Case 11. A Priest's Proper Bishop

Titius pronounced simple vows in a certain diocesan Congregation and was ordained a priest under the title of the Mission. After a certain period of time, he obtained dismissal from the Congregation and found a benevolent receiver in the bishop of a neighboring diocese, who entrusted him with the care of souls in a certain Mission. When the bishop of the diocese in which the Congregation had been established heard this, he asked a theologian whether he could recall Titius to his own diocese and assign work to him. Hence it is asked:

1. By virtue of ordination, is a priest bound to a particular diocese?

2. To what are those bound by the oath of the Mission specially obliged?

3. Can a priest be transferred from one diocese to another, and how?

4. What is to be said of the case?

1. Is a priest attached to a particular diocese by his ordination?

Yes, the Council of Trent (XXIII, c. 16, De Ref.) prescribed that in future no one was to be ordained without being ascribed to that church or pious foundation for whose necessity and service he was accepted, and where

60- he was to exercise his functions, and not wander about without fixed abode. And if he abandons his post without leave of the bishop, he is to be forbidden the exercise of his sacred ministry.

2. To what are those specially obliged who are ordained on the title of the mission?

By the terms of the missionary oath they are bound to work in the diocese for which they were ordained under the direction of the bishop, and they can not enter into any Religious Order or Congregation without the leave of the Holy See.

3. Can a priest be transferred from one diocese to another, and how?

Yes, by the mutual consent of the respective bishops, for just cause, a priest may be excardinated from one diocese and incardinated in another. It should be done in writing. If a priest has been ordained on the title of the mission he requires the leave of the Holy See to pass to another diocese and he should take the missionary oath afresh. The Bishops of the Province of Westminster were empowered by a decree (S.C. de P. F., 18 Aug. 1885), by mutual consent to effect the transference of such a priest from one diocese to another without a renewal of the oath.¹

1 Collectanea S. C. de P. F. n. 1641 ed. 2da. The Bishops of the United States have a similar faculty.

4. The case. Titius had been ordained priest in a certain diocesan Congregation on the title of the mission. If the Congregation was restricted to a particular diocese, he was ordained for that diocese, and when he leaves his Congregation he becomes merely the subject of the bishop of that diocese, and he can not leave it without the bishop’s permission. If he does so, he can be recalled under threat of censure. If the Congregation was spread in several dioceses, Titius on leaving his Congregation became subject to the bishop of his origin, and if he wants to join another diocese he should arrange with the bishop of his origin.¹

1 Vermeersch, De Religiosis Institutis, vol. i, nn. 335, 484.