in a general sense, the act of blessing, or giving praise to God, or returning thanks for his favours. Neither the ancient Jews nor the early Christians ever ate without a short prayer. The Jews are obliged to rehearse a hundred benedictions a-day; of which eighty are to be spoken in the morning. The first treatise of the first order in the Talmud, entitled Seraim, contains the form and order of the daily benedictions. Benedictions were likewise given among the ancient Jews, as well as Christians, by the imposition of hands. When at length the primitive simplicity of the Christian worship became corrupted by ceremony, they added the sign of the cross. The custom of receiving benediction by bowing the head before the bishops, is very ancient; and even emperors did not decline this mark of submission.
Benedictio is also used for an ecclesiastical ceremony, whereby a thing is rendered sacred or venerable. In this sense benediction differs from consecration, as in the latter unction is applied, but not in the former. Thus the chalice is consecrated, and the pix blessed, as the former, not the latter, is anointed; but in common usage these two words are applied promiscuously.
Beatae Benedictio, Benedictio beata, is the vaticum given to dying persons.
Nuptial Benedictio, the external ceremony performed by the priest in the office of matrimony. The nuptial benediction is not essential to, but the confirmation of, a marriage in the civil law.
BENEFICE was applied by the old Romans to the portions of lands obtained by conquest and given to the soldiers as rewards or beneficia for past services, and as an encouragement to future exertions. Hence in time it became applicable to the portions of land granted under the feudal system by a lord to his vassal for maintenance, and as a stipendiary return for military services which they were expected to render. In this sense, a benefice was an estate in land, at first granted for life only, and so called because it was held ex mero beneficio of the donor; and the tenants were bound to swear fealty to their lord, and to serve him in the wars. In aftertimes, as these tenures became perpetual and hereditary, the name of beneficia was transferred to the livings of the clergy, and that of feuda assumed.
According to Duarenus, its strict and proper interpretation is "an ecclesiastical estate which is granted to some priest or clergymen for term of life, to be enjoyed by him on the account of his ministry in the church." But in the various statutes relating to church matters the term is expressly defined. Under the 12th section of the 1st and 2d Vict. cap. 106, and section 3 of the Amendment Act, 14th and 15th Vict. cap. 98 (as to the holding of benefices in plurality), the word is to be understood to mean a "benefice with cure of souls," and therein to comprehend "all parishes, perpetual curacies, donatives, endowed public chapels, parochial chapels, and chapels or districts belonging or reputed to belong, or annexed or reputed to be annexed, to any church or chapel."
Under the 2d and 3d Vict. cap. 49, sec. 21 (relating to the assignment of districts to churches augmented by Queen Anne's Bounty), it extends to "all rectories with cure of souls, vicarages, perpetual curacies, and chapels, the incumbents of which respectively shall, in right thereof, be corporations sole."
Under the 5th and 6th Vict. cap. 27, sec. 15, and 54th and 6th Vict. cap. 108, sec. 31 (as to the grant of farming leases, and leases for long term of years), it comprehends "every rectory, vicarage, perpetual curacy, donative, endowed public chapel, parochial chapelry, and district chapelry, the incumbent of which, in respect thereof, shall be a corporation sole."
According to the canons of the Church of England, a benefice cannot be taken without the bishop's consent, nor be divided; and any division is decreed null, nor is it to be given on the bare report of the death of the incumbent, nor to be promised while full, nor to be seized by violence, nor to be farmed to a layman, unless to a clerk who shall be fully instituted as general procurator for the time agreed; and under the 1st and 2d Vict. cap. 106, sec. 108, benefices, so far as pluralities and residence are concerned, are subject to the jurisdiction of the archbishop or bishop within whose province or diocese they are locally situate.
The following requisites are indispensable in order to be legally entitled to a benefice: 1. Presentation, nomination, or collation; 2. Examination as to ability, &c., by the bishop; 3. Institution or collation, after taking the oaths against simony, of allegiance and supremacy, of canonical obedience, and by subscribing the three articles concerning the supremacy, the Common Prayer and the Thirty-nine Articles, and the declaration of conformity; 4. Induction; 5. Reading the Common Prayer, the Thirty-nine Articles, and declaration of assent thereto, together with the ordinary's certificate of subscription to the declaration of conformity; and, 6. Taking the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration at the sessions.
An avoidance of a benefice takes place—1. By death; 2. By resignation; 3. By cession, or the acceptance of a benefice incompatible therewith; 4. By deprivation under a sentence in the ecclesiastical court; 5. By act of law, for simony, non-subscription of articles, &c.; and, 6. By non-compliance with the requisites. By the returns for the year 1850 made to Her Majesty in council by the respective archbishops and bishops, there were in the dioceses of England and Wales—
| Benefice | Total number of benefices in which the incumbents were resident | 8077 | |----------|---------------------------------------------------------------|------| | | Total number of benefices in which the incumbents were non-resident | 2952 | | | Miscellaneous cases | 699 | | | **Total** | 11,728 | | | Total number of benefices on which there is a glebe-house | 8214 |
Of these 11 are under L.10; 19 from L.10 to L.20; 32 from L.20 to L.30; 235 from L.30 to L.50; 1629 from L.50 to L.100; 1602 from L.100 to L.150; 1354 from L.150 to L.200; 1979 from L.200 to L.300; 1326 from L.300 to L.400; 830 from L.400 to L.500; 954 from L.500 to L.750; 323 from L.750 to L.1000; 134 from L.1000 to L.1500; 32 from L.1500 to 2000; 16 of L.2000 and upwards. Among the last-mentioned is the rectory of Stanhope, in the county of Northumberland, of the annual value of L.4843; and the rectory of Doddington, in the county of Cambridge, worth L.7306 a-year.
**Benefice in commendam (ecclesia commendedata)** is, according to Godolphin, an ecclesiastical living which, being void, is commended to the charge and care of some sufficient clerk, to be supplied until it may be conveniently provided with a pastor; the person to whom the church is thus commended having the fruits and profits thereof only for a certain time. The law relating to this subject has, however, been abolished by the 6th and 7th Will. IV. cap. 77, sec. 18, which enacts that no ecclesiastical dignity, office, or benefice, shall be held in commendam by any bishop, unless he held the same at the time of the passing of the act, and every commendam thereafter granted, whether to retain or to receive, and whether temporary or perpetual, is declared to be absolutely void to all intents and purposes.
**Beneficiarii**, in Roman Antiquity, those who were promoted on account of their merits, or exempted by special favour from ordinary military service. The term was likewise applied to such as were discharged from the military service, and provided with beneficiia or pensions. They were sometimes called upon to do military service as volunteers, Beneficiary when they were denominated evocati. Before their recall they were styled eremitii.
The word *beneficiarius* frequently occurs in the Roman inscriptions found in Britain, where *consul* is always joined with it; but besides *beneficiarius consultus*, we find in Gruter *beneficiarius tribunii, praetorii, legati, prefecti, proconsulis*, and such like expressions.
**Beneficiary**, *Beneficiarius*, one who holds a benefice. A beneficiary is not the proprietor of the revenues of his church; he has only the administration of them, though not accountable for his conduct therein to any but God and his superior.
This term is applied by the writers of the middle ages to a feudatory or vassal; and also to the clerks or officers who kept the accounts of the *beneficia*.
**Benefield, Sebastian**, a very eminent divine, born in 1559, at Prestonbury in Gloucestershire, and educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 1613 he was chosen Margaret professor in that university; which appointment he held with great reputation till 1626, when he resigned it and retired to his rectory of Meysey-Hampton, in Gloucestershire. He published commentaries upon the first, second, and third chapters of Amos; a considerable number of sermons; and some Latin treatises. He died in 1630.
**Benefit of Clergy.** See Clergy.
**Benefit Societies.** See Friendly Societies.
**Benevento**, a city of Italy, capital of a small delegation of the same name, which belongs to the States of the Church, and is bounded by the Neapolitan province of Principato Ultra. The town is surrounded by walls and defended by a castle. It is situated on a hill near the confluence of the Calore and the Sabato, 32 miles N.E. of Naples. It occupies the site of the ancient Beneventum, and is almost entirely built of the ruins of that town. Except Rome, perhaps no city can boast of so many remains of antiquity. Of these the most beautiful and perfect is the Arch of Trajan, 52 feet in height, consisting of a single arch of Parian marble of the Corinthian order, highly ornamented with basso and mezzo rilievo. See Serlio, *Architettura*. It is the see of an archbishop, and has a cathedral, several churches, a town-hall, diocesan seminary and library, and several hospitals. Pop. of delegation (1843) 23,910; of city 17,500.
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**Bengal,** the largest and most important division of Hindustan, situate towards its eastern extremity, and containing Calcutta, the seat of the British government in India. Excluding the possessions of the native princes, over which the British government merely exercises political supremacy, and excluding also the Punjab and the Agra, or north-western provinces, which are administered by functionaries having the powers and authority of lieutenant-governors, the tract embraced within the presidency of Bengal lies between the 10th and the 28th degrees of north latitude, and between the 83rd and 99th degrees of east longitude. Its most northern extremity is situate in the province of Assam, and its most southern point lies on the coast of Tenasserim. The district of Mirzapore, under the jurisdiction of the lieutenant-governor of Agra, forms the extreme boundary on the west, and the frontier of Siam constitutes its most eastern limit. The longest line which could be drawn with extremities lying within the limits of the presidency, is that in a direction from S.E. to N.W., from the Pak Chan river in Tenasserim to the north-western angle of the district of Sarun, where the river Gunduck issues from the mountains of Nepaul, in Lat. 27.25. Long. 83.55., and would measure about 1550 miles in length. A considerable part of this line would, however, lie across the Bay of Bengal. The longest line that could be drawn without crossing the bay is from N.E. to S.W., from the boundary of Assam to that of the British district of Palamow, a distance of about 870 miles. The extreme breadth of the presidency, measured at right angles to this last-stated line, is about 465 miles, bearing from S.E. to N.W., from the mouth of the Hooghly to the exit of the Gunduck from the mountains of Nepaul. The area of the presidency, as thus defined, amounts to 225,103 square miles.