Question — Merkelbach, Summa Theologiae Moralis
Question Four: On the Minister of Order
S. Th., Suppl., q. 38.
It is clear from the practice of the Church from the beginning, as is had from the Scriptures (Acts VI, 6; XIV, 22; I Tim. IV, 14; V, 22; II Tim. I, 6; Tit. I, 5) and from the ancient monuments of tradition and the statutes of the ancient Church.
The reason of fittingness is that it belongs to the bishop, as endowed with more excellent power over the mystical body, to place others in all the divine ministries, says St. Thomas, a. 1.
By bishop is understood everyone who has been consecrated (can. 951), even a heretic, schismatic, intruder, simoniac, excommunicated or degraded bishop: namely, he validly ordains, provided he preserves the essential rite of ordination (a. 2).
734. The extraordinary minister of sacred ordination is a priest by Pontifical commission, conceded by law or by special indult, and only for conferring certain inferior orders (can. 951). This is clear from various Councils, such as Nicaea II, c. 14, and Trent, sess. 23, de ref., c. 10; and from the practice of the Church, concerning which St. Thomas, a. 1, ad 3:
"The pope, who has the fullness of pontifical power, can commit to one who is not a bishop those things which pertain to episcopal dignity, provided those things do not have an immediate relation to the body of Christ. And therefore 1) by his commission some simple priest can confer minor (i.e., inferior) orders and confirm, but not someone who is not a priest; 2) nor again can a priest confer major (superior) orders, which have an immediate relation to the body of Christ, over the consecration of which the Pope does not have a greater power than a simple priest" (ad 3). This latter is witnessed by Const. Ap. III, 20, and St. Epiphanius, c. haer. LXXV, 4.
Therefore priests can be delegated for conferring:
- minor orders, consequently also introductory tonsure; by law there are delegated for this: Cardinals (can. 239, 22), the Vicar and Prefect Apostolic, the Abbot and Prelate nullius (can. 957, § 2), also a regular Abbot of regime (can. 964); nevertheless their ordinations, conferred outside the limits of legitimate administration, are not only illicit, but also invalid;
- also the subdiaconate, because formerly it was an inferior order;
- perhaps the diaconate, although this is not accustomed to be done, and many deny it with St. Thomas (ad 5);
- not however for conferring the presbyterate or the episcopate. And although concerning presbyters some have said that this was at some time conceded, nevertheless there is doubt about the concession, or at least about the sense of the concession made (which many understand of the privilege of total exemption from the jurisdiction of the Ordinary of the place as to ordinations); but even if it were authentic, the fact would constitute something altogether particular and solitary, and also revoked shortly afterward, which therefore is not protected by the infallibility of the Church and of the Roman Pontiff.
- by title of domicile together with origin, if the one to be ordained has domicile in his diocese and at the same time origin;
- by title of simple domicile, if the one to be ordained has domicile in the diocese without origin, but confirms by oath the intention of remaining perpetually in the diocese;
- by title of incardination in the diocese, which the one to be ordained received either through first tonsure, or through letters of perpetual and absolute excardination from his proper diocese and of perpetual and absolute incardination into this other diocese, or through a residential benefice which he obtained there (can. 111-114).
Let it be noted: a) The place of origin of a son, even a neophyte, is that in which, when the son was born, the father had domicile, or, in defect of domicile, quasi-domicile; or, if the son is illegitimate or posthumous, the mother had it; - but if it is a question of the son of vagrants, the place of origin is the very place of birth; if of one exposed, it is the place in which he was found (can. 90).
b) He who has two domiciles in different dioceses can be ordained by either bishop, but after ordination has been received he can no longer belong to both dioceses, because by ordination received from his proper bishop he is incardinated into that same diocese.
c) Nevertheless the bishop of the diocese in which someone has domicile can ordain him for the service of another diocese; in which case by first tonsure he is incardinated into this other diocese (comm. int., Aug. 17, 1919).
d) Nor is a bishop prohibited from promoting his own subject (by reason of domicile), who in the future, after legitimate excardination and incardination, is destined for the service of another diocese (can. 969, § 2).
e) For him who lacks a proper bishop, nothing remains except that he provide for himself by apostolic indult.
b) As to religious professed to be ordained, according to can. 965, the proper bishop is the bishop of the diocese in which is located the religious house to whose family the one to be ordained belongs; - unless they have a special indult.
Therefore to him the religious superior must send dimissorial letters; but he can send them to another bishop only when 1) the diocesan bishop has given permission, or 2) is of a different rite, or 3) is absent, or 4) is not going to hold an ordination at the next legitimate time (i.e., on the Saturdays of the Four Times, the Saturday before Passion Sunday, and Holy Saturday), or finally 5) when the diocese is vacant and one who has the episcopal character does not rule it (can. 966, § 1). Nevertheless:
a) in individual cases it is necessary that this be clear to the bishop who is to ordain from authentic testimony of the episcopal curia (can. 966, § 2);
b) let religious superiors beware lest, in fraud of the diocesan bishop, they send a subject to be ordained to another religious house, or deliberately defer the concession of dimissorial letters to that time at which the bishop will either be absent or will have no ordinations (can. 967).
B. One delegated by the proper bishop can licitly ordain, provided he has received from the Ordinary of the one to be ordained legitimate dimissorial letters. These are letters by which a competent superior sends away his proper subject to another bishop with the faculty of receiving orders from him; whence they differ from testimonial letters, by which there is given only an authentic attestation concerning the birth, age, morals, doctrine, and aptitude of the one to be ordained, who is shown worthy for orders to be conferred upon him.
Dimissorial letters for seculars can be given, as long as they retain jurisdiction in their own territory, by:
- the proper Bishop, after he has legitimately taken possession of his diocese, although not yet consecrated;
- the Vicar General, but from the special mandate of the bishop;
- the Capitular Vicar after a year from the vacant see and with the consent of the chapter; but within the year only to those who are constrained by reason of a benefice received or to be received, or by reason of some office for which, because of the necessity of the diocese, provision must be made without delay; - nevertheless let him not concede dimissorial letters to those who have been rejected by the bishop;
- the Vicar and Prefect Apostolic, an Abbot or Prelate nullius, although they lack episcopal character, even to major orders (can. 958).
As to the ordination of religious, exempt religious can licitly be ordained by no bishop without the dimissorial letters of their proper major superior; but superiors can concede dimissorial letters to those professed of temporary simple vows, i.e., before perpetual profession, only for first tonsure and minor orders, any contrary indult being revoked (can. 964, 2, 3 and 4).
Let it be noted: the Vicar and Prefect Apostolic, the Abbot or Prelate nullius, if they possess episcopal character, are equated with a diocesan bishop as regards ordination (can. 957, § 1); likewise he who can give dimissorial letters for receiving orders can also confer the same orders himself, if he has the necessary power of order (can. 959).
736. Special dispositions of canon law. -
A. As to episcopal consecration:
- "The consecrating bishop must employ two other bishops who assist him in the consecration, unless a dispensation concerning this has been granted by the Apostolic See," can. 954; and therefore not for validity. From the Apostolic Constitution of Nov. 30, 1944, the assisting bishops are to be considered as co-consecrators and must do the same things as the principal consecrator.
B. As to those ordained by the Roman Pontiff himself: "It is licit for no one to promote one ordained by the Roman Pontiff to a higher order without the faculty of the Apostolic See," can. 952.
C. As to the proper bishop: "The proper bishop, not impeded by a just cause, should ordain his subjects himself; but he cannot licitly ordain a subject of an Eastern rite without apostolic indult," can. 955, § 2.
D. As to dimissorial letters:
- "Dimissorial letters can be sent by the proper bishop, even by a suburbicarian Cardinal bishop, to any bishop having communion with the Apostolic See, except only, short of apostolic indult, to a bishop of a rite different from the rite of the one to be promoted," can. 961.
- "Dimissorial letters are not to be conceded unless all testimonies which are required by law (for ordination) have been had..." can. 960.
- "Any bishop, having received legitimate dimissorial letters, licitly ordains the subject of another, provided he himself can in no way doubt concerning the genuine trustworthiness of the letters"; nor are new testimonies necessary unless, after the letters have been obtained, sufficient time has passed in which the one to be promoted could have contracted a canonical impediment: can. 962 and 994.
- "Dimissorial letters can be limited or revoked by the one conceding them or by his successor, but once conceded they are not extinguished when the right of the giver has been resolved," can. 963.
- "By the very fact the following incur suspension for a year from the conferral of orders, reserved to the Apostolic See: those who, contrary to the prescription of can. 955, have ordained another's subject without the dimissorial letters of the proper Ordinary;... and those who, saving a legitimate privilege, have promoted a religious belonging to a family which is outside the territory of the one ordaining, even with the dimissorial letters of his proper superior, unless it has been legitimately proved that one of the cases occurs of which can. 966 treats and above n. 735, A, b" (can. 2373).
E. As to the time of ordination:
- "Episcopal consecration must be conferred within the solemnities of Masses, on Sunday or on the natal day of the Apostles.
- "Ordinations in sacred orders are to be celebrated within the solemnities of Masses on the Saturdays of the Four Times, on the Saturday before Passion Sunday, and on Holy Saturday.
- "Nevertheless, a grave cause intervening, the bishop can hold them also on any Sunday or feast of precept.1
1 Certain ones understand this of feasts of precept even suppressed, conformably to the Pontifical; but this was reprobated by the commission of interpretation, May 15, 1936.
- "First tonsure can be conferred on any day and hour; minor orders on individual Sundays and double feasts, but in the morning.
- "The custom contrary to the times of ordinations prescribed in the preceding paragraphs is reprobated; these are also to be observed when a bishop of the Latin rite ordains, from apostolic indult, a cleric of an Eastern rite, or conversely" (can. 1006).
F. As to the place of ordination:
- "General ordinations are to be celebrated publicly in the cathedral church, the canons of the church having been called and being present; but if in another place of the diocese, the clergy of the place being present, the more worthy church, as far as can be done, is to be approached.
- "The bishop is not prohibited, however, when a just cause persuades, from holding particular ordinations also in other churches and likewise in the oratory of the episcopal house or Seminary or religious house.