An official in a British hospital who looks after the social and material needs of the patients
(Noun)
Synonyms:
medical social worker
Almoner Sentence Examples
He was successively councillor of the parlement of Grenoble, secretary to the king, almoner to Marie de' Medici, abbot of Aulnay and finally, in 1606, bishop of Sees.
The king (Henry VIII.) happened at the time to be visiting in the immediate neighbourhood, and two of his chief counsellors, Gardiner, secretary of state, afterwards bishop of Winchester, and Edward Fox, the lord high almoner, afterwards bishop of Hereford, were lodged at Cressy's house.
Almoners, as distinct from chaplains, appear early as attached to the court of the kings of France; but the title of grand almoner of Franc* first appears in the reign of Charles VIII.
In England, the royal almonry still forms a part of the sovereign's household, the officers being the hereditary grand almoner (the marquess of Exeter), the lord high almoner, the sub-almoner, and the secretary to the lord high almoner.
The office of hereditary grand almoner is now merely titular.