a register kept of the admission of officers and persons entered into any body or society of which a list is made. Hence those who are admitted into our universities are said to be matriculated. Amongst ecclesiastical authors, we find mention made of two kinds of matricula; the one containing a list of the ecclesiastics, called matricula clericorum, and the other of the poor subsisted at the expense of the church, called matricula pauperum.

Matricula was also applied to a kind of alms-house, where the poor were provided for. It had certain revenues appropriated to it, and was usually built near the church, whence also the name was frequently given to the church itself.