Benefice

A benefice is a church office that provides income to its holder, or the endowment that yields that income. The term derives from Latin beneficium, meaning “benefit” or “favour,” via Old French benefice and into English usage.

In medieval and canonical law, a benefice was an ecclesiastical office—such as a parish, prebend, or dignity—carrying revenue from church property or tithes and requiring the performance of clerical duties. The person who held it was said to be beneficed, and the income might include a parsonage, glebe lands, or stipends.

Appointment and tenure: A benefice was typically filled by presentation (advowson) from a patron, with legal collation by a bishop or the pope. The practice of holding multiple benefices, or pluralism, occurred in some periods but was subject to reform and limits in later eras.

Modern usage: In contemporary Catholic and Anglican usage, a benefice refers to the office and its income attached to it, though procedures and financial arrangements have evolved. In many jurisdictions, the old system of hereditary or saleable livings has been replaced by salaried appointments and stated stipends, and the term is now primarily technical or historical in some contexts.

Non-ecclesiastical use: The word is sometimes used more broadly to mean any office or position that yields income or advantage, but in modern English it mainly retains its ecclesiastical sense.

Related terms include advowson, living, prebend, and pluralism.