Benefice.org http://www.benefice.org Benefice and profit Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:14:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en Benefice http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefice/ http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefice/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:20:45 +0000 admin http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefice/ A benefice has a number of meanings.

Originally, it was a gift of land given as a reward for services rendered.

The word has its original meaning from the Latin word “beneficium” which means “benefit”.

It was originally a concept in the old Roman Catholic Church and was an idea abandoned by the protestants with the exception of the Church of England.

See also

]]> http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefice/feed/ Benefice before the Reformation http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefice-before-the-reformation/ http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefice-before-the-reformation/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:18:58 +0000 admin http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/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.

]]> http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefice-before-the-reformation/feed/ Benefices after the Reformation http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefices-after-the-reformation/ http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefices-after-the-reformation/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:18:29 +0000 admin http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefices-after-the-reformation/ The corruption of some priests brought forth the Reformation in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Martin Luther ultimately started the Protestant Reformation. After it occurred, the new churches adopted policies that did not entail benefices except the Church of England.

In Europe, the French Revolution broke the back of the system, confiscating the huge capital of the church and paying for it by awarding the formerly dependent clergy a state salary. This system is still in place in some countries. At the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church called for the abolition of benefices altogether. Even so, it was not successful.

]]> http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefices-after-the-reformation/feed/ Benefices in the Church of Englan http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefices-in-the-church-of-englan/ http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefices-in-the-church-of-englan/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:17:34 +0000 admin http://www.benefice.org/2007/10/16/benefices-in-the-church-of-englan/ The term benefice is used in the Church of England.
It to describe a group of parishes together under a single minister who receives a stipend.

The term, however is much older and dates to the grant of benefices by bishops to clerks as a reward for extraordinary services.

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