Article — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis
Article I. On The Qualities Of The Ordinand Required By Divine Law
By divine law and by the very nature of the sacrament of Order, there are required in the ordinand: 1. divine vocation; 2. right intention; 3. the state of grace and probity of life.
602. 1. Divine vocation74 is altogether necessary for receiving orders.
Therefore St. Paul says of the priesthood: "Neither does anyone take the honor to himself, but he who is called by God, as Aaron was. So Christ also did not glorify Himself that He might become a high priest, but He who spoke to Him: You are My Son."75 Therefore the Apostles, considering the substitution of someone into the place of Judas Iscariot, prayed to God thus: "You, Lord, ... show whom You have chosen."76 Christ said to the Apostles: "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you,"77 and elsewhere: "He who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold ... is a thief and a robber; but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep."78 Even reason itself manifestly shows the necessity of divine vocation. For the priest is a) a mediator between God and men,79 b) a dispenser of the mysteries of God.80 Now, no one can arrogate to himself the office of mediator between two unless he is called or at least admitted by the parties whose interest is involved. Likewise, no one can licitly dispense the things of another unless he is legitimately deputed. From what has been said it follows that a greater and more special vocation is necessary for the clerical state than for the religious state. For in the religious state no greater power is conferred, but only the best means are provided for exercising the virtues and obtaining Christian perfection, to which all are called.
The signs of a clerical vocation are: a) right intention, by which one does not seek leisure or his own temporal advantage, but the honor of God and the spiritual salvation both of himself and of his neighbor;81 b) fitness for undertaking the offices of the clerical state, for example, sufficient learning and health; c) proven virtue and constancy of soul; hence all teach that it does not suffice for the ordinand to be absolved after sincere contrition from grave sins committed, but also that by a long exercise of the virtues he have provided moral certainty concerning a constant virtuous life;82 d) vocation by a legitimate ecclesiastical superior; therefore the Roman Catechism83 says concisely: "Those are said to be called by God who are called by the legitimate ministers of the Church." Therefore a certain special internal attraction is by no means required for a priestly vocation. Three propositions approved and promulgated by a special commission of Cardinals by order of Pius X are to be noted: 1. "No one ever has any right to ordination antecedently to the free election of the bishop.84 2. The condition which must be attended to on the part of the ordinand, and which is called the priestly vocation, by no means consists (at least necessarily and by ordinary law) in a certain internal aspiration of the subject, or invitations of the Holy Spirit to enter the priesthood. 3. But, on the contrary, nothing more is required in the ordinand, in order that he be duly called by the bishop, than a right intention together with fitness placed in those gifts of grace and nature and proved by that probity of life and sufficiency of learning which provide a founded hope that he will be able rightly to discharge the offices of the priesthood and holily to observe its obligations."85
74 Divine vocation is rightly defined: a disposition of divine providence by which, according to His good pleasure, He chooses and sets apart certain men for the work of His ministry and grants them the qualities and graces necessary for it. Thus Abelly, Sacerdos christianus, p. 9.
75 Heb. 5:4.
76 Acts 1:24.
77 John 15:16.
78 John 10:1.
79 Cf. St. Thomas, S. theol. 3, q. 22, a. 1.
80 Cf. 1 Cor. 4:1.
81 Cf. St. Alphonsus, Theol. mor., l. 6, n. 802.
82 Cf. Council of Trent, sess. 23, c. 14.
83 P. 2, c. 7, q. 3.
84 Nevertheless, it by no means follows from this that a bishop can at will turn away a suitable person from receiving orders, since the Code of Canon Law, c. 971, establishes: "It is unlawful to turn away anyone ... canonically suitable [from the clerical state]."
85 Acta Apost. Sed. IV (1912), 485. Lahitton wrote excellently on the priestly vocation, La vocation sacerdotale, 4th ed., Paris, 1914, which work is called by Cardinal Merry del Val "a masterly study" (Acta Apost. Sed. V [1913], 290).
603. 2. Right intention is likewise necessary in the ordinand, since it is a grave disorder to intend most holy things (such as orders) as instruments for obtaining vile things, such as all earthly things are.
Therefore the ordinand must intend before other things the glory of God, the salvation of souls, and other spiritual goods. But if as his principal end he intends leisure, temporal goods, honors, and so forth, he sins gravely; hence Cajetan deservedly says:86 "If a layman were to direct the clerical state toward temporal goods as toward the end of the clerical state, without doubt he would sin mortally." Nothing prevents the ordinand who primarily intends spiritual goods from secondarily seeking temporal goods, at least insofar as they are necessary for sustaining life honestly and fittingly: "For those who serve the altar partake with the altar."87
86 Comm. in 2, 2, q. 185, a. 1.
87 1 Cor. 9:13.
604. 3. The state of grace and probity of life are required under grave obligation in the ordinand.
For the sacrament of Order is a sacrament of the living and therefore presupposes the state of grace in the recipient; this is further necessary because ordinands must receive the Eucharist on the day of their ordination. Concerning probity of life the Council of Trent admonishes: "Let bishops know that not all ... are to be assumed to these orders, but only the worthy, and those for whom a proven life may stand in place of old age."88 The Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments issued on December 27, 1930, to local Ordinaries a new Instruction of the greatest importance in this matter concerning the scrutiny of students to be carried out before they are promoted to orders. Likewise, the Sacred Congregation of Religious issued on December 1, 1931, a similar Instruction to the supreme Moderators of religious institutes and clerical societies.89
Besides the state of grace and probity of life, the Council of Trent90 further requires that ordinands have received the sacrament of Confirmation before the first tonsure. The reason for this statute is easily evident; for the sacrament of Confirmation is of great service in obtaining constancy in the exercise of the virtues.
88 Sess. 23, c. 12, De reform.
89 Acta Apost. Sed. XXIII, 120 ff., and XXIV, 74 ff.
90 Sess. 23, c. 4, De reform. The Code of Canon Law, c. 974, § 1, n. 1, establishes the same.