Chapter II: On the Duties of Clerics

1023. Under the name of clerics, in the broad sense, come all baptized persons who have been specially deputed, by legitimate authority, to the service and worship of God. In this sense religious of each sex are comprehended, lay brothers not excepted. - In the strict sense, only those are called clerics who by some ecclesiastical order, or at least by first tonsure, are devoted to divine ministries and offices. But here the matter is to be treated only of clerics understood in the stricter sense.

Now, in the dogmatic Treatise on Order, we explained the distinction of clerics from lay persons, and also the principal functions annexed to the priesthood and to the several orders; in the moral Treatise on Order, concerning vocation to the clerical state, the conditions required for ordination, and irregularities which bar one from orders, we likewise briefly discussed a few things; therefore it remains that we briefly touch upon the principal duties: 1. of clerics in general; 2. of those who have been initiated in sacred orders; 3. of priests.

1024. Sacred Scripture¹ declares in manifold ways that clerics, especially those initiated in sacred orders, are to be adorned with holiness both internal and external, not only because they are ministers of God, but also because they ought to furnish the faithful with good example: "In all things show thyself an example of good works, in doctrine, in integrity, in gravity, the sound word, irreprehensible, that he who is on the contrary side may fear, having no evil to say of us."²

¹ I Tim., III, 1-13; IV, 6-16; II Tim., I, 6-14; II, 1-26; Tit., I, 5-9; II, 1-8.

² Tit., II, 7-8; cf. I Pet., V, 3, where it is said concerning priests: "Being made a pattern of the flock from the heart."

The Fathers and Councils taught the same, whose decrees the Council of Trent thus contracts:¹ "There is nothing which more continually instructs others unto piety and the worship of God than the life and example of those who have dedicated themselves to the divine ministry; for since they are seen as raised from the things of the world to a higher place, the rest cast their eyes upon them as upon a mirror, and from them take what they may imitate. Wherefore it is altogether fitting that Clerics, called into the lot of the Lord, should so compose their whole life and morals that in habit, gesture, walk, speech, and all other things they show nothing except what is grave, moderate, and full of religion; that they avoid even light delicts, which in them would be greatest, so that their actions may bring veneration to all."

¹ Trident., sess. XXII, cap. 1 de Reformatione. - From the Code, c. 124, "clerics ought to lead an interior and exterior life holier than lay persons, and to excel them in virtue and right deeds as an example." Cf. can. 125, 126.

Since ascetical writers discuss at length the internal holiness and virtues of clerics, here we shall briefly touch upon what the sacred canons have established concerning their external life:² 1. concerning external habit; 2. concerning certain secular arts forbidden to the clergy; 3. concerning certain amusements to be avoided.

² What we explain here in a briefer style, we contract from the manuscripts of S. Many, professor of Canon Law at the Catholic University of Paris, who kindly gave me permission to use those things which he collected by assiduous labor and arranged lucidly with a fuller pen.

To external worship are referred clerical habit and tonsure.

I. On Clerical Habit.

1025. The matter is not of sacred vestments which clerics use in divine offices, but of the garments which they wear in the common intercourse of life.

1. Origin of clerical clothing.³ Through the first five centuries, clerics were not distinguished from lay persons by the form or color of garments, but only by modesty and simplicity. Indeed, when some, especially in Gaul, put on the pallium which was proper to philosophers and monks, St. Celestine censured them.⁴ - But, already from the sixth century, ecclesiastical habit was distinguished from secular habit: namely, after the invasion of the Barbarians, many lay persons began to put on their shorter garments, while clerics retained the ancient garments of the Romans; indeed a few lay persons, especially nobles, likewise preserved the toga and pallium, but clerics were distinguished from these, because they imitated the simplicity and form of the habit of monks. - In the course of time, the Roman Pontiffs began now to command that clerics retain long and modest garments, and not be drawn by the example of lay persons who were assuming shorter ones. The Council of Trent confirmed their decrees:¹ "But because, although habit does not make the monk, nevertheless clerics ought always to wear garments suited to their proper order, so that by the decency of external habit they may show the inward honesty of morals..." The Code of Canon Law, can. 136, § 3, is consonant.

³ Thomassin, Discipline de l'Eglise, P. I, l. II, ch. 43-44, 46, 48, 50-57.

⁴ Ep. ad Episcopos Narbonensis et Viennensis provinciae, an. 428, in Migne, P. L., t. L, p. 429-436.

¹ Trident., sess. XIV, cap. 6 de Reformat.

1026. 2. Obligation of wearing clerical habit. By common law, all clerics are held to wear clerical habit, and indeed of itself under grave obligation, unless a legitimate reason excuses. We briefly declare this:

(a) This obligation was restricted to clerics constituted in sacred orders or beneficed, because the Council of Trent embraces only these; but from the Code, c. 136, it is extended to all clerics under penalty of falling from the clerical state, if, after being warned by the Ordinary, they have not amended themselves.

(b) An obligation of this sort is grave, as is certain from the very end of the law, namely of distinguishing clerics from lay persons, of protecting them against various dangers, and of recalling to memory the duties of clerical state; and also from the penalties established against delinquents, as may be seen in can. 136, § 3 and 2379. Yet it admits lightness of matter, for example, if someone lays aside the habit for a time shorter than a week.² - Hence one who at home puts off clerical dress, about to assume it again when he goes outside, does not incur the penalties, nor more probably does he sin, unless the contrary is declared from a particular statute; yet it is fitting that a cleric wear it even at home, unless a grave reason excuses.

² D'Annibale, Summula, t. III, n. 146, note 7 (3rd ed., p. 132).

1027. (c) Clerical clothing, according to Trent, is that which is fitting to the order and dignity of clerics. - Sixtus V had indeed enjoined that the talar garment was to be worn under the penalties stated above; but his successors tempered this constitution, and today the Code commands clerics only to wear "decent ecclesiastical habit, according to the legitimate customs of places and the prescriptions of the Ordinary of the place" (can. 136); however, the talar garment must always be worn in Mass (can. 811).

Moreover Trent (l. c.) had already left to Ordinaries the power of establishing what garment would befit the order and dignity of clerics, and in practice one must stand by the statutes of each diocese. Now, in most Catholic regions, provincial Councils or diocesan statutes have compelled clerics to wear the talar garment, and indeed one of black color.¹

¹ Thus in the statutes of the diocese of Paris (n. 196-197) one reads: "The ecclesiastical costume is composed of the cassock, to which the usage of the dioceses of France has added the rabat, the cincture, and the hat with broad brims raised on the sides... In the whole extent of the diocese, the ecclesiastical costume as it has just been described must be worn. We forbid, under penalty of suspension, every ecclesiastic dwelling in our diocese and admitted there to celebrate the holy Mysteries, to appear outside, even once, without the cassock, in the whole extent of the diocese of Paris." - As to the United States of America, C. Pl. Baltimore III, n. 77, establishes these things: "Therefore we will and command that all observe the law of the Church, and always use at home or in church the talar garment which is proper to the cleric. When they go outside... it is licit to be clothed with a certain shorter garment, which nevertheless is to be of black color and extended to the knees, so that they may be distinguished from lay persons... By a strict precept we enjoin our priests that both at home and outside, whether they live in their own diocese or outside it, they wear the collar which is called Roman."

(d) From wearing clerical dress a reasonable cause excuses, that is, according to the sacred canons, a just fear lest one suffer a grave injury, or a long journey; but when a pilgrim cleric stays in some place for a notable time (for example, for two weeks), he ought to reassume the clerical habit either of his own domicile or of the place where he is staying.

II. On The Tonsure Of A Cleric.

Tonsure is taken in a twofold sense: for hair cut short, or for the round shaving of the hair on the crown of the head.

1028. 1. Historical survey.² (A) Through the first five centuries no trace is found of tonsure properly so called, but only that clerics are advised neither to nourish long hair, nor to shave their head.

² Thomassin, op. cit., l. II, ch. 38-42.

(B) In the sixth century, cutting of the hair becomes, as it were, a sign of clerical state, so that clerics may be distinguished from lay persons, who were more intent on nourishing long hair. Around the end of the same century, and especially in the seventh, clerics wore not only the tonsure but the crown, that is, with the whole upper part of the head shorn, they left below a circle of hair, in the manner of a crown, as is also the custom today among some Regulars. - Toward the ninth century, the hair was not only cut but also shaved, so that the crown stood out more. - As the fourteenth century was tending toward its end, the shaved part of the head underwent diminution, so that the tonsure was not greater than it is today. Indeed, in the fifteenth century, in several regions, it had almost become obsolete. But Trent renewed the ancient discipline in a general way concerning the life, honesty, and external worship of clerics; and in nearly the whole Catholic world the provincial Councils which were celebrated restored the laws concerning clerical tonsure.¹

¹ Thus Conc. provinc. Mediolanense V (an. 1579), among the Acta Ecclesiae Mediolan., Lyons, 1683, t. I, p. 219, where the measure of the tonsure is prescribed for each order; C. Romanum (an. 1725), tit. 16, c. 3, and in the Appendix, n. 18, pp. 63, 313, ed. Brussels, 1726.

1029. 2. Present discipline. By common law, there is a precept of wearing the tonsure, or clerical crown, unless the received customs of peoples carry otherwise. - Thus the Code confirming the ancient canons concerning this matter (can. 136, § 1). Sixtus V had gone before, speaking under grave penalties.² Moreover the Code in the same place warns clerics to employ "simple care of the hair."

² Bullar. Rom., t. V, P. I, p. 43.

(a) This obligation binds all clerics. Thus can. 136, but in regions where there are many Protestants, for example, in England or the United States of America, the custom has prevailed that the clerical crown is not worn, which custom the Code approves.

(b) The obligation is of itself grave, but for mortal sin it is required that one habitually, or at least for a whole year, neglect to wear the tonsure without legitimate reason.

1030. Scholion. As to the beard, there has not been the same practice and discipline in various centuries; in the first times of the Church, clerics nourished a modest beard; from the ninth century they were accustomed to cut it away, but afterward in many regions they began decently to nourish it. - Today, by common law, only that clerics should nourish a beard is prohibited; this does not exclude a moderate beard.³ But by particular law, customary or synodal, it can be prescribed, and in fact in many dioceses it is prescribed, that the whole beard be cut away.⁴

³ De Angelis, in tit. de Vita et honest. cleric., n. 7; Santi, ibid., n. 36.

⁴ "The wearing of the beard is forbidden in the diocese. If, for reasons of health or other grave motives, priests should think that they ought to keep the beard, they could not do this without having obtained our authorization. - Authorization to keep the beard does not dispense from wearing the tonsure." (Statuts Synodaux de Paris, n. 195.)

1031. Clerics constituted in sacred orders ought not only to manifest internal holiness by external habit, but also to abstain from all offices and businesses which impede them from duly fulfilling the ministry committed to them, or diminish the reverence owed to clerical dignity: "No man being a soldier to God entangles himself with secular businesses, that he may please him to whom he has approved himself."¹ But since, among those things which keep clerics from their duties, trading is principal, we shall speak: 1. concerning trading prohibited to clerics; 2. concerning other forbidden arts.

¹ II Tim., II, 4.

I. On Trading Prohibited To Clerics.

1032. Trading is distinguished as twofold, namely strictly and broadly taken.

The former consists in this, that a thing is bought so that under the same form it may be sold again at a higher price. Hence four things are required for trading properly so called: (a) to buy a thing: for if I sell a thing arisen from my own land, it is not properly called trading; (b) to buy the thing so that it may be sold again: for, if I buy a thing so that I may enjoy it, I do not trade, - although afterward, indeed on the same day, having changed my mind, I sell it again, for example, because I have encountered an unexpected occasion; (c) so that it may be sold again under the same form: for if the thing, changed by art or industry, is sold again, it is not strictly called trading, for example, if someone buys grapes and sells wine made from them; (d) so that it may be sold again at a higher price: for if merchandise is sold again at almost the same price, so that profit is not received, it is not properly trading.

But the latter, or trading broadly so called, is that which lacks at least one of the four conditions explained above.

1. On Trading Properly So Called.

1033. "Clerics are prohibited from exercising business or trade, whether by themselves or through others, whether for their own utility or for that of others" (Code, can. 142).

This was already certain from book III of the Decretals, title L, Ne clerici vel monachi saecularibus negotiis se immisceant, cap. 6: "According to the statutes of our predecessors we prohibit under threat of anathema that monks or clerics trade for the sake of gain." This decree was confirmed by the Council of Vienne: "Against other clerics publicly insisting on trades or secular commerce or offices not befitting the clerical purpose, or carrying arms, let them (the Bishops) so strive to observe the canonical statutes that those also may be restrained from excesses of this sort."² - But the reason for the prohibition is that clerics may be turned away from solicitudes of temporal things and from desire of riches, which are by no means reconciled with sacred offices: "For they who will to become rich fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and harmful desires, which drown men in destruction and perdition."¹

² Decretal., Clementin. l. III, tit. I, c. 1, p. 1156, ed. Friedberg.

¹ I Tim., VI, 9-10.

1034. (a) This prohibition indeed also affects those who intend to spend all profits on pious works; for the end of the one acting does not change the nature of the work, and otherwise this pious intention does not take away anxieties and vain cares. - It moreover comprehends those who trade through lay persons, both because, from rule of law 72 in VI, "he who acts through another is the same as if he acted through himself," and because Benedict XIV declared that the prohibition and canonical penalties are extended "to clerics unlawfully trading in any way under the name of a layman, just as if they exercised those unlawful businesses by themselves and in their own name."²

² Benedict XIV, Bull Apostolicae servitutis, Feb. 25, 1741, § 1 (Bullar. Bened., t. I, n. 13).

(b) This prohibition is of itself grave, as is certain both from the end of the law and from the penalties brought against trading clerics, both in the old and in the recent law (can. 2380). Yet it admits smallness of matter; thus to trade twice or three times in light matter, indeed, according to several, in grave matter (provided not graver), does not exceed venial sin; but what matter is grave or light must be determined by the judgment of a learned and pious man, according to the various circumstances.³

³ St. Alphons., l. III, n. 831; D'Annibale, t. III, n. 156.

(c) Major clerics and beneficed clerics are certainly held by this law, and also minor clerics, since the laws related above by no means distinguish; hence, if these wish to trade, let them withdraw from the clergy, as is licit for them.

But missionaries in the East Indies and in America specifically (but not in other regions) are prohibited from devoting themselves to trading under any pretext, even once, by themselves or through ministers, both in their own name and in the name of their religions; and indeed under penalty of excommunication latae sententiae, and loss of all merchandise and profits; these penalties indeed were in force up to this point, from the authentic declaration of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide.⁴ - Yet this excommunication was not properly reserved to the Supreme Pontiff, since the delinquent could be absolved by his confessor once the profits had been restored; but if the profits had not been restored, he could be absolved by no one: wherefore this was not properly a reservation, but a condition of absolution. - The same penalties were incurred by immediate superiors, Provincials, and Generals who had not punished their subjects delinquent in this matter, at least by removal from the places where the delict had been committed.

⁴ In Collectanea, n. 351; ibid., n. 352, it is declared: "From which excommunication latae sententiae to be incurred by the fact itself no one can be absolved, except one constituted in the article of death, unless profits of this sort have been restored... That the same prohibition and penalty... affect not only European missionaries, but also any ecclesiastical men whatever, who under the name of missionaries, or under any other title, have for the time been sent, or in any way will stay in those parts."

(d) If a cleric is pressed by present want, he can devote himself to some licit trade, so that he may meet this necessity. If the necessity is not urgent, or if there is question only of the necessity of parents, let the cleric seek an Indult from the Apostolic See, if he is within Italy, - or from the Ordinary, if he dwells outside Italy; but let the Indult not be granted unless the aforesaid necessity is true and another way of aiding it is lacking; and the Indult ceases by the law itself as soon as the necessity itself ceases or another reason is at hand for providing for it.¹

¹ Thus Clement XIII, Bull Cum primum, Sept. 17, 1759, in Collectanea, n. 340, p. 118.

1035. Corollary. From this it is given to be understood what a cleric is to do if he receives a commercial institution by inheritance, or in another way. According to Benedict XIV,² he ought immediately to give up that institution, if he can do so without temporal detriment; if he cannot without detriment, let him ask from the Holy See permission to retain it, in all cases. In the letters granting the permission, a suitable time is to be prescribed for giving up the business; meanwhile, however, let the cleric administer through a layman.

² Benedict XIV, Const. Apostolicae servitutis, Feb. 25, 1741.

2. On Trading Broadly Taken.

1036. The general principle is that trading broadly so called is licit for clerics, because ecclesiastical laws prohibit only trading strictly so called.

Nevertheless, from the common consent of canonists and theologians,³ in one case it is forbidden, namely when a thing is bought so that afterward, changed by the industry of other men, it may be sold again for the sake of gain. For that kind of trading so closely approaches trading strictly so called that morally it hardly differs from it, for example, if I buy cloth, and from it a garment is made by the industry of a hired tailor, so that I may sell it again at a higher price, it is morally speaking the same as if I buy the garment made so that the same may be sold again. - It generates the same evils, namely temporal solicitudes and desire of riches. - Finally, unless it were prohibited, the law prohibiting strict trading would very easily be eluded: for a cleric, wishing to trade, would buy material from merchants, and would take care that it be changed by hired workers before it was sold.

³ Reiffenstuel, in tit. De vita et honest., n. 131; Pirhing, in tit. Ne clerici, n. 4; Schmalzgrueber, ibid., n. 18; De Lugo, De Justitia, disp. XXVI, n. 34; St. Alphons., l. III, n. 836; D'Annibale, t. III, n. 155, note 9.

1037. Corollaries. (a) It is licit for a cleric to buy a thing so that, changed by his own industry, he may sell it again: for then he sells the fruit of his own labor and exercises a little art; but manual labor is much commended by St. Paul and the Fathers.

(b) Likewise it is licit to buy animals so that, fattened, they may be sold again: for this change is partly the fruit of nature and partly the fruit of one's own labor.

(c) Likewise a cleric licitly sells things gathered from his own estates, whether they have not been changed, or whether they have been changed even by the work of hired workers; for this is not properly to trade, but to cultivate fields.

(d) It is also licit for a cleric to buy a house or estates, so that he may lease them and thence make profit: for this is not trading, but the leasing of things, which is prohibited by no law. - Yet in all these things one must carefully avoid whatever can bring disgrace upon clerical dignity.

3. On The Buying And Selling Of Titles Of Credit.

1038. Since today public revenues (rentes sur l'Etat), and also shares and bonds of companies (actions, obligations, stock, bonds), are frequently bought or sold, it remains to inquire whether clerics can devote themselves to these businesses.¹ Now there is a great difference between bonds and shares: a bond is a right to a determined annual profit from a sum of money which has been given, as it were in loan, to some company; but a share is a certain part of the capital from which the company is constituted, and confers a right to a proportionate part of the profits. Hence the owner of a bond (l'obligataire, bond-holder) is one of the creditors of the company, while the shareholder (l'actionnaire, stock-holder) is a co-proprietor of the social fund.

¹ Concerning these things and concerning speculations of the Exchange, cf. On Justice, n. 932-938, and Supplement for France, p. 219-224.

1039. (A) Clerics are not prohibited from buying bonds in any companies whatever, the rules of justice and cooperation being observed. For a bond can be held as a loan, or a redeemable rent-charge, or as a contract of credit; but all these things are licit, as we proved in the Treatise on Justice, n. 932; nor otherwise are they prohibited to clerics, since in no way do they savor of trading. - Yet bonds of companies which are instituted for an evil end cannot be bought, because thus one would cooperate in the evil committed by these.

1040. (B) The difficulty is greater as to shares, and there is a threefold opinion.

(a) Some say that it is not licit for clerics to buy shares in commercial or industrial companies.¹ For these companies properly trade; and therefore to buy or retain shares in these companies is nothing other than to exercise business through others, since the administrators manage all business in the name of the shareholders; but a cleric cannot trade even through another. - This is confirmed by the decision of the Holy Office, April 1, 1857; to the doubt: "Whether it is licit for ecclesiastical persons to buy titles on railroads and to receive the profit coming from them"; it responded: "The Most Holy grants faculties to Bishops, to be communicated through the Sacred Congregation of Bishops, of permitting ecclesiastics to receive shares of a railroad from their own money only";² therefore, they say, without special license it is not licit.

¹ Lehmk., t. II, n. 612; Marc, t. II, n. 2228.

² In Ball. P., Tr. IX, n. 478.

(b) But others distinguish between companies which are called commercial and those which are industrial;³ as to the former, it is not licit for clerics to buy shares, because then they would cooperate in commerce; in reality the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, having been asked: "Whether it would be licit for clerics constituted in sacred orders or beneficed to acquire shares in the said company" (there was question of a banking company to be constituted), responded: "it is not licit."⁴ - As to industrial companies, clerics are not prohibited from buying shares, because they can exercise industrial arts; hence the Sacred Congregation of the Council declared that religious can exercise the art of miller, provided it be done through hired workers.⁵

³ Craisson, in Revue des Sciences ecclesiastiques, t. XIII, 1866, p. 460-483, n. 356; Icard, t. II, n. 356.

⁴ Bizzarri, Collectanea, Rome, 1885, p. 530.

⁵ Ferraris, word Clerici, art. 3, nn. 37, 43.

1041. (c) The third opinion,⁶ which we embrace as more probable, teaches that it is licit for clerics to buy shares in any companies whatever, whether industrial or commercial, provided nevertheless that these conditions are observed: the cleric is only a shareholder, but not a partner properly so called, and therefore he is not held beyond the value of his shares; - the company has no illicit or suspect end; - nor does the cleric undertake a part of administration in that company; - nor does he exercise trading in shares; - and he abstains especially from those aleatory speculations described elsewhere, On Justice, n. 932-938.

⁶ Bouix, in the periodical Revue des Sc. eccles., t. II, 1860, p. 444-470; Vecchiotti, Institutiones Canonicae, Turin, 1876, t. I, p. 399-400; Sanguinetti, Juris ecclesiastici Institutiones, 2nd ed., Rome, 1890, p. 157-163; Allegre, Code civ. commente, Paris, 1902, p. 310-315; Nouvelle Revue Theologique, t. XXV, 1893, p. 604-614; Ball. P., n. 474-478, who has this opinion as probable.

In reality, according to common estimation, shareholders are not thought to trade either by themselves or through others; in themselves indeed they are co-proprietors of the fund, and, if the matter is regarded in the abstract, the business of the company is managed in their name; but in fact, shareholders hardly know how the affairs of the company are managed, care little about them, and, even when they have the right of casting a vote in general Assemblies, often bid farewell to this right, and otherwise are by no means held to use it. Wherefore they can rest securely, because they can lose nothing except the price of the shares which they bought; therefore they are generally no more entangled in secular solicitudes than if they possessed public revenues; nor is their desire much inflamed, since the profit received thence is often not much greater than the ordinary increase received from bonds; hence the motives on account of which trading is prohibited to clerics do not apply here. - This is confirmed from the response of the Holy Office, April 15, 1885, where it is declared "that ecclesiastical persons are not to be troubled if they have bought or buy shares or titles of a bank, provided they are prepared to stand by the commands of the Holy See, and abstain from any trading of the said titles, and especially from every contract which has the species, as it is commonly said, of games of the stock exchange,"¹ (of speculations and games of the Exchange).

¹ Nouvelle Revue Theologique, t. XXV, 1893, p. 610; Ball. P., n. 478.

But from this response it is clear that it is not licit for clerics to buy or sell titles or merchandise for a term, nor even to buy them for this end, that they may often be sold again at a higher price.²

² What was explained above, On Justice, n. 938. But if some cleric buys securities not for this end, that he may sell them again, but for receiving revenues, and afterward sells them again, an opportunity being given, he does not trade, from the things said above, n. 1032.

II. On Other Arts Forbidden To The Clergy.

1042. 1. The general principle is that arts are forbidden to clerics which greatly disgrace the clerical state, or entangle them too much in secular businesses. Thus, from the former head, the arts of innkeepers, butchers, actors, etc., are prohibited to clerics; offices by which they devote their industry and labor to the services and abject servitudes of lay persons.¹ - From the other head, they are prohibited from exercising the office of advocate or procurator (avoue) before civil tribunals, unless they plead their own cause or that of their own church; in a lay criminal trial pursuing a grave penalty, let them have no part, not even bearing testimony without necessity. But in ecclesiastical courts, clerics can advocate and act as proctors, and exercise the office of clerk or public notary, as is clear from the Code, can. 139.

¹ From the Code, c. 138, "clerics should entirely abstain from all those things which disgrace their state; let them not exercise unbecoming arts."

Regularly clerics are forbidden to assume the office of tutor without the permission of the Bishop,² unless there is question of blood relatives or relatives by marriage whose tutelage they cannot reject, or of needy wards.

² By particular law, in certain dioceses, the license of the Bishop is always required: "We likewise forbid them to accept the charge of tutor, subrogated tutor, or curator, unless with special authorization on our part." (Statuts Synod. de Paris, n. 180.)

1043. 2. From the Code, can. 139, "let them not assume public offices which carry with them the exercise of lay jurisdiction or administration." Moreover, as to private businesses, "without the license of their Ordinary let them not enter upon managements of goods belonging to lay persons, or secular offices which carry with them the burden of rendering accounts." (Code, can. 139, § 3.) - It should also be noted that, from can. 137, a cleric is prohibited from becoming surety (cautionnement), even concerning his own goods, without having consulted the Ordinary of the place. From can. 1516, "a cleric or religious who has received goods for pious causes... in trust, ought to make his Ordinary more certain concerning his trust...; but if the donor has prohibited this... let him not accept the trust. The Ordinary ought to demand that fiduciary goods be placed in safety."

"Let them neither solicit nor accept the office of senators or spokesmen for making laws, whom they call deputies, without the license of the Holy See in places where a pontifical prohibition has intervened; likewise let them not attempt this in other places without the license both of their own Ordinary and of the Ordinary of the place in which the election is to be made."

1044. 3. From the Code, can. 139, § 2, "without an apostolic indult let (clerics) not exercise medicine or surgery." Thus no longer is a distinction made between major and minor clerics; and deservedly, since today physicians and surgeons are easily found. - But in regions where they are lacking, as in missions, indults are granted to missionaries rather easily.

1045. 4. From the Code, c. 141, clerics "are not to undertake secular military service as volunteers, unless with the license of their Ordinary, so that they may become free sooner, they have done this; nor are they to bring help in any way to civil wars and disturbances of the public order. A minor cleric who... of his own accord has given his name to military service falls by the law itself from the clerical state."

1046. Clerics ought to avoid certain amusements, because they disgrace clerical dignity, or are dangerous, or provide scandal; thus especially hunting, entrance into taverns, certain games, dances, and spectacles.

1. On hunting. (A) With respect to canon law, three species of hunting are distinguished: clamorous, which is done with great noise of arms and dogs, for taking larger wild beasts, namely boars, stags, etc.; quiet, which is done with snares and nets, for taking birds, hares, etc.; almost intermediate, which is usually done with firearms indeed employed, but without great noise and with few dogs.

(B) Now clamorous hunting (to which that which is done with falcons and hawks is assimilated) is prohibited to clerics, even minor ones, and indeed of itself under grave obligation: for it is opposed to clerical modesty and gentleness, and also to the spirit of religion, because of the vehement distractions of mind which easily arise from hunting. Wherefore, in book V of the Decretals, tit. 24, De Clerico venatore, c. 2, one reads: "We interdict to all servants of God huntings and woodland wanderings with dogs, and hawks or falcons"; and in the Code, c. 138, it is established that clerics never exercise clamorous hunting.

(C) But quiet hunting, according to all, is licit for clerics. But concerning intermediate hunting there is doubt. Benedict XIV has as more probable the opinion which declares it illicit, because the canons, without any distinction, prohibit hunting which is done with dogs.¹ Nevertheless, by customary law benignly interpreting those canons, this kind of hunting does not seem prohibited; for the texts of law prohibited hunting such as was then done, and with all the circumstances which rendered it unbecoming for clerics, namely with great tumult of arms, dogs, and companions; and these indeed have no place in intermediate hunting.² From the Code, clerics "are not to indulge in hunting"; and therefore the modest and rare use of non-clamorous hunting is tolerated.

¹ Benedict XIV, De Synodo, lib. XI, c. 10, n. 8.

² Thus Reiffenst., in tit. De Clerico venatore, n. 11; Schmalzgr., ibid., n. 10.

1047. 2. On entrance into taverns. Clerics are prohibited from entering taverns for the sake of eating and drinking, except in a case of necessity, namely when they are making a journey: "And let them entirely avoid taverns, unless perhaps for a cause of necessity, when they are placed on a journey."³ But taverns, of which there is question there, were places and fomentations of intemperance and incontinence. Therefore by common law there do not come under this name houses which principally serve for providing refreshment or lodging. - From the Code, c. 138, clerics "are not to enter taverns and other similar places without necessity or another just cause approved by the Ordinary."

³ Decretal. lib. III, tit. I, c. 15, p. 453, ed. Friedberg.

1048. 3. On games. (A) Merely aleatory games, namely those which depend almost totally on chance, are prohibited to clerics if they are done for the sake of gain: "Let them not devote themselves to games of chance, money having been exposed."⁴ For from these games, when they are done frequently for the sake of gain, there often arise distractions and anxieties of soul, - grave loss of money to the detriment of the player himself or of pious works, - lies, frauds, quarrels from desire or from fear of great damage. But those who play at dice sparingly, for the sake of recreation, and with scandal excluded, exposing only small sums, do not sin, according to the common interpretation. - But those who play frequently, that is, several times in the week, and for a long time, although they do not expose a great sum of money, sin gravely of itself, according to the more probable opinion.

⁴ Code, can. 138.

(B) But industrial or mixed games, which depend more on skill than on fortune, do not seem prohibited by common law, provided they are not too prolonged, nor scandal given. Yet in some dioceses they are permitted only under certain restrictions.¹

¹ In the Paris statutes, n. 173, these things are wisely decreed: "We likewise remind them that the games which are permitted cease to be so as soon as one plays too often, or longer than the need of honest recreation demands, or in circumstances proper to edify the faithful badly, as would happen, for example, if one played in public places. The most innocent games also become blameworthy if they occasion somewhat considerable losses of money."

(C) As to the use of the wheel which is called bicyclette, bicycle, nothing has been defined by common law; but in some dioceses, Bishops have prohibited its use, and the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars praised one of them, Sept. 28, 1894 (Act. S. Sedis, t. XXVII, p. 437). The matter depends greatly both on the customs of the region, and on the motive and manner of using this wheel; if a cleric moderately and prudently uses this wheel, whether for the sake of honest recreation or for visiting parishioners, in a region where the faithful suffer no scandal from this, it does not seem to be prohibited; but if immoderately, for wasting time, with scandal of the common people, such abuse must be reproved: concerning which Bishops are judges.

1049. 4. On dances and spectacles. (A) Clerics are prohibited not only from leading dances, but also from being present at them, when something unbecoming is done there; indeed already in the Council of Agde (an. 506) one read: "Priests, deacons, subdeacons or those thereafter, to whom there is no license of taking wives, should also avoid banquets of others' weddings, nor mingle with these companies where amorous and shameful things are sung, or obscene motions of bodies are displayed by choirs and dances, lest hearing and sight deputed to sacred mysteries be polluted by the contagion of base spectacles and words."² This particular law was extended to the universal Church by custom and particular statutes, and also by the general declaration of Trent.³ The Code, can. 140, thus explains and defines the matter: "Let them not be present at spectacles, dances, and pageants which disgrace them, or at which it would be a scandal for clerics to be present, especially in public theaters."

² Decret. Gratiani, distinct. XXXIV, c. 19, p. 130, ed. Friedberg.

³ Trident., sess. XXII, cap. 1 de Reformat.

(B) Clerics are prohibited from being present at comedies or spectacles that are dangerous or of the lowest repute, which disgrace clerical dignity. Besides the ancient canons which forbid this, the words of Lateran IV concerning clerics can be alleged: "Let them not attend to mimes, jesters, and actors." Therefore, by common law, comedies and tragedies which display nothing dishonorable are not forbidden. Today, however, in public theaters, the things which accompany or follow even honest comedies generally offend clerical modesty. Moreover diocesan laws determine more specifically which spectacles are to be avoided.¹

¹ To the point Conc. Plen. Baltim. III, n. 79: "Therefore, that its own honor and comeliness may be preserved for the ecclesiastical order, we command that priests entirely abstain from public horse races, from theaters and spectacles." The Paris Statutes declare the matter more fully, n. 234: "We forbid all clerics, and, under penalty of suspension, all priests and ecclesiastics in sacred orders, to attend representations of public theaters, operas, balls, cafe-concerts and in general profane spectacles where the presence of an ecclesiastic could become a subject of scandal... We signal, as little conformable to clerical dignity and modesty, the presence of ecclesiastics in circuses, public concerts, fairs." - Note also n. 231: "We absolutely forbid them to frequent the Exchange or to play at the Exchange; to frequent racetracks or to engage in wagers at races."

There are especially two: celibacy and the recitation of the divine office.

1050. The law of ecclesiastical celibacy, as today it flourishes in the Latin Church, consists in this, that major clerics, namely subdeacons, deacons, presbyters, and bishops, can contract matrimony neither licitly nor validly, but ought to cultivate perpetual continence, and, from a peculiar obligation of religion, are held to abstain from every act, whether internal or external, against chastity. Trent thus declares this:³ "If anyone shall say that clerics constituted in sacred orders, or regulars who have solemnly professed chastity, can contract matrimony, and that one contracted is valid notwithstanding ecclesiastical law or vow... let him be anathema." By the Code, c. 132, the law was confirmed: "Clerics constituted in major orders are barred from nuptials and are so held by the obligation of observing chastity that those sinning against it are also guilty of sacrilege." - Sacred ministers who attempt to contract matrimony incur excommunication latae sententiae simply reserved to the Apostolic See, and, if they do not repent, degradation. (Code, c. 2388.) - Wherefore here we shall explain only three things: 1. the origin and history of this law; 2. the motives on which it rests; 3. the means, especially canonical, by which celibacy may be observed.

² Among the almost countless works on ecclesiastical celibacy these can be consulted: A. de Roskovany, Coelibatus et Breviarium, Pest and Nitra, 1861-1888, where you will find the whole literature on celibacy recounted up to the year 1886, t. IV and VII; and the Supplements, t. III; A. Pavy, Du Celibat ecclesiastique, 2nd ed., Paris, 1852; Dufieux, Nature et virginite, considerations physiologiques sur le celibat religieux, Paris, 1854; Phillips, Colibat (i.e., on Celibacy), Freiburg, 1884.

³ Trident., sess. XXIV, can. 9; cf. sess. XXV, cap. 14-15 de Reform.

I. Historical Survey Of Ecclesiastical Celibacy.

The law which prescribes celibacy to clerics is not divine, but ecclesiastical; nevertheless it has foundations in Scripture, and was gradually introduced into the Latin Church by custom, particular statutes, and finally by a universal decree; but in the Eastern Church, continence is imposed not upon all but only upon certain sacred ministers, as will be clear from what is to be said.

1051. 1. Continence is commended in Sacred Scripture. (A) Christ himself by his example commended perfect virginity: indeed, conceived from eternity by virginal generation in the bosom of the Father, in time he willed to have no mother except a virgin; he cultivated virginity throughout his whole life; dying on the cross, he committed his virgin mother to a virgin disciple. - Likewise by teaching purity of heart,¹ perfect self-denial,² the counsel of leaving all things, even parents, children, and wife,³ he laid the foundations of continence. This he intimated more explicitly when he said to the disciples:⁴ "For there are eunuchs, who were born so from their mother's womb; and there are eunuchs who were made so by men; and there are eunuchs who have castrated themselves (i.e., through continence) for the kingdom of heaven."

¹ Matt., V, 8: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God."

² Matt., XVI, 24.

³ Matt., XIX, 29.

⁴ Matt., XIX, 12.

(B) Paul, adhering to the footsteps of Christ, cultivated continence himself, and gave his disciples the counsel of not marrying, so that they might serve God more fervently:⁵ "For I wish all of you to be as myself: but each one has his own gift from God... But concerning virgins I do not have a precept of the Lord; but I give counsel as one having obtained mercy from the Lord, that I may be faithful... He who is without a wife is solicitous for the things which are the Lord's, how he may please God. But he who is with a wife is solicitous for the things which are of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided." Now one who wishes to expend himself wholly for the glory of God and the salvation of souls will try to bring a counsel of this sort into practice.

⁵ I Cor., VII, 1-38.

(C) Nevertheless neither Christ nor the Apostles commanded continence to clerics; indeed it cannot be proved that the use of marriage was forbidden to married men who received the priesthood; only bigamists, that is, those who had successively had two wives, were barred from sacred orders: "Therefore a bishop ought to be irreprehensible, the husband of one wife... Let deacons be husbands of one wife."¹

¹ I Tim., III, 2, 12.

1052. 2. History of clerical continence up to the Council in Trullo (691). (A) Through the first three centuries virginity is indeed much extolled by the Fathers, and there are already found Christians of each sex who remain celibate, especially among clerics; for many of them, wishing to imitate the examples of Christ and the Apostles and to be immune from the solicitudes of the world, remained continent after receiving sacred orders, even when before ordination they had contracted nuptials.²

² This is certain especially from the things which Paphnutius declared in the Council of Nicaea (325), where there was question of enacting a law of celibacy; cf. Socrates, H. eccles., I, 11; Sozom., H. eccles., I, 23; Hefele, Histoire des Conciles, Paris, 1869, t. I, p. 422-426.

(B) But the first provincial Council which prescribed celibacy to sacred ministers was that of Elvira (an. 305), which established (can. 33): "It has pleased us to prohibit in all that bishops, priests, and deacons, or all clerics placed in the ministry, abstain from their wives and do not generate children: but whoever shall have done this, let him be expelled from the honor of clerical state."³ - The Council of Arles (an. 314) established almost the same thing. In the Eastern Church, the Council of Neo-Caesarea (an. 314) brought the penalty of deposition against priests taking a wife:⁴ "If a priest has taken a wife, he ought to be deposed from his order." But deacons who, at the time of their ordination, had said that they wished to marry, could afterward take wives.⁵ - But thus far there was no universal law. In the Council of Nicaea certain Fathers proposed to extend the Elviran statute to the universal Church; yet Paphnutius, a bishop in Egypt, resisted them, who, although he himself had always cultivated perfect continence, vigorously declared that celibacy was not to be imposed upon all sacred ministers, because, he said, not all can perpetually contain themselves.¹ Wherefore the Council abstained from enacting a universal law concerning this matter; but at the same time it interdicted bishops, priests, deacons, and other clerics from having with them introduced women, unless perhaps a mother, sister, aunt, or another person beyond all suspicion.²

³ In Hefele, t. I, p. 147. - The word prohibere here is improper, but the sense accepted by all is the same as if praecipere were said.

⁴ In Hefele, I, p. 217; Roskovany, I, p. 18. - Some doubted the truth of this fact, but without grave reason, as Hefele shows, l. c.

⁵ Thus the Council of Ancyra (an. 314), can. 10 (in Hefele, I, p. 204; Roskov., I, 17): "Whatever deacons, when they are ordained, if in the ordination itself they protested, saying that they wished to have wives and could not contain themselves: these, if afterward they have come to nuptials, remain in the ministry, because the bishop gave them license for these things. But whoever indeed kept silence, and received the imposition of hands, having professed continence, if afterward they have come to nuptials, they ought to cease from the ministry or clergy, receiving only lay communion."

¹ In Hefele, I, p. 422-426.

² Hefele, I, 370; Roskov., I, p. 19-20. - Introduced women were not wives, but women who were held as sisters.

1053. (C) But various canons in each Church, Eastern and Western, prohibited bishops, priests, and deacons, who had received sacred orders unmarried, from afterward taking wives. Yet in the Eastern Church, deacons who, at the time of their ordination, had declared that they wished to marry, could use this benefit, as we noted above.

But as to married men who received sacred orders, the practice of the Latin Church differed wholly from the practice of the Eastern Church: for in the former, sacred ministers had to abstain from the use of matrimony;³ while in the Eastern Church they were prohibited from leaving their wives, and could live maritally with them, except, however, on the days on which they wished to celebrate the sacred rite; it should also be noted that gradually by custom it was prohibited that non-celibates be chosen as bishops.

³ St. Jerome testifies to this, ep. 48, n. 21: "Bishops, priests, deacons are chosen either virgins, or widowers, or certainly after priesthood forever chaste"; Roskov., I, p. 35-42, relates other texts of the same author.

1054. (D) As to subdeacons, certain particular Councils had indeed enjoined celibacy upon them, but before the sixth century a law of this sort was not universal, even in the West, because the subdiaconate was still numbered among the minor orders. St. Leo (an. 444) had indeed prescribed continence to subdeacons;⁴ but this was not immediately brought into practice through the whole Church. Afterward St. Gregory established the same thing especially for Sicily, where the contrary practice flourished: "Wherefore it seems to me that from the present day it should be said to all Bishops that they should presume to make no one a subdeacon unless he has promised that he will live chastely."¹ But that statute was not observed by all, and certain variations and exceptions remained up to the twelfth century.

⁴ St. Leo, Ep. ad Anastasium, cap. 4, in Roskovany, t. I, p. 98.

¹ St. Gregory M., lib. I, Ep. 44, to Peter the subdeacon, of Sicily, in Roskov., I, 143-144.

1055. 3. Decrees of the Trullan Council (an. 692) and the practice of the Greek Church. The distinction which flourished between each Church as to the extension of celibacy was confirmed by the decrees of the Council which is called Quinisext, because it had to complete the fifth and sixth Council, or Trullan, from the trullus or hall where it was held. These things it established concerning clerical continence:² -

² In Roskovany, t. I, p. 167-171; Hefele, t. IV, p. 208-212.

(a) It confirms the past canons concerning the avoidance of the cohabitation of women who are not immune from all suspicion; moreover clerics are prohibited from ever contracting second nuptials.

(b) Sacred ministers are also forbidden to marry after their ordination: "That henceforth it be lawful for no subdeacon at all, or deacon, or priest, after ordination to contract marriage. But if he shall have dared to do this, let him be deposed." (Can. 6.)

(c) But if someone, before he is ordained subdeacon, or deacon, or priest, wishes to marry, let him do this; nor at the time of ordination should it be asked of him that he profess that he will abstain from his legitimate wife;³ nevertheless if he is promoted to the episcopate, he ought to cultivate continence: "The wife of him who is promoted to episcopal dignity, having first been separated by common consent of herself and her husband, after he has been ordained and consecrated as bishop, should enter a monastery built far from the dwelling of the bishop, and enjoy the bishop's provision." (Can. 48.) Likewise, "those who assist at the divine altar ought, at the time of handling sacred things, to be altogether continent, so that they may be able to obtain that which they ask simply from God." (Can. 13.)

³ The Fathers of this Council acknowledge that the contrary law flourishes in the Roman Church: "Since we know that it has been handed down as a canon of the Roman Church that those to be promoted to the diaconate or presbyterate profess that they will no longer be joined to their wives." (Can. 13.)

This discipline indeed flourishes even now in the Greek Church; but subdeacons are not regarded as sacred ministers, and therefore they can marry; but, if before the diaconate they have not taken a wife, they can no longer marry afterward.

1056. 4. History of celibacy in the Latin Church from the Trullan Council up to Trent. (A) While the Eastern clergy thus mitigated ecclesiastical discipline concerning celibacy, the Roman Pontiffs unconquerably defended and protected clerical continence against its attackers and violators. Yet they could not provide this without the greatest efforts and struggles. For in the ninth to twelfth centuries, great corruption of morals flourished among princes, peoples, and the clerics themselves, nor was the Chair of Peter altogether immune from that corruption; but, on the one hand, provincial Councils, such as Worms (Worms, an. 868), Soissons (Soissons, an. 889), Erfurt (Erfurt, an. 932), Anse (Anse, near Lyons, an. 994), Bourges (Bourges, an. 1031), etc.; and on the other hand, the Supreme Pontiffs, such as Leo VII (an. 938), Leo IX (an. 1051), Stephen X (an. 1057), and especially Gregory VII (an. 1074-1078), etc., not only recalled the law of celibacy to memory, but also did not hesitate to strike with severe penalties those violating the same.¹

¹ Their decrees and many others can be read in Roskovany, t. I, p. 191 sq.; cf. Vacandard, La loi du celibat ecclesiastique in Revue du clerge francais, Jan. 1, 1905.

1057. (B) Especially celebrated is can. 7 of Lateran II (an. 1139), by which the marriages of major clerics, hitherto illicit, are declared wholly invalid:² "But that the law of continence and cleanness pleasing to God may be spread in ecclesiastical persons and sacred orders, we establish: that bishops, priests, deacons, subdeacons... who, transgressing their holy purpose, have presumed to couple wives to themselves, be separated. For we judge that a coupling of this sort, which is certain to have been contracted against ecclesiastical rule, is not matrimony." By this decree the law of celibacy was greatly strengthened, so that nothing more remained except to bring it into practice.

² Roskovany, t. I, p. 335; Hefele, t. VII, q. 237. - Lateran I, an. 1123, indeed reproved these marriages and ordered those contracted to be dissolved, but did not declare the same to be void.

1058. (C) In the time of the pseudo-reformation, Protestants, haters of ecclesiastical institutions, attacked ecclesiastical celibacy with all their strength, and very many priests and monks who adhered to this heresy soon flew together to the desired nuptials, adhering to the footsteps of Luther rather than of Christ and the Apostles. But, notwithstanding the petitions of certain princes, even Catholic ones, Trent confirmed the ancient canons, declared the marriages of major clerics void, and renewed the penalties brought against concubinarians, granting to Ordinaries the power of proceeding against delinquents without the noise and form of judgment, every appeal or exemption having been removed, so that the plague of incontinence might more easily and efficaciously be eradicated.³ These decrees indeed almost all particular councils or synods, which have been held up to the present day, made their own and promulgated.

³ Trident., sess. XXIV, can. 9; sess. XXV, cap. 14-15 de Reformat.

II. Motives On Which The Law Of Ecclesiastical Celibacy Rests.

1059. A law of this sort is indeed ecclesiastical, but, far from opposing the natural law, it seems altogether consonant with reason and faith.

The fundamental reason is taken from this, that the Christian priest acts in the place of Christ on earth, receives his power, and therefore ought to imitate his virtues, and in his manner of acting approach as nearly as possible the High Priest. But, from what has been said, Christ cultivated most perfect virginity, and not obscurely commended its practice. - And this indeed will appear more clearly if the functions of the priest are more intimately regarded on the part of God, of the faithful, and of society itself.

1060. 1. If the priest is considered in his relations to God, he ought to offer prayers and sacrifices, not only in his own name, but also in the name of the whole Christian people: "For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in the things that are to God, that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins."¹ Now virginity is desired for fulfilling each office perfectly.

¹ Hebr., V, 1.

(A) And first indeed for prayer. For although married persons can pour forth prayers, nevertheless the Apostle exhorts them that they contain themselves for a time, so that they may devote themselves more easily and fervently to prayer:² "Do not defraud one another, except perhaps by consent for a time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer." In reality those who have married, and have children to be educated, are greatly entangled in secular cares, and are delayed by domestic solicitude from the office of prayer; while, on the contrary, the clean of heart ascend to God and converse with him more easily. But priests ought several times in the day to pray for themselves and for the whole Christian people, and indeed long and perseveringly, and therefore to be immune from secular cares; otherwise, from things commonly occurring, they will pray neither at length nor fervently; but, distracted in mind, they will scarcely recite a few prayers.

² I Cor., VII, 6.

1061. (B) Among prayers, those certainly are principal which are offered to God during the sacred rite; for the sacrifice of the Mass is the most excellent work of religion. But for the fervent oblation of the sacrifice is not perfect chastity to be desired? For if, under the Old Law, priests had to contain themselves from wives at the time when they were about to offer sacrifice, is it not altogether fitting that the priests of the New Law, who daily offer the immaculate host, be perpetually continent? Innocent III already urged this argument: "How much more ought those priests and levites to observe modesty from the day of ordination, for whom either the priesthood or the ministry is without succession, nor does a day pass on which they are free either from divine sacrifices or from the office of baptism."¹ The same is splendidly explained in book IV of The Imitation of Christ, c. II, n. 6: "O how clean ought those hands to be, how pure the mouth, how holy the body, how immaculate the heart of the priest, to whom the author of purity so often enters!" For since in this sacrifice all things breathe perfect purity and self-denial, namely the principal offerer, Christ, the victim, the rites, and the prayers, is it not altogether fitting that the secondary offerer, namely the priest, imitate Christ's virginity and perfect denial? And indeed the Orientals rightly understood that; for even married priests ought to contain themselves at least on those days on which they wish to offer the sacrifice. Hence also Protestants commonly decreed that celibacy and the sacrifice of the Mass be abolished together. From these facts it is licit to infer that between the offering of sacrifice and celibacy, according to common estimation, there is a certain moral connection, which the Church deservedly confirmed by her laws.

¹ Innocent III, Ep. ad Vitric., ep. Rotom.

1062. 2. In his relations with the people committed to him, the priest is much helped by the practice of continence. (A) For since he is chosen by God and the Church so that, having renounced temporal cares, he may devote himself wholly to the salvation of souls, he ought to spend and be spent for the flock entrusted to him. But a married priest cannot fulfill that office so promptly, or easily, or generously; he is held to devote a notable part of his solicitudes, labors, and resources to his wife and children, and thus can spend only lesser cares upon the salvation of souls: "But he who is with a wife is solicitous for the things which are of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided."² Hence, if there is question of instructing little ones, or of visiting the sick, or helping the poor, a priest who is entangled in domestic cares will devote himself to these works neither so assiduously nor so willingly or devotedly: for he ought to be more solicitous for his own children than for those of others. - And indeed this appears still more when the priest, in order to administer the sacraments, incurs danger of death; for although married persons are not lacking who expose their life for helping others, nevertheless they do not provide this so promptly and easily, precisely because they deservedly think about their own offspring. Wherefore, from things commonly occurring, a married priest will sometimes hesitate, and indeed deservedly, when there is question of administering the sacraments with risk to his own life: namely he will recall his wife and sweet children, and sometimes will be delayed by this thought from fulfilling his office.

² I Cor., VII, 33.

(B) Unmarried priests are accustomed to be fathers of the poor; for since they do not have the necessity of laying up treasure for children, they willingly bestow their superfluous goods upon the poor; otherwise the richer often choose a priest as distributor of their alms, because he does not have children whom he might more joyfully assist than the miserable. But if a priest has a numerous offspring to be educated, he will scarcely be able to give anything to widows, orphans, and other pitiable persons: for the office is primarily incumbent upon him of sustaining and educating his wife and children. Hence the rich will not be so solicitous in distributing alms through his ministry: for it is to be feared that a notable part of these would be assigned to his family.

1063. 3. On the part of society itself it is very fitting that priests remain celibate. (A) Namely from a certain divine instinct, peoples commonly show greater reverence and confidence to the truly continent. It is known, for example, with what great honors the Romans heaped unmarried vestals, and also with what reverence and admiration modern pagans receive celibate missionaries. Led by this reason, some Anglicans instituted a seminary of missionaries who bind themselves to celibacy, so that they may more easily convert foreign nations to Christ. Those who likewise have lived for a long time among Protestants know very well that heretics themselves generally show greater reverence and confidence to Catholic priests than to Protestant ministers; but the principal reason is that they see unmarried priests, separated from secular businesses, devoting themselves wholly to the salvation of souls, while married ministers, entangled in domestic cares, do not differ much in their manner of acting from the common herd of men.

(B) Otherwise it is of the greatest interest that in society there be men who, by their example, draw others to the practice of virtues, even arduous ones, especially of chastity, which, on the one hand, is preserved with difficulty more than the others, and on the other, contributes very greatly to the good of the whole community. Now nothing else is more efficacious for conquering lust than the example of those who, on account of God and souls, bid farewell perpetually to the pleasures of the flesh; when, namely, adolescent men and unmarried girls or widows say that continence is too arduous, or when spouses can scarcely guard marital chastity, is it not licit to appeal to those celibate priests who, despising earthly pleasures, perpetually cultivate virginity? Moreover, drawn by their example, young persons of each sex embrace religious life and remain celibate, so that they may spend all their strength and resources for the utility of others; and this indeed contributes not a little to the common good: for they exercise various works of charity more easily, namely care of orphans, the sick, and the poor, or the education of little ones whom they follow with paternal or maternal affection.

1064. Difficulties are solved. (A) Not a few physicians and physiologists have not hesitated to assert that perpetual celibacy is contrary to nature and the health of the body, and also drags after itself innumerable diseases, among which hysteria and insanity. - But very skilled physicians, relying on many facts, deny this. For from public statistics it is certain that generally Catholic priests are longer-lived than married men, and that many more and more bitter diseases arise from incontinence than from virginity faithfully observed. In reality life is made shorter by indulging the passions, and especially lust; therefore those who tame their passions and lead a sober and chaste life, other things being equal, retain their strength longer.¹ - Hysteria, of which adversaries speak, arises from disturbance of the nerves, and is found much more frequently among dissolute women than among virgins;¹ insanity likewise can by no means be attributed to celibacy, but arises from many and diverse causes, and is found more often among married persons than among celibates.² Wherefore the proposed difficulty is by no means proved by facts, but rather is opposed to them.

¹ This is proved, among others, by Dufieux, Nature et virginite; Surbled, op. cit., t. I, Celibat et Mariage, p. 42-66, where he writes these things, pp. 50, 56: "The evils of incontinence are, alas, very well known, uncontested; those which continence would provoke are supposed, imaginary. What proves this is that numerous learned and voluminous works have been devoted to exposing the former, and that the others still await their historian... It has long been known, and it will be seen in the course of this work, that, of all professions, the ecclesiastical state is the one most distinguished by its longevity."

¹ "As to hysteria, the physician meets it in all social conditions, among the chastest women as among the most dissolute. This strange and unhappy neurosis is often transmitted by parents; it is never due to the practice of continence. We have observed it, but very rarely, among religious women; we establish it every day, in ordinary practice, among married women, among young girls, and above all among women of light morals." (Surbled, l. c., p. 54.)

² "Foreign to hysteria, continence is also foreign to madness. This formidable affection, when it is not hereditary, is born from the disorder of the passions; and one understands that it is exceptional among all those who live, outside the agitations of the world, under the rule of religious law." (Surbled, l. c.)

1065. (B) They insist, namely not a few Protestants, Rationalists, and other non-Catholics, saying that continence is morally impossible, and therefore that very many of those who vow virginity soon fall into the snare of the devil and secretly indulge lust. - We do not indeed deny that perpetual virginity is an arduous virtue, indeed morally impossible to those who reject the means proposed by Christ, but not to those who flee dangerous occasions, give work to mortification of the flesh, study, or labor, and at the same time devote themselves assiduously to prayer and frequently receive the sacraments, especially the Eucharist; for by these means concupiscence is efficaciously restrained. The Protestant Leibnitz candidly acknowledged this:³ "Let clerics and religious firmly have it persuaded that, for observing continence, scarcely anything else is needed than to avoid idleness and dangerous occasions, and to have a firm will, the grace of which God does not deny to one asking it with fervent zeal." In reality among Protestants themselves are there not widowers and widows and unmarried virgins, upon whom the obligation of observing continence for a long time is incumbent? Is it permissible to presume that all these are given to vice? If it is not permissible, why are Catholic priests or others who vow virginity on account of God accused as guilty of incontinence? - As to the fact, there are certain priests who, neglecting the aforesaid means, break the vow of virginity either secretly or publicly; but that these are few is certain from this, that the most hostile haters of priests, who willingly and carefully collected all scandals of this sort, could recount only very few. Now the inconveniences arisen from these facts are less than the evils which would follow from the marriage of priests, as can be gathered from those things which non-Catholic authors narrate concerning the morals of ministers among the Greeks or Protestants. - Therefore the Church wisely prescribed celibacy to sacred ministers.

³ Systema theolog., n. 66. - St. Gregory Naz., Orat. 31; SS. Chrysostom and Jerome, on Matt. XIX; St. Augustine, l. VI Confess., cap. XI, had already observed this; cf. M. Rosset, op. cit., t. I, n. 398 sq.

III. Means By Which The Law Of Celibacy Ought To Be Observed.

1066. The Church also wisely determined certain means by which continence may more easily be guarded by sacred ministers. The Roman Pontifical, On the ordination of a subdeacon, briefly contracts these things: "If up to now you have been slow to the church, from now on you ought to be assiduous. If up to now sleepy, from now on watchful. If up to now drunken, from now on sober. If up to now unchaste, from now on chaste."

1. First indeed sacred ministers ought to be assiduous in church, that is, to flee the world and its vanities and pleasures, and to frequent the sacred tabernacles, in which the very author of purity lives by day and night. For only those easily preserve virginity who love with the whole heart Christ hidden in the Eucharist. For the heart of man, born for love, cannot remain long without love; unless therefore it loves Christ with an affection at once tender and devoted, it will soon adhere to creatures, not without great risk to chastity; but if it frequently visits Christ hidden under the sacred species, there it will find a faithful friend, there strength and solace for overcoming all the enticements of creatures.

1067. 2. They ought also to watch and pray lest they enter into temptation. (a) Watchfulness consists in this, that dangerous occasions of sinning which are not necessary be carefully removed, and, in necessary occasions, all precautions be employed by which they can be morally removed. Therefore the priest will flee readings, spectacles, and amusements which can excite to lust, as was said above, n. 1049. He will so rule the internal and external senses, especially the eyes and imagination, that he deliberately repels not only what is impure, but also what has the appearance of evil. Nor will he ever forget that sensual pleasure is akin to lust, and gradually and imperceptibly draws many to it; wherefore he will make his own the words of the Apostle: "They who are Christ's have crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences"; for experience testifying, those who mortify themselves in licit things abstain from illicit things much more easily. - Nor will he carefully avoid drunkenness only, but also every excess in food or drink, which from its nature tends to excite lust.

(b) But since no one can cultivate virginity for a long time without divine help, by frequent and fervent prayer he will implore for himself the necessary grace. He will remember that the recitation of the divine office was enjoined upon him as a most efficacious means of guarding chastity; and therefore he will recite it worthily, attentively, and devoutly. So that he may pray more fervently, he will devote himself to morning meditation, so that, walking before God from the first hours of the day, he may be perfect; and he will often turn his eyes and heart to God, so that he may be more easily united to God when the time of prayer arrives. - He will unceasingly foster a most tender devotion toward the Blessed Virgin, whose very name breathes chastity, and by whose powerful aid modesty can more easily be guarded. (Code, c. 125-126.)

1068. 3. But the principal means, enjoined by the Church, is to avoid cohabitation with women. For already the Council of Nicaea, can. 3, had established these things: "The great Synod has interdicted in all ways that it be licit for no bishop, no priest, no deacon, nor anyone at all who is in the clergy, to have an introduced woman, unless perhaps a mother, or sister, or aunt, or only those persons who escape suspicion." This law indeed was never abrogated, but was confirmed and more determined by the following Councils.

(A) Today, by common law, it is regularly licit for a cleric to live with women related to him by blood in the first or first-second degree, such as mother, grandmother, daughter, paternal aunt, maternal aunt, daughter of a brother or sister; indeed by extension, confirmed by custom, with relatives by marriage of the first degree, or those relatives by marriage of the second-first degree to whom a cleric, according to the canons, ought to show reverence, such as stepmother, daughter-in-law, wife of a deceased brother, wife of a deceased paternal or maternal uncle, - but not the wife of the son of a brother or sister. - The reason is that regularly the natural bond which exists between the cleric and the aforesaid persons seems to take away all suspicion. (Cf. Code, can. 133.)

1069. (B) A cleric, to whom it is permitted to live with these persons, can also live with their female servants or attendants, and also with the wife of a male servant; for then, because of special circumstances, suspicion is removed.¹

¹ Reiffenst., in tit. de cohabitatione, n. 3; Schmalzgr., ibid., n. 1; Benedict XIV, Instit. 83, n. 10; D'Annibale, t. III, n. 361, note 47.

(C) He can also cohabit with strange women under the title of service, provided they are of advanced age (that is, at least forty years, according to the common interpretation), and of good reputation.

But, in the aforesaid cases, the case of prudent suspicion or scandal is always excluded, so that it is unlawful for a cleric to live even with women most nearly related, if they are suspect: this is clear from the very end of the law.

(D) But by particular law, the Bishop indeed cannot interdict clerics from living with any woman at all (which would be against common law), but can prescribe that they remain with no woman, even a mother, without the license of the episcopal curia; for it belongs to him to judge whether persons of this sort are suspect.² - He can also define those things which the common law left indeterminate, for example, the age of maids and other things of this sort.

² Thus the Code, can. 133, § 3.

1070. Concerning penalties against violators of this law. Against clerics retaining a suspect woman, Ordinaries, according to the Code (c. 2176-81), ought to proceed thus: - "The Ordinary should warn a cleric who, against the prescription of can. 133, has a suspect woman with him or in any way frequents her, that he dismiss her or abstain from frequenting the same, with the penalties established in can. 2359 against clerics who are concubinaries being threatened. - If the cleric neither obeys the precept nor responds, the Ordinary, after it has been established for him that the cleric was able to provide this: 1. should suspend him from divine things; 2. moreover should immediately deprive a parish priest of the parish; 3. but a cleric who has another benefice without care of souls, if, after the space of two months from suspension, he has not amended himself, should deprive him of half the fruits of the benefice; after another three months, of all the fruits of the benefice; after another three months, of the benefice itself. - If the cleric does not obey, but adduces causes of excuse, the Ordinary ought to hear two examiners about the same. - If, the examiners having been heard, the Ordinary shall think that the causes brought forward are not legitimate, let him signify this to the cleric as soon as possible and give him a formal precept that within a brief time to be defined by him he obey. - The Ordinary can immediately coerce an obedient removable parish priest according to the norm of can. 2177; but if there is question of a cleric who, obtaining an irremovable benefice, does not obey, but alleges new deductions, let the Ordinary recall these to examination according to the norm of can. 2178. - If not even these are judged legitimate, let the Ordinary again command the Cleric to obey the mandate within a suitable time; when this time has passed uselessly, let him proceed according to the norm of can. 2177." - Moreover, from can. 2359, "clerics in sacred orders, whether secular or religious, who are concubinaries, after warning has been uselessly sent ahead, are to be compelled to withdraw from the illicit cohabitation and to repair scandal by suspension from divine things, privation of the fruits of office, benefice, dignity..."

1071. The recitation of the divine office is one of the most efficacious means for preserving continence; and therefore it was enjoined upon sacred ministers already for a long time. It is called the divine office, because it was instituted by the Church for praising God; it also received the name canonical hours, because through the sacred canons it was prescribed for certain hours. Today seven different canonical hours are numbered: Matins with Lauds, or the nocturnal office; Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline, which constitute the diurnal office.

¹ E. Amort, Vetus disciplina canonicorum regularium et saecularium, Venice, 1748; Thomassin, op. cit., P. II, l. I, c. 15-59; Suarez, De oratione, devotione et horis canonicis, lib. IV, c. 1-30; Card. Bona, De divina psalmodia, Paris, 1603; St. Alphons., lib. V, n. 140-179; Roskovany, op. cit., t. IV, sq.; P. Batiffol, Hist. du Breviaire romain, 2nd ed., Paris, 1895; F. Probst, Brevier und Breviergebet; Baumer, Geschichte des Breviers, or its French version: Histoire du Breviaire, French translation brought up to date with the latest works on the question by Dom Biron, Paris, Letouzey, 1905; Ballerini-Palm., Tr. IX, n. 329-429; Lehmk., t. II, n. 620-640; Noldin, n. 742-767. - The manuscripts which P. Valat, professor of Canon Law in the Seminary of St. Sulpice in Paris, kindly handed over to me for use have likewise been of much profit.

Here the matter concerns the divine office insofar as it regards clerics; concerning the obligations of regulars and nuns it is said elsewhere; and we shall explain two things: 1. the obligation of reciting the divine office; 2. the manner of fulfilling that duty.

I. On The Obligation Of Reciting The Divine Office.

We shall declare the existence and extension of this obligation, and also the causes excusing from the same.

1. Existence Of This Obligation.

1072. Principle: Every cleric constituted in sacred orders or beneficed is held to recite the divine office daily. This obligation indeed did not flourish from the beginning, but was gradually introduced, and was more precisely determined by the practice of the Church, as will be clear from the following: -

1073. (A) The historical evolution of this obligation is outlined. (a) The part of the divine office which first was in use is Matins, which was sung at first light. First indeed on the Vigil of Easter, but afterward on the vigils of Sundays, of certain feasts and stations (which had place on the fourth and sixth ferias), the clergy and people were accustomed to sing psalms, hymns, and prayers in certain designated basilicas; and in some places vigils of this sort became daily, because of the greater devotion of the faithful.

(b) In the fourth century, daily vigils are celebrated in each presbyteral title of the City, and indeed by only the clerics ascribed to this title. This practice indeed in following centuries was extended to other churches; thus Pope Hormisdas (514-523) "composed the clergy and instructed them in psalms";¹ and Justinian the Emperor, in the year 529, recalled to clerics the obligation of singing vigils daily in the church to which they had been incardinated; in the seventh century, we read that one of the bishops of the Roman province, at the command of the Roman Pontiff, prescribed to his clerics that "on daily days vigils be celebrated in the Church."²

¹ Cf. Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, t. I, p. 269.

² You will find the ancient canons concerning the divine office in the Decree of Gratian, distinct. 91 and 92.

(c) Meanwhile, however, the diurnal hours were added to the Matutinal office, and afterward Vespers and Compline: and from this time the custom prevailed more and more that clerics alone were bound to the divine psalmody. In the first times indeed, no distinction is made between major and minor clerics as to the recitation of the office: those in minor orders sang the divine office equally with the sacred ministers in the churches to which they had been ascribed.³ But, already from the thirteenth century, that distinction appears; for the Council of Cologne (an. 1280) imposes the obligation of reciting the office on all clerics in general, but especially on beneficiaries and major clerics. From this time, Councils commemorate only sacred ministers and beneficed clerics; thus the Council of Basel (1431-1442).

³ Van Espen, Jus canonicum, t. II, De Horis Canonicis, c. I, § 1.

(d) At first the office was sung publicly in churches by clerics; that this persevered still in the ninth century is certain from the decree of Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, by which he prescribed to his clerics (an. 852) that at the appointed hours they assemble for discharging the office, not only in cathedral and collegiate churches, but also in parochial churches. - Gradually, however, from a certain kindness, the Church tempered her laws; thus the Council of Vienne (an. 1311-1312) imposed assistance in choir only for cathedral, regular, and collegiate churches; therefore the other clerics could recite the office privately.

1074. (e) As Lehmkuhl, n. 624, deservedly observes, the Pontiffs and Councils rather suppose that this obligation of reciting the office is present than properly impose it. Yet it is useful to relate certain texts, as being more explicit; first as to presbyters: "Let the priest, the matutinal office having been completed in the morning, discharge the task of his service, namely Prime, Terce, Sext, None, and Vespers."⁴ Afterward, various abuses flourishing in reciting the office having been enumerated, it is added: "Therefore these and similar things we utterly prohibit under penalty of suspension, strictly commanding in virtue of obedience that they celebrate the nocturnal and likewise the diurnal divine office, as much as God shall give them, studiously and also devoutly."⁵ - The Council of Basel admonishes concerning the right recitation of the office not only priests, but "any beneficed persons whatever, or those constituted in sacred orders, since they are held to the canonical hours."⁶

⁴ Decretal. Greg. IX, lib. III, tit. 41, cap. 1.

⁵ Ibid., cap. 9, Dolentes.

⁶ In Roskovany, t. V, p. 117.

1075. (B) From the practice and custom of the Church this obligation is more precisely determined. This is, among other things, an eminent and apodictically concluding argument. For from those things which have been said above, it is not always plainly clear whether there is question of beneficed clerics only, or also of non-beneficed clerics without distinction; nor whether there is question only of the divine office to be fulfilled in church, or also of the office imposed privately upon each one. But custom, the best interpreter of laws, for a long time now clearly and absolutely imposes upon each cleric constituted in sacred orders the personal obligation of reciting the divine office, even privately, and outside assemblies of the church.

1076. The witnesses and proof of this custom are the following facts: (a) The doctrine of all Moralists and Canonists, from whom not even one today will be found teaching that the daily recitation of the Breviary is not obligatory for Major Clerics. (b) The manner of acting of Bishops who, although by customary law they can dispense in such a law, in fact dispense very rarely and only in a transitory manner. (c) The sense of all, whether Presbyters, or Deacons, or Subdeacons, who, even when they are less given to piety and perfection, think that they are so bound to this obligation that they judge notable omissions to be grave faults.

The Code, c. 135, thus sanctioned this custom: "Clerics constituted in major orders... are held by the obligation of daily reciting the canonical hours integrally according to their own and approved liturgical books."

It is to be noted that a Cleric even interdicted, suspended, or excommunicated is not exempted from the obligation of the Breviary, from the axiom of law: "No one ought to bring back advantage from his own fault and iniquity." Yet concerning a degraded cleric, namely one cast down by the Church into the secular state, the matter is disputed.¹

¹ Cf. Ferraris, Bibl. Juris, word Officium div., art. 1, n. 21-22.

2. On The Gravity Of This Obligation.

1077. Principle. The obligation of reciting the divine office is of itself grave, because its end is something of the greatest moment, namely worship to be rendered to God in the name of the Church; yet it admits smallness of matter, because the omission of some brief prayer is not judged morally to inflict grave injury upon God. Hence: -

1078. (A) One who deliberately, without sufficient cause, omits the whole office of one day, or a notable part of it, sins gravely. But an integral hour, even a brief one, such as Terce or Compline,¹ is judged a notable part, because, from the common judgment of prudent persons, the omission of one hour is something grave in relation to the whole office. - Therefore one sins lightly who omits an hour not integrally, but only in part, for example, the lessons of one nocturn. If something is omitted from several hours, greater matter is required for mortal sin, because one continuous omission is judged graver than several separate omissions. - One who omits the whole office of one day more probably commits only one sin, yet graver than if he neglected only one hour; the reason is that the office of one day is enjoined by the Church by one precept.

¹ Yet the omission of Vespers on Holy Saturday is not judged grave, because this matter is light both in itself and by reason of the whole office (Noldin, n. 746).

1079. (B) Beneficed clerics, for example, canons or parish priests, who, after six months have elapsed from the benefice obtained, have culpably omitted the divine office, ought to restore to pious works the fruits of the benefice in proportion to the omitted hours. Thus from the law brought by Lateran V, more accurately declared by Pius V, and related in the Code, c. 1475.

(a) Restitution ought to be made even before the sentence of a judge, as is clear from the condemnation of this proposition 20 by Alexander VII: "Restitution imposed by Pius V upon beneficed persons not reciting is not owed in conscience before the declaratory sentence of a judge, because it is a penalty."

(b) A simple beneficed cleric, who has no other obligation except the recitation of the office, ought to restore all the fruits in proportion to the omitted hours; but a beneficed cleric with care of souls, upon whom other obligations are incumbent, such as celebration of Mass or the pastoral office, ought to restore only that part of the fruits which, all other offices attended to, corresponds to the obligation of the divine office. Thus a parish priest who has neglected to recite the breviary for one month is not held to restore a twelfth part of the fruits of the year, since the right to those fruits arises not only from the divine office, but from other functions. What part ought he to restore? This depends on the moral estimation of prudent persons; some with Noldin (n. 747) probably say about a tenth part, because recitation of the breviary seems to be, as it were, a tenth part of the offices of a parish priest.

1080. (C) The obligation of reciting the divine office begins on the day and hour on which the subdiaconate is received. Thus one who is ordained in the morning, before the ninth hour, ought to begin from Terce; one who is ordained at the tenth hour will begin from Sext. One who before ordination recites hours to which he is held only after the order has been received probably satisfies his obligation, on account of the moral union which exists between these two moments.

3. On Causes Excusing From This Obligation.

There are three: physical or moral impossibility; the greatest utility of the neighbor; dispensation from a legitimate superior.

1081. (A) Physical or moral impossibility excuses from recitation of the office as long and insofar as it perseveres. For no one is held to the impossible, and a positive law does not oblige with such great inconvenience.

Thus one who has lost the breviary, or while traveling has not taken it with him through forgetfulness, is excused from reciting it as long as, without grave inconvenience, he cannot have another; yet if he has retained notable parts by memory, he is held to say them. Say the same concerning one who has become blind. But the sick and convalescent person who cannot read without great fatigue is for a time dispensed from it. In doubt, he can stand by the judgment of a superior, or of a physician or prudent friend, or by his own judgment.

One who can recite one part, but not other parts, is by no means dispensed from that one, because any notable part obliges of itself, and indeed under grave obligation; hence the following proposition 54 was deservedly reproved by Innocent XI: "One who cannot recite Matins and Lauds, but can recite the remaining hours, is held to nothing, because the greater part draws the lesser to itself."¹

¹ Denzinger, n. 1071.

One who cannot recite the office alone, but can with a companion, is nevertheless not held to employ a companion, unless he easily finds him without inconvenience. - One who cannot recite the hours is not strictly held to pour forth other prayers, because the object of the precept is the office ordered by the Church, but not any prayer whatever; but this is altogether to be counseled, since the mind of the Church is that sacred ministers pray for the people.

To moral impossibility approaches the greatest difficulty which the scrupulous sometimes suffer in discharging the divine office; wherefore they can be dispensed for a time by the confessor, until they are able to recite it without grave anxiety.

1082. (B) The greatest utility of the neighbor excuses from reciting the office, when there is question of an occupation which cannot be combined with recitation, nor otherwise be deferred to another time without grave inconvenience. The reason is that the divine law of charity is to be preferred to ecclesiastical law. - Wherefore they are excused: -

(a) One who, about to recite Vespers and Compline, is suddenly called to a gravely sick person, and afterward does not return at a time suitable for recitation of the office.

(b) One who throughout the afternoon time hears confessions which cannot conveniently be deferred to another day.

(c) One who throughout the whole day is occupied without interruption in assisting the sick at a time of contagious disease, or the gravely wounded.

(d) One who, about to have a sermon which he cannot omit, needs the whole time for preparing it. - In these or similar cases, no one is held to deprive himself of necessary refreshment of the body or sleep so that he can recite the office.

But a prudent and pious priest will try to foresee these difficulties, and will generally find time for saying the breviary without neglecting the functions of a pastor.

1083. (C) Dispensation from a legitimate superior. For since there is question of a merely ecclesiastical law, the Supreme Pontiff can validly dispense from it in every case; licitly, however, when the cause is reasonable, even if of itself it would not suffice. - But a Bishop cannot of himself dispense from it, since it is a universal law; but from general custom, which is held as legitimate, he is able to grant a dispensation in some particular case for a time, a just cause being present.

II. On The Manner Of Reciting The Divine Office.

Three things especially are to be inquired: 1. what office is to be recited; 2. what external conditions are required; 3. what internal dispositions of soul.

1. On The Office To Be Recited.

1084. (A) The divine office ought to be recited as prescribed by the Church; for since it has been instituted and ordered by the authority of the Church, clerics ought in conscience to obey the ecclesiastical rules flourishing concerning this matter. But these things especially are to be noted: -

(a) In the Latin Church, the Roman breviary is to be used, except, however, in places and religious orders in which other breviaries approved by the Church from their first institution or introduced by custom had been in use for two hundred years before the promulgation of the Pian Constitution Quod a nobis (July 9, 1568). Thus the Milanese, Treves, Liege churches, etc., and also Benedictines and Dominicans legitimately retain their breviaries.¹

¹ In France there were indeed many very ancient breviaries, which could have been retained. But, since after the aforesaid Constitution they had been changed without the authority of the Holy See, they lost their privileges, and in their place the Roman Breviary with the diocesan Proper was substituted.

(b) Today there no longer flourishes an obligation of reciting the Little Office of Blessed Mary, the Office of the Dead (except on the day of the Commemoration of all the faithful departed), the Penitential Psalms and Gradual Psalms on the days on which they are assigned in the Breviary, unless where custom has remained, which nevertheless does not oblige outside choir. - But the Greater Litanies on the feast day of St. Mark and during the three days of Rogations ought to be recited, even outside choir.

1085. (B) Daily there ought to be recited the office assigned to each day in the calendar or directory, unless a legitimate reason excuses.

(a) One who lacks the office assigned to this day ought to recite another; for example, one who does not have the office of some saint ought to read the office from the common; say the same concerning parts of the office which are not at hand: for example, one who lacks proper lessons should read the common ones.

(b) Non-beneficed clerics, staying in another diocese, can recite the office of this place, but are not held to this unless they intend truly to acquire domicile there. - But beneficed clerics are held to the office of their own church, even when they stay elsewhere.¹

¹ S. C. Rit., Nov. 12, 1831, ad 46, n. 2682 new ed.

(c) The office ought to be recited as indicated in the diocesan calendar, unless it is morally certain that it errs.² - Likewise the proper offices of the diocese or Order ought to be read according to the order defined in the calendar; for although the concession of these privileges is a privilege granted to the community, individual members cannot reject it, but ought to conform themselves to the office of the community.

² S. C. Rit., June 1899, n. 4031 new ed.

1086. (C) As to changes, one must distinguish whether they are voluntary or not: -

(a) One who has involuntarily erred in the office is not held to recite another, because the Church does not wish to oblige one to read the breviary twice on the same day; then the axiom is legitimately applied: office for office. Nevertheless, if the office recited is notably shorter (for example, the office of a feria for the office of a Saint), according to some, it is necessary, and according to all, it is fitting, to supply something, for example, in the aforesaid case, by reciting the omitted lessons. - If the error is detected while the office has not yet been completed, according to some, the office begun can be completed; but more probably, according to St. Alphonsus (n. 161) and others, the remaining things ought to be read from the prescribed office, according to that saying: an error is corrected where it is detected.

One who has recited the same hour twice, for example, Terce, cannot omit another, for example, Sext, because the form of the office and the distinction of the hours has not been preserved.

One who by error has said one office for another will more suitably, on the day on which the office already recited occurs, recite it again, so that he may conform himself to the common rite of the Church;¹ yet probably he can read the omitted office, lest this be passed over in that year.²

¹ S. C. R., June 17, 1673, n. 1474 (formerly n. 2634).

² St. Alphons., n. 161; Ball. P., n. 383; Lehmk., n. 626; Noldin, n. 753.

1087. (b) But one who deliberately changes the office sins gravely if he recites another plainly diverse and much shorter, because he gravely disturbs the liturgical order; wherefore the following proposition 34 was deservedly condemned by Alexander VII: "On Palm Sunday one reciting the Easter office satisfies the precept."³ - The same must be said of one who frequently changes the office without reason.

³ Viva, Theses damnatae, on this proposition observes that there is a twofold reason why one acting thus sins gravely: because the office of Easter is wholly diverse from the office of Palms, which recalls the memory of the passion; and otherwise it is notably shorter; Denzinger, n. 1005.

One sins lightly who, without reasonable cause, changes the office into another almost equal; he does not sin in any way if this is done from any reasonable cause whatever. Now the following or similar reasons are held as sufficient: the reason of a journey, if someone uses the breviary of a companion; the reason of special devotion, if someone three or four times in a year recites some particular office; the reason of charity, for example, so that someone becoming blind may be helped in reciting the office; - but, from a recent decision, a cleric constituted in sacred orders "generally" does not satisfy his obligation "who, spontaneously or invited, joins himself to clergy singing or reciting an office diverse from the office of that cleric himself."⁴

⁴ S. C. Rit., Jan. 27, 1899, n. 4011 new ed.

2. On The External Conditions Required For The Recitation Of The Office.

Four things especially are to be considered: the order to be observed, the time at which the various hours are to be recited, the pronunciation of the words, the place and posture in which they ought to be recited.

1088. (A) The order to be observed among the hours. This indeed excludes two things: inversion of the prescribed order, and interruption in the same hour.

(a) In the recitation of the hours the prescribed order is to be observed, namely: Matins and Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. This precept does not oblige under grave obligation in private recitation, nor even in choir, according to the common opinion, because the inversion of this order is not judged a morally grave deformity. - Indeed, when a just cause is present, there is no sin, even venial. Now a reasonable cause is present: if someone, not having a breviary at hand, recites the hours before Matins, or reads the psalms, deferring the lessons to another time; or if someone comes late to choir when some hour has already been finished and laudably proceeds with companions to sing the office, later about to recite the omitted hour; or if someone privately is invited by another to say the hours, when he has not yet recited Matins.

1089. (b) When one hour has been begun, it ought regularly to be read whole to the end, nor can it licitly be interrupted without just cause; for reverence toward God and the Church requires this, since she has aptly disposed hymns, psalms, prayers, etc. to the intended end, namely the praise of God. Nevertheless, according to the common opinion, no interruption, however great, is mortal sin, provided the whole office is recited within the space of one day; for the individual parts of the office do not have a necessary connection with the others, but only an accidental one from the ordination of the Church. But it is a venial sin, unless a legitimate cause is present. - Now, among reasonable causes, these and similar ones are numbered: the utility of the neighbor, for example, a confession to be heard of someone who would not easily or willingly wait; obedience, in order to execute more quickly the command of a superior; charity and civility, in order to greet or kindly address someone; private utility, for example, to increase devotion, to note something useful on paper.

Whatever the interval may be, there is no obligation of repeating the part recited before the interruption; it suffices that only those things be resumed which are necessary for understanding the sense of the proposition.

Lauds can be divided from Matins, without cause, for a long time; for in antiquity Matins was said in the middle of the night, and Lauds as dawn was beginning. In which case, Matins is to be concluded as follows: namely, the prayer of the day is recited, and afterward these are said: Dominus vobiscum, Benedicamus, Fidelium, and Pater noster.¹ Yet it is necessary that, in resuming Lauds, Pater and Ave be said.

¹ S. C. Rit., Feb. 1, 1886, n. 3653 new ed.

In Matins itself, any nocturn can be separated from the others, without cause, for the space of three hours, because in antiquity they were accustomed to be thus separated; and even by a longer interval, if a just cause is present.

1090. (B) On the time at which the various hours are to be recited. The time once assigned for reciting the individual hours was this: Matins after midnight, Lauds at dawn, Prime after sunrise, Terce at the ninth hour, Sext at midday, None at the third afternoon hour, Vespers at sunset, Compline at the dusk of night.

(a) But today, for fulfilling the substance of the precept, it is enough to recite the entire office within the space of one natural day,² that is, from midnight of one day until midnight of the following day; wherefore those are immune from mortal sin who read the office integrally within that time. But once this time has elapsed, no one can any longer satisfy his obligation.

² In the recitation of the office each one at will can follow true time, or mean time, or legal time, or regional time (can. 33).

(b) Under venial obligation it is prescribed that Matins, Lauds, Prime, and Terce be recited before midday, unless a legitimate cause is present, as greater devotion, a time more suitable for studies, etc. - From the rubric of the Missal, Matins with Lauds ought to be recited before Mass; some formerly said that this is prescribed under grave precept, others under light; but probably this rubric does not oblige those who are not assigned to choir, since there is no necessary connection between Mass and Matins.

(c) Vespers and Compline are regularly recited from midday to midnight, nor can they be anticipated without cause. But during the time of Lent (except the first three days and Sundays), Vespers are to be said in choir before midday, in memory of the ancient discipline, according to which the fast was not broken before the recitation of Vespers; privately, however, they can be read at will before or after midday.

1091. (d) Matins with Lauds privately¹ can be anticipated from legitimate custom, that is, recited on the preceding day from that hour at which the sun holds the middle of its course between noon and sunset, according to the table inserted at the beginning of the Breviary. - Moreover Indults are easily granted so that recitation can begin at the second or first afternoon hour. - But whether it is licit for all, without a special privilege, to begin Matins at the second hour is disputed. Many deny, because from the concession of a special privilege it is deservedly inferred that no general license has been given. Yet not a few probably affirm; for, 1) this follows logically from the evolution of ecclesiastical discipline in this matter; in antiquity Matins was usually read during nighttime; afterward the custom prevailed that it was recited on the preceding evening after sunset, and soon at the middle time between noon and sunset; but in our times, gradually the custom prevailed that it can be said as soon as Vespers are usually recited in choir, i.e., at the second hour; 2) otherwise a custom of this sort is legitimate: for since, on account of the labors of pastoral office, a priest can daily be impeded from reciting Matins around the end of the day, it is indeed greatly expedient that it be licit to anticipate at the second hour, when he is not entangled in too many occupations: for such a manner of acting, which brings detriment to no one, is most profitable to piety. - Nor should it be said that the contrary follows from the practice of granting this privilege to certain clerics; for, where there is a diversity of opinions, the Holy See is accustomed to grant Indults to those petitioning, for the sake of greater security, without wishing to settle the controversy. In reality the Sacred Congregation of Rites, having been asked concerning this matter, responded: Let approved authors be consulted.² Wherefore, until the Holy See shall have established otherwise, we think a priest can use this probable opinion, especially when a reasonable cause is present, for example, the opportunity of anticipating Matins, which perhaps will not occur sooner, or the utility of better distributing the evening time.

¹ In choir, it cannot habitually be anticipated except with an indult of the Holy See; a bishop can permit that this be done for a time, from a just cause.

² S. C. Rit., July 13, 1883.

1092. (C) On the pronunciation of words. The pronunciation of the words which constitute the divine office ought to be vocal and integral: -

(a) Vocal, because it is prayer not purely mental, but public. Therefore it is not sufficient that it be run through by the mind alone or with the eyes, or recited only with the throat, but with lips and tongue, so that the sound is audible. Yet it is not required that in fact it be heard by others, or by the one reciting himself, but it suffices that the cleric is conscious that he is pronouncing articulated words.

(b) Integral, so that individual words are brought forth without mutilation or truncation. If the mutilation is so notable that the sense is greatly varied, as to a notable part of the office, the sin will be grave; this nevertheless occurs very rarely. More often, from inveterate custom, or a certain haste, a few words are truncated; then light fault or none is present, according as this is done voluntarily or not. Religion indeed counsels that these defects be avoided; but in this matter scruples are carefully to be avoided, nor, in a case of doubt, is the office to be repeated, but attention is to be given so that afterward it may be recited with greater diligence.

1093. Corollary. It is licit to recite the office not only in choir, but also with a companion, although this companion is not held to the office. But then the recitation ought to be alternate, as is done in choir; therefore, if there are three companions, it is not licit so to recite that one says the first verse, another the second, and another the third; but the companions ought to be divided into, as it were, two choirs. - Moreover it is required that they mutually hear each other; yet if someone, intent on other things, or because of noise, or because the companion pronounces imperfectly, does not perceive a few things, he satisfies his obligation, nor is he held to repeat anything; the same must be said of one who, while others recite in choir, ought to prepare something useful for the office. - Recitation ought to be done in such a way that one verse is not begun before the other has been completed: otherwise it is not integral, and concerning this mutilation the same must be said as above.

1094. (D) On place and posture. (a) Public recitation of the office ought to be done in choir; but as to private recitation, nothing is prescribed by the Church; therefore any place can be chosen, provided it is decent and apt for recollection of the soul. When it can conveniently be done, it is pious to read it in a sacred place; at least let it not be recited, without reason, in a place where, on account of the throng and tumult of the people, the mind can scarcely be attentive.

(b) Outside choir, likewise no posture is prescribed: therefore it can be recited sitting, standing, or walking, but not in bed, unless a reasonable cause is present. - Inclinations, signs of the cross, etc. which are prescribed by the Rubrics, likewise do not oblige except in choir, but are laudably performed outside choir.

III. On The Internal Dispositions Required For Recitation Of The Breviary.

There are two: intention and attention.

1095. 1. The intention required is the intention of praying, or of honoring God; therefore the intention of reading for the sake of instruction, or from another motive, does not suffice; for the Church prescribes the office as an act of divine worship. - But this intention is had as often as a cleric takes the breviary in order to recite the office; nor is it necessary that he explicitly elicit the intention of praying; hence no anxiety should be had concerning this matter.

But it contributes much to piety to unite oneself to the intention of Christ, the highest priest, according to that saying: "Lord, in union with that divine intention by which you yourself rendered praises to God on earth, I render these hours to you."

1096. 2. On attention. This can be twofold: external or internal. The former excludes actions which by their nature impede internal application, for example, to write, to read attentively, or to give attentive ears to one reading or conversing. - The latter is the application of the mind to those things which are said: if you attend to the words, so that they may be rightly pronounced, the attention is verbal; if to the sense of the words, but by the intellect only, without making the expressed affections your own, intellectual attention is present; if you attend to the sense, and at the same time conceive in the heart the affections expressed, it is affective attention; if in a general way you attend to the divine mysteries, by meditating upon these, the attention is called mystical: and this is judged more perfect than the others; which is true if a certain affective attention to the principal parts of the office is not excluded.

1097. (A) According to all, at least external attention is certainly required, and therefore those actions are to be avoided which are incompatible with internal attention. Yet external attention is not impeded by those actions which distract the mind only lightly. - Likewise, one who is deliberately and voluntarily distracted in reciting the hours sins venially, because in any prayer whatever a distraction of this sort inflicts some injury upon God.

1098. (B) But the question is whether one reciting the divine office with voluntary wandering of the mind, although with external attention, substantially satisfies his obligation. (a) Some deny, because the Church wished to impose the office as prayer; but certainly one does not pray who is voluntarily distracted. Wherefore Trent, confirming the sacred canons, commands that clerics, singing the office in choir, praise the name of God reverently, distinctly, and devoutly;¹ but the word devoutly signifies nothing other than internal attention.

¹ Trident., sess. 24, c. 12 de Reformat.

(b) Nevertheless many others affirm; for the office is indeed prayer, but public, made in the name of the Church; now one who does not provide internal attention indeed does not pray privately, but, provided he is externally attentive, he acts as a minister of the Church and prays publicly, just as a messenger reading the letters of a Prince fulfills his office, although internally he is not attentive. - Otherwise the words of Trent brought above are taken from cap. Dolentes,² and from the context it is clear that the Supreme Pontiff here reproves the practice of chatting with seculars in choir, and therefore requires only external attention. - Therefore in practice he who provided external attention cannot be held as guilty of mortal fault, nor compelled to repeat the office, but he is to be exceedingly exhorted to expel voluntary distractions with at least ordinary diligence, so that he may receive more abundant fruits from it for himself and others.

² Decretal., lib. III, tit. 41, c. 9.

1099. (C) Moreover any internal attention whatever, even of the least degree, suffices for satisfying the precept, according to all. Yet that more abundant fruits may be received, it is indeed to be desired that, before the recitation of the office, clerics gather their internal faculties, unite themselves to Christ, who prays for us and the Church with inenarrable groanings; - and several times during the time of recitation renew their attention: the divine office discharged thus is not a burden, but strength and solace.³

³ Bacuez splendidly discusses the means of reciting the office piously and devoutly, Le Saint Office au point de vue de la piete, Paris, 5th ed., 1904; rendered into English: The Divine Office, London.

1100. The special obligations of presbyters are reduced chiefly to three: 1. celebration of Mass, concerning which we treated in the Treatise on the Eucharist, n. 182-194; 2. administration of the sacraments, concerning which it was said in the Treatise on the Sacraments in general, n. 104-109, and in the Treatise on Penance, n. 362-509, as to the special offices of the Confessor; 3. exercise of the pastoral office: concerning which a few things remain to be said.

Upon pastors of souls, that is, primarily parish priests, and secondarily vicars, who under the authority of parish priests have the care of souls, there is incumbent especially a twofold office, namely of teaching and ruling the flock committed to them.

I. On The Obligation Of Teaching.

1101. Upon the Apostles and their successors, namely Bishops, the office of teaching was explicitly imposed by these words: "Going therefore, teach all nations." But since Bishops cannot by themselves exercise that function in the whole diocese, they instituted parish priests to whom the office of teaching the faithful in their parish was entrusted. And indeed they provide this chiefly in a twofold way: by preaching the divine word, and by the instruction of children, or catechism.

1102. 1. By preaching the divine word; for Trent commands these that "on at least Sundays and solemn feasts they feed the peoples committed to them, according to their own and the peoples' capacity, with salutary words"; according to the same Council, those who, warned by the Bishop, nevertheless have failed in their duty over a space of three months, ought to be compelled by ecclesiastical censures.¹ The Code confirms this law, adding that Ordinaries ought to take care that during the time of Lent, and, if it is expedient, during the time of Advent, sacred sermons be more frequently held for the faithful.²

¹ Trident., sess. V, cap. 2 de Reformat.

² Code, can. 1346.

1103. (a) This obligation indeed is of itself grave, since there is question of a matter necessary for the salvation of souls; and, according to St. Alphonsus (l. III, n. 269), parish priests sin gravely who, for one whole continuous month, or for three discontinuous months in the year, without reasonable cause, deliberately omit to preach.

(b) It is also personal, insofar as parish priests ought personally to fulfill the duty of preaching, when they are not legitimately impeded; for the care of souls is primarily incumbent upon them. But if they are legitimately impeded, they ought to take care that a sermon be had through another suitable priest. - Often, where several vicars help the parish priest in the sacred ministry, matters are so ordered that each in order, in turn, as they say, announces the word of God.

(c) The object of this preaching is whatever is necessary or useful for the salvation of souls; and the manner of explaining this ought to be so accommodated to the capacity of the hearers that they can easily understand these truths; indeed, as Trent testifies,³ parish priests ought to teach "those things which it is necessary for all to know for salvation, announcing to them with brevity and facility of speech the vices which they ought to decline and the virtues which they ought to follow, so that they may be able to escape eternal punishment and obtain heavenly glory." For providing this, nothing is more opportune, especially in our days, than to compose and preach a continuous and ordered series of catechetical sermons, in which those truths are methodically explained and developed which, with attention to the circumstances of persons and places, seem more necessary, both because they are more frequently attacked by adversaries, and because they are less distinctly known or understood by the faithful themselves.

³ Sess. V, cap. 2 de Reform.

But the manner of explaining truth ought to be accommodated to the diverse character of the hearers, more scientific for the learned, but simpler for the unlearned; yet for all so resting upon the Gospel that it can truly be called Christian preaching, not human: "But we preach Christ crucified... For I judged myself not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified... And my speech was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the showing of spirit and power."¹ Wherefore let a Catholic herald often appeal to the words and examples of Christ and the Apostles, exhibiting the same to his hearers so that they may be able to adapt them to their own manner of acting.²

¹ I Cor., I, 23; II, 2-4.

² Let canons 1327-1348 of the Code concerning the preaching of the divine Word, catechetical instruction, and sermons be carefully read.

1104. 2. By catechizing children. Nor less necessary is the Christian education of the young through catechism. For Trent establishes concerning Bishops:³ "Let the same also, at least on Sundays and other feast days, take care that children in individual parishes are diligently taught the rudiments of faith and obedience toward God and parents by those to whom it will belong; and, if there is need, let them compel even by ecclesiastical censures, notwithstanding privileges and customs." - This office indeed presses more urgently in regions where neutral schools prevail, since there the young often receive no religious education except in catechism. (Code, c. 1329-1336.)

³ Trident., sess. XXIV, cap. 4 de Reformat.

1105. (A) That little ones may be rightly instructed, already from tender years let them be gathered together and taught the principal mysteries of faith, the precepts of God, and the sacraments. To the point Conc. plen. Baltimore II, n. 436: "Those rudiments of faith and piety, which afterward for adults will be a foundation and strength, and a most safe protection against the wicked snares of the devil and of wicked men." Wherefore the parish priest will earnestly exhort parents to send their children to church at the appointed time of catechesis; but so that little ones may come more eagerly, let them be drawn by little gifts and prizes; but especially let the catechist so accommodate himself to their age and character, and so seize their mind by parables, examples of the saints, and other industries, that both parents and children earnestly desire to hear catechetical instructions.¹

¹ Cf. Gerson, De parvulis ad Christum trahendis; Dupanloup, L'Oeuvre par excellence.

(B) Let those who are preparing themselves for first communion be instructed with special care and solicitude. Looking at common law alone, the parish priest indeed cannot demand that only those approach first communion and confirmation who were accustomed to be present at catechesis; for they can learn the mysteries of faith at home or elsewhere, and prove their suitability through some examination. But in many dioceses, it is established that the young assist at catechesis for two years before they are solemnly admitted for the first time to the sacred synaxis; concerning which, see diocesan statutes.

(C) After first communion has been made, the parish priest ought to take care that boys and girls preserve the integral fruits of so great a benefit; and therefore that they be kept away from the evil doctrines and morals of the world, and assiduously cultivate Christian virtues; for this indeed perseverance catecheses, patronages, and various associations greatly help, concerning which it has already been said, On The Virtue Of Justice, n. 855-862, and On The Theological Virtues, n. 820 sq.

II. On The Obligation Of Ruling The Parish.

Nor is it enough that the parish priest teach; he ought to rule the parish committed to him, by promoting its good, whether spiritual or temporal.

1106. 1. For duly fulfilling this twofold function, the parish priest ought habitually to reside in his own parish.

(A) Trent strictly enjoins this obligation upon all having the care of souls:² "Since by divine precept it has been commanded to all to whom the care of souls has been committed to know their sheep, to offer sacrifice for them, and to feed them by the preaching of the divine word, by the administration of the sacraments, and by the example of all good works, to bear paternal care of the poor and other miserable persons, and to devote themselves to the other pastoral duties; all which things can by no means be provided and fulfilled by those who do not watch over and assist their flock, but desert it after the manner of hirelings; the holy Synod admonishes and exhorts them that, mindful of the divine precepts, and having been made a pattern of the flock, they feed and rule in judgment and truth." - Having thus declared the motives on which the law of residence rests, the Council inflicts penalties against its violators, establishing that, besides the guilt of mortal sin which they incur, "in proportion to the time of absence, they do not make the fruits their own, nor with a safe conscience, even with no other declaration following, can they detain them for themselves, but are held... to disburse them to the fabric of the churches or to the poor of the place"; moreover the Bishop can cite the absent by edict, and compel the contumacious "by ecclesiastical censures and sequestration and subtraction of fruits, and other remedies of law even to privation," without the execution of the sentence being able to be suspended by any privilege, any custom, or appeal.

² Trident., sess. XXIII, cap. 1 de Reformat.

1107. For understanding these things we add a few notes: -

(a) The law of residence affects not only perpetual parish priests, but also removable ones, and also vicars with care of souls, whether temporary or perpetual, in one word all to whom the care of souls has been committed. - These ought to dwell within the limits of the parish, so that they can easily be approached, unless, a grave cause intervening, they obtain from the Bishop license to stay in a neighboring place.

(b) As Benedict XIV testifies,¹ a parish priest ought not only to be present in body, but to labor as a good soldier of Christ, and not decide upon lighter functions for himself, entrusting the rest to ministers: "and it is certain," he says, "that parish priests are liable to a lethal crime who are present only in presence, and impeded by no cause, wither away in idleness." - Yet he can have one or several cooperators, and leave certain arduous functions to them, provided that he himself does not cease personally to provide pastoral functions, especially the more principal ones, and when he is called by name by sick parishioners, does not refuse to go.² - The onset of a pestilence does not free a parish priest from the burden of residing, even if he calls other suitable men who may supply his place.³

¹ Benedict XIV, Instit., 17, n. 6.

² Thus Ferraris, word Parochus, art. 2, n. 20.

³ Benedict XIV, De Synodo, l. XIII, c. 19, n. 2.

1108. (B) The Code, can. 465, thus establishes the manner of observing this obligation: "§ 1. A parish priest is held by the obligation of residing in the parish house near his church; yet the Ordinary of the place can for a just cause permit him to stay elsewhere, provided the house is not so distant from the parish church that the performance of parochial duties suffers some detriment thereby.

§ 2. It is permitted to him to be absent for two months at most within the year, whether continuous or interrupted, unless a grave cause, in the judgment of the Ordinary himself, requires a longer absence or permits only a shorter one.

§ 3. The days on which the parish priest devotes himself to pious exercises, according to the norm of can. 126, are not counted, once in the year, in the two months of vacations...

§ 4. Whether the time of vacations is continuous or interrupted, when the absence will last beyond a week, the parish priest, besides a legitimate cause, ought to have the written license of the Ordinary and to leave in his place a substitute vicar to be approved by the same Ordinary;¹ but if the parish priest is a religious, he needs besides the consent of the superior, and the substitute ought to be approved both by the Ordinary and by the Superior.

¹ Where there is already a vicar deputed by the Bishop, generally no other is required; but if he is lacking, either another priest must be called who for a time may conduct the care of the parish, or, if the place is small, the guardianship of the flock is to be entrusted to the nearer parish priest, with the license of the Bishop. - In all things which regard residence, diocesan statutes must also be attended to, which generally determine this law more precisely.

§ 5. If a parish priest, from a sudden and grave cause, is compelled to depart and to be absent beyond a week, let him as soon as possible inform the Ordinary by letter, indicating to him the cause of departure and the priest supplying, and let him stand by his commands.

§ 6. Even for the time of a shorter absence a parish priest ought to provide for the necessities of the faithful, especially if the particular circumstances of matters demand this."

Moreover the Code establishes penalties against those who violate the law (can. 2381): "One who obtains an office, benefice, or dignity with the burden of residence, if he is illegitimately absent: 1. by that very fact is deprived of all fruits of his benefice or office in proportion to the illegitimate absence, and ought to hand them over to the Ordinary, who is to distribute them to the church or some pious place; 2. let him be deprived of office, benefice, dignity according to the norm of can. 2168-2175," where the manner of proceeding against non-resident clerics is described.

1109. 2. Nor is it enough for the parish priest to reside, but at certain times he ought to visit individual families of the parish, and more often also certain parishioners who need greater solicitude.

The reason is that he ought to know and feed his sheep; but he cannot provide this unless he visits them and inquires concerning their spiritual condition; especially he will go to the grieving, so that he may bring them solace, to the poor in order to relieve them, to sinners, so that he may lead them back to the sheepfold, as a good shepherd, to the sick and infirm,² so that he may administer the sacraments to them. - Nor is it enough if, shut up at home, he waits for parishioners to approach; for many will not come unless first visited; but Christ admonishing, priests are held to go to the people: "Go to the sheep that have perished of the house of Israel...¹ Going therefore, teach all Nations."² Did not Christ himself descend from heaven so that he might come to us? Did he not, leaving the sheep in the fold, go to the lost sheep so that he might bring it back wounded to the fold upon his shoulders?

² Concerning the care of visiting the sick and dying we treated elsewhere, On Extreme Unction, n. 28-29, and On Penance, n. 503-509.

¹ Matt., X, 5.

² Matt., XXVIII, 19.

Wherefore the Roman Ritual enjoins upon parish priests that they have distinct books, in which the names of the baptized, confirmed, marrying, and dead are accurately described; and moreover a book of the state of souls, in which the spiritual condition of families is described, such as is known by the Pastor in the external forum: for the better they know their sheep, the more securely they are able to direct them in the path of virtue.

3. The remaining things which regard the spiritual government of souls can be read in the pastoral epistles of St. Paul, the works of the Fathers, and also in works which especially discuss the duties of pastors. - Concerning temporal government, the Canonists can be approached, since it is not ours to speak about all these things.

We have been able to explain only briefly the principal duties of lay persons and clerics; if they have fulfilled these carefully and perseveringly, on account of God, they will receive an unfading crown.

Putting an end to this Synopsis, I reverently submit to the Church all those things which I have written, having nothing more ancient than that errors, if any perhaps have crept in contrary to my mind, and also less accurate words, which, on account of human frailty, may have been written by me, be carefully corrected. Likewise I ask the readers who have gone through these volumes that whatever erroneous or less accurate thing they have detected, they not hesitate candidly to manifest to the author, and thus the work, of whatever sort it may be, may become less imperfect, to the greater glory of God and the utility of souls.