Benefice before the Reformation
At one point, Alessandro Cardinal Farnese, the grandson and cardinal-nephew
of Pope Paul III held sixty-four benefices at the same time. Under the laws of the pre-Reformation era, it came to be synonymous with an income enjoyed by a priest who was chief of an ecclesiastical office, such as a parish, monastery or the post of a canon in a chapter.
Each benefice had a number of spiritual duties attached to it for which the priest would be paid. The community was supposed to provide for the priest as needed, often in the form of a land-based tithe. Over time, this added to a large amount of wealth in the “dead hand” of the Roman Catholic Church.
Over time, the benefice system came to be abused throughout Europe. Priests often held onto more than one benefice, a situation called “Pluralism”. This often resulted in the priest not being able to take care of one or more benefice.
Pluralism was seen as a good investment for a family that could afford to buy a position for a younger son or other protйgй. Such a position allowed the family to be seen of as in favor of the Church and would guarantee a future for the young appointee.
Other benefices were delegated to priests hired for a fraction of the value of the benefice while the family held the “nominal” benefice. This practice encouraged the use of substitute priests of dubious quality.