Chapter I. On the Positive Requisites

(n. 608 stands at the heading Chapter I. On the Positive Requisites.)

608-609. Canon 974 states: "In order that someone may licitly be ordained, that is, receive tonsure and Orders, there are required: 1° received sacred Confirmation; 2° morals congruent with the Order to be received; 3° canonical age; 4° due knowledge; 5° reception of the lower Orders; 6° observance of interstices; 7° a canonical title, if it is a question of major Orders. As regards episcopal consecration, the prescription of canon 331 is to be observed." We shall speak of each, omitting those things which pertain to episcopal consecration, after first saying certain things about vocation, about the state of grace, and about the intention of ascending to the Presbyterate, and adding some things about the intention with which Orders are to be received.

I. Vocation;¹ concerning which it is useful to establish the following.

1. At least some vocation must be admitted altogether, so that it is licit for no one to approach ordination merely of his own accord. This is clear from these words of Sacred Scripture: "Nor does anyone take the honor to himself, but he who is called by God as Aaron was";² these words some, considering the context, understand of ecclesiastical vocation, others of divine vocation.

2. A twofold vocation is required, ecclesiastical, that is, proceeding from the Bishop, and divine.

a) No one denies that ecclesiastical vocation is required. For the rest, the Cardinal Secretary of State on July 2, 1912, signified that Pius X approved the judgment pronounced by the Commission of Cardinals concerning the work of Lahitton; and this judgment declared that the work La vocation sacerdotale was in no way to be reproved, indeed that in many respects it was outstandingly to be praised, for example "insofar as it maintains: 1° that no one ever has any right to ordination antecedently to the election of the Bishop," etc.³

b) Divine vocation also is required. For: 1° Canon 1353 enacts: "Let priests, especially pastors, take care that boys who show signs of ecclesiastical vocation be guarded with special care from the contagion of the world, be formed to piety, be imbued with the first studies of letters, and that the seed of divine vocation in them be fostered." And canon 1357, § 2 states: "Above all let the Bishop strive frequently to visit the Seminary personally, and to acquire for himself a fuller knowledge of the character, piety, vocation, and progress of the students, especially on the occasion of sacred ordinations." But by these words ecclesiastical vocation cannot be signified, since it has not yet taken place. There is added the authority of the Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Thus, for example, St. Cyprian,⁴ St. Cyril of Alexandria,⁵ St. Bernard,⁶ St. Thomas (p. 3, q. 27, a. 4), and St. Alphonsus (VI, 802) teach.

Nor is opposed the judgment pronounced by the Commission of Cardinals concerning the work of Lahitton, which praises the said work "insofar as it maintains: 1° (that which we have already noted) that no one ever has any right to ordination antecedently to the free election of the Bishop; 2° that the condition which must be attended to on the part of the one to be ordained, and which is called priestly vocation, by no means consists, at least necessarily and by ordinary law, in some internal aspiration of the subject or invitations of the Holy Spirit toward entering the priesthood; 3° but on the contrary, that nothing more is required in the ordinand, in order that he be duly called by the Bishop, than right intention together with suitability placed in those gifts of grace and nature, and proved through that probity of life and sufficiency of doctrine, which produce a founded hope that he will be able rightly to undertake the offices of the priesthood and holily observe its obligations." But these things are well composed with the opinion which admits divine vocation, if it is said that in the foregoing the discussion concerns those things which must be attended to by the Bishop in order that he may duly call someone to Order; it suffices to attend to the signs of divine vocation. There is added that right intention cannot be had without the grace of God; and, strictly speaking, this already suffices for us to be able to speak of divine vocation.

3. The signs of divine vocation are right intention and suitability. Right intention consists in the will of embracing Orders with a view to the glory of God and the salvation of souls (St. Alphonsus, VI, 802). Suitability is constituted by due knowledge and due probity of life, of which there will be discussion in nn. 613 and 615.

Sometimes extraordinary signs of divine vocation are present, when, namely, God manifests it in a miraculous way, as happened in St. Paul, or by unusual movements of grace.

Corollary I. One who does not follow a recognized vocation cannot be excused from sin, since, deprived of the special graces especially annexed to vocation, he exposes himself to grave danger of departing from the way of salvation (cf. the things said by St. Alphonsus about the religious state, IV, 78).

Corollary II. One who embraces the clerical state without vocation seems to sin gravely. The reason is that he undertakes obligations so difficult that they are scarcely observed without special helps, without a founded hope of receiving those helps (St. Alphonsus, V, 803).⁷

Corollary III. It is unlawful to force anyone in any way, for any reason, to the clerical state, or to turn away from the same state one who is canonically suitable (canon 971).

¹ Cf. Lahitton, La vocation sacerdotale; Jansen, in Ned. Kath. Stemmen, 1911, p. 324 sq.; 1912, p. 270 sq.; Hurtaud, La vocation au sacerdoce; Vermeersch, De vocatione religiosa et sacerdotali.

² Heb. 5:4; cf. 1 Tim. 3:10; Roman Catechism, p. II, c. 7, q. 3.

³ A.A.S. 1912, p. 485.

⁴ Epistle 55 to Pope Cornelius, n. 5, Migne, t. 3, col. 803.

⁵ De adoratione in Spiritu et veritate, book II, Migne, t. 182, col. 585.

⁶ Sermon 58, In Cantica, n. 3, Migne, t. 183.

⁷ Cf. Roman Catechism, p. 2, c. 7, qq. 3 and 4.

II. The state of grace is required under grave obligation in receiving Orders which are sacraments; with respect to the others, there is not a grave obligation.

III. The intention of ascending to the Presbyterate (canon 973, § 1); the direct grave obligation is not sufficiently established, but one who receives a major Order without the said intention commonly gravely deceives his Superiors.

IV. Received sacred Confirmation, which canon 974, § 1, 1° prescribes, and concerning which the Council of Trent says: "Let those not be initiated by first tonsure who have not received the Sacrament of Confirmation."¹ Now the obligation of receiving Confirmation before first tonsure is quite probably only slight, because the Council of Trent, from which the Code is not judged to depart, speaks more mildly. Nor do the words of the Sacred Congregation of the Council² seem to be pressed too much, since it declares that one who has received first tonsure or Orders without being confirmed, as one badly promoted, cannot ascend to other Orders nor receive benefices without dispensation of the Apostolic See.

¹ Session 23, cap. 4, De reformatione.

² September 27, 1601.

V. Morals congruent with the Order to be received (canon 974, § 1, 2°; cf. canon 973); by these are understood especially piety, chastity, and sobriety, exercised, of course, through acts which do not merely present the external appearance of virtue. Therefore the said virtues are prescribed also by ecclesiastical law. Likewise they are prescribed by the moral law, and indeed, especially with respect to sobriety and chastity, under grave obligation: both by reason of the sacred and most worthy office, and by reason of the danger lest the ordained man, deprived also of the assistance of conjugal life, fall into many sins and be a grave scandal to others (St. Alphonsus, VI, 63 sq.; Homo Apostolicus, last tract, n. 16, 17). St. Thomas says thus: "Through Sacred Order someone is deputed to the most worthy mysteries, by which service is rendered to Christ Himself in the sacrament of the altar, for which a greater interior sanctity is required than the religious state requires" (2.2, q. 184, a. 8). And elsewhere: "One who is entangled in some vice ought not to be admitted to the ministry of Order" (Supplement, q. 35, a. 1, ad 3). Again: "For the suitable execution of Orders not just any goodness suffices, but excellent goodness is required" (Supplement, q. 35, a. 1, ad 3). And: "Those who are applied to the divine mysteries ought to be perfect in virtue" (In 4 Sent., d. 24, q. 3, a. 1). And: "Interior perfection is required for this, that someone worthily exercise acts of this kind" (2.2, q. 184, a. 6; cf. q. 189, a. 1, ad 3).

How greatly Bishops and other ecclesiastical Superiors must attend to morals congruent with the Order to be received is gathered from innumerable ecclesiastical documents, of which it is pleasing to bring forward the principal ones. Innocent III, in his Decretal which begins A multis, De Aetat. et Quantit., enacts: "Let no one be permitted to approach sacred Order unless he is either a virgin or is of proved chastity." The Council of Trent says: "Let Bishops know... that not every individual established in that age must be assumed to these Orders, but only those who are worthy, and whose proved virtue is old age."¹ The Roman Catechism says: "In him who is to be created a priest, integrity of life and morals ought greatly to be commended."² The same things are inculcated by Benedict XIV in his Encyclical Ubi primum,³ Leo XIII in the Encyclical Etsi nos,⁴ in his letter to the Bishops of Prussia,⁵ and in his Encyclical to the Bishops of Italy,⁶ and Pius X in the Motu proprio Sacrorum Antistitum.⁷

Corollary I. The things we have said about the moral law hold perfectly indeed for the priesthood alone, but less perfectly also for the Subdiaconate, and a fortiori for the Diaconate; and this all the more because today hardly anyone receives a major Order without being about to ascend to the priesthood.

Corollary II. Definitive judgment about the required morals belongs to the Bishop. Hence canon 1357, § 2: "Above all let the Bishop strive frequently to visit the seminary personally, carefully to watch over ecclesiastical instruction, and to acquire for himself a fuller knowledge of the character, piety, vocation, and progress of the students, especially on the occasion of sacred ordinations." A grave obligation also falls on Superiors, Directors, and confessors to keep the unworthy from Orders, with the things that must be observed being observed. "Whoever," says Leo XIII in his Encyclical to the Bishops of Italy,⁸ "in the course of education shall have shown inclinations less suited to a priestly vocation, let them be sent away; and in admitting clerics to Sacred Orders the greatest weighing must be applied." And the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, in the norms for the seminaries of Italy, stated: "Besides the spiritual director of the students, certain learned and pious priests shall be designated for hearing their confessions; mindful of their grave obligation and according to the track of approved authors, they will provide counsels and lights to their penitents in their doubts, imposing the obligation of withdrawing from the ecclesiastical state on those who have shown themselves not to be called" (n. 2).⁹

Corollary III. One habituated in vice, for example of lust or drunkenness, is bound under grave obligation to desist from receiving sacred Order until he has put on morals congruent with the Order, indeed until for a notable time, for example for six months, he has conducted himself as amended, so that he must be said to have put on different morals and can form moral certainty that he will fulfill the obligations annexed to the Order. Except the case, however not easily to be presumed, in which someone is healed by an extraordinary impulse of grace (St. Alphonsus, VI, 802). So also the Venerable Paul Segneri, Leonard of Port Maurice, and innumerable others; cf. also the norms of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars cited above.

For the rest, with respect to sins of lust, one must proceed more severely if the sins are with persons of the other sex than if they are solitary; still more severely if the discussion concerns sins with persons of the same sex. If the latter arise from a passing passion, greater hope of amendment shines forth; but if they proceed from an abnormal and permanent passion - in which case affection toward the other sex is lacking - hope of amendment is to be regarded as practically none.

In doubt whether morals congruent with the Order to be received are present, ordination should be deferred, unless, all things considered, it is better to persuade the ordinand to abstain from receiving Sacred Orders.

¹ Session 23, cap. 12, De reformatione.

² Part II, c. VII, q. 28.

³ December 3, 1740.

⁴ February 25, 1884.

⁵ January 6, 1886.

⁶ December 8, 1902.

⁷ September 1, 1910.

⁸ December 8, 1902.

⁹ In Monitor ecclesiasticus 1910, p. 123.

VI. Canonical age for tonsure and minor Orders is not directly established; but, as canon 976, § 1 states: "No one, whether secular or religious, is to be promoted to first tonsure before the theological course has been begun." With respect to major Orders, canon 975 enacts: "The Subdiaconate is not to be conferred before the twenty-first year has been completed; the Diaconate before the twenty-second has been completed; the Presbyterate before the twenty-fourth has been completed." In doubt whether someone has arrived at the required age, he cannot receive the Order, because the prohibition of receiving it, as the prior thing, is of the better condition (St. Alphonsus, VI, 799; t. I, n. 229).

VII. Due knowledge is imposed both on religious and on seculars. Now:

1. No one, whether secular or religious, is to be promoted to first tonsure before the theological course has been begun (canon 976, § 1).

2. The Subdiaconate is not to be conferred except at the end of the third year of the theological course; the Diaconate, except when the fourth year has begun; the Presbyterate, except after the middle of that same fourth year (canon 976, § 2).

3. The theological course must have been completed not privately, but in schools instituted for this according to the plan of studies determined by canon 1365 (canon 976, § 3).

4. In order that someone can be promoted to the Episcopate, he must be endowed with the degree of doctor or at least licentiate in sacred theology or canon law in some university or Institute of studies approved by the Holy See, or at least be truly expert in those same disciplines; but if he belongs to some religious institute, he must have from his major Superiors either a similar title or at least a testimony of true expertise (canon 331, § 1, 5°).

VIII. Reception of lower Orders; namely, Orders are to be conferred gradually, so that ordinations by leap are altogether prohibited (canon 977; cf. Council of Trent).¹ The prohibition of receiving Orders by leap is grave, as is clear both from the gravity of the words which the cited canon and Council of Trent use, and from the attached penalty (cf. canon 2374).

¹ Session 23, canon 2 and cap. 11, 14, De reformatione.

IX. Observance of interstices is chiefly prescribed so that "those promoted may exercise themselves in the Orders received, according to the prescription of the Bishop" (canon 978, § 1), and may always show themselves more suitable for receiving the Presbyterate;¹ these words, however, are not to be understood as of strict precept. These interstices are to be observed:

1. The interstices between first tonsure and the Ostiariate, or between the individual minor Orders, are entrusted to the prudent judgment of the Bishop (canon 972, § 2). Nevertheless it is not licit: 1° to confer first tonsure together with any of the minor Orders; nor 2° to confer all minor Orders at the same time (cf. canon 978, § 3). Yet a contrary custom is not reproved, as happens in those cases of which we shall now speak.

2. Between the Acolytate and the Subdiaconate at least one year must intervene; between the Subdiaconate and the Diaconate, and likewise between the Diaconate and the Presbyterate, at least three months, unless the necessity or utility of the Church, in the judgment of the Bishop, requires otherwise (cf. canon 978, § 2). The year of interstices can be computed either ecclesiastically, for example from one Saturday within the Octave of Pentecost to another, or civilly, for example from the first day of March to the same day of the next following year.

As is clear from the cited canon, the Bishop can dispense from interstices for a cause of public necessity or utility, not only seculars but also religious; and because no limitation is added, he can even grant that Orders be conferred on continuous days. Seculars and non-exempt religious are dispensed by the proper Bishop; exempt religious by him who legitimately ministers Orders to them. Nevertheless, without the special permission of the Roman Pontiff it is never licit: 1° to confer minor Orders with the Subdiaconate; 2° to confer two sacred Orders on one and the same day, any contrary custom being reproved (cf. canon 978, § 3).

Note. Regulars enjoy the privilege of receiving Orders without observing interstices. Some indeed deny this, because Gregory XIII, who granted to the Society of Jesus the privilege of receiving Sacred Orders on individual Sundays and on three feast days even continuous, stated that this privilege was incommunicable. But it is more truly and more commonly affirmed; because other Pontiffs gave to other Orders so broad a communication of the privileges of the Society of Jesus that it also contains this privilege; for example, Urban VIII, by the Constitution Redemptoris nostri,² to the Order of the Most Holy Trinity; Alexander VIII, by the Constitution Inscrutabili,³ to the Order of Blessed Mary of Mercy (cf. St. Alphonsus, VI, 797, dub. 3; De privilegiis, 9). Moreover Ferraris⁴ reports that Clement VIII⁵ granted to the Congregation of St. John the Evangelist in Lusitania the same dispensation from interstices, without a clause excluding communication; and the other Regular Orders certainly participate in this privilege. Then Leo XII, by the Constitution Plura inter,⁶ granted anew to the Society of Jesus the faculty of receiving Orders "with interstices by no means observed," with no exclusionary clause added.

Objection. After Trent the practice became established in the Roman Curia of not granting indults except with an added or understood condition that the days of ordination should be feast days, and indeed interposed days, not continuous ones.⁷

Response: "This limitation commonly regarded only indults granted to ordinands, but not privileges granted to Regulars or even sometimes to Bishops. But the addition of such a condition again proves that privileges which had previously been granted without such clauses are not subject to the aforesaid limitations."⁸

¹ Council of Trent, cap. 11-13, De reformatione.

² March 22, 1634, n. 2.

³ July 28, 1690.

⁴ Interstitia, n. 14-16.

⁵ November 23, 1596.

⁶ July 11, 1826.

⁷ Cf. Decree of Innocent XII, December 14, 1693; Giraldi, II, 95.

⁸ Aertnys-Damen, II, 578; cf. Sacred Congregation of Rites in one Marianopolitan case, May 18, 1883 (n. 587 in the old collection), not taken up in the authentic collection, n. 3574.

X. Canonical title, if it is a question of major Orders. A title of support is understood, that is, a guarantee by which provision is made for the suitable and of itself perpetual support of the ordinand. It is required, however, if it is a question of receiving major Orders (canon 974, § 1, 7°),¹ lest perhaps the ordained man be forced to provide for himself by begging or in some other way which cannot be reconciled with the dignity or offices of the state. "One ordained in sacred Orders, if he loses the title, is to provide another for himself, unless, in the judgment of the Bishop, provision has otherwise been made for his suitable support" (canon 980, § 1). "But those who, apart from an apostolic indult, knowingly ordain their own subject in sacred Orders without a canonical title or permit him to be ordained, must themselves and their successors provide the necessary sustenance to the same needy person, until provision has otherwise been made for his suitable support" (canon 980, § 2). Finally, if a Bishop has ordained someone without a canonical title with an agreement that the ordained man not ask sustenance from him, this agreement lacks all force (canon 980, § 3). With respect to the required title, observe:

1. For secular clerics the canonical title is the title of benefice, and, failing that, of patrimony or pension. This title must be both truly secure for the whole life of the ordained man and truly sufficient for his suitable support, according to the norms to be given by Ordinaries for the different necessities and circumstances of places and times (canon 979). If not even one of the titles just assigned is available, it can be supplied by the title of service of the diocese, and, in places subject to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, by the title of mission (canon 981, § 1). Now:

a) The title of benefice is that which is founded in a benefice; but a benefice actually obtained and peacefully possessed is required. But resignation of the benefice by whose title the cleric was ordained is null unless express mention is made that the cleric had been promoted by that title and had substituted for it another legitimate title of ordination, by grant of the Ordinary (canon 1485).

b) The title of patrimony is that which is founded in patrimony. By the name of patrimony here are understood goods possessed by the ordinand and sufficiently free from mortgage or other burden. "It is indifferent whether the patrimony is constituted in stable and certain fruitful goods, or in things which are equated with immovables. Thus a lay chaplaincy can be a title of patrimony, provided those who enjoy the right of naming have pledged their good faith, with the authority of the Bishop interposed, that they will not revoke the chaplain until provision has been made for him by a suitable benefice or patrimony."²

c) The title of pension is that which is founded in a pension. By the name of pension is understood a stipend of support assigned to the ordinand and to be supplied to him annually, whether from ecclesiastical benefices or from other goods. Hence also a personal pension.³

Note. As formerly, so also now the insufficiency of one title can be supplied by another title.⁴

d) The title of service of the diocese and of mission carries with it that the ordinand, by interposing an oath, devotes himself perpetually to the service of the diocese or mission, under the authority of the local Ordinary for the time being. The Ordinary must confer on the priest whom he has promoted by the title of service of the church or mission a benefice, office, or subsidy sufficient for his suitable support (canon 981).

2. For religious, the title is established as follows:

a) For Regulars the canonical title is solemn religious profession, or the title, as it is called, of poverty (canon 982, § 1); note that solemn profession alone is a title for Regulars.

b) For religious of perpetual simple vows, whether emitted in an Order or in a religious Congregation, the title is that of the common table, of the Congregation, or another similar title, according to the norm of the constitutions (canon 982, § 2); that is, as the legitimate constitutions have established or will establish in the future.

c) Other religious, that is, religious of temporary vows, whether emitted in an Order or in a religious Congregation, and likewise novices, as regards the title of ordination, are governed by the law of seculars (canon 982, § 3). The title of the common table does not belong to these religious, because they are not yet devoted to religious life, and therefore lack the right of receiving perpetual support from the goods of the religious institute.

¹ Council of Trent, session 21, cap. 2, De reformatione.

² Gasparri, n. 606.

³ Aertnys-Damen, II, 590; cf. St. Alphonsus, VI, 817.

⁴ Cf. Benedict XIV, Quaestiones canonicae, 46.

XI. Right intention; concerning this it suffices to have observed these things:

1. A merely natural intention, that is, one resting on a natural motive alone, does not suffice, so that someone can be excluded for that cause.

2. An intention at least predominantly or equally supernatural suffices to this extent, that one approaching with an intention of this kind cannot be kept away.