(Latin, beneficium, a benefit) A juridical entity erected or constituted in perpetuity by competent ecclesiastical authority, consisting of a sacred office and the right of receiving the revenues accruing to that office. These revenues may arise from: property, movable or immovable owned by the benefice; obligatory contributions made by a family or some moral person; the voluntary offerings of the faithful or stole fees to be paid according to diocesan statute or laudable custom; the choir distributions, except a third part of the same, if the entire revenues consist of such distributions. Benefices are divided by the Code into: consistorial, which are usually conferred in a consistory, or non-consistorial; secular or religious, according as they are confided to the care of the secular or religious clergy; double (residential), which have attached the obligation of residence, or simple (non-residential); manual (temporary, removable), or perpetual (irremovable), according as the incumbent can be removed at will or not; and curata, which involved the cure of souls, or non-curata. According to an official reply from Rome, 1921, parishes in the United States are regarded as benefices.