Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An ecclesiastical benefice or living commended by the crown or head of the church to the care of a qualified person to hold till a proper pastor is provided: usually applied to a living retained in this way by a bishop after he has ceased to be an incumbent, the benefice being said to be held in commendam, and its holder termed a commendator or commendatory.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Eng. Eccl. Law) A vacant living or benefice commended to a cleric (usually a bishop) who enjoyed the revenue until a pastor was provided. A living so held was said to be held
in commendam . The practice was abolished by law in 1836. - noun See under
Partnership .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete A
vacant benefice commended to acleric until anincumbent was provided
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The word commendam is the accusative of the Low Latin noun commenda, "trust", or "custody", which is derived from the verb commendare (to give in trust).
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913
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An ecclesiastic, or sometimes a layman, who holds an abbey in commendam, that is, who draws its revenues and, if an ecclesiastic, may also have some jurisdiction, but does not exercise any authority over its inner monastic discipline.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Clandestinity-Diocesan Chancery 1840-1916 1913
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Secondly, there is a little word: commendam, that is, when the Pope gives a rich and fat convent or church into the charge of a cardinal or any other of his servants, just as I might command you to take charge of one hundred guilders for me.
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a kind of Chapter, to enter which it was necessary to give proof of four degrees of nobility The system of "commendam" proved injurious to the religious life of the abbey.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 13: Revelation-Stock 1840-1916 1913
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In the following century, it came under the control of a succession of abbots in commendam i.e. secular clerics, in most cases from high-ranking families and it was stripped of a great part of its many treasures.
Archive 2009-04-01 Lu 2009
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He had one or two Latin texts continually in his mouth on the nothingness and vanity of human life; and, had it been regular to have enjoyed such a plurality, he might have held the office of confessor to the jail in commendam with that of executioner.
Quentin Durward 2008
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For a length of years, the office, as mentioned in the text, was held in commendam with that of the executioner; for when this odious but necessary officer of justice received his appointment, he petitioned the Court of Justiciary to be received as their Dempster, which was granted as a matter of course.
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The office of Doomster was in those days, and till a much later period, held by the executioner in commendam, with his ordinary functions.
Old Mortality 2004
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It is however quite certain that Ferne was held, along with the Abbacy of Kelso _in commendam_, by Andrew Stewart, Bishop of Caithness, who died in 1517.
The Works of John Knox, Vol. 1 (of 6) John Knox
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Bonivard never took monastic vows or holy orders, but held his living _in commendam_, as a lay-man.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. July, 1878. Various
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