benefice
- a position or post granted to an ecclesiastic that guarantees a fixed amount of property or income.
- the revenue itself.
- the equivalent of a fief in the early Middle Ages.
- to invest with a benefice or ecclesiastical living.
Origin of benefice
Related Words for benefice
district, bishopric, jurisdiction, see, benefice, prelacy, episcopate, parsonage, vicarage, manse, presbyteryExamples from the Web for benefice
Historical Examples of benefice
And he has often commissioned his Almoner to find a benefice for me.
Erasmus and the Age of ReformationJohan Huizinga
They could not have told on which benefice to reside, for they held many.
The Rise of the Hugenots, Vol. 1 (of 2)Henry Martyn Baird
His prayers for a benefice are sometimes grave and sometimes comic, but never-failing.
Royal EdinburghMargaret Oliphant
Mr. Griffiths was speedily released and restored to his benefice.
Sir Christopher WrenLucy Phillimore
If he is a clergyman, he shall be deposed from his office and deprived of every benefice.
A Source Book for Mediaeval HistoryOliver J. Thatcher
benefice
- Christianity an endowed Church office yielding an income to its holder; a Church living
- the property or revenue attached to such an office
- (in feudal society) a tenement (piece of land) held by a vassal from a landowner on easy terms or free, esp in return for military supportSee also vassalage
- (tr) to provide with a benefice
Word Origin for benefice
Word Origin and History for benefice
c.1300, "a church living," from Old French benefice (13c.) and directly from Latin beneficium "a favor, service, generosity, kindness, benefit," from beneficus "generous, kind, benevolent, obliging," from bene- (see bene-) + -ficus, from stem of -ficere, unstressed form of facere "to do, to make" (see factitious).