Word Finder - almoner

definition

One who distributes alms, especially the doles and alms of religious houses, almshouses

definition

One who dispenses alms for another, as the almoner of a prince, bishop

definition

A title given to a royal officer charged with the duty of distributing alms or bounty on behalf of a monarch

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A hospital official responsible for patient welfare and after-care.

He was successively councillor of the parlement of Grenoble, secretary to the king, almoner to Marie de' Medici, abbot of Aulnay and finally, in 1606, bishop of Sees.

The king (Henry VIII.) happened at the time to be visiting in the immediate neighbourhood, and two of his chief counsellors, Gardiner, secretary of state, afterwards bishop of Winchester, and Edward Fox, the lord high almoner, afterwards bishop of Hereford, were lodged at Cressy's house.

Almoners, as distinct from chaplains, appear early as attached to the court of the kings of France; but the title of grand almoner of Franc* first appears in the reign of Charles VIII.

In England, the royal almonry still forms a part of the sovereign's household, the officers being the hereditary grand almoner (the marquess of Exeter), the lord high almoner, the sub-almoner, and the secretary to the lord high almoner.

The office of hereditary grand almoner is now merely titular.

The lord high almoner is an ecclesiastical officer, usually a bishop, who had the rights to the forfeiture of all deodands and the goods of a felo de se, for distribution among the poor.

He had also, by virtue of an ancient custom, the power of giving the first dish from the king's table to whatever poor person he pleased, or, instead of it, alms in money, which custom is kept up by the lord high almoner distributing as many silver pennies as the sovereign has years of age to poor men and women on Maundy Thursday.

The success which attended his efforts on these two occasions, and the eloquence which he displayed, perhaps contributed to his choice as the king's almoner and confessor.

Next came dignities of a slightly lower rank, such as those of grand almoner (Fesch), grand marshal of the palace (Duroc), grand chamberlain (Talleyrand), grand master of the horse (Caulaincourt), grand huntsman (Berthier), grand master of ceremonies (Segur).

After the States-general was dissolved he remained in Paris, and the next year he became almoner to Anne of Austria, the child-queen of Louis XIII.

He preached at the coronation of Queen Anne and became her almoner and confidential adviser in matters of church and state.

Returning home, he was appointed tutor to the sons of Henry II., by one of whom (Charles IX.) he was afterwards made grand almoner (1561) and by the other (Henry III.) was appointed, in spite of his plebeian origin, commander of the order of the Holy Ghost.

In 1605 he was consecrated bishop of Chichester and made lord almoner.

A procession is formed in the nave, consisting of the lord high almoner representing the sovereign, the clergy and the yeomen of the guard, the latter carrying white and red purses in baskets.

In 1823 he became a theological student at the seminary of Saint Sulpice; four years later he was ordained and became almoner of the college Henri IV.

After entering the Benedictine order and teaching at the university of Paris from 1435 to 1438, he became almoner to Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, who entrusted him with diplomatic missions in France, Italy, Portugal and Castile.

In 1883 Robertson Smith was appointed Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic at Cambridge, which henceforth became his home.

In the same year he gained a footing at court as almoner to Madame.

His first appointment had been as almoner to Queen Catherine Parr, then wife of Lord Seymour; and he peached her funeral sermon in September 1548.

In 1322, the king's almoner paid 8 s.

Transferred to Paris as almoner of the college of Henry IV., and honorary canon of Notre Dame, he became the close friend of Archbishop Affre and of his successor Archbishop Sibour.

Educated by the Jesuits in Paris, he entered the priesthood, and became in 1679, through the influence of Cardinal Bonzi, almoner to Maria Theresa, queen of Louis XIV., and in 1698 bishop of Frejus.

Other prelates rank with the above, but in a lower degree, notably the almoner and the various secretaries.

He was now firmly established in the favour of the king, who gave him successively the abbacy of St Severin, in the diocese of Poitiers, the office of almoner to the dauphiness, and in 1685 the bishopric of Lavaur, from which he was in 1687 promoted to that of Nimes.

He was appointed almoner to the princessdowager of Wales in 1750.