BACHELOR, BACHELOR'S DEGREE. - The name probably derives from the military and denoted a lightly armored knight required to render service (baccelleria) in return for the grant of land. From the laity it passed into the militia of Christ, where it denoted the minor clergy, and was then transferred to indicate a lower academic degree, both below the laureate and the licentiate, and from the University of Paris it probably spread to all others. In theological faculties, a baccalauréus biblicus was one who, in the judgment of his master, was qualified to expound Holy Scripture, while a baccalauréus sententiarus was one who could lecture on Peter Lombard’s *Sentences*. The degree was obtained through a public disputation. Bachelors also existed in the faculties of Law and Arts.
The name survives in France (*bacheloris lettres*, *bacheloris sciencies*) and signifies a graduate of secondary schools eligible for admission to the university of letters or sciences. It remains fully in use in Anglo-Saxon universities. It has been retained in ecclesiastical faculties, and according to the *Deus Scientiarum Dominus* (24 May 1931, art. 8), the bachelor’s degree is an academic degree by which a student is recognized as having given sufficient proof of learning to be deemed qualified to proceed to higher academic degrees. It is conferred in theology, in both canon and civil law (*utroque iure*), and in philosophy after the second year of study; after the first year in biblical studies, canon law, Christian archaeology, Oriental studies, and Gregorian chant (art. 41). The title is awarded only after the successful completion of the required examinations.