Article — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis
Article II. On The Minister Of Licit Ordination
For licit ordination there are required on the part of the minister (besides the state of grace and immunity from censures and irregularities): 1. jurisdiction; 2. examination of the ordinands; 3. the due rite, for example, with regard to the intervals, appointed times, due place, and so forth.
597. 1. The minister must have ordinary or delegated jurisdiction over the ordinand. The proper bishop has ordinary jurisdiction. Therefore the Council of Trent simply establishes:47 "Let each one be ordained by his proper bishop."
According to the discipline in force, a bishop is proper by a twofold reason or title of competence:48
a) The title of domicile together with origin. Therefore the ordinand must have both origin and domicile in the diocese of the ordaining bishop.
b) The title of simple domicile without origin. In this case, the ordinand must confirm by oath his intention of remaining perpetually in the diocese.
This oath is omitted if a professed religious, a cleric destined for another diocese, or a cleric already incardinated by the first tonsure is in question.49
c) The proper bishop of a professed religious to be ordained is the bishop in whose diocese is situated the religious house to whose family the ordinand belongs.50
The minister has delegated jurisdiction if he has received from the proper Ordinary of the ordinands permission to confer orders upon subjects duly dismissed. In this case both dimissorial and testimonial letters are required; these are to be granted without charge, unless there is a special Indult.51
Those letters are called dimissorial by which the proper prelate of the ordinand asks a bishop determined either specially or generally to confer orders upon his subject. These dimissorial letters are altogether necessary for a subject of another to be licitly ordained by some bishop.52 Those who act otherwise are punished with grave penalties.53 Who can grant dimissorial letters may be seen in the canonists, for example, in our Man. iur. can., q. 318. To these dimissorial letters are to be added testimonial letters, which provide an authentic testimony given by the competent Ordinary concerning the fitness of the ordinand. The ordinary bishop must also require this testimony concerning the fitness of the ordinand, or at least concerning his good morals (and learning), if after puberty the ordinand has remained outside the diocese for a continuous six months, or if he was devoted to military service for a continuous three months.54 For during military service an impediment to ordination can more easily be contracted.
47 Sess. 23, c. 8, De reform.; cf. Code of Canon Law, c. 955, § 1, and c. 957. It is established: "A Vicar and Prefect Apostolic, and an Abbot or Prelate 'nullius,' if they possess the episcopal character, are equivalent to a diocesan bishop in that which pertains to ordination; if they lack the episcopal character, they can nevertheless, in their own territory and only during their office, confer the first tonsure and the minor orders both upon their own secular subjects and upon others who present dimissorial letters; an ordination performed by them outside these limits is invalid."
48 Code of Canon Law, c. 956. In ancient times there were also other titles of competence, for example, benefice, membership in the household, and so forth.
49 Code of Canon Law, c. 956.
50 Ibid., c. 965.
51 Cf. Council of Trent, sess. 21, c. 1, De reform.; Gasparri, De ordinatione, n. 1121. The following are customarily distinguished: letters of dismissal or an "Exeat," by which excardination is granted; dimissorial letters, concerning which above; and formed letters, by which an authentic testimony concerning orders received is presented.
52 Cf. Council of Trent, sess. 14, c. 2, De reform.; sess. 23, c. 8, De reform., and Pontifical Commission, February 17, 1930 (Acta Apost. Sed. XXII, 195).
53 Cf. above, n. 531.
54 Sacred Congregation of the Council, June 25, 1904. Cf. our Man. iur. can., q. 318 (6).
598. 2. The ordaining bishop (who ordains by his proper right) must always conduct an examination of the ordinands, mindful of the saying: "Impose hands hastily on no man."55 Therefore immediately before ordination the bishop asks the archdeacon: "Do you know them to be worthy?" If the bishop ordains by delegated right, this examination is customarily made by him who gave the dimissorial letters.56 Moreover, a threefold other investigation is to be made concerning the worthiness of the ordinands:
a) Secular candidates to be promoted (or those religious who, in that which pertains to ordination, are governed by the law of seculars) are to bring four testimonies, namely:
a testimony of the last ordination, or, if the first tonsure is in question, of received Baptism and Confirmation;
a testimony concerning the completion of a) the ordination examination, b) the studies required for the individual orders, c) the spiritual exercises;
a testimony of the rector of the seminary, or of the priest to whom the candidate outside the seminary was commended, concerning the good morals of the same candidate;
testimonial letters of the Ordinary of the place in which the candidate to be promoted has remained for so much time that he could have contracted a canonical impediment there. Such a time is considered to be three months for soldiers and a continuous six months after puberty for others, unless the ordaining bishop prudently determines even a shorter time in a particular case.57 If the candidate has wandered through so many dioceses that to seek all the testimonial letters would become impossible or excessively difficult, let the Ordinary provide at least by a supplementary oath to be given by the candidate.58 Exempt religious ordinands must bring testimonial letters from their major superior.59
b) The names of those to be promoted to the individual sacred orders (except religious with perpetual vows, whether solemn or simple) are to be publicly announced in the parish church of each candidate; but the Ordinary according to his prudence can either dispense from this publication or substitute for it a public posting upon the doors of the church for several days, among which at least one feast day is to be included. The publication is to be made on a feast day of precept in the church during the solemnities of the Masses, or on another day and hour when a greater attendance of the people is present in the church.60
c) All ordinands (whether secular or religious) must undergo an examination properly so called concerning the order to be received and, if the reception of a sacred order is in question, also concerning some theological treatment, according to the method established by the bishop.61
Scholion. Even before episcopal consecration an informative process is conducted; indeed, sometimes a certain true examination in theology or canon law is held.62
55 1 Tim. 5:22.
56 Code of Canon Law, c. 997.
57 Code of Canon Law, c. 994.
58 Ibid., § 2.
59 Ibid., c. 995.
60 Ibid., c. 998.
61 Ibid., c. 996.
62 Cf. Pius X, Motu Proprio Romanis Pontificibus, December 17, 1903.
599. 3. The due rite to be observed in ordination includes several things, namely:
a) That ordination not be made by a leap, that is, that a higher order not be conferred while the lower has not yet been conferred, for example, that the priesthood not be conferred upon one who is not yet a deacon.63 An order conferred by a leap is valid,64 with the exception of the episcopate, which cannot validly be conferred upon one who is not yet a priest. Ordinations knowingly performed by a leap are always gravely illicit and subject to grave penalties.65 The omitted orders must altogether be supplied.
b) That the intervals be observed. Intervals are the spaces which must intervene between the conferrals of the individual orders. The Code of Canon Law, changing the former discipline, establishes:66 a) The intervals between the first tonsure and the order of porter, or between the individual minor orders, are committed to the prudent judgment of the bishop. b) The interval between the order of acolyte and the subdiaconate is one year. c) The intervals between the individual major orders are three months. The bishop can dispense from the intervals if the necessity or utility of the Church requires it. Nevertheless, without the special permission of the Roman Pontiff, the minor orders with the subdiaconate, or two sacred orders, are never to be conferred on one and the same day, any contrary custom being reprobated. Indeed, neither is it lawful to confer the first tonsure together with the order of porter, nor all the minor orders at the same time,67 unless nevertheless a legitimate contrary custom exists.
c) That the orders be conferred at the due time, namely: a) The first tonsure can be conferred on any day and at any hour and even outside Mass.68 b) The minor orders can be conferred on individual Sundays and feasts of double rite, but in the morning.69 c) The major orders can be conferred during the solemnities of the Masses on six Saturdays, namely, the Saturdays of the Ember Days, and the Saturdays before Passion Sunday and Easter Sunday. d) Episcopal consecration must be conferred during the solemnities of the Masses on a Sunday or the birthday of an Apostle.
When a grave cause intervenes, a bishop can confer the major orders on any Sunday or feast of precept, and this not only upon his own subjects but also upon the subjects of another duly dismissed.
d) That the orders be conferred in the due place. The first tonsure and the minor orders can be conferred even in private oratories.70 Sacred orders must be conferred in the cathedral church or in a more dignified church, if general ordinations are in question.71 By legitimate custom, however, not only particular but also general ordinations can be held in some at least semi-public oratory.
e) That the statutes of the Pontifical be observed.72
63 Code of Canon Law, c. 977.
64 St. Thomas, Suppl., q. 25, a. 5.
65 Code of Canon Law, c. 2374.
66 Ibid., c. 978, § 2.
67 Code of Canon Law, c. 978, § 3.
68 Cf. Roman Pontifical, p. 1, De clericis faciendis.
69 Code of Canon Law, c. 1006, § 4.
70 Ibid., c. 1009, § 3.
71 Council of Trent, sess. 23, c. 8, De reform.
72 Code of Canon Law, c. 1002.
600. Scholion. The bishop imposes upon ordained subdeacons and deacons a Nocturn to be recited, which he can freely determine. But if he employed only the words of the Pontifical, the Nocturn of such a day is understood to be the ferial Nocturn, or the first Nocturn of the feast or Sunday in the Psalter, according as the ordination was held on a feria, feast, or Sunday. It is not necessary, however, to add the Invitatory, Hymn, and Lessons.73 Upon ordained priests the bishop imposes three Masses to be said, namely, of the Holy Spirit, of the Blessed Virgin, and for the dead. It is indeed to be counseled that the new priests also apply these Masses for the Church and for the dead, but such an application is not obligatory, and therefore a stipend can be accepted.
73 Sacred Congregation of Rites, June 27, 1899; July 10, 1903.