archbishop; the Church of England divides England into two provinces under the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and uses the term suffragan bishop not for the bishops of dioceses in the provinces, but for assisting bishops within each diocese. The Anglican Church of Australia, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Church of Ireland, the Church of Nigeria and the Episcopal Church in the United States of America are all also divided into two or more provinces. The Anglican Communion is a world-wide organization of Anglican Churches. ... The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... The Anglican Church of Australia is a member church of the Anglican Communion, previously known as the Church of England in Australia (renamed in 1981). ... The Anglican Church of Canada is the Canadian branch of the Anglican Communion. ... The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... The Church of Nigeria is the Anglican Church in Nigeria. ... The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the nations capital is the national cathedral of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. ...

Regular provinces

Several Roman Catholic religious orders and congregations have an analogous organization with a territorial level, also called a province, between the general (often, but not always in Rome) and the local (abbey, priory, other monastery or house). This should not be confused with ecclesiastical province, since this province is made up of religious houses, while an eccesiastical province is made up of particular churches. In Roman Catholic theology and canon law, a particular Church is any of the individual constituent ecclesial communities in full communion with the Church of Rome. ...

Since the two terms are different, a religious provice does not have to correspond to the ecclesiastical province. Its size is determined according to the order's geographical spread. Usually some logical division is followed, such as linguistic consistency and corresponding to political divisions.

The head of such a province is often styled Provincial Superior, or simply Provincial. Provincial Superiors are major superiors and are styled "The Very Reverend". Provincial is the title given in the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Catholic Church order) to the principal of a province (a geographical area, such as a country). ...