CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA · M
Matricula
Historical Article from The Catholic Encyclopedia
Catholic Encyclopedia
Historical Context
This article preserves the historical wording and context of the printed encyclopedia. Dates, statistics, terminology, disciplinary descriptions, and civic or ecclesiastical circumstances may reflect the period in which the article was published.
Article Text
A term having several meanings in the field of Christian antiquity.
(1) The word is applied first to the catalogue or roll of the clergy of a particular church; thus Clerici immatriculati denoted the clergy entitled to maintenance from the resources of the church to which they were attached. Allusions to matricula in this sense are found in the second and third canons of the Council of Agde and in canon 13 of the Council of Orléans (both of the sixth century).
(2) This term was also applied to the ecclesiastical list of poor pensioners who were assisted from the church revenues; hence the names matricularii, matriculariae, by which persons thus assisted, together with those who performed menial services about the church, were known.
(3) The house in which such pensioners were lodged was also known as matricula, which thus becomes synonymous with xenodochium.
Source Record
- Author
- Hassett, Maurice
- Publication
- The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1911.
- Nihil Obstat
- Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.
- Imprimatur
- Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.