Article I. On Positive Duties

To these pertain:

I. Penance and Prayer. 1. Let local Ordinaries take care: 1° that all clerics frequently wash away the stains of conscience by the sacrament of penance; 2° that the same daily devote themselves for some time to mental prayer, visit the Most Holy Sacrament, honor the Virgin Mother of God with the Marian rosary, and examine their conscience (can. 125).

2. All secular priests ought at least every third year to give themselves to spiritual exercises, for a time to be determined by their own Ordinary, in some pious or religious house designated by the same; nor is anyone to be exempted from them except in a particular case, for a just cause and by express permission of the same Ordinary (can. 126).

Pius XI, in the encyclical on spiritual exercises,¹ greatly commends to clerics a recollection to be made every month or at least every third month.

¹ 20 December 1929 (A. A. S. 1929, p. 689).

II. Obedience.¹ 1. All clerics, but especially presbyters, are held by a special obligation each to show reverence and obedience to his own Ordinary (can. 127).

2. As often and for as long as, in the judgment of one's own Ordinary, the necessity of the Church requires it, and unless a legitimate impediment excuses, clerics must undertake and faithfully fulfill the office which has been committed to them by the Bishop (can. 128).

Priests are held to obedience by a further special title, by force of the promise which they made on the occasion of ordination into the hands of the consecrating Bishop.

Exempt religious promise reverence and obedience anew by this promise to their own Ordinary Prelate, i.e. to their major religious Superior.

¹ Cf. Ned. Kath. Stemmen, 1910, p. 143; 1912, pp. 9, 67; 1914, pp. 100, 130.

III. Cultivation of the Sciences. 1. Clerics, after receiving the priesthood, should not interrupt studies, especially sacred studies; and in the sacred disciplines they should follow that solid doctrine handed down by the elders and commonly received by the Church, avoiding profane novelties of words and knowledge falsely so called (can. 129).

2. Once the course of studies has been completed, all priests, even if they have obtained a parochial or canonical benefice, unless they have been exempted by the local Ordinary for a just cause, are to undergo an examination every year for at least a full three years in the various disciplines of the sacred sciences, previously opportunely designated, according to the manner to be determined by the same Ordinary (can. 130, § 1). In the conferral of ecclesiastical offices and benefices, account should be taken of those who, other things being equal, have excelled more in the aforesaid examinations (can. 130, § 2). Add can. 2376: Priests who, neither dispensed by the Ordinary nor detained by a legitimate impediment, refuse to make the examination mentioned in can. 130, are to be compelled to it by the Ordinary with suitable penalties.

a) Priests who study in lay universities are not exempted from the examination of which there was discussion.¹ Nothing prevents, however, the threefold annual examination from being deferred until they have completed their studies.²

b) Religious pastors or religious vicars with care of souls are not bound to undergo that examination if they have undergone before the religious Superior or his delegate the examination of which there is discussion in can. 590.³ But in the case of negligence of religious Superiors concerning that examination, recourse is to be made to the Sacred Congregation of Religious.⁴

c) What has been said about religious pastors or religious vicars with care of souls is to be said by the same right about other religious.

3. In the episcopal city and in each vicariate forane, more often in the year, on days to be fixed beforehand by the judgment of the local Ordinary, meetings are to be held which they call collations or conferences, concerning moral and liturgical matters; to these can be added other exercises which the Ordinary has judged opportune for promoting the knowledge and piety of clerics (can. 131, § 1). If it is difficult to hold meetings, written solved questions are to be sent, according to norms to be established by the Ordinary (can. 131, § 2). Unless they have previously expressly obtained exemption from the local Ordinary, all secular priests are bound to attend the meeting, or, if the meeting is lacking, to send a written solution of the cases; and likewise religious, even exempt, who have care of souls, and also, if the collation is not held in their houses, other religious who have obtained the faculty of hearing confessions from the Ordinary (can. 131, § 3). Add can. 2377: Priests contumacious against the prescription of can. 131 are to be punished by the Ordinary according to his prudent judgment; but if they are religious confessors not bearing care of souls, he is to suspend them from hearing confessions of seculars.

¹ Sacred Consistorial Congregation, 30 April 1918 (A. A. S. 1918, p. 237).

² Vermeersch-Creusen, Epitome, n. 218.

³ Pontifical Commission, 14 July 1922 (A. A. S. 1922, p. 526).

⁴ Pontifical Commission, 14 July 1922 (A. A. S. 1922, p. 526).

IV. Chastity; concerning which several things must be noted.

1. The obligation of celibacy and perfect chastity. Clerics constituted in major orders are kept from marriage and are held by the obligation of preserving chastity in such a way that those sinning against it are also guilty of sacrilege, saving the prescription of can. 214, § 1¹ (can. 132, § 1). The aforesaid clerics attempt marriage not only illicitly but also invalidly (can. 1072). The obligation of perfect chastity also binds a married man who has been initiated into sacred order with apostolic dispensation.

The said obligation of preserving perfect chastity certainly arises from the solemn vow of chastity, which is plainly made tacitly in the reception of major order, from Boniface VIII,² from John XXII,³ and from the Constitution of Benedict XIV Inter praeteritos, § 41 (St. Alphonsus VI, 808). Likewise it arises from ecclesiastical law, insofar as perfect chastity regards external and mixed acts, so that a major cleric who had entirely been ignorant of or had excluded the vow of chastity would nevertheless, through an external violation of perfect chastity, sin both against chastity and against religion, namely because the ecclesiastical law was passed from the motive of this virtue; in a word, he would become guilty of carnal sacrilege (cf. can. 132, § 1). With respect to merely internal acts, the matter is deservedly called into doubt, since ecclesiastical law more probably cannot, and in fact is not presumed to, regard acts of this kind. Besides, note:

a) Married men, while the wife is living, are kept from receiving orders (can. 987, 2°). A married man who without apostolic dispensation has received major orders, even in good faith, is prohibited from the exercise of those orders (can. 132, § 3).

b) Minor clerics can indeed enter marriage, but unless the marriage was null by force or fear inflicted on them, they fall by the law itself from the clerical state (can. 132, § 2).

c) From can. 188, 5°, any offices of clerics are vacant by the fact itself and without any declaration, even if they have contracted only civil marriage, as they say.

d) With respect to the Eastern Church these things hold: 1° Clerics who contracted marriage before the subdiaconate can receive the remaining orders and continue married life, except Bishops, who are bound to bid farewell altogether to married life. 2° Clerics once initiated into the subdiaconate are prohibited from contracting marriage; not indeed by vow, but by prescription of the Church. Indeed, "the marriage would be not only illicit, but also invalid."

2. Means of preserving chastity; to which can. 133 refers: Clerics should take care not to keep with themselves or in any way frequent women concerning whom there could be suspicion (§ 1). It is lawful for them to cohabit only with those women in whom a natural bond allows nothing evil to be suspected, such as mother, sister, paternal aunt, and the like, or from whom proven honesty of morals joined with more advanced age removes every suspicion (§ 2). Judgment whether keeping or frequenting women in some particular case can be a scandal or bring danger of incontinence belongs to the local Ordinary, whose duty it is to prohibit clerics from this keeping or frequenting (§ 3). The contumacious are presumed concubinarians (§ 4).

3. Penal sanctions. a) Clerics constituted in minor orders, guilty of some delict against the sixth precept of the decalogue, are to be punished according to the gravity of the fault, even by dismissal from the clerical state if the circumstances of the delict advise this, besides the penalties threatened by can. 2357 for some delicts even against laymen (can. 2358).

b) Clerics in sacred orders, whether secular or religious, who are concubinarians, after warning has been issued uselessly, are to be compelled to withdraw from illicit cohabitation and to repair scandal, by suspension from divine things and by privation of the fruits of office, benefice, or dignity, with observance of cann. 2176-2181 concerning the manner of proceeding against concubinary clerics. If they have committed a delict against the sixth precept of the decalogue with minors below the age of sixteen years, or have committed adultery, defloration, bestiality, sodomy, pandering, or incest with blood relatives or relatives by affinity in the first degree, they are to be suspended, declared infamous, deprived of any office, benefice, dignity, or function which they have, and in graver cases deposed. If they have offended otherwise against the sixth precept of the decalogue, they are to be restrained with suitable penalties according to the gravity of the case, not excluding privation of office or benefice, especially if they have care of souls (can. 2359).

c) Clerics constituted in sacred orders, or regulars or nuns after a solemn vow of chastity, and likewise all who presume to contract marriage, even only civilly, with any of the aforesaid persons, incur excommunication latae sententiae simply reserved to the Apostolic See. Besides, clerics, if after warning they have not come to their senses within the time fixed beforehand by the Ordinary according to the diversity of circumstances, are to be degraded (can. 2388, § 1). Finally, as has already been noted, any offices of clerics are vacant by the fact itself and without any declaration, even if they have contracted only civil marriage, as they say (can. 188, 5°).

¹ Can. 214, § 1 establishes: A cleric who, compelled by grave fear, received a sacred order and afterwards, once the fear was removed, did not ratify that same ordination at least tacitly by the exercise of the order, while nevertheless willing by such an act to subject himself to clerical obligations, is to be reduced to the lay state by sentence of the judge, after the coercion and the lack of ratification have been legitimately proved, without any obligations of celibacy and canonical hours.

² C. unic., De voto, III, 15.

³ C. unic., Extravagantes, I, 6.

V. Common Life. The custom of common life among clerics is to be praised and recommended, and where it flourishes, it is to be preserved as far as can be done (can. 134).

VI. The Divine Office. Clerics constituted in major orders, except those mentioned in cann. 213 and 214, i.e. those who have been legitimately reduced to the lay state, are held by the obligation of reciting the canonical hours completely every day according to their proper and approved liturgical books (can. 135); concerning these, see Article III.

VII. External Gravity. To this pertain those things which regard ecclesiastical habit, hair and tonsure, and the rest of the apparatus of external things.

1. Ecclesiastical habit. a) All clerics are to wear decent ecclesiastical habit, according to legitimate customs of places and the prescriptions of the local Ordinary (can. 136, § 1).

b) A cleric who, with no necessity compelling, does not wear the prescribed habit sins generally gravely, as is clear from the gravity of the penalty soon to be reported, and also from the doctrine of the Council of Trent,¹ which charges with temerity and contempt of religion clerics who, valuing their proper dignity and clerical honor lightly, wear lay clothing even publicly. A cleric sins only lightly if, without a just cause, for a brief time, without a depraved end and without grave scandal, he puts off the habit. He does not sin if he does this even for a long time but with proportionate cause, for example to avoid danger of death or grave harm (St. Alphonsus VI, 825; Examen Ordinandorum, n. 49).

c) Minor clerics who by their own authority and without legitimate cause have put off ecclesiastical habit and tonsure, and when warned by the Ordinary have not amended themselves within a month, fall by the law itself from the clerical state (can. 136, § 3). Major clerics, after a month has passed uselessly from the warning, are to be suspended from the orders received; and if they have notoriously passed over to a kind of life alien to the clerical state, and, after being warned again, have not come to their senses, they are to be deposed after three months from this last warning (can. 2379). Any offices are vacant by the fact itself if a cleric by his own authority and without just cause has laid aside ecclesiastical habit, and, when warned by the Ordinary, has not resumed it within a month from receiving the warning (can. 188, 7°).

2. Hair and tonsure. The meaning of this crown is disputed; for they narrate that Blessed Peter was shaved on the head by pagans for the sake of mockery, and was shorn around in a circle, and that from this the use of wearing the crown was introduced into the Church. Others derive it from symbolic reasons, either insofar as this crown or shaving of the head, already among Greeks and Romans and so among monks and clerics, though with a higher meaning, would be a sign of servitude,² or as an imitation of the thorny crown of Our Lord, or on the contrary as a sign of reign or royal dignity (cf. St. Thomas, Supplementum, q. 40, a. 1).

a) All clerics are to wear the tonsure or clerical crown, unless the received customs of peoples bear otherwise, and are to use a simple style of hair (can. 136, § 1). It is said "unless the received customs of peoples bear otherwise," because the custom of wearing the crown has not been received in some regions, or at least has fallen into desuetude, which desuetude is now recognized in the Code itself. A wig can licitly be used from a just cause with the permission of the Bishop. But it is not lawful to celebrate with it except with the permission of the Supreme Pontiff, or of another endowed with the faculty of granting permission; a faculty of this kind has been given, for example, to Nuncios, provided true necessity is present (St. Alphonsus VI, 398).³

b) The gravity of the obligation of wearing the tonsure is not established, unless it is omitted from contempt, or someone constituted in sacred orders neglects it for a very long time, for example for many months (St. Alphonsus VI, 826; Homo Apostolicus, Appendix 3, n. 50).

c) With respect to the penal sanction, cf. can. 136, § 3, reported above.

Note. Formerly in the Western Church it was forbidden to wear a beard, except in a case of necessity, with the permission of the Bishop being added, or from privilege (as for Capuchins), or from particular usage.⁴ But the Code is silent concerning this matter; therefore a general prohibition is no longer had, although neither has positive license been given. Hence the Sacred Congregation of the Council, in the Wroclaw case,⁵ responded that the Code had not conceded the wearing of a beard, and that Ordinaries have the right to keep in force, each for his own diocese, the prohibition in force before the Code.

3. The rest of the apparatus of external things. Concerning the ring, can. 136, § 2 says: Let them not use a ring, unless this has been conceded to them by law or apostolic privilege. Thus, for example, from liturgical laws the ring belongs to Bishops because of spiritual marriage with the Church (can. 349, § 1, n. 2). In the Code it is also conceded to Abbots (can. 325) and Doctors (can. 1378); from privilege, sometimes to certain canons. Nevertheless, with respect to the wearing of a ring in Mass, can. 811, § 2 establishes: "(A priest about to celebrate Mass) should abstain ... from zucchetto and ring, unless he is a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, a Bishop, or a blessed Abbot, or unless an apostolic indult permits him the use of the same in celebrating Mass."

For the rest, attention must be paid to the general principles and obligations connatural to clerics, taken from the character of the clerical state itself (can. 124). Thus in general, luxury of every kind is always to be prohibited to clerics.⁶ Under this name come, for example, boasting and the use of perfumes, concerning which c. 1, causa 21, qu. 4; likewise c. 1, c. 21, q. 4: display and sumptuousness in furnishings, concerning which, among other things, Trent⁷ declares: "not only does [the Council] command that bishops be content with modest furnishings ..., but also that in the rest of the manner of life and the whole household, they take care that nothing appear which does not display simplicity, zeal for God, and contempt of vanities ... What has been said concerning Bishops, it determines that the same is to be observed, according to the condition of their grade, in all who hold any ecclesiastical benefices."

¹ Session 14, chapter 6, on reform.

² Vlaming, n. 514; Gasparri, I, n. 38.

³ Cf. Sacred Congregation of Rites, n. 2027, ad 5; Benedict XIV, De Synodo, book 11, c. 9.

⁴ Cf. response of the Nuncio of Munich, given on 4 May 1863 to the Archbishop of Munich.

⁵ 10 January 1920.

⁶ Cf. Trent, session 22, on reform, chapter 1.

⁷ Session 25, on reform, chapter 1.