Patrimony
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( n.) A right or estate inherited from one's father; or, in a larger sense, from any ancestor.
(2): ( n.) Formerly, a church estate or endowment.
King James Dictionary [2]
PAT'RIMONY, n. L.patrimonium, from pater, father.
1. A right or estate inherited from one's ancestors. 2. A church estate or revenue as St. Peter's patrimony.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [3]
pat´ri - mṓ - ni ( האבות , hā - 'ābhōth , "the fathers"): A word occurring once in English Versions of the Bible ( Deuteronomy 18:8 ), meaning literally, "the fathers," which, however, is obscure, probably by reason of abbreviation for some phrase, e.g. "house of the fathers." It may indicate "some private source of income possessed by the Levite (who has come up from a country district to the central sanctuary) distinct from what he receives as a priest officiating at the central sanctuary" (Driver, "Deuteronomy," ICC , in the place cited.). Beyond this one occurrence of the word the same idea is conveyed often by other words or phrases: "He divided unto them his living" ( Luke 15:13 ); "Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me" ( Luke 12:13 ). Full and specific directions were given in the Law for the division of the patrimony (Nu 27; Dt 21, etc.) and for its redemption (Rth 4:1-12). The idea was frequently used with figurative and spiritual application: the land of Canaan was Israel's patrimony, being inherited from Yahweh ( Psalm 105:11 ); salvation because of its origin in grace was the believer's patrimony (Gal 3:26 through 4:7). Contrariwise Israel was Yahweh's inheritance ( Isaiah 19:25; Isaiah 63:14; compare Psalm 33:12; and the whole earth is the Messiah's patrimony, inherited from His Eternal Father ( Psalm 2:8 ). See Birthright; Family; Inheritance; Property .
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [4]
is the term anciently given to Church estates or revenues. Thus we find mentioned, in the letters of St. Gregory, not only the patrimony of the Roman Church, but those likewise of the churches of Rimini, Milan, and Ravenna. This name, therefore, does not peculiarly signify any foreign dominion or jurisdiction belonging to the Roman Church or the pope. Churches, in cities whose inhabitants were but of modern existence, had no estates left to them out of their own district; but those in imperial cities, such as Rome, Ravenna, and Milan, where senators and persons of the first rank inhabited, were endowed with estates in divers parts of the world. St. Gregory mentions the patrimony of the Church of Ravenna, in Sicily, and another of the Church of Milan, in that kingdom. The Roman Church had patrimonies in France, Africa, Sicily, in the Cottian Alps, and in many other countries. The same St. Gregory had a lawsuit with the bishop of Ravenna for the patrimonies of the two churches, which afterwards ended by agreement.
