ETYM French bénéfice, Latin beneficium, a kindness, in Late Lat. a grant of an estate, from Latin beneficus beneficent; bene well + facere to do. Related to Benefit.
Ecclesiastical office to which revenue is attached.
/> Church living.
In the early Middle Ages, a donation of land or money to the Christian church as an act of devotion; from the 12th century, the term came to mean the income enjoyed by clergy.
Under the Carolingian dynasty, “benefice” was used to mean a gift of land from a lord to a vassal, in which sense it is often indistinguishable from a fief.
An endowed church office giving income to its holder; SYN. ecclesiastical benefice.

To endow with a benefice.