(n.) One who distributes alms, esp. the doles and alms of religious houses, almshouses, etc.; also, one who dispenses alms for another, as the almoner of a prince, bishop, etc.
Example Sentences:
(1) The almoner’s job is to respond to pleas for help, mostly with small gestures such as the paying of fuel bills for poor families.
(2) In a bid to increase its resources, the almoner’s office last month reasserted the Vatican’s monopoly on the production of papal blessings on parchment, which some Catholics buy to mark special occasions such as baptisms and marriages.
(3) Less visibly, he has appointed a new papal almoner – a Polish archbishop, Konrad Krajewski – and boosted his department.
(4) Nitrogenase of the heterocystous cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis was inactivated in vivo (S. Reich, H. Almon, and P. Böger, FEMS Microbiol.