Chapter I. On the Duties of Clerics Generally

Can. 124 establishes generally: "Clerics ought to lead an interior and exterior life holier than laymen, and to excel them in virtue and right deeds as an example." Therefore they are bound to a holier life than laymen both by reason of the offices to which they are deputed, and by reason of the example to be furnished by them.

By reason of offices; concerning which St. Thomas says: "For the suitable execution of Orders, goodness of whatever sort is not sufficient, but excellent goodness is required, so that just as those who receive Order are constituted above the people in the grade of Order, so also they may be superior in the merit of holiness" (Supplementum, q. 35, a. 1, ad 3). And concerning the Priest in II-II, q. 184, a. 8, he says: "Through sacred Order someone is deputed to the most worthy ministries, by which Christ Himself is served in the Sacrament of the Altar; for this a greater interior holiness is required than even the religious state requires."

By reason of example; concerning which the Council of Trent says:² "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 lifted from the things of the world into 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 so compose their whole life and morals that in habit, gesture, gait, speech, and all other things they display nothing except what is grave, moderate, and full of religion; and that they avoid even slight things, which in them would be very great, so that their actions may bring veneration to all."

After these things have been noted generally, following the Code of Canon Law we shall speak first of positive duties, then of negative duties, and finally specifically of the duty of reciting the canonical hours.

¹ Cf. Code of Canon Law, cann. 124-144; Decretals, book III, title 1, De vita et honestate clericorum; Council of Trent, session 22, decree on reform, c. 1; Exhortation to the clergy of Pius X, 4 August 1908; Wernz-Vidal, Ius canonicum, II, n. 87 sq.; Gasparri, Tractatus de sacra ordinatione, I, n. 1 sq.; Vermeersch-Creusen, Epitome Iuris Canonici, I, n. 214 sq.; Vlaming, Institutiones iuris ecclesiastici, part III, n. 489 sq.

² Session 22, decree on reform, c. 1.