Originally a benefice was a gift of land for life as a reward (beneficium) for services. Under canon law it came to mean the land administered by a priest. Each benefice had a number of "spiritualities", or spiritual duties, that were attached to the land. For providing these spiritualities, a priest would receive "temporalities", or pay. From the medieval period onward, preists administered sacraments to their citizens and provided other services as well, under normal conditions. The people of a benefice were asked to provide patronage to the priest as necessary.

Over time, the benefice system was abused throughout Europe, with some nations and times being worse than others. As benefices came to priests through feudal patronage and for political considerations, priests occassionally held more than one benefice, called pluralism. This pluralism quite often resulted in absenteeism, where the priest would not take care of his benefice.

Such corrupt a hierarchy later called for ecclesiastical reform in the church in the 15th and 16th centuries. Martin Luther was a significant leader in this reformation. After the Reformation, the new churches generally adopted systems of ecclesiastical polity that did not entail benefices, with the exception of the Church of England. At the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church called for the abolition of benefices in that church altogether.