prebendary

noun

1. An honorary canon of a cathedral or collegiate church.

   “Among the prebendaries have been men eminent for their learning and piety: as Lancelot Andrews, bishop of Winchester, Dr. Sherlock, Archdeacon Paley, and the Rev. William Beloe, B.D. well known by his translation of Herodotus.”

   “Wolverhampton church, dedicated to St. Mary, was a collegiate establishment, with a dean as president, and a number of prebendaries or canons who were “secular” priests, and not brethren of any of the regular “orders of monks.” […] A prebendary, it may be explained, is one who enjoys a prebend or canonical portion; that is, who receives in right of his place, a share out of the common stock of the church for his maintenance.”

   “The great church, the residences of the dean and the two prebendaries, the choir and its appurtenances, were all intact and in working order.”

adj

1. (not-comparable)Pertaining to the office or person of a prebendary; prebendal.

   “This is at least a third of the way up the career path to being a saint. Conscientious men (and women for that matter) often hear a sort of susurration in their ears when they achieve this prebendary status.”

2. (not-comparable)Of or relating to official positions that are profitable for the incumbent, to the allocation of such positions, or to a system in which such allocation is prevalent.

   “While in the cloth, all clerics, regardless of social origins, were members of privileged class, exempt from corvée and taxes and sharing the government’s prebendary benefices of land and conscript labor.”