Definition of "ecclesiastical benefice" []

• An endowed church office giving income to its holder (noun)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "The term installation is also applied to the institutio corporalis, or putting in possession of any ecclesiastical benefice whatsoever (see INSTITUTION, CANONICAL); or, again, to the solemn entry of a parish priest into his new parish, even when this solemn act takes place after the parish priest has really been put in possession of his benefice."
• "In its strictest sense the word denotes the collation of an ecclesiastical benefice by a legitimate authority, on the presentation of a candidate by a third person (institutio tituli collativa)."
• "In its widest signification, Canonical Institution denotes any manner, in accordance with canon law, of acquiring an ecclesiastical benefice (Regula prima juris, in VIto)."