Matricula, a term applied in Christian antiquity (I) 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 xiii of the Council of Orleans (both of the sixth century). This term was also applied (2) to the ecclesiastical list of poor pensioners who were assisted from the church revenues; hence the names matricularii, matricularioe, by which persons thus assisted together with those who performed menial services about the church, were known. The house in which such pensioners were lodged was also known (3) as matricula, which thus becomes synonymous with xenodochium.
MAURICE M. HASSETT