The parish priest living in a village presbytery was a part of the rural society not only due to the fact that he lived and performed his pastoral duties there, but also due to the way he obtained his income in his parish benefice. The system of parish benefices, in fact, integrated the priest into the system of the traditional agrarian society. On the one hand, the parish priest was obviously fully integrated into the rural society, on the other hand, his position was exclusive, because of his special legal status, higher education, a different way of life (celibacy) and the position of the mediator of the contact with God itself. Priests could therefore be regarded as distinctive members of the rural elites.