Requisites for Lawful Ordination

471. Documents which the ordinand, whether he is secular or religious, must procure for himself and show to the bishop are these.

Those things which are said here concerning all ordinands, both seculars and religious, hold good; for as regards ordinations religious are ruled by the law of seculars.¹

1. Testimonial letters of the ordinary of that place in which the one to be promoted has stayed long enough that he could have contracted a canonical impediment there. The time in which the one to be promoted could have contracted a canonical impediment is a semester after puberty, but for soldiers a trimester, because in the time of military service an impediment is much more easily contracted.

Testimonial letters concerning life and morals, and also concerning the absence of any canonical impediment, must testify and be shown, even if it is morally certain that the candidate has not contracted any canonical impediment.

2. They must be granted by the ordinary himself, the vicar general, and it does not suffice if they are granted by the parish priest or by the rector of the seminary. Moreover they must be granted in order to receiving orders, whether minor or major; a testimony concerning the same matter but given for another end does not suffice.

3. The ordaining bishop, according to his prudence, can require testimonial letters also for brief times of stay, and even for the time which preceded puberty.

4. If the ordinary of the place neither by himself nor through others sufficiently knows the one to be promoted so that he can testify concerning him, or if the one to be promoted has wandered through so many dioceses that it becomes impossible or too difficult to obtain all testimonial letters, let the ordinary provide at least by a supplementary oath to be furnished by the one to be promoted.

5. If, after testimonial letters have been obtained and before ordination, the one to be promoted has lived for a notable space of time in the same territory, new testimonial letters of the ordinary of the place are necessary.

6. If someone, after receiving dimissorials from his own bishop, is ordained by another bishop, the testimonial letters of his own bishop must also be added.²

7. Religious must show testimonial letters of the major superior.

¹ Cn. 993.

² Cf. Cn. 993, 4. Cn. 994.

472. 2. Dimissorial letters.¹ Those who are not ordained by their own bishop because a just cause exists can be ordained by any other bishop having communion with the Apostolic See, once legitimate dimissorial letters from that same bishop have been received, provided he is not of a different rite.

1. Dimissorial letters can be given to seculars by:

a. The proper bishop after he has taken possession of the diocese, even if he has not yet been consecrated;

b. The vicar general, if the bishop has granted him a special faculty for this;

c. The capitular vicar, with the consent of the chapter, after a year from the vacant see. Within a year, to those who actually have or receive a benefice for which a certain order is required within a year, and to those to whom there is committed, or to be committed, an office which because of the necessity of the diocese must be provided for without delay. Nevertheless, to those who have been rejected by the bishop, he cannot grant dimissorial letters.

d. Vicars and Prefects apostolic, Abbots or Prelates nullius, even for major orders, although they lack episcopal character.

2. Dimissorial letters are not to be granted before all things which are required by law have been shown.

3. If the one to be promoted has stayed in the diocese of the ordaining bishop for a time sufficient for contracting an impediment, this bishop should directly gather testimonies.

4. Dimissorial letters can be limited or revoked by the one granting them himself or by his successor; but once granted, they are not extinguished by the death of the one granting them or by his removal from office, because they are graces made.

5. As regards religious, these statutes apply:²

a. Exempt religious must receive dimissorial letters from their own major superior;

b. Religious who emit only simple but perpetual vows can receive dimissorial letters from their superiors for minor orders only.

c. All other religious are ruled by the law of seculars, any privilege of giving dimissorials for major orders being revoked.³

¹ Cn. 958 ss.

² Cn. 964 ss.

³ Cn. 964.

473. 3. Canonical title for major orders. By the name title is signified provision for the honorable support of the one ordained in sacred orders.¹

a. Since it is not fitting that those who are devoted to the divine ministry should have to beg for their support or exercise sordid gain, the Church from most ancient times preserved this rule, that no one be promoted to orders for whose honorable support provision had not been made.²

b. Therefore the title must be truly secure for the whole life of the one ordained and truly sufficient for his suitable support according to norms given by the ordinaries.³

1. The title for secular clerics is the title of benefice, and if this is lacking, the title of patrimony or pension. If none of these is at hand, it can be supplied by the title of service of the diocese, and in places of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide by the title of mission.

2. A bishop who, without apostolic indult, knowingly ordains his subject without a title or permits him to be ordained must himself and his successors provide for him necessary support until other provision has been made.

3. One ordained in sacred orders who loses a title must provide another for himself, unless by judgment of the bishop provision for his suitable support has otherwise been made. If someone's title perishes after the subdiaconate has been received, he cannot receive a higher order before he has acquired a new one.

4. For religious: a. for regulars the canonical title is the solemn profession itself, or the title of poverty; b. for religious of simple perpetual vows, it is the title of common table, of the congregation, or another similar title; c. all other religious, also as to title, are ruled by the law of seculars.

alpha. To the two titles for seculars in force up to this point, benefice and patrimony, the Code has added the title of pension, which is equivalent to patrimony, if namely the cleric has the right of perceiving a secure and sufficient pension, whether it is furnished by the Church, by the government, or by private persons. To these are added two titles which can supply the defect of benefice and patrimony: service of the diocese and mission. The new Code does not mention other new titles.

beta. A cleric who is ordained to the title of service of the diocese or mission must by oath devote himself perpetually to the service of the diocese or mission.

To these documents are added testimonials:

4. Testimony concerning the examination for ordination;

5. Testimony of the last ordination, and if there is question of first tonsure, of baptism and confirmation;

6. Testimony concerning studies completed, required for the individual orders;

7. Testimony of the rector of the seminary or of the priest to whom the candidate had been commended outside the seminary, concerning good morals;

8. Testimony of the ordinary of the place in which the ordinand has stayed for a semester or trimester, or of the major superior if there is question of a religious.

¹ Cn. 979-982.

² Council of Trent, sess. 21, c. 2, De reform.

³ Cn. 979, 2.

474. That It Be Done at the Due Time.¹ 1. The episcopate ought to be conferred on a Sunday or on the feasts of the Apostles within the solemnities of Mass.

2. Ordinations in sacred orders are celebrated on the Saturdays of the four seasons, on the Saturday before Passion Sunday, Sitientes, and on Holy Saturday within the solemnities of Mass. When a grave intervening cause exists, they can also be done on any Sunday or feast of precept.

In several places of Germany a custom has been introduced that sacred orders are conferred also on public feast days which are not days of precept. In the new law a custom against the times for ordination prescribed by the same law is expressly reprobated.

3. Minor orders can be conferred on individual Sundays and double feasts, but only in the morning.

4. First tonsure can be conferred on any day and hour, even in the evening.

a. The faculty of ordaining outside the times, which is sometimes granted to bishops, is to be understood of feast days not continuous but interpolated. The faculty of ordaining outside the times and without intervals to be observed is to be understood in such a way that three continuous feast days do not suffice for conferring three sacred orders, unless from the words of the indult something else is established.²

b. The faculty of ordaining outside the times is so personal that the bishop: alpha. can ordain outside the times all dismissed to him from elsewhere, even from bishops lacking this faculty, provided they are furnished with the necessary documents; and beta. can dismiss his own subjects to other bishops lacking this faculty, in order to receive orders outside the times.

5. If an ordination is to be repeated, or if some rite is to be supplied, whether absolutely or conditionally, this can be done even outside the times and secretly.

¹ Cf. Pontificale rom., De ordinibus conferendis. Cn. 1006, 1007.

² Gasparri I, n. 509.

475. That It Be Done at the Due Place. 1. If the consecration of a bishop is done outside the Roman Curia, it is to be held in the church to which the bishop promoted as residential has been advanced. Nevertheless, in the bull of promotion there is usually granted the faculty of receiving consecration from the bishop whom the promoted one shall have chosen.

2. Sacred orders in general ordinations are to be conferred in the cathedral church with the canons present. If ordinations are held in another place of the diocese, as far as can be done the worthier church is to be approached, with the clergy of the place present. Particular ordinations from a just cause can also be held in other churches, or even in the oratory of the episcopal house, seminary, or religious house.

3. First tonsure and minor orders can be conferred even in private oratories.¹

4. Outside their own territory, orders in whose conferral pontificalia are exercised cannot be conferred without the permission of the ordinary of the place.²

a. Bishops are not permitted to exercise pontificalia in another diocese without the express consent of the ordinary of the place. Therefore a bishop can confer tonsure on his subjects outside the diocese because it can be conferred privately without pontificalia.

b. Cardinals do not need this permission; nevertheless, if a cardinal performs an ordination in the cathedral church, the ordinary must be forewarned about this matter.³

¹ Council of Trent, sess. 23, c. 8, De reform.; Pontificale rom., De ordinibus conferendis. Cn. 1009.

² Cn. 1008.

³ Cn. 239, 1, n. 15.

476. That the Interstices Be Observed by which those promoted can exercise themselves in the orders received.¹

a. It is not licit, except from a peculiar faculty of the Roman pontiff, to confer minor orders with the subdiaconate, nor two sacred orders on the same day, any contrary custom being reprobated.

b. It is not licit to confer first tonsure together with some minor order, nor all the minor orders, but only two or three, at the same time.

c. The interstices to be observed between first tonsure and the ostiariate, and likewise between the individual minor orders, are committed to the prudent judgment of the bishop.

d. Between the minor orders and the subdiaconate an interstice of one year is to be observed; between the subdiaconate and the diaconate, and likewise between the diaconate and the presbyterate, an interstice of three months is to be observed, unless necessity or utility of the Church by judgment of the bishop demands otherwise.

Therefore bishops are granted together the faculty of dispensing from interstices, but they can never dispense without cause in the superior law. From the statute of the law, however, it is clear that a lesser cause suffices so that he can dispense from the interstices between subdiaconate and diaconate, but a greater cause is required for dispensing between the acolyte and subdiaconate or between the diaconate and presbyterate.

¹ Cn. 978, which adapts the Tridentine dispositions, sess. 23, c. 13, De reform., to the circumstances of our times.

477. That It Not Be Done by Leap, that is, that a superior order not be conferred when an inferior order has not yet been conferred; for orders are to be conferred gradually, so that ordinations by leap are altogether forbidden.¹

a. Orders conferred with the inferior orders omitted are valid, except the episcopate, because the individual orders are complete and produce an effect independent from the others. Indeed in a superior order, e.g., in the presbyterate, the inferior order, diaconate, is eminently contained and is conferred with it. Nevertheless the Church does not permit one to ascend to a superior order or to exercise the order received unless the omitted or passed-over order has first been conferred.

b. Most theologians teach that the episcopate conferred before priesthood is null, because the complement of the priesthood cannot be conferred without the priesthood. Yet some, relying also on the ancient Pontifical, try to demonstrate that the sacerdotal order is contained eminently in the episcopate and is conferred with it, just as in other orders the inferior orders are contained and conferred.²

Note. Those who receive minor orders are not bound to receive holy communion; but those who are promoted to a sacramental order are bound under light obligation, and priests, who concelebrate with the bishop, under grave obligation.

¹ Cn. 977.

² Cf. Gasparri I, n. 23 ss.

478. Concerning Obligations Imposed by the Bishop. 1. Not to recite the prayers which after ordination are enjoined by the bishop does not seem to be a sin, since it is not established that they are to be fulfilled under strict obligation under sin. For some teach that the obligation of reciting those prayers is grave because the matter is grave; others that it is light; still others that it is none, because the bishop does not intend to impose a precept.

2. For the nocturn of such a day which, by the Roman Pontifical, the bishop is accustomed to impose on subdeacons and deacons ordained by him, the first nocturn of the feria, feast, or Sunday is to be understood, according as the ordination was held on a feria, feast, or Sunday, unless the bishop, who has the right to do this, expressly designated another.¹

By the name nocturn are understood three psalms with their antiphons; for these constitute the nocturn. But those things which are otherwise prefixed to the divine office, Pater, Ave, Credo, Lord, open, hymns, and lessons, do not belong to the substance of the nocturn.²

3. Not to say the three Masses imposed by the bishop on new priests, namely Masses of the Holy Spirit, of the Blessed Virgin, and for the dead, in the same way does not seem to be a sin. It is certain that new priests are not bound to apply them to the intention of the bishop or to the intention of the Church, and therefore they can accept a stipend for them, since the bishop enjoins only the quality of the Mass, not its application. Nor must they be said before the day of the following ordination, because according to the rubrics a votive Mass may be celebrated, and for a reasonable cause they can be deferred still further. If, however, in the meantime there occurs a feast on which the Mass is said of the Holy Spirit, e.g., Pentecost, or of the Blessed Virgin, by the Mass of the feast conforming to the office one satisfies the burden imposed by the bishop of celebrating a Mass of the Holy Spirit or of the Blessed Virgin.

a. The contrary opinion, namely that the bishop imposes the application of those Masses, is held by not a few, including Bouix, Hartmann, and Schuch, distinguished rubricists, whose arguments nevertheless cannot be called probable.

b. Yet it is strongly to be recommended that new priests apply those three Masses for the Church and for the faithful departed. For without doubt the mind of the Church enjoining these Masses is this: that those ordained should honor the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin through them, should carry out thanks for benefits received, first toward the whole Church, then toward the pontiff ordaining, then toward themselves, and finally should show mercy to the suffering Church, namely the faithful departed.

¹ S. C. R., June 27, 1899, n. 4042.

² S. C. R., July 10, 1903.

Many qualities and conditions are requisite for the lawful reception of Orders about which something must here be said; the fuller treatment of this matter belongs to canon law.

As we saw when treating of the clerical state, one who aspires to Orders must be of good life and must be called by God.

At least the Orders which are sacraments should be received in the state of grace, and Canon 1001 prescribes that before receiving the first tonsure and minor Orders the ordinand should devote at least three whole days to spiritual exercises, and before receiving sacred Orders he should devote at least six whole days to them.

In order that one may be lawfully ordained Canon 974 requires: (1) The reception of the sacrament of Confirmation; (2) moral conduct agreeably to the Order to be received; (3) the canonical age; (4) the required knowledge; (5) the reception of the lower Orders; (6) the observance of the interstices; (7) a canonical title if there is question of major Orders.

The subdiaconate may not be conferred before the completion of the twenty-first year of age, the diaconate before the completion of the twenty-second, and the priesthood before the completion of the twenty-fourth (Can. 975).

No one, whether secular or religious, is to receive the first tonsure before beginning his course of theology (Can. 976).

The subdiaconate may not be given except at the end of the third year of the course of theology, the diaconate only at the beginning of the fourth year, and the priesthood only after the middle of the fourth year (Can. 976, sec. 2).

Orders should be conferred by degrees, so that ordinations leaps and bounds are altogether prohibited (Can. 977).

Canon 978 prescribes that the interstices are to be observed, and during them those who have been promoted should exercise themselves in the Orders received according to the directions of the bishop.

The interstices between the first tonsure and the Order of door-keepers and between the minor Orders are left to the prudent judgement of the bishop; one year should elapse between the Order of acolytes and the subdiaconate; three months between the subdiaconate and the diaconate.

Without special leave of the Roman Pontiff minor Orders may never be given with the subdiaconate or two sacred Orders on one and the same day, and any custom to the contrary is reprobated; it is also forbidden to give the first tonsure together with one of the minor Orders, or all the minor Orders at once.

A bishop must have completed his thirtieth year.

By common law sacred Orders should be conferred during Mass on the Saturdays in Ember Week, or before Passion Sunday, or before Easter Sunday. For grave reason a bishop can confer them on any Sunday or holiday of obligation.

The first tonsure may be conferred on any day and at any time; minor Orders on Sundays and on doubles, in the morning (Can. 1006).

Those who receive sacred Orders must communicate in the Mass of ordination (Can. 1005).

The Church does not wish her clergy to have to beg or to exercise some unbecoming trade in order to gain a livelihood, so she requires that to be admitted to sacred Orders a cleric must have a title, as it is called, or a certain guarantee of decent support. Various titles are recognized by ecclesiastical law, such as a benefice, pension, patrimony, poverty for religious, a common table, the Mission, and others. If a cleric already ordained loses the title of his ordination he should find another, unless in the bishop’s judgement his decent support is otherwise provided for (Can. 980).

Before ordination regulars must be solemnly professed, unless they have a special privilege by which simple profession suffices.

After ordination a priest pays homage to the bishop and solemnly promises obedience to his ordinary. He undertakes no new burden by this promise; he simply binds himself anew to pay canonical obedience to the bishop in all matters subject to his authority; and a secular priest obliges himself not to leave the diocese for which he was ordained without the leave of his bishop.

(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.

There is required 7. that one be ordained through the due intervals of times. It is more probably lawful to confer first tonsure with some minor order, since first tonsure is not an order; Rome excepted. Lucidi, C. 2, n. 119. Between one minor order and another some time is required, which was not determined by Trent, sess. 23, C. 11, de Ref.; and in this the Bishop can well dispense, if from some cause something else seems expedient to him. From minor orders to the subdiaconate there is required under grave obligation the space of one year, unless necessity or the utility of the Church, in the judgment of the Bishop, demands otherwise. Trent, ibid., of the Church to which the cleric is ascribed. From the subdiaconate to the diaconate the space of a year is also required; nevertheless, for dispensing with this, any reasonable cause suffices, in the judgment of the Bishop. Trent, sess. 23, C. 13. From the diaconate to the priesthood there is required at least the space of a year, unless, on account of the utility and necessity of the Church, something else should seem good to the Bishop. Trent, sess. 23, C. 14. These words the S. C. C. declared are to be understood disjunctively, so that even utility alone is sufficient, in the judgment of the Bishop. But it is much more grave to receive two sacred orders on one and the same day, Trent, sess. 23, C. 13, or minor orders together with the subdiaconate, as is shown by common custom itself. Cf. C. Cum 2, C. Innotuit 3, de Eo qui furtive; L. 775, 780, 789, de Priv. 59; A. S. S., vol. 25, p. 587; E. M. "The remission of intervals, for the causes expressed by the Council, belongs to the ordaining Bishop as regards Regulars receiving orders from him, but not to Regular Superiors. The Bishop himself, nevertheless, concerning the causes for remission, is bound to give credence and deference to the testimony of the Regular Superior." S. C. C., Sept. 12, 1603; Benedict XIV, Inst. 57, n. 1.

Leo XII granted to the Society of Jesus the privilege of receiving orders without any observance of intervals. Brief Plura inter, July 11, 1826. Clement VIII granted to the Congregation of St. John the Evangelist in Lusitania the same dispensation from intervals. Ferraris, v. Interstitia, n. 14-16. Cf. here n. 906.

To n. 903.

"

I. Since it not rarely happens that Religious students, without any fault of their own or of their superiors, are compelled to interrupt studies for several months, for example by reason of infirmity or military service, it is asked whether students of this kind are bound to repeat the whole scholastic year thus interrupted or shortened; or whether they can be dispensed by the Superior General, with the deliberative vote of his Consultors acceding.

"

II. Whether the examination or test concerning which there is mention in the Response to n. VI of the Declarations of the Sacred Congregation of September 7, 1909, must be undergone also by students who have not cultivated in schools some discipline accessory to Theology; and if in the affirmative, whether this examination, to be undergone both by these students and by others, can coincide with the examination usually to be undergone at the end of the scholastic year.

"Response to I. In the negative to the first part; in the affirmative to the second, provided that: 1. the interruption or abbreviation of studies, taken as a whole, has not lasted beyond three months; 2. the studies omitted have been supplied by private schools; 3. and in the examination it has been established, from the testimony of the examiners or judges of doctrine, that the students have thoroughly learned the disciplines concerning which treatment was had in the schools during their absence.

"To II. The examination concerning which treatment is had in the Response to n. VI of the Declarations of the Sacred Congregation of September 7, 1909, is required for any omitted discipline; nevertheless the ordinary examination, even one given at the end of the year, suffices, which must be established from the testimony of the examiners or judges of doctrine." Sacred Congregation on Religious, January 8, 1915.

1. Antonius, a regular prelate, thinks that all regulars can be ordained outside the times. Hence he earnestly asks the Ordinary to be willing to confer orders outside the times on his subjects. The Ordinary refuses; but Antonius insists, asserting that this is a privilege common to all regulars, which was not abrogated by the Council of Trent; and was newly conceded to the Hierosolymitan Order by the Bull Circumspecta of Pius IV, without any clause of incommunicability. It was besides recognized by the Roman Council, since c. 2, title 5, says: "We decree that regulars, without a new Apostolic Indult, can safely be ordained outside the times." Finally, it was admitted by the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars in the Decision of June 25, 1730, and of July 18, 1732. Cf. Bizzarri, Collect., ed. 1885, pp. 341, 343. But the Ordinary replies that this privilege is proper only to the Society of Jesus, and is incommunicable to other Orders from the Bull Pium et utile of Gregory XIII. This, moreover, is confirmed from the practice prevailing at Rome, where only members of the Society enjoy this privilege.

It is asked: What is to be said to the Case?

R. Benedict XIV, Notif. 23, n. 3 ff., has these things concerning the present question: "Since the Sacred Council of Trent at sess. 23, c. 8 determined that sacred ordinations are to be celebrated at the times established by law, from this it follows that it derogated from the privileges which religious orders could have had previously, that their religious be ordained outside the times; all the more because Pontiff Pius IV, in his Bull 94, at t. 2 of the Bullarium, in which he confirms the Sacred Council of Trent, says that privileges contrary to what was established in it are understood to have ceased and to be annulled and reduced to the terms of the same ...

"And since We had the honor of serving for many years as Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, We did not have occasion to see admitted by it any privilege other than that of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, and not indeed that conceded to it by Paul III, of which there is speech in his Constitution 48, § 19, t. I of the Bullarium, because it was prior to the Council; but rather that of Gregory XIII, posterior to the said Council and inserted in his Constitution 77 at t. 2 of the Bullarium, which privilege was afterward confirmed by Paul V, as is seen in the Bullarium of the said Religion, and also by Innocent XII, who, having established some rules concerning particular indults of extra tempora, naming Regulars, solemnly declared, at the request of the Religious of the Society, that he had never intended to bring any prejudice to the privilege conceded to them by Gregory XIII, as can be seen in a paper printed at Rome in his Pontificate and reprinted apud La-Croix, l. 6, n. 2194, without this particular privilege being able to be extended to the other Regular Orders, which participate in the privileges of the said Society, since Gregory XIII, in § 4 of the cited Bull, determined that this privilege not pass to others who participate, or were going to participate, in the privileges of the Jesuit Fathers: Moreover we altogether prohibit the communication of the present grace to be made in the future in any way to all others, even those who share abundantly and will be able to share their privileges with the same Society ...

"And although in the last Roman Council, held under the Holy Memory of Benedict XIII, at title 5, c. 2, it is thus read: But as regards regulars having privileges from the Supreme Pontiffs, whether expressly or conceded by way of communication, namely of receiving sacred orders outside the times, since the privileges themselves persist in their force, and it is not established that derogation has been made from them, we therefore decree that these same regulars, without a new Apostolic Indult, can safely be ordained outside the times; nevertheless, since in the said chapter it is not read: whether expressly or by way of communication conceded before the Council of Trent, from this it follows that one cannot say that the controversy was decided by force of the Roman Council; the reason mentioned above always remaining in its force, namely that derogation was made by the Council of Trent, in the place mentioned, from prior privileges. Nor should this reason be judged either subtle or unsubstantial; for in consequence of the same, today at Rome none are admitted to the privilege of extra tempora except only the Fathers of the Society, who had it after the Council of Trent ... and no other regular now appears at Rome to be ordained extra tempora without having dispatched his particular indult."

From these things it sufficiently appears that the reasons of the regular prelate are not altogether demonstrative; but the assertion and reason of the Ordinary are sufficiently sustained. Yet the opinion of the regular prelate is not lacking every probability, and therefore the Ordinary, if he wishes, can acquiesce to him, although he does not seem to be bound. Let Honorante, Prax. Secr., c. 12, be heard: "But whether the ancient privileges conceded by the Apostolic See to Regulars, of receiving orders outside the times, were revoked by the Council of Trent, sess. 23, c. 8: several doctors affirm it ... Several doctors also have come to the contrary opinion ... But it must be asserted that each assertion of the doctors departing into diverse opinions is an opinion, but not a certain sentence, as Passerinus, distinguished member of the Order of Preachers, well observes ... And although in the Roman Council the following Decree exists: 'But as regards Regulars having privileges from the Supreme Pontiffs, whether expressly or conceded by way of communication, namely of receiving sacred orders outside the times, since the privileges themselves persist in their force, and it is not established that derogation has been made from them, we therefore decree that the same regulars, without a new Apostolic Indult, can safely be ordained outside the times'; title 5, c. 2. Nevertheless, since in the said chapter it is not read: whether expressly or by way of communication conceded before the Council of Trent, it cannot be said that the controversy was decided by the Roman Council, since the same reason always persists in its force, namely that derogation was made by the Council of Trent, in the cited place, from antecedent privileges. Finally Benedict XIV, Const. Impositi, Sept. 27, 1747, declared that privileges of this sort favor only those regulars to whom, after Trent, they had been conceded by name and directly, but not by communication ...

"And in fact, in the Secretariat of the Tribunal, even before the said Constitution issued, from the beginning of the Pontificate of the holy memory of Clement XII up to these times, no other privilege concerning extra tempora was admitted, except only that conceded to the brothers of St. Paul the First Hermit of the Hungarian Province, studying in the City by force of the Decree of the S. C. de P. F., Sept. 26, 1718; and the privilege conceded to the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, not indeed that conceded by Paul III, since it issued before the Council, but that of Gregory XIII after the Council, which afterward was confirmed by Paul V and by Innocent XII; nor can it be extended to other regular orders which participate in the privileges of the said Society.

"But this must not here be passed over, that to the Friars Minor of the Observance dwelling in parts of the West Indies the aforesaid privilege was conceded after the Council by Urban VIII in the Constitution Cum sicut."

St. Alphonsus, de Privil., n. 115, treats the question: "Whether religious can be ordained outside the times." And he responds: "Vasquez, Lezana, etc., deny it; for they say that although Gregory conceded this to the Jesuits, nevertheless he prohibited communication. But today it is no longer to be called into doubt that they can, both from the many privileges conceded to other Religions and from the Declaration lately made by Benedict XIII in the Roman Council, title 5, c. 2, in which it was established that such privileges persist in their force and that it is not established that derogation had been made from them." And in l. 6, n. 797, the same Holy Doctor moves the question and says: "Vasquez, etc., deny it. But Laymann with Marchant, etc., more truly affirm it. The reason is that after Gregory XIII, Clement VIII absolutely conceded this privilege to all mendicants, and Urban VIII conceded it to the Order of Discalced of the Most Holy Trinity. And most recently Benedict XIII, apud Benedict XIV, Not. 23, n. 5, in the Roman Council, title 5, c. 2, confirmed this privilege."

Yet doubt is truly present in this matter. Whence D'Annibale, n. 294, note 2, says: "Sacred orders can be conferred on religious of the Society of Jesus on any feast days of precept by privilege conceded to them by Gregory XIII. Whether also on other religious is disputed; and so the matter is left to the judgment of the bishop, and, if he is unwilling to ordain, it is not lawful to approach another bishop. Clement VIII, March 15, 1569; Benedict XIV, Not. 23." And in reality Benedict XIV himself, accommodating regulars, admits in the place cited that he often conferred sacred orders on them outside the times.

But it must be noted in the last place that although the Roman Council, in the place cited, does not expressly say that the privileges of regulars persist in their force, whether expressly or by way of communication conceded before the Council, nevertheless it speaks absolutely and indefinitely. Moreover, if those privileges conceded before the Council have been abrogated, what finally are those privileges, whether expressly or BY WAY OF COMMUNICATION conceded, which persist in their force and from which derogation has not been made? Besides, the Council speaks of privileges persisting in their force and from which it is established that derogation has not been made, namely by the Council of Trent; and surely in the cited sess. 23, c. 8 no clause derogating from privileges is found.

But the established resolution is confirmed from the S. C. of Bishops and Regulars, which on July 18, 1732, replied: "that the bishop can, but is not bound" to ordain regulars outside the times, although the same Sacred Congregation openly admits in its Decision of July 13, 1730, that the privilege of ordination outside the times is in its force. Bizzarri, Collect., 1885, pp. 342, 344.

2. "A certain regular, lacking the privilege that he can be ordained by any Catholic prelate, exhibits to an outside bishop attestations of the Ordinary in whose diocese there exists the convent where the regular dwells, by which it is declared that the Ordinary himself does not hold ordination outside the established times. Hence it is asked: 1.º Whether, according to the Constitution Impositi of Benedict XIV, Feb. 27, 1746, the outside bishop can, outside the times established by the canons, ordain the regular lacking the aforesaid privilege in the Case? And insofar as affirmatively: 2.º Whether the attestation of the diocesan Ordinary suffices, as in the Case; or whether there is required an attestation by which it is declared that the bishop of the place where the regular dwells will not hold ordination at the established times?

R. To the 1st. Affirmatively. To the 2nd. The attestation that the bishop will not have ordination at the next legitimate time is required." S. C. C., Aug. 18, 1888.

3. "The Decree of the Synod of Meath in Ireland, by which it is declared that no one in the future, whether secular or regular, in this diocese is to be promoted to sacred orders except with the intervals observed, nor without diligent examination by the Ordinary, unless the utility or necessity of the Church should persuade the bishop otherwise; and that this judgment also with regard to regulars does not pertain to regular superiors, but to the Ordinary, is to be reformed with regard to those who have a contrary privilege conceded after the Council; and in the rest Decrees of the following tenor are to be given and observed: June 30, 1597; Sept. 30, 1609 ... that remission of the intervals for causes expressed by the Council pertains to the ordaining bishop, even with regard to regulars receiving orders from him, but not to regular superiors; yet that the bishop himself concerning the causes of remission is bound to give credence to and defer to the testimony of the regular superior." S. C. C., Aug. 24, 1686.

1171. 1° Notion and origin. The title required for ordination is called the caution by which provision is made for a cleric concerning sufficient and perpetual support; lest otherwise, with disgrace of the order, he be forced to beg or to exercise sordid gain.

In the earliest times no one was ordained unless he was ascribed to a certain church, to which he would be perpetually attached, so that from it he might have that from which he could honestly sustain life; whence clerics were said to be of the title of such or such a church, just as today Cardinals also are named to the title of some church. Yet sometimes clerics were ordained who were ascribed to no church, and they were called wandering or acephalous. But when these increased to the disgrace of the ecclesiastical state, the Third Lateran Council established that priests or deacons ordained without title should be supported at the expense of the Bishops, until they were ascribed to some church; Innocent III extended this to subdeacons. - But Trent determined the matter more explicitly, establishing that the ordinary title of ordination was a benefice, and that from the title of patrimony or pension there were not to be admitted except those whom the Bishop judged necessary or useful to his church. Title is required for sacred orders, but not for minor orders.

1172. 2° The various titles of ordination¹. A double title is distinguished: ecclesiastical and patrimonial.

¹ We take the exposition of titles of this kind principally from the cited instruction of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide.

(A) The ecclesiastical title is manifold: of benefice, of poverty, of common table, of service of the church, of mission.

(a) The title of benefice is the perpetual right of perceiving fruits from goods of the Church on account of some spiritual office constituted by ecclesiastical authority. That someone may be ordained under this title, he must actually and peacefully possess the benefice, and from the same perceive income sufficient for honest support, according to the rate determined in each diocese. But he cannot resign this benefice unless mention has been made that he was promoted under the title of that benefice; nor must that resignation be admitted unless it is established that he can live conveniently from elsewhere, so that a resignation otherwise made is null².

² Trident., sess. XXI, cap. 2 de Reformat. - Codex, c. 979.

(b) The title of poverty is placed in religious profession, by force of which those who have emitted solemn vows in an approved Religion have in common, either from the income of goods, if the Religion itself possesses any, or from the pious largesses of the faithful, all things which they need for sustaining life³. Therefore that title does not belong to those who have emitted simple vows, except the Jesuits, who by force of a special privilege, after three simple vows have been emitted, can be promoted to sacred orders. Indeed "he incurs by the law itself suspension for a year from the conferral of orders, who has promoted someone to major orders without a canonical title..."⁴

³ Codex, c. 982, § 1.

⁴ Codex, c. 2373, 3°.

(c) The title of common table belongs to religious who have emitted perpetual simple vows⁵.

⁵ Codex, c. 982, § 2.

(d) The title of service of the church, and in places subject to the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, the title of mission, by which the above-mentioned titles can be supplied, in such a way, however, that the one to be ordained, an oath having been interposed, devotes himself perpetually to the service of the diocese or mission⁶.

⁶ Codex, c. 981.

1173. The title of mission cannot be used except by special indult of the Holy See, "and only in favor of those who, by disposition of soul and docility, rectitude of intention, aptitude of mind, progress in sacred studies, integrity of morals, and contempt of worldly things, give hope that they will be vigorous heralds of the Gospel; concerning which the conscience of their superiors is strictly burdened."¹

¹ Cited Instruction of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, n. 7.

All those who wish to be ordained under title of mission are held first to emit an oath, by which they pledge that they will give perpetual work to the mission to which they have been or will be destined. Hence those who have emitted this oath cannot pass from one diocese to another without license of the Holy See; this, however, for England and the United States of America has been so moderated that it is permitted, within the same ecclesiastical province, to pass into another diocese, with the consent of each Ordinary². - Likewise, without license of the Holy See, they cannot enter any Religion or regular Congregation³.

² Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, August 18, 1885 and November 30, 1885, ap. Collect. P. F., n. 1181-1182.

³ This is the formula of the oath to be furnished by those who are ordained under title of mission: - I N., son of N. and N., of the diocese N., promise, and swear, that after I shall have been promoted to Sacred Orders, I will enter no Religion, Society, or regular Congregation, without special license of the Apostolic See or of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, nor will I emit profession in any of them.

I likewise vow and swear that in this diocese or vicariate, or in the mission to which it shall please the Holy See or the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide that I be destined, I will perpetually spend my labor and work in administering divine things, under the whole direction and jurisdiction of the Right Reverend Lord Ordinary for the time being, for the salvation of souls; which I will also furnish if, with the license of the aforesaid Apostolic See, I shall have entered a Religion, Society, or regular Congregation, and shall have emitted profession in any of them.

Likewise I vow and swear that I understand the aforesaid oath and its obligation, and that I will observe it. So help me God and these Holy Gospels of God.

N.B. Those who emit this oath can gain a plenary indulgence applicable to the departed not only the first time, but in individual years if they renew it on the anniversary day of the furnished oath.

1174. (B) The patrimonial title is that which consists in goods certain, stable, and fruitful, yet not ecclesiastical, which in the judgment of the Bishop suffice for the congruent support of the cleric⁴. Similar to this is the title of pension, i.e., the right to an income, to be paid by some lay or ecclesiastical person or by a community, and founded upon stable goods, which suffices for honest support.

⁴ Codex, c. 979.

(a) It is not necessary that the goods from which a patrimony or pension is constituted be immovable, provided that as regards certainty of fruits they are equated with immovables; hence, according to Gasparri, n. 606, the title of ordination can be constituted from public funds (rente publique, State bonds). These goods can be situated in another diocese. - But something uncertain does not suffice, such as hope of a future succession, a facultative pension, movable goods which can easily perish, or goods burdened by mortgages.

(b) Trent forbids (l. cit.) that a patrimony or pension can be alienated, extinguished, or remitted without the license of the Bishop, until the clerics ordained under this title have obtained a sufficient ecclesiastical benefice, or have from elsewhere that from which they can live.

(c) Those who obtain a patrimony or pension cannot be ordained unless, in the judgment of the Bishop, the necessity or utility of the Church requires it.

V. On The Obligations Imposed In Ordination Itself.

1175. In the Treatise On The Obligations Of The Various States we treat of the offices of clerics; here, however, it is helpful to set forth the obligations imposed by the Bishop in ordination itself.

¹ Pontif. Rom., De ordinat. presbyteri, near the end; St. Alphons., n. 829; Hilar. Sexten, p. 620; Ephemerides Liturgicae, Rome, XI, 1897, pp. 313, 370 sq.

Before the last Gospel, the Ordaining Bishop addresses those ordained with these words: "Let each of those promoted to first tonsure, or to the four minor orders, say once the seven penitential psalms, with the litanies, versicles, and prayers."² - For the subdiaconate or diaconate, the nocturn of such a day. - But those ordained to the presbyterate, after your first Mass, say three other Masses, namely one of the Holy Spirit, another of Blessed Mary ever Virgin, a third for the Faithful Departed, and pray also for me to almighty God."

² Here there is question of the litanies of the Saints, with the versicles and prayers which follow them.

(a) It is not established that the obligation of reciting those prayers is under sin; some hold that it binds under grave sin, because the matter is grave; others under light sin; others say that this is an obligation of decency, but not under sin. Whatever the case, those ordained who are not wholly lacking in a sense of gratitude and religion will never omit these prayers.

(b) "For the Nocturn of such a day is to be understood the ferial nocturn, or the first of the Feast, or of the Sunday in the Psalter, according as the ordination was held on a feria, feast, or Sunday."³ Nevertheless the ordaining Bishop has the right of enjoining another besides the nocturn of the day which the Pontifical designates¹. Under the name of nocturn come the antiphons and psalms, but not the invitatory Venite, nor, more probably, the lessons². - If the Bishop has recited only the words of the Pontifical "the nocturn of such a day," those ordained cannot choose the nocturn which pleases them, but are held to the ferial nocturn of the day of ordination.

³ Sacred Congregation of Rites, June 27, 1899, n. 4042 ed. nov.

¹ Ibid. ad 2. - More distinctly also in the decree of August 11, 1860 it is said: "The words of the Pontifical, the nocturn of such a day, are understood of the single ferial nocturn, or of the first of Sunday, as in the Psalter, i.e., of twelve psalms with their antiphons of the time, which the ordaining Bishop can designate, either of the day itself on which he has ordination, or of another according to his judgment."

² Ephem. Liturg., l. c., p. 318.

(c) New priests are not held to apply the three prescribed Masses to the intention of the Bishop; therefore they can receive a stipend for them. Nor are they to be said before the rubrics permit the celebration of a votive Mass; indeed, for a just cause, it is permitted to defer them further.

Art. III. On Irregularities.

— For orders to be received licitly the subject must:

1. be in the state of grace. Yet the obligation is not grave for orders which, according to the more common opinion, are not sacraments;

2. be immune from censure or another canonical impediment, concerning which immediately below;

3. have the mind of clericating, or of serving God through the proper ministries of the order received; indeed the purpose of ascending to the presbyterate (c. 973, §1). Yet the fraud is not grave. Therefore he would sin lightly who received a minor order with the intention of conjugal life. Nor does a positive will of exercising the inferior orders seem today to be prescribed;

4. be confirmed. It is not established that the obligation is grave;

5. have canonical age, due knowledge, and morals congruent with the order to be received (c. 974).

— The canonical age is twenty-one completed years for the subdiaconate, twenty-two completed years for the diaconate, twenty-four completed years for the presbyterate. Certain dispensations from the age required for priesthood, of one year, of one year and a half, are granted for a just cause, especially because of the necessity of the Church. No canonical age is prefixed for tonsure and minor orders. Before the Code, writers judged a suitable age to be between the completed seventh and fourteenth year. Now indirectly a greater age is required, since tonsure is forbidden to be conferred on those who have not yet begun the theological course (c. 976). A certain power of dispensing is conferred by the faculties of Nuncios or Apostolic Delegates and by the quinquennial faculties of Ordinaries.

— Due knowledge is established, both for religious and for seculars, to be acquired, when it is a question of theology, in schools instituted for this purpose, according to this plan of studies: that, after a biennium of philosophy, for a full four years they follow a course of theology which, besides dogmatic and moral theology, includes the study of Sacred Scripture, ecclesiastical history, canon law, liturgy, sacred eloquence, and ecclesiastical chant. So c. 1365, which wills that "there be also lectures on pastoral theology, with practical exercises added, especially concerning the manner of handing on the catechism to children or others, of hearing confessions, of visiting the sick, of assisting the dying."

Now, first tonsure demands that the theological course has begun; the subdiaconate is not to be conferred except when the third year of the theological course is ending; the diaconate, except when the fourth year has begun; the presbyterate, except after the middle of that same fourth year.

The course and year, scholastic year, are said to have begun when lectures have been begun; it is judged to be ending when it inclines toward the end, or when two-thirds have passed; but it finishes when the examinations have been completed, or at least when the lectures have been completed. The middle of the year is judged to be had also when one passes to the other semester, as they say.

Besides this, concerning the very order to be received, every one to be promoted, whether secular or religious, must undergo a previous and diligent examination; but one to be promoted to sacred orders must make trial also in other treatises of sacred theology. The bishop of the place who ordains by his own right or gives dimissorial letters determines the method, matter, and examiners. He also receives the examination, unless he prefers to commit this to the bishop about to ordain, accepting this burden (cc. 996-997).

He can also, although he is not bound to, acquiesce in a bishop or Superior who in dimissorial letters asserts that the candidate was found suitable in a duly made examination. "But if according to his conscience he judges that the candidate is not suitable, let him not promote him" (c. 997, §2). By this canon no privileges are removed by which some religious are exempt from episcopal examination.

— What morals are required was already explained above. But so that they may more easily put on congruent morals, c. 972 says that care must be taken that those aspiring to sacred orders be received into the seminary from tender years; and it commands that all remain there at least through the whole curriculum of sacred theology, "unless the Ordinary in particular cases, for grave cause, with his conscience burdened, has dispensed" (c. 972, §1). But those who legitimately remain outside the seminary are to be commended to a pious and suitable priest who may watch over them and form them to piety (c. 972, §2). Although this is to be desired, it is not however prescribed that they be received under the same roof of the priest himself.

— Ordinations by leap are altogether prohibited, but orders are to be conferred by degrees, with no grade omitted (c. 977). This is so urged that the Holy See commands that omitted ordinations be supplied even in him who already in the higher order received possesses the minor orders virtually.

— The intervals of time are also to be observed "by which those promoted are to exercise themselves in the orders received, according to the prescription of the bishop" (c. 978, §1). Moreover the interstices between tonsure and porter or between individual minor orders are committed to the prudent judgment of the bishop; "but the acolyte is not to be promoted to the subdiaconate, the subdeacon to the diaconate, the deacon to the presbyterate, before the acolyte has been engaged in his order for at least one year, and the subdeacon and deacon for at least three months each in his own order, unless the necessity or utility of the Church, in the judgment of the bishop, demands otherwise." Therefore the bishop can, even with religious, dispense for a just cause of public reason.

Yet it is not lawful for him to confer first tonsure with some one of the minor orders, or all minor orders at once. And the peculiar license of the Roman Pontiff is required that minor orders with the subdiaconate, or two sacred orders on one and the same day, with any contrary custom reprobated, be conferred (c. 978, §3). Therefore the conjunction of minor orders with the subdiaconate, or of two major orders, is prohibited more severely than the conjunction of tonsure with a minor order or the conferral in the same ordination of all minor orders. Here a contrary custom is not reprobated, and the place of epikeia is not excluded.

— Those to be advanced to major orders are to be provided with a canonical title. A canonical title is, in this place, a title of support, canonically admitted, that is, a caution concerning suitable and of itself perpetual support.

For secular clerics, the canonical title is that of benefice, and, this lacking, of patrimony, whose quantity and manner is defined by the statutes or norms of Ordinaries, or of ecclesiastical pension. One who, ordained in sacred orders, has lost the title does not therefore become suspended, but must provide another for himself unless, in the judgment of the bishop, provision has otherwise been made for his suitable support (c. 980, §1).

But the bishop who, short of apostolic indult, has ordained or permitted to be ordained his subject in sacred orders without canonical title must himself, and his successor, furnish the same needy man with necessary food, until provision has otherwise been made for his suitable support; and a contrary pact is deprived of all force (c. 980, §§2, 3).

Yet when the customary titles are lacking, they can be supplied by title of service of the diocese, and in places subject to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, by title of mission, yet with this law, that the one to be ordained, with an oath interposed, devote himself perpetually to the service of the diocese or mission under the authority of the local Ordinary for the time. But for a presbyter thus promoted, the Ordinary must procure suitable support. Observe that by the oath of service of the diocese entrance into religion is not excluded; as, without license of the Holy See, it is excluded by the oath of mission.

To Regulars strictly so called the title of poverty is assigned; to religious of perpetual simple vows the title of common table, of the Congregation, or another similar title, according to the norm of the constitutions, is assigned (c. 982, §§1, 2). But for professed members of temporary vows there is lacking the title of common table, since they can leave religion, and be rather easily dismissed by it, at least when the span of the vows has elapsed. Therefore these, also as regards the title of ordination, are ruled by the law of seculars (c. 982, §3).

By ecclesiastical law it is required: 1. that the ordinand be immune from censures and irregularities;⁹¹ 2. that he have testimonial and sometimes dimissorial letters;⁹² 3. that he have the legitimate age; 4. that he have sufficient learning; 5. that he have a title of ordination, if he receives sacred orders; 6. that he have already exercised the order received; 7. that he perform spiritual exercises before ordination; 8. that he emit a profession of faith.

⁹¹ Irregularities will be discussed in the following article; concerning censures, however, cf. above, n. 475 ff., the special treatise.

⁹² Concerning these, something was already said above under n. 598.

605. The legitimate age is that which the Council of Trent,⁹³ the Pontifical, and the Code of Canon Law determine.

1. For the first tonsure and for the minor orders, no determined age is required in law; nevertheless, since the theological course must have been begun,⁹⁴ in practice these orders ordinarily cannot be conferred before the eighteenth year of age.

2. For the subdiaconate, the completed twenty-first year is required.

3. For the diaconate, the completed twenty-second year is required.

4. For the priesthood, the completed twenty-fourth year is required.⁹⁵

5. For the episcopate, the completed thirtieth year is required.⁹⁶

Note. Certain bishops have special faculties for dispensing from a defect of age for receiving the priesthood.

⁹³ Sess. 23, c. 12, De reform.

⁹⁴ Code of Canon Law, c. 976.

⁹⁵ Ibid., c. 975.

⁹⁶ c. 2, X 1, 6; Council of Trent, sess. 7, c. 1, De reform.; Code of Canon Law, c. 331, § 1, n. 2.

606. Sufficient learning in the ordinand must be proved by an examination conducted either by the bishop himself or by his delegate.⁹⁷

The bishop can examine not only his own subjects to be ordained, but also exempt regulars already examined by their own prelate.⁹⁸ What learning is required for the individual orders has been established in this manner:

a) For the first tonsure it is required that the one to be tonsured have begun the theological course (c. 976, § 1).

b) For the minor orders, almost the same learning appears to be required as for the first tonsure.

c) For the subdiaconate, the end of the third year of the theological course is required; but the beginning of the fourth year for the diaconate.⁹⁹

d) For the priesthood it is required that the ordinand have completed half of the fourth year of the theological course, and that he know not only those things which pertain to the celebration of Mass, but also those things which are necessary for teaching the people and administering the sacraments. Hence every ordinand to the priesthood must know how, at the moment of death, he can and ought to administer the sacraments.¹⁰⁰

⁹⁷ Council of Trent, sess. 23, c. 7, De reform.

⁹⁸ Code of Canon Law, c. 997.

⁹⁹ Ibid., c. 976, § 2.

¹⁰⁰ St. Alphonsus, Theol. mor., l. 6, n. 791.

607. According to its original notion, the title of ordination signifies the incardination of a cleric among the clergy of some title or determinate church, to which the titled cleric devotes sacred ministry, and which in turn grants sustenance to the cleric from its revenues.¹⁰¹ According to the discipline in force, a title (of sustenance) is a legitimate security for the sufficient and perpetual sustenance of a cleric in major orders. For since a cleric in major orders, wholly devoted to the divine ministry, cannot care for his bodily sustenance, it is very fitting that from the beginning of his ordination he have a certain security for suitable support.

By common law, the following titles of ordination exist today:¹⁰²

1. The title of benefice, which consists in this: that the candidate to be promoted to the subdiaconate peacefully possesses an ecclesiastical benefice which perpetually suffices for his honorable sustenance. This title is proper and ordinary, but today, on account of the changed conditions of the Church, it is rather rare. Therefore the following three other subsidiary titles are employed:

2. The title of patrimony, consisting in this: that the candidate to be promoted to the subdiaconate possesses certain goods of his own, from the revenues of which he can receive fitting sustenance. The amount of this patrimony is determined by the local Ordinary.

3. The title of pension is a certain revenue (whether ecclesiastical or civil) providing certain, perpetual, and sufficient sustenance.

4. The title of poverty (or of religious profession) is the right granted to the solemnly professed to have sufficient sustenance from the goods of the monastery.¹⁰³

Besides these four admitted titles, several others now exist, for example, the title of the mission, the title of the episcopal mensa, the title of diocesan service, the title of the common mensa for religious with perpetual simple vows, and so forth; concerning all of these the legitimate particular statutes are to be seen.¹⁰⁴

¹⁰¹ Cf. Wernz, Ius Decretalium II, n. 90.

¹⁰² Code of Canon Law, c. 979.

¹⁰³ Ibid., c. 982.

¹⁰⁴ Ibid., c. 981 f.

608. The exercise of an order received is prescribed by the Council of Trent.¹⁰⁵ But several authors think that this statute does not oblige under grave sin, since the words of the Council are exhortative rather than preceptive: "Let them exercise themselves in each one according to the prescription of the bishop."¹⁰⁶ For the rest, whether by privilege or by special dispensation, sacred orders are sometimes conferred on three continuously successive days. But then the exercise of the order previously received is almost impossible.

Spiritual exercises must be performed by ordinands, and indeed a) for three full days before the first tonsure and the minor orders; b) for six full days before each major order; but if some are to be promoted to several major orders within six months, the Ordinary (that is, the bishop or religious superior) can reduce the time of the exercises for ordination to the diaconate, but not below three full days. These spiritual exercises are to be performed in a religious or pious house to be designated by the Ordinary, and a testimony concerning the completed exercises is to be brought to the ordaining bishop. If, after the exercises have been completed, sacred ordination is delayed for any reason beyond six months, the exercises are to be repeated; otherwise, let the Ordinary judge whether they are to be repeated or not.¹⁰⁷

Profession of faith. All ordinands to the subdiaconate are bound to emit the profession of faith (and, until it shall have been established otherwise, also the Anti-Modernist Oath). Even before the diaconate and priesthood, the Ordinary can, but is not bound to, require this profession of faith.¹⁰⁸

¹⁰⁵ Sess. 23, cc. 11 and 13, De reform.

¹⁰⁶ Cf. St. Alphonsus, Theol. mor., l. 6, n. 801.

¹⁰⁷ Code of Canon Law, c. 1001. Cf. Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, May 2, 1928 (Acta Apost. Sed. XX, 359).

¹⁰⁸ Code of Canon Law, c. 1406.

1911. The SUBJECT of Order is a male and baptized man, who, if he is an adult, must have at least a habitual intention of receiving the Sacrament.¹¹ These things are required for VALID reception of Order, as is established from what was said concerning Sacraments in general, nn. 1433 and 1434. See besides, as to the Episcopate, n. 1924, 1.

But for the LICIT reception of Order, CONDITIONS of a threefold kind are required. The first kind embraces those things which are intrinsic to the Ordinand, or regard his soul, namely divine vocation, the intention of becoming a cleric, competent knowledge, and probity of life.¹² The second kind embraces many extrinsic things, which are required of the Ordinand, such as immunity from censure and irregularity, canonical age, Confirmation, the exercise of the Order received, and title of sustenance. The third kind finally regards the very mode of Ordination, such as Ordination by degrees, interstices, time, place, reception of the Eucharist, and the legitimate Bishop, who at the same time ordains and celebrates Mass. - Each point is to be weighed accurately.

Besides the STATE OF GRACE, which is necessary for receiving the Sacrament of Order,

1912. I. DIVINE VOCATION is required in the Ordinand, as is established from Heb. 5:4: "Nor does anyone take the honor to himself, but he who is called by God, as Aaron." And from John 15:16: "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." The sublimity of Order, the holiness of the office, and the gravity of the burden plainly demand this divine vocation for themselves (cf. n. 2142).

The principal SIGNS of divine vocation are, says St. Alphonsus:¹³ 1. suitable knowledge; 2. probity of life (concerning which matters we must soon treat); 3. right intention or the desire of devoting oneself to the divine glory and the salvation of souls. But the signs from which it becomes known that someone is not called are, among others: a certain deformity of body, infamy, a habit of sinning, especially against chastity, natural levity, weariness of piety, sloth, a worldly disposition.¹⁴ "He who, without vocation explored from such signs, thrusts himself into the sacred ministry, certainly cannot be excused from grave presumption...; and since here he exposes himself to great danger of damnation, I do not know how he is excused from grave fault.¹⁵ - And those Bishops commit themselves to this danger of salvation so much the more, who promote those not called to sacred Orders, according to that saying of the Apostle (1 Tim. 5:22): "Do not impose hands quickly on anyone, nor communicate in the sins of others." Nor therefore is it to be wondered at, that in canon law it is prescribed, and expressly in can. Nullus, dist. 24: "that no one be ordained, unless he shall have been approved."¹⁶

1913. II. From Trent (sess. 23, cap. 4, de ref.) there is required an INTENTION OF BECOMING A CLERIC, i.e., of ascending to higher Orders: namely, if someone accepts a Benefice, to which offices of a higher Order are annexed; otherwise the Council requires in the Ordinand only the intention of remaining in the clerical state.¹⁷ "Let not those be initiated with first tonsure," it says, "of whom there is not a probable conjecture that they have chosen this kind of life not by fraud for fleeing secular judgment, but so that they may render faithful worship to God."

Hence: 1. He who receives minor Orders or first tonsure for the end that he may decline the lay forum, having in mind to return to secular life, sins; and indeed, according to the more probable opinion, mortally, insofar as he acts in fraud or gravely defrauds the Church, by abusing its sacred ministries for temporal ends. Yet another probable opinion "says that he does not sin mortally, because from Trent someone is then understood to commit fraud, when he receives Orders so that he may escape some secular judgment already begun, and this indeed will be mortal; otherwise it will be only venial by reason of the disordering of the end intended by the Church.¹⁸"

2. He who, after receiving minor Orders, takes a wife, speaking in itself, does not sin gravely; indeed not even lightly, if he does this from a just cause. - We said speaking in itself; for one who, being certain of his clerical vocation, withdraws from it in order to enjoy the world, can scarcely be judged to be established in a good state of soul.¹⁹

Note. Concerning a Cleric ordained by force or fear, see n. 1434.

1914. III. COMPETENT knowledge is required. From the Council of Trent (loc. cit.) it is required for those to be initiated to tonsure "that they have been taught the rudiments of faith and know how to read and write." For those to be initiated to minor Orders, "that they understand the Latin language." For subdeacons and deacons, "that they be instructed in letters, and in those things which pertain to exercising the Order." Finally, for those to be initiated to the priesthood, "that, after a diligent examination has preceded, they be approved as suitable to teach the people those things which it is necessary for all to know unto salvation, and to administer the Sacraments" (cf. n. 1787). But what is required for a Bishop, see among the Canonists.

To what has been said THREE things are still to be added, namely: 1. The Bishop is bound, unless he is certain from another source concerning the knowledge of the Ordinands, to examine his own subjects, "having called to himself for this purpose expert and suitable men," as Trent speaks (sess. 23, cap. 7). - 2. All who possess the degree of knowledge required by Trent, the Bishop can ordain with a safe conscience. Yet it is licit to require greater knowledge from his own subjects; and this, in present times, is laudably required in many places. - 3. The common opinion holds that less knowledge is required in Regulars devoted to the contemplative life, because they are ordained only for the service of choir and altar. Nevertheless, it must be said otherwise if Regulars are to be deputed to all priestly offices, as is commonly done today.²⁰

1915. IV. PROBITY OF LIFE is required, by which namely the cleric, existing faithful to the divine vocation, may furnish a certain pledge of future perseverance. Hence Trent (sess. 23, cap. 12): "Let Bishops know that only the worthy are to be assumed to these Orders, and those whose approved life is old age." And St. Thomas: "Not any sort of goodness suffices, but excellent goodness is required." Hence the Apostle (1 Tim. 3:6) prohibits neophytes from being ordained, that is, as the same Angelic Doctor explains, those who are neophytes not only in age, but also those who are neophytes in perfection.

From positive law, especially from Trent, sess. 23, caps. 5 and 7, de ref., and from the Pontifical, THREE SCRUTINIES must be sent before sacred Ordination. - The first is made by the pastor or by another appointed by the Bishop; and for this a proclamation must be made both in the parish of origin and in the parish of habitation of the Ordinand, if they are different. The second scrutiny is instituted by the Bishop himself with certain examiners, on Wednesday, or a few days, before Ordination: to this end, namely, that "he diligently investigate and examine the birth, person, age, instruction, morals, doctrine, and faith of the Ordinands." - The third scrutiny is made in the very Ordination (namely of deacons and presbyters) through those words of the Bishop: do you know that they are worthy? - These today are, together with the attestation itself of the archdeacon, a mere ceremony (cf. n. 1917). See more among the Canonists.²¹

1916. Questions. Q. 1. What must be done by the Bishop, that he sufficiently prove Candidates for sacred Orders?

Resp. St. Alphonsus:²² "For this proof, to be sought out by the Bishop, it does not indeed suffice that he himself knows nothing evil concerning the Ordinand; but he must become certain concerning his positive probity, according to the sublimity of the grade to which he pants to ascend, as Suarez, Sanchez, the Salmanticenses, etc., commonly say with St. Thomas... On which matter, Bishops in seeking this proof ought not to be content with the simple attestation of pastors, who, led by human respects, easily indulge clerics in granting attestations of this kind; but besides, after secret information has been taken from others worthy of trust, they must become certain, not only that the one to be initiated has not been evil, namely that he has not been quarrelsome, has not given scandal by frequenting games, depraved conversations, etc.; but also that he is positively good, that is, that he leads a spiritual life, is assiduous in churches, frequents the Sacraments and prayer, devotes himself to study, etc. Someone will say: If this were observed, ministers would indeed be lacking in the Church. Benedict XIV rightly responds to this: It is better to have fewer ministers, but upright and useful, than many who will be of no value."

Q. 2. What must be done by a Confessor with a cleric habituated in a base vice?

Resp. 1. An Ordinand²³ who is habituated in the base vice of lust (or of drunkenness²⁴), although he is disposed for the Sacrament of Penance, by that very fact is not yet disposed to receive sacred Order; but for some time he must devote effort to rooting out the depraved habit. The reason is, because, that someone ascend to the dignity of sacred Order, the simple and actual state of grace does not suffice; but there is also required surpassing and habitual goodness, which, according to the common law, is not acquired immediately. - But if one habituated in a base vice wished to ascend to sacred Order immediately, without experiment of amendment, that man, as rash, would also render himself unworthy of sacramental absolution.

Resp. 2. If nevertheless the penitent were endowed by God with such compunction, which would free him from his former frailty (which can rarely be supposed), and he firmly resolved to avoid sins and occasions, and to use efficacious remedies, so that he could lead a life worthy of a priest, he could be absolved, although he wished to receive Order immediately. But indeed, in this case also, for one wishing to be ordained immediately, it is more advisable that absolution be deferred, so that he may be better proved by an experiment of time; provided that from the delay there is not to be feared a proximate danger of infamy.¹

Q. 3. Whether a cleric, who has been judged worthy of some Order, can be compelled to receive it?

Resp. Neg., in itself, according to the decision of the S. PENITENTIARY (August 27, 1829), which responded that a cleric is not to be compelled, who, although chosen by his Superiors and judged worthy by his confessor for the sacred ministry, refuses to obey their admonitions, by reason of humility, or fear of dangers; nor did it judge that a deacon was to be compelled to receive the Order of the presbyterate, even if he is chosen by Superiors as most apt, and is judged worthy by his confessor.² - But except: 1. if it is judged that the absolute will of God intervenes through extraordinary signs, either exteriorly, or interiorly in the intimate state of the soul, manifested to the Ordinand; 2. if there is present a grave necessity of the Church, for which otherwise provision cannot be made.

Note. Innocent XI, through the S. C. OF BISHOPS AND REGULARS, October 9, 1682, commanded the Archbishop of Milan and all the Bishops of Italy and the adjacent islands, that individual Clerics, about to receive Orders both minor and major, should devote themselves for ten continuous days to SPIRITUAL EXERCISES. Nevertheless, from introduced custom, for sacred Orders alone, ten whole days are required (cf. n. 1367).³

From the Tridentine law there are REQUIRED in the Ordinand:

1917. I. IMMUNITY FROM CENSURE AND IRREGULARITY. - The one to be ordained must be immune from censure and irregularity; for censure deprives of participation in the goods of the Church; and irregularity induces incapacity for Order: therefore each impedes Ordinations.

And hence it is why the Bishop, from the prescription of the Pontifical, before the Ordination has begun, commands, under penalty of excommunication, that no one bound by either impediment approach; just as neither one enrolled, or not approved, or a foreigner, protesting that he does not wish to ordain unworthy persons of this sort. If nonetheless someone of this kind should approach, his Ordination would have to be judged valid; because the aforesaid things today pertain to mere rite, or are customarily prefaced only for terror: whence it cannot be supposed that the Bishop truly wished to bind his intention to such a protestation, unless the contrary is positively established.⁴ "For the Bishop," says Benedict XIV⁵ with Navarre, Gobat, and Lugo, "lest he become guilty of grave sin, is bound to have the absolute intention of conferring Order on the man present, when he imposes hands."⁶

1918. II. CANONICAL AGE. Trent (sess. 23, cap. 12) establishes these things as to the major Orders: "No one hereafter is to be promoted to the Order of the Subdiaconate before the twenty-second year of his age, to that of the Diaconate before the twenty-third, to that of the Presbyterate before the twenty-fifth." In which law, a begun year is held for completed. - Nor indeed can one be ordained without dispensation, to whom only a few hours are lacking; because the required year can in no way be said to have been begun. - For the Episcopate it is established thus in law: "Let no one be elected Bishop, unless he has already passed, or completed, the thirtieth year of age."⁷ - For minor Orders and tonsure, no age is assigned in law; it suffices that the one to be initiated possess the use of reason, and therefore that he be at least seven years old.⁸

Dispensation over age is reserved to the Roman Pontiff, who is not accustomed to grant it, except for receiving the Priesthood, on account of the necessity or utility of the Church.⁹ He who knowingly is promoted to major Orders before the legitimate age sins gravely;¹⁰ yet he does not incur suspension (which formerly was incurred): as is drawn from the Constitution Apostolicae Sedis.

1919. III. CONFIRMATION RECEIVED. - "Let not those be initiated with first tonsure," says Trent, "who have not received the Sacrament of Confirmation." It is commonly taught that this obligation is only under light fault, because the words of the Council denote propriety rather than a formal precept.¹¹ Nevertheless, the S. C. of the Council declared (September 27, 1601) that he who received tonsure or Orders not confirmed cannot, as badly promoted, ascend to other Orders, nor retain Benefices, concerning which he was provided, without dispensation of the Pontiff; for he is held as irregular.¹²

1920. IV. EXERCISE OF THE ORDER ALREADY RECEIVED. The Council of Trent prescribes,¹³ that the one to be initiated have exercised the Order previously received, and indeed in the church to which he was assigned. - But the Salmanticenses think this is not of grave precept; since the words of the Synod are more consultative than preceptive, namely these: "let them exercise themselves in each one, according to the prescription of the Bishop."¹⁴

1921. V. TITLE OF ORDINATION, or security by which provision is made for the Ordinand in sacred Orders concerning honest and perpetual sustenance. A title is required by the Councils, and especially by Trent,¹⁵ both lest clerics, from lack of sustenance, be compelled to exercise some vile craft or to beg, and so that they may be able more freely to attend to spiritual things, without being distracted by solicitude for temporal things. And this law is so firm, that the Bishop granting Order or dimissorials without a title is himself bound, unless he was deceived, to feed the needy Ordained until he obtains a title for him.¹⁶ And if he shall have ordained someone thus, with the pact that the Ordained not seek food from him, he incurs by the law itself a three-year suspension reserved to the Pope. From the Const. Apostol. Sedis (cf. n. 1362). But if after the Subdiaconate has been received the title perishes, one cannot ascend to a higher Order without a new title.¹⁷ This is established from Trent.¹⁸

1922. Especially a THREEFOLD TITLE is given, namely of Benefice, patrimony, and religious poverty.

1. The title of ECCLESIASTICAL BENEFICE is the most powerful title of Ordination. Concerning this the Council of Trent establishes thus: "Let no secular cleric hereafter... be promoted to sacred Orders, unless first it is legitimately established that he peacefully possesses an ecclesiastical benefice which honestly suffices for his living." - Therefore there is required 1) a Benefice, or a perpetual right of receiving fruits from the goods of the Church on account of some spiritual office constituted by ecclesiastical authority.¹⁹ 2) Sufficient for living, that is, according to the tax of the diocese of origin; or of the diocese where the benefice is, if it is residential. But if the defect of the benefice is slight, someone is licitly ordained; otherwise, if it is notable, e.g., of a fifth part. It can nevertheless be supplied from other goods, provided another title, e.g., of origin or domicile, exists, conferring on the Bishop the right of ordaining (cf. n. 1907, 3). - 3) Peacefully possessed; whence, a benefice certain for the future does not suffice, nor a benefice whose possession is unjustly impeded; but that one suffices whose revenues can be received only after the priesthood has been received.

Moreover, no one initiated in sacred Orders can resign his benefice, "unless mention has been made that he was promoted to the title of that benefice; nor is that resignation to be admitted, unless it is established that he can live comfortably from elsewhere; and a resignation otherwise made is null." Thus Trent, in the cited place.²⁰

2. The title of PATRIMONY "obtains, when the Ordinand is furnished with such goods, certain, stable, and fruitful, coming from elsewhere than from the Church, as are judged, in the judgment of the Bishop, to suffice for his congruous sustenance."²¹ But that this title may be valid, from Trent, the patrimony must be: 1) perpetual, e.g., a perpetual census, although it can be redeemable; 2) constituted over a certain and immovable thing, and one by its nature fruitful, peacefully possessed,²² and not burdened by debt or mortgage; 3) approved in the episcopal Curia, and set out to the synodal tax by a legitimate instrument; 4) firm and inalienable unless, from a just cause, the license of the Bishop intervenes.²³ - It can be constituted under the clause: until the cleric is provided for or obtains other goods; but the prior title is not extinguished, unless a new one has been subrogated by the Bishop. Thus from the S. C. C., July 12, 1687. It can likewise be constituted in nominative bonds of public debt, provided they are supposed to mortgages, as commonly happens.²⁴

To patrimonies are reckoned perpetual pensions, perpetual legacies of Masses; indeed also manual, or lay, Chaplaincies, provided they are conferred under the condition until the ordained one is provided for, and in legal form, recognized in the episcopal Curia.²⁵

3. The title of POVERTY, instituted by St. Pius V, "is placed in religious profession, by virtue of which, those who have emitted solemn vows in an approved Religion; either from the revenues of goods, if the Religion itself possesses any; or from the pious largesses of the faithful, have all things in common, of which they need for sustaining life."²⁶ But Religious of simple vows, or not yet solemnly professed, cannot receive sacred Orders, unless they have a patrimony or another title. - Except the Religious of the Society of Jesus, who after simple vows can be ordained, from the concession of Gregory XIII; and if they are dismissed from the Society, it is not bound to the supplying of congruous sustenance, as Benedict XIII declared in perpetuity.²⁷

1923. Besides these titles, others are commonly admitted from Pontifical Indult, especially in regions where no benefices, or only slight ones, exist, or where civil law prevents sacred patrimonies from being constituted. Of this sort are:

1. The title of service of a Church. This title, formerly ordinary, but now extraordinary, is granted under this law, that the Ordinands be bound perpetually to some Church, from whose service they can be sustained. - We say perpetually; for they can never be removed from that church; but neither can they themselves depart from it, unless otherwise provision has been made for them.²⁸

2. The title of common table, which is customarily granted to clerics living in a common discipline of life, although they emit only simple vows, or even none. - Akin to this is the title of a College, Seminary, etc. Nay more, in Germany, with the Holy See permitting or tolerating, the title of table is admitted, i.e., the promise of a pension to be paid to the ordained, if on account of old age or sickness they should become unable to undergo sacred duties.²⁹

3. The title of Mission. This title is granted to alumni of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide and to others who devote themselves to apostolic Missions. - But it is granted under this pact, that the Ordinands promise with an oath that they will devote their labor to the Missions for which they have already been destined, or will afterwards be destined.³⁰

Let the following things be NOTED, for practice: 1. The sin "is grave, unless a dispensation is obtained from the Holy See, to ordain or be ordained without a title, or with a false title (i.e., one which does not exist); or, if the matter is about patrimony, with a fictitious or fiduciary title, or with none, or an unjust one, or one liable to restitution or resolution.³¹"

2. "If, when the title generally has been lost, or even the title of Mission, another is not substituted for it, the Priest does not on that account remain suspended; but Ordinaries are bound to compel the Ordained to the subrogation of another title, as has been provided by the sacred Canons." - Thus the S. C. DE PROP. FIDE, September 1, 1856.

3. "Likewise Regular Priests, who have pronounced solemn vows, and by Apostolic indulgence are permitted to live in the world; or who have emitted simple vows, and have departed from their Congregations or Institutes, lest they be compelled, with disgrace to their proper grade, to beg, are bound to provide for themselves concerning a canonical title. - But in places of Missions they are at least bound to prove that means are supplied to them, by which, as is fitting, they may provide for their own sustenance.³²"

1924. As to the MODE, the following things are required:

It is required 1. That Ordination be done BY DEGREES, namely with their legitimate order preserved in the reception of Orders. If someone is ordained by leap,

he sins gravely, and is prohibited from the exercise of the Order received, as long as he has not received the Order omitted.¹ - Although an Ordination of this sort is gravely illicit, it is nevertheless valid, except in the case in which someone should receive the episcopate before the priesthood (cf. n. 1888, q. 2). - From legitimate cause, the Bishop can (from Trent, sess. 23, cap. 14) dispense in the suspension or incapacity with those promoted by leap, if they have not ministered; but if they have ministered, they now need an Apostolic dispensation (cf. n. 1372).

It is required 2. that Ordinations be received through the appointed INTERSTICES of times. On this matter many things are to be NOTED: 1) The Bishop can, when he pleases, confer first tonsure with some minor Order, because first tonsure is not an Order. 2) Between the minor Orders some interval is indeed required; but how great it ought to be, Trent did not determine, indeed it says: "Unless it should seem otherwise to the Bishop." 3) That someone ascend from minor Orders to the subdiaconate, the space of one year is required; unless necessity, or the utility of the Church to which the future subdeacon is to be assigned, in the judgment of the Bishop, demands otherwise. 4) Between the subdiaconate and the diaconate likewise the space of one year is required; but any reasonable cause excuses, according to the judgment of the Bishop. - 5) Between the diaconate and the presbyterate likewise the space of a year is required, unless on account of the utility and necessity (namely moral necessity) of the Church, it should seem otherwise to the Bishop. All these things are from Trent, sess. 23, caps. 11 and 13.²

"But if it is a question of Regulars, to whom the Apostolic See, after Trent, granted the privilege of exemption from interstices, the judgment does not pertain to Bishops, but to Regular Superiors."³

You will ask, whether several Orders can be conferred on the same person ON THE SAME DAY?

Resp. 1. Tonsure and minor Orders can licitly be conferred on the same day, where custom has obtained. 2. Major Orders cannot, without grave sin, be conferred on the same day, as is established from Trent, cited cap. 13; nor, by force of law, the subdiaconate with minor Orders. Indeed, the S. C. C., in a Cagliari case, February 21, 1728, denied that this could be introduced by custom, although Authors commonly affirmed it.⁴

It is required 3. that Orders be received ON DAYS ASSIGNED BY LAW. Now, by ordinary law, tonsure can be conferred on any day, place, and hour. - Minor Orders are legitimately conferred on one or two (or at least few), on Sundays and Feasts of precept (even those abrogated in favor of the faithful⁵), nevertheless in the morning time, provided a general Ordination does not seem to be made. From received custom they can also be conferred on Wednesday of Ember Days, or on Friday before the Saturday of general Ordination. Major Orders are to be conferred only (within the solemnities of Masses) on the Saturdays of Ember Days, the Saturday before Passion Sunday, and Holy Saturday. - The Consecration of a Bishop is made at any time of the year, yet on Sunday, or on the natal day of the Apostles.⁶

From special indult, or privilege (such as certain Institutes, missionary Bishops, etc. enjoy) sacred Orders can be conferred, outside the times, on Sundays and on Feasts of precept even abrogated:⁷ provided the days are interpolated, or not continuous, as has been declared many times by the SS. Congregations.⁸ Yet broader privileges, if certainly granted to anyone, do not seem to have been revoked⁹ (cf. n. 2187, 5, concerning the privilege of Regulars).

It is required 4. That Ordination be had IN THE DUE PLACE, namely in the cathedral Church, or the worthier church of the diocese, as Trent speaks.¹⁰ If nevertheless the Ordination is not general, but of a few, it can be done in a private chapel, as the S. C. C. declared November 20, 1592.¹¹ - By the name of due place is understood also the proper diocese; for it is not licit in another's territory, without the faculty of that Bishop, to exercise an act so solemn. Indeed from Trent,¹² one ordaining thus incurs suspension from the exercise of Pontificals, and the Ordained from the exercise of the Order received (cf. n. 1368). Yet they except Tonsure, since this is conferred without Pontificals.¹³

It is required 5. that the Ordinands, as the Pontifical prescribes, receive the EUCHARIST. This prescription nevertheless does not oblige under grave fault except priests alone who concelebrate with the Bishop. "Indeed those to be initiated to minor Orders are not bound to communicate even under light fault, as is commonly taught."¹⁴

It is required 6. that the same Bishop who ordains ALSO CELEBRATE MASS; otherwise the mystery of unity would be divided, as Innocent III¹⁵ and Benedict XIV¹⁶ say. Nevertheless, the Ordination would be valid if one celebrated and another ordained, as the S. C. C. declared, since Mass is not of the essence for the validity of Orders.¹⁷

Let it be noted besides: 1) "The newly ordained presbyters must, together with the ordaining Bishop, read Mass, beginning from the prayer Suscipe sancte Pater." Thus the Roman Pontifical.¹⁸ They truly consecrate with the Bishop, although only one Sacrifice is made; wherefore they must attend to this, that they pronounce the words of consecration at the same point of time as the Bishop, and, as far as can be done, complete the form together with him.¹⁹ Thus the Roman Pontifical. 2) They must also say the Gospel with the same Bishop at the end of Mass (S. R. C., November 12, 1831, in a Marsi case, ad 12).²⁰ But if Ordination is made with chant, they are bound to read without chant the Preface and the other things which are chanted by the Bishop (S. R. C., ibid., ad 11). - 3) They must read Mass, not standing, but kneeling on the ground; and therefore they must not perform during the Sacrifice all the actions which the Bishop himself performs, for example make crosses with the hand over the Oblata, genuflect, etc. (S. R. C., September 20, 1749²¹). - See more among the expositors of the Rubrics.²²

1925. Questions. Q. 1. How do the PRAYERS oblige, which the Bishop imposes on the Ordained by way of penance?

Resp. It is more probable that they oblige only under light fault, from the more common interpretation.²³ - Now 1) "The words of the Roman Pontifical: Nocturnum talis diei, understand of the single Nocturn on a ferial day, or of the first on Sunday, as in the Psalter (i.e., of twelve Psalms with their antiphons of the time), which the ordaining Bishop can designate, either of the day itself on which he has the Ordination, or of another at his discretion." Thus the S. R. C., August 11, 1860, in Granada.²⁴ But when the Bishop expresses nothing else than that which the words of the Pontifical report, it is to be said to be the Nocturn of the feria which corresponds to that day on which the Ordination was made.²⁵ 2) The three Masses imposed on new priests (under venial fault) are to be celebrated on the first days on which it is licit to celebrate votive Masses; yet they are not to be applied for the Bishop, since that is not expressed, and the Bishop adds: And also pray for me.²⁶

Q. 2. To what are priests bound by force of the OBEDIENCE which they promised to the Bishop in Ordination?

Benedict XIV responded, writing in the Bull Ex quo dilectus: "We acknowledge that a presbyter, by force of this sort of promise, is held bound, among other things, by this law, that he cannot depart from the service of the Church to which he shall have been assigned without the license of the Bishop." Except, if he is an exempt Religious, or wishes to embrace the religious state, as will be said below (n. 2138). But in the Ordination of Regulars the disposition of the Roman Pontifical is to be observed as to the formula itself: Promittis Ordinario tuo obedientiam etc. Thus the S. R. C., July 22, 1848.²⁷

1926. Note. The penalties which those badly Ordaining and those badly Ordained incur, we have sufficiently explained in the Treatise on Censures (n. 1362 sqq.). Yet it is helpful to collect them here in a few words:

1. Those badly Ordaining are punished with penalties: on account of defect of title in the Ordained (nn. 1362 and 1364); on account of illicit Ordination of another's subject (nn. 1363, 1367, 1370, 1371, and 1372); on account of Ordination of one's own subject without due testimonial Letters (nn. 1363 and 1367); and finally on account of illicit exercise of Pontificals in another's diocese (n. 1368).

2. Those badly Ordained incur penalties: on account of the unworthiness of the one Ordaining (n. 1366); on account of dimissorial Letters, when the See is vacant, illegitimately accepted (n. 1369); on account of reception of Orders from a titular Bishop without dimissorials (n. 1370); on account of defect of testimonial Letters (n. 1371); and, if they have been in Rome for four months, on account of the special conditions omitted there (n. 1367). - Concerning those cooperating in an illicit Ordination, and concerning those Ordained by leap, see n. 1372, question.

1520. Principles. - I. The subject of Order is only a baptized male.

The first reason is because women, by divine institution, are altogether incapable of any Order whatever. This is clear from Sacred Scripture.³ It is proved also from the perpetual practice of the Church, and from the unanimous consent of the Fathers and of all the Doctors.

The second reason is clear. For no one before receiving Baptism is able to receive any other Sacrament whatever.

But a baptized little boy, not yet possessed of reason, would indeed be ordained validly, but illicitly.

1521. - II. In order that someone may duly receive Orders, the following conditions are required:

1° That he be bound by no irregularity, suspension, excommunication, or interdict.

2° That he have attained the age required by the Sacred Canons.

3° That he present fitting knowledge, proved by an examination.¹

4° That, in the cases set forth in n. 1519. q. 1°, he show either testimonial or dimissorial letters.

5° That he be ordained at the due time, and with the due interstices interposed.

6° That positive probity of life have divine vocation also as its companion.

7° That ordination be made by grades, namely that a higher Order not be received before a lower, and indeed under mortal sin; nevertheless an ordination otherwise received would be valid, if you except the Episcopate, which prerequires Priesthood.²

8° That those to be ordained receive the Holy Eucharist; which statute of the Roman Pontifical more truly binds presbyters under mortal sin, deacons and subdeacons under light sin; but for those to be initiated to Minors it is judged to be of counsel alone.³

9° That, if there is question of Regulars, those things be observed which were said above n. 1195. C). 5° and n. 1519. q. 3°, and which will be said n. 1522 under 2°. - Regulars have besides the privilege that they can be ordained outside the times.⁴

10° That, if there is question of a married man remaining in the world, he cannot licitly be promoted to any Order, not even to Tonsure, except with the express and spontaneous consent of his consort.⁵ Except: a) if on account of the wife's adultery a legitimate divorce has been made, and indeed juridically, if the crime is not notorious;⁶ b) if, on account of heresy or apostasy from the Faith on her part, the judge has decreed perpetual separation (but today perpetual separation scarcely is accustomed to be permitted); likewise generally c) if the man has converted himself to the Catholic Faith, the wife remaining in infidelity. - But among us such a married man would be ordained most imprudently, unless first a sentence of divorce had been obtained from the civil judge.

But is it required besides that the wife enter Religion, and in the same solemnly profess?

Resp. 1° Negatively, generally, but the perpetual vow of chastity suffices.

Resp. 2° Affirmatively, if either the wife were young and the man became a religious, or the man were assumed to the Episcopate.

Resp. 3° Neither a vow nor entrance into Religion is required if the wife committed the crime of adultery.

11° That the names of secular clerics who are to be assumed to Sacred Orders be recited in the Church of the parish to which they belong.² But this custom does not obtain among us, says Kenrick.³

12° That the Order received be exercised before one ascends to a higher one.⁴ Nevertheless, as to precept, without a strict mandate of the Bishop, it is not certain, especially as regards Minors, whose exercise has almost become obsolete.⁵

13° That there be the intention of clericating, i.e. the will of permanently devoting oneself to the clerical state.⁶

Notes near n. 1520, subject of the Sacrament of Order (printed p. 212).

3 I Cor. 14. 34. I Tim. 2. II. 12.

Notes near n. 1521, conditions for receiving Orders (printed p. 213).

1 Conc. Pl. Balt. II. a. 316. | 2 L. VI. 793. | 3 Ib. 801. | 4 S. Alph. de Priv. n. 115, 116. | 5 L. VI. 812. | 6 Ib. 969.

Notes near n. 1522, title of support for Subdeacon (printed p. 213).

1 L. VI. 969. | 2 Trid. Sess. 23. c. 5. Ref. | 3 Tr. XX. 33. | 4 Trid. Sess. 23. c. 11. 13. 17. Ref. | 5 L. VI. 801. | 6 Ib. 785. | 7 Instr. cit. n. 2. | 8 Ib. n. 3. | 9 Ib. n. 14.

1522. - For one to be ordained Subdeacon there is required besides a title of honorable support,¹ lest, namely, clerics constituted in Sacred Orders be compelled, either from begged subsidies or from sordid gain, to procure for themselves with dishonor to Sacred Order those things which are necessary for living. It is useful in this matter to hand down a synopsis of the Instruction which the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide issued for Mission places on April 27, 1871.

1° "A twofold title is distinguished: namely the ecclesiastical and the patrimonial. This latter ... obtains when the one to be ordained is furnished with such goods, certain, stable, and fruitful, coming from elsewhere than from the Church, which in the judgment of the Bishop are judged to suffice for his fitting support."⁷ - "The ecclesiastical ... title is subdivided into the benefice-title and the title of poverty, to which certain other species, as it were subsidiary and extraordinary, must be added, namely the titles of the Common Table, and of Service of the Church, Mission, Sufficiency, and College."⁸ - The titles of Benefice, Service of the Church, Sufficiency, and College being passed over, since they do not occur among us, and the title of Patrimony already having been explained above, which can also be used among us,⁹ it remains that we treat of the title of Poverty, and of the Common Table, and also of the title of Mission.

2° "The title of Poverty ... is placed in religious profession, by force of which those who have emitted solemn vows in an approved Religion have all things in common, from the revenues of goods, if the Religion itself possesses any, or from the pious offerings of the faithful, of which they have need for sustaining life. But what they call the title of the Common Table touches those clerics who, dwelling after the manner of Religious in the discipline of common life, pronounce either no vows, or only simple vows, and accordingly are permitted to go out or to be dismissed from the religious house, and to return to the world. For the title of poverty does not pertain to them, as is gathered from the Constitution Romanus Pontifex of St. Pius V, on the day before the Ides of October, 1568. But of these clerics those only can be promoted to Sacred Orders under the title of the Common Table whose Congregations or Institutes have been enriched by the Apostolic See with a special privilege for this." Therefore religious of Orders in which solemn vows are emitted cannot, without a special indult, be promoted to Sacred Orders under the title of poverty so long as they are bound only by simple vows, according to the norm of the Decree of Pius IX (see n. 1187). This is clear also from the Response of the Sacred Congregation of Regulars, January 20, 1866, to the Archbishop of Mexico.

3° "The title of Mission ... is accustomed to be used ... for those who ... devote themselves to the service of Apostolic Missions ... in places ... in which the condition of things is such that the common law of the Church concerning those things which regard the title prerequired for Sacred Ordination cannot be observed to the letter. But those who have been ordained under a title of this kind obtain from the apostolic ministry in the Mission to which they have been assigned the things necessary for life."² - In order that someone can be ordained under this title, there is required:

a) A special indult granted by the Holy See to the Ordinary (regularly either for a certain time, or for a fixed number of cases), the conscience of the same being strictly burdened, that it be used "only in favor of those who, by disposition and docility of soul, rectitude of intention, aptitude of mind, progress in sacred studies, integrity of morals, and contempt of worldly things, give hope that they will be strenuous heralds of the Gospel."¹ - An indult of this kind was granted by the Supreme Pontiff to the several Bishops of these Provinces on January 24, 1868, for the term assigned to each of them for the exercise of the other faculties (p. LXX. sq.).²

b) An oath³ [p. LXXIII. note 2 and n. 374. 8°. See several declarations concerning its sense T. I. p. 473 (κ)]. To those emitting it, and likewise to those repeating it on the anniversary day, Pius VI, in an audience of May 7, 1775, granted a plenary indulgence, applicable to the departed, provided in both cases they have confessed and been refreshed by Holy Communion.⁴

4° Just as other titles, so also this one, of which there is question, can be lost according to canonical sanctions, and be taken away by Ordinaries, with the consent, however, of the Sacred Congregation, to which it belongs to release those so ordained from the bond of the oath offered.⁵ "But if, the title generally having been lost, or even the title of Mission, another is not substituted for it, the priest does not for that reason remain suspended; but Ordinaries are held to compel those ordained to the substitution of another title, just as provision has been made by the sacred Canons. This Sacred Congregation declared this in the general meetings of September 1, 1856."⁶

"Likewise regular priests who have pronounced solemn vows, and by Apostolic indulgence are permitted to live in the world, or who have issued simple vows and have departed from their Congregations or Institutes, lest they be compelled to beg with dishonor to their proper grade, are bound to provide for themselves concerning a canonical title; but in places of Missions they are bound at least to prove that means are at hand for them by which they may provide for their own support, as is fitting."⁷

"Those who have ascended to ecclesiastical Orders under the title of some certain Mission, when they have dismissed the office of Missionary, without doubt lose their title, and must provide themselves with another; but if they are deputed to the service of another Mission, in order that they may assume the title of this Mission, a new concession of the Holy See will be necessary; for neither does the faculty, if any has been obtained by the Ordinary of that Mission, of ordaining clerics under the mentioned title, suffice for them."⁸ See also Past.-Bl. für N. Amer.⁹

Notes near n. 1522, title of Mission and canonical title (printed p. 214).

1 Instr. cit. n. 4. | 2 Ib. n. 6. | 3 Instr. cit. n. 7. Conc. Pl. Balt. II. a. 89. | 4 Conc. Pl. Balt. II. a. 323. note 1. | 5 Instr. cit. n. 8. | 6 Ib. n. 15. | 7 Cf. nevertheless Conc. Pl. Balt. II. n. 90. | 8 Ib. n. 11. | 9 Instr. cit. n. 12.

1523. Questions. - Quaer. 1° What knowledge is required in candidates to be promoted to Orders?

Resp. 1° Of those to be initiated to Minors, it is required that they at least understand the Latin speech; 2° of those to be initiated to Subdiaconate and Diaconate, it is required that they be learned in letters, and in those things which pertain to exercising the Order; 3° finally, of those to be initiated to Priesthood, it is required that they be found fit to teach the people those things which are necessary for salvation to all, and to minister the Sacraments. - Trent.³ But the end of the Council, which indicates the lowest limits of knowledge, is to keep the unlettered away from Orders, without its being prohibited to the Bishop to require from those to be ordained a richer knowledge, which deservedly is now required everywhere.⁴

Quaer. 2° What age is required for receiving Orders?

Resp. 1° For receiving Tonsure it is required that the one to be initiated possess the use of reason, namely that he be at least seven years old. - Trent.⁵ 2° As regards Minors, no age is assigned in Canon Law. 3° Of Subdeacons is required the twenty-second year of age. 4° Of Deacons, the twenty-third. 5° Of Priests, the twenty-fifth. 6° But for the Episcopate the thirtieth year is required. It is gathered from Trent.⁶ But it suffices that the indicated year have been begun, with the exception, however, of the Episcopate and Tonsure.⁷ But dispensation as regards age is reserved to the Supreme Pontiff.⁸ For the faculties usually granted to our Bishops in this matter, see p. LXX. n. 3, and p. LXXII. n. 3.

Quaer. 3° At what time and place can Orders be conferred?

Resp. 1° Tonsure can be conferred on any day, hour, and place (even outside the proper diocese of the one ordaining). - Thus from the Roman Pontifical.

Resp. 2° Minors can be conferred anywhere, but in the proper diocese of the one ordaining,¹ on single Sundays or double Feasts of precept, even suppressed,² provided they are conferred in the morning. - See the Roman Pontifical. But this is to be understood of an ordination which is not general; since a general ordination must be made on those days on which Major Orders can be conferred, unless custom permits this on Wednesday or Friday before the general ordination.³

Resp. 3° Major Orders by law, and under grave obligation, are to be conferred during the celebration of Mass: 1° on the Saturday of each of the Four Times; 2° on the Saturday before Passion Sunday; 3° on Holy Saturday.³ But by dispensation obtained from the Pope (for the granting of which a faculty has been conceded to our Bishops. See p. LXX. n. 1), they can also be conferred outside the times, namely on other Sundays or Feasts of precept, even suppressed. - But whether with a dispensation of this kind Orders, whether Minors or Majors, can be conferred on doubles which are not, nor have been, of precept, is controverted. To St. Alphonsus the opinion denying is more probable,⁴ and the Sacred Congregation of the Council followed it in the Caesaraugustana, January 15, 1689.⁵

"But to the Bishops of the Federated Provinces," says Kenrick,⁶ "it is indulged that they confer Orders outside the times; wherefore it seems lawful for them to confer them on any day whatever, at the equal judgment of the Bishop." - But in what sense these words of the most illustrious Kenrick are to be understood is not sufficiently clear. If as interpretive of the privilege, as seems to be concluded from the context (see the cited place), we do not acquiesce in the opinion of the most learned man; for neither, according to St. Alphonsus, is any difference to be admitted between the privilege of conferring or receiving Orders on three feast days and the privilege of ordaining outside the times, as also seems to be clear from the Decree of Innocent XII dated December 14, 1693,⁸ and from several concessions which may be seen in the Bullarium of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide,⁹ and is clearly evident from the declaration in Caesaraugustana above. - But if Kenrick wished to testify only concerning the custom of the Federated States, we admit, with St. Alphonsus, that that custom can be legitimate.¹ - The indult is to be read before the conferral of Sacred Orders. Pontifical.

Addendum and Corrigendum. - The opinion of St. Alphonsus concerning the sense of the indult for conferring Orders outside the times is confirmed by the Response of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of the same day, 18 May 1883, in the Marionopolitana. "Doubt II. Whether the faculty of conferring Sacred Orders outside the times, by force of art. 1, Form. I., generally granted to missionary Bishops, is limited, unless there is a very special indult, to those days alone on which by common law it is lawful to confer Minor Orders, namely feast days of precept, even those abrogated in favor of the faithful? Or whether it extends to all individual days of the year, or at least to all on which an Office of double rite is recited?" The Sacred Congregation responded: "Affirmatively to the first part: negatively to the second."

Note besides concerning the same privilege: a) outside the case of contrary custom or indult, Orders to be conferred must be on separated days. L. VI. 796; b) a Bishop cannot use the favor of another's subject unless he is fortified with an indult for this. (γ) p. 393.

It is not lawful without reasonable cause to perform general ordinations of Sacred Orders outside the Cathedral, or, in another place of the diocese, outside the more worthy church.

Quaer. 4° What is to be said about interstices?

Resp. 1° Between the Minors certain interstices are to be observed, unless something else seem more expedient to the Bishop. - Thus from Trent.³ - But the time is not determined. In many places by custom the four Minors are conferred on the same day.

Resp. 2° As regards Majors, this was established by Trent:⁴ between the last of the Minors received and Subdiaconate, one year must intervene, computed not mathematically, but ecclesiastically, e.g. from the Four Times of one year to the Four Times of the following year; unless necessity or the utility of the Church, in the judgment of the Bishop, demand otherwise. Say the same between Subdiaconate and Diaconate, unless for any reasonable cause whatever something else seem good to the Bishop. The same also is to be said between Diaconate and Presbyterate, unless the Bishop determine otherwise on account of the notable and certain utility of his own Church. But to our Bishops a fuller power as regards this is conceded. See p. LXX. n. 1.⁵

But he would sin gravely who on the same day, besides the four Minors, also received Subdiaconate, unless a contrary custom excuse, which is to be proved by the Bishop.⁶

Note. - Dispensation in the interstices can be given by the Bishop also to Regulars duly dismissed to him, but not to subjects of another diocese, to whom it must be conceded by their own Ordinary, mention of it having been made in the dimissorials. - Craisson, Manuale.¹

Quaer. 5° Does a Cleric sin who, initiated in Minors, takes a wife?

Resp. Speaking in itself, it is certain that he does not sin gravely, indeed not even lightly, if he does this on account of a just cause, e.g. to end enmities, or temptations of the flesh, or to come to the aid of a poor woman, etc.; otherwise he will not be excused from venial sin.² - I said: speaking in itself; for it is greatly to be feared, says St. Alphonsus, lest he be in a bad state who, certain of his vocation to the ecclesiastical state, withdraws from it in order to enjoy the world.

Quaer. 6° Is it required that the one to be ordained be confirmed?

Resp. Trent³ has these words: "Let those not be initiated with first tonsure who have not received the Sacrament of Confirmation." But it is disputed whether these words are of precept, or only of counsel: "Commonly," says St. Alphonsus,⁴ "they say that Confirmation is not required in one to be ordained under grave obligation, but is indeed required under light obligation; because, although the words of Trent rather indicate fittingness than precept, nevertheless he who acts contrary in this matter is not excused from at least a light disorder."

Quaer. 7° Does he sin who receives some Order without the intention of ascending to higher ones?

Resp. 1° He does not sin gravely, even if he receives Major Orders and does not intend to receive Priesthood. - Thus St. Alphonsus, who says that this is certain and common.⁵

Resp. 2° Nor probably does he in itself sin venially, because by no law is it prescribed to anyone that he ascend to higher Orders, unless someone accept a benefice requiring Priesthood or Sacred Order.⁶

See nevertheless what was said concerning those ordained under the title of Mission, n. 374. 8°.

Quaer. 8° Whether and how does an ordained man sin who omits the recitation of the prayers which after ordination are imposed by the Bishop by way of penance?

Resp. The Theologians do not agree on this. For some say that he sins gravely, because the matter of the precept is grave. Others hold that he does not sin at all, because the Bishop does not impose a precept. Finally others judge that omission of this kind at least is not mortal, since this is not certain concerning it, and indeed this opinion is probable to St. Alphonsus.¹

As regards these prayers, this Declaration of the Sacred Congregation of Rites is had:² "The words of the Roman Pontifical: The Nocturn of such a day, understand of the single Nocturn in the ferial office, or of the first of Sunday, as in the Psalter, that is, of twelve Psalms with their antiphons of the time, which the ordaining Bishop can designate, either of the very day on which he has the ordination, or of another, according to his judgment." - But when the Bishop expresses nothing other than what the words of the Pontifical relate, the Nocturn of the feria is to be said, which corresponds to that day on which the ordination was made.

Quaer. 9° Whether or how are newly ordained priests held to read the three Masses prescribed by the Bishop?

Resp. 1° They are not held to apply them according to the intention of the Bishop, and therefore can receive a stipend for them.³

Resp. 2° Probably the obligation to say them at least is not grave; nor are they to be said before non-impeded days arrive, since they must be votive Masses.⁴

Quaer. 10° What should newly ordained priests, celebrating with the Bishop, especially observe as regards the pronunciation of the form of Consecration?

Resp. 1° That, as far as can be done, they finish the form together with the Bishop; 2° that they have the intention of consecrating only when they have finished the form at the same time with the Bishop; 3° that in the Consecration of the Chalice they intend also not to consecrate, if perchance they did not consecrate the bread.⁵ Practically, on account of the easy disturbance of those to be ordained, it will be best that one of the assisting ministers form the intention of which under 2° and 3°, and that those to be ordained be forewarned simply to conform their own to this.

Quaer. 11° To what are priests held by force of the obedience which they promised to the Bishop in ordination?

Resp. Benedict XIV explains thus (in the Epistle Ea quo dilectus, January 14, 1747): "We acknowledge that a Presbyter, by the force of this promise, is bound by this law, among others, as a strict one, that he cannot depart from the service of the Church to which he has been assigned without the license of the Bishop." (34) p. 422.

Quaer. 12° Can priests, or even Pastors, embrace the religious state when the Bishop refuses?

Resp. See n. 1158.

Quaer. 13° Is absolution to be granted to a Cleric habituated in an occult shameful vice, who wishes to ascend to Sacred Orders, without a previous experiment of continence?

Resp. Negatively, even though he has been sincerely converted to the Lord, and therefore can be absolved at once. And so he will not be able to receive Sacred Order unless he has given some time to work at extirpating the depraved habit. But if he persist in wishing to receive Sacred Order, St. Alphonsus does not judge him disposed for absolution, because he violates the law of the Church in a grave matter. He excepts only the case in which God grants the penitent an extraordinary grace of compunction, which renders him so proved that he himself can at once receive Sacred Order without being proved by the experience of time. But even in this case, for one wishing to be ordained at once, it is more prudent that absolution be deferred, so that he may be more firmly proved by the experience of time, provided there is not reason to fear, from the delay, a proximate danger of infamy. The same concerning a drunkard.

Notes near n. 1523, knowledge, age, time, and place for Orders (printed p. 215).

1 Instr. cit. n. 13. | 2 16th year, p. 108. | 3 Sess. 23. c. 4 sq. Ref. | 4 L. VI. 792. Adv. 2. | 5 Sess. 23. c. 4. Ref. | 6 Ib. c. 12. Ref. | 7 L. VI. 799. | 8 Ib. 800. | 9 Ib. 798.

Notes near n. 1523, ordination days and the indult outside the times (printed p. 216).

1 L. VI. 798. | 2 S. R. C. 12 Nov. 1831 in Mars. 16 Mar. 1833 in Claremont, etc. | 3 L. VI. 794. | 4 Ib. 797. Dub. 4. de Priv. n. 116. | 5 Apud Lucidi, de visit. T. I. p. 180. | 6 Tr. XX. 34. | 7 De Priv. n. 116. | 8 Bull. Rom. Ed. Taur. T. XX. p. 587. § 5. | 9 App. 1. p. 175 and 305.

Notes near n. 1523, interstices and separated days for Orders (printed p. 217).

1 L. VI. 797. Dub. 4. | 2 Herdt, Pr. Pont. T. III. n. 355. | 3 Sess. 23. c. 11. Ref. | 4 Ib. c. 11. 13. 14. Ref. | 5 Ex. Ord. 44. L. VI. 795. | 6 L. VI. 796.

Notes near n. 1523, confirmation and intention for higher Orders (printed p. 218).

1 n. 2036, 2037. | 2 L. VI. 785. | 3 Sess. 23. c. 4. Ref. | 4 L. VI. 785. | 5 L. VI. 785. | 6 Ib. 785.

Notes near n. 1523, imposed prayers, Masses, and obedience after ordination (printed p. 218).

1 Ex. Ord. 91. | 2 11 Aug. 1860 in Granat. | 3 L. VI. 829. | 4 Ex. Ord. 91. S. R. C. 11 Apr. 1840 in Barchin. | 5 Ex. Ord. n. 232.

738. The subject of licit ordination is he who has the required dispositions and conditions, namely, the state of grace and probity of life, immunity from censures, irregularities, and other impediments, the character of Confirmation, the intention of clericating, and the approbation of his proper Ordinary judging concerning the due endowments and qualities (can. 968).

1. The state of grace is required; this obligation is grave at least for the orders which certainly have the dignity of a sacrament, as we said in nn. 96-97; moreover, "since... by order someone is constituted leader for others in divine things, one who with consciousness of mortal sin approaches orders sins mortally as being presumptuous" (q. 36, a. 1). For the others it is probably of itself light, although accidentally it is required under grave sin, by reason of the communion to be received in ordination.

2. Probity of life (can. 973 and 974, 2), concerning which the Council of Trent, sess. 23, de ref., c. 12, says: "let bishops know... that only worthy men and those whose approved life is old age should be assumed to these orders"; indeed to the presbyterate those who are "conspicuous for piety and chaste morals" (c. 14); and St. Thomas: "Sacred orders pre-require sanctity; but the state of religion is an exercise for attaining sanctity," II-II, q. 189, a. 1, ad 3. This is easily understood from the eminence of sacred power and of the priesthood (cf. I Tim. III and Tit. I).

One who does not have a sufficiently approved honest life, or one habituated in a base vice, for example, of lust, and not yet sufficiently corrected, must be prohibited from sacred orders even under penalty of denied absolution; unless perhaps he gives undoubted signs of an extraordinary conversion by which he is wholly changed and altogether freed from frailty, which is very rare.¹

¹ Cf. St. Alphonsus, Th. M., l. VI, n. 53, and our little work De Variis Poenitentium Categoriis, c. 1, q. 4, VII.

3. Immunity from irregularities, censures, and other impediments, which by their nature impede the exercise of order or have been established by the Church (can. 968).

4. The character of Confirmation, as the Council of Trent requires, sess. 23, de ref., c. 4, and can. 974, 1; otherwise they are not judged sufficiently firm in faith, nor is it fitting that those be constituted leaders of others who have not yet been made soldiers of Christ. He who otherwise has received tonsure or orders cannot, as being badly promoted, ascend to other orders, nor retain the benefices for which he has been provided, without the dispensation of the Pontiff (S. C. C., Sept. 27, 1601).

5. The intention of clericating, i.e., the purpose of remaining in the clerical state and serving God through the ministries of the order received; indeed, from can. 973, § 1, the purpose of ascending to the presbyterate and such a habit of life that it can prudently be expected that the one to be ordained will be a worthy priest. Nevertheless, one ordained, if he refuses to ascend, cannot be compelled, nor prohibited from the exercise of the order received, unless there is a grave cause or impediment (ibid., § 2).

6. The judgment of the proper Ordinary concerning the due qualities, or concerning canonical suitability; this must rest upon positive arguments and be morally certain, and indeed under grave fault (can. 973, § 3).

Question 7. Whether it is required that the one to be ordained be confirmed?

Resp. Affirmatively, as is established from can. 974, § 1, 1; 993, 1.