enotes lands or other effects left to churches or religious houses, on condition of praying for the soul of the donor, a tenure by which many of the old monasteries and religious houses in Britain held their lands. Lands thus held were free of all rent or service. Hence Free Alms, Frank Almoigna, that which is liable to no rent or service.

Reasonable Alms, a certain portion of the estates of intestate persons, allotted to the poor.

Alms Box or Chest, a small chest or coffer, called by the Greeks Kópétov, wherein anciently the alms were collected, both at church and at private houses.

The alms-chest, in English churches, is a strong box, with a hole in the upper part, having three keys, one to be kept by the parson or curate, the other two by the church-wardens. The erecting of such alms-chest in every church is enjoined by the book of canons, as also the manner of distributing what is thus collected among the poor of the parish.