Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COM-MEND'AM, n.

In ecclesiastical law, in England, a benefice or living commended, by the king or head of the church, to the care of a clerk, to hold till a proper pastor is provided. This may be temporary or perpetual. – Blackstone. The trust or administration of the revenues of a benefice given to a layman, to hold as a deposit for six months, in order to repairs, &c., or to an ecclesiastic, to perform the pastoral duties, till the benefice is provided with a regular incumbent. – Encyc.