The Hierarchy

The Hierarchy of Orders and Jurisdiction.—The Orders of the clergy may be considered, not only in reference to power over the real Body of Christ (i.e., the Eucharist), but also in reference to power over the mystical Body of Christ (i.e., the Church). Those who have power over the members of the Church belong to the hierarchy, and this is understood in two senses:

(a) the hierarchy of Orders is composed of those who receive in Ordination a permanent superiority over others in reference to the worship of God and the sanctification of souls by the ministry of the Sacraments. From divine institution this hierarchy is composed of the three ranks of bishops, priests, and deacons; and from ecclesiastical institution of the lower clergy in Orders. Thus, the deacon is able to baptize and administer Communion as extraordinary minister; the priest is the ordinary minister of Baptism and the Eucharist, and only a priest can act as minister of Penance and Extreme Unction; the bishop is the minister, not only of the Sacraments mentioned, but also of Confirmation and Orders;

(b) the hierarchy of jurisdiction is composed of those members of the Church who receive in their accepted election or canonical commission a power over the faithful which can be lost or resigned, and which relates to the instruction and government of subjects in matters of faith and morals. From divine law this hierarchy is composed of the Supreme Pontificate and the subordinate Episcopate; from ecclesiastical law there are other ranks of authority, such as those of parish-priest, prelate, abbot, archbishop, primate, patriarch and cardinal.

How many orders are there; what is their division; what sort of institution do they have? - In the Latin Church there are seven: Ostiariate, Lectorate, Exorcistate, Acolytate, Subdiaconate, Diaconate, Priesthood, which is distinguished into Presbyterate and Episcopate. "The multitude of orders," says St. Thomas, Suppl., q. 37, a. 1, "was introduced in the Church for three reasons..., for commending the wisdom of God..., for relieving human infirmity..., that a broader way of advancing might be given to men." But the sacrament of order is ordered to the sacrament of the Eucharist, which is the sacrament of sacraments. "And therefore the distinction of orders is to be taken according to relation to the Eucharist." St. Thomas, Suppl., q. 37, a. 2. Whence suitably only seven orders are recounted. For indeed "the power of order is either for consecration of the Eucharist itself, or for some ministry ordered to this sacrament of the Eucharist. If in the first way, thus it is the order of priests... But the cooperation of ministers is either in order to the sacrament itself, or in order to those receiving. If in the first way, thus it is threefold: 1. for there is the ministry by which the minister cooperates with the priest in the sacrament itself as regards distribution, but not as regards consecration..., and this pertains to the deacon...; 2. there is the ministry ordered to preparing the matter of the sacrament in the sacred vessels of the sacrament itself, and this pertains to subdeacons...; 3. there is the ministry ordered to presenting the matter of the sacrament, and this belongs to the acolyte... The ministry ordered to the preparation of recipients cannot be except over the unclean, because those who are clean are already fit for receiving the sacraments. But there is a threefold kind of unclean persons... For some are altogether unbelievers not wishing to believe, and these must be kept entirely even from the sight of divine things and the assembly of the faithful; and this pertains to doorkeepers. But some are willing to believe but not yet instructed, namely catechumens; and for their instruction the order of lectors is ordained. Therefore the first rudiments of the doctrine of faith, namely the Old Testament, are committed to them to be read. But some are instructed faithful, yet having an impediment from the power of the devil, namely energumens; and for this ministry there is the order of exorcists." St. Thomas, l.c. - "In the primitive Church, because of the fewness of ministers, all lower ministries were committed to deacons... Nevertheless all the aforesaid powers were present, but implicitly in the one power of the deacon. But afterward divine worship was enlarged, and the Church handed on explicitly in different orders what it had implicitly in one order." St. Thomas, l.c. ad 2; Trent, sess. 23, C. 2, ib. C. 17, de Ref.

In the Greek Church for many centuries there have been only four orders, namely Presbyterate, Diaconate, Subdiaconate, Lectorate. The duties of doorkeeper and acolyte are attributed partly to the lector, partly to the subdeacon. But the Greeks do not have the exorcistate as a true order. Benedict XIV, Constitution Etsi pastoralis, May 26, 1742, § 7, n. 7. But whether formerly they had more is disputed by the learned. Cf. Theology of Wurzburg, n. 54.

The seven orders are divided in the Latin Church so that the first four are called minor and non-sacred orders, the latter three major and sacred, because the former approach more remotely, the latter more closely, to the Eucharist, the end of all orders. Trent, sess. 23, C. 2, c. 2. - Now an order can be denominated sacred according to a certain common reason, and in this way all orders are sacred, as those which speak not of a profane or secular power, but of a sacred or ecclesiastical power. It can also be denominated sacred properly, insofar as it signifies a certain special prerogative not fitting to all orders. If sacred order is taken in this way, it has a threefold acceptance. 1. By reason of the power itself conferred through ordination, and thus an order is called sacred insofar as it bestows spiritual power of serving more closely in the sacrifice of the altar. In this sense priesthood, diaconate, and subdiaconate always seem to have been sacred orders. For Trent, sess. 23, C. 2, says that the names and proper ministries of each of the seven orders have been in use from the very beginning of the Church; and ibid. C. 17, de Ref., that the functions of holy orders from the diaconate to the ostiariate have been laudably received in the Church from the times of the Apostles. 2. By reason of the solemn vow of chastity annexed to the order, and in this sense the subdiaconate was not always a sacred order. 3. By reason of the hierarchy of prelacy or principality, and in this way only priests and deacons are placed by the Fathers in sacred order, since clerics of the other orders do not preside over the people, but only minister to priests and deacons. Trent, sess. 23, C. 4, c. 6; St. Thomas, Suppl., q. 37, a. 3; 4, d. 24, q. 2, a. 1, qc. 3 ad 1, ad 5; Wurzburg, n. 66, 68, 69.

As the subdiaconate was not always held as a sacred order, so it also was not always held as a major order in a special sense, as is clear from C. A multis 9, de Aetat., etc., praeficiend., where Innocent III, in the year 1207, from the fact that the subdiaconate was now numbered among the sacred orders by reason of chastity to be observed, established "that a subdeacon can freely be elected as Bishop, just as a deacon or priest." Hence the subdiaconate, which before was counted among the minor orders for this reason, that he could not freely be elected as Bishop, began to be numbered among the major ones. Freely; since before, except for cause of utility, and then also except by permission of the Metropolitan or Roman Pontiff, the election could not be held. Further, if it was already numbered among sacred orders in the time of Gregory and Urban II, in the year 1091, as is clear from the cited C. A multis, and from C. Miramur 7, de Serv. non ordinand., it was also absolutely counted among the major orders, "because they also ministered at the altars." And indeed the Council of Trent, sess. 23, C. 3, says: "subdiaconate is referred to the major orders by the Fathers and sacred Councils." From C. Non oportet 26, Dist. 23; C. Nullus 4, Dist. 60, subdeacons did not have permission of entering the Sacrarium and touching the Vessels of the Lord; namely the sacrarium in which, after the mysteries had been completed, the Eucharist was replaced by deacons, and the sacred vessels placed on the altar at the time of sacrifice, or containing the Body and Blood of Christ. Cf. Wurzburg, n. 70.

As regards the institution of the aforesaid orders inferior to the priesthood, it is certain by faith: that the institution of ministers as such, insofar as under this name come those who serve the priesthood, abstracting from the diverse grades which can be found in them, is of divine right; for this is expressly defined in Trent, sess. 23, C. 2, c. 6. But that the institution of the individual orders which we have enumerated is disjunctively either of simply or immediately divine right, or at least of mediately divine right, namely from power divinely granted to the Church: this is evidently had from c. 2. - But that each was immediately instituted by Christ the Lord is not agreed among authors as regards the subdiaconate and the minor orders. Yet an affirmative response can be given with great probability from c. 6 of Trent compared with c. 2 and de Ref., C. 17. - Benedict XIV, de Syn., l. 8, c. 10; E. M.

What about other books of special subject matter? "Books are condemned in which God, or the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Saints, or the Catholic Church and her worship, or the sacraments, or the Apostolic See, are disparaged. Works in which the concept of the inspiration of Sacred Scripture is perverted, or its extension is too much restricted, are subject to the same judgment of reprobation. Books also are prohibited which deliberately afflict the ecclesiastical hierarchy, or the clerical or religious state, with insults." § 11. Books of any authors whatsoever, whether non-Catholic or Catholic. Disparage: namely speak ill, although not explicitly, but in grave matter. Inspiration of Sacred Scripture, which, "written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has God as author." Vatican Council, Constitution Dei Filius, chap. 2; Decree of the Holy Office Lamentabili, July 3, 1907, prop. 9. Is perverted: if, for example, the concept of inspiration were constituted in a subsequent approval of the Sacred Books by the Church; or in a certain concomitant direction of the Holy Spirit, if necessity demands; or in divine assistance for preventing errors. Cited Decree, props. 10, 12, 19, 20. Is restricted: namely to only some books of Sacred Scripture, not to all; or to only some part of the books, not to the entire books; or only to dogmas of faith and morals, not also to the remaining matters, to historical matters, to profane matters, to matters pertaining to the natural sciences; or only to matters concerning which they treat explicitly, not also to others said only incidentally. Cited Decree, prop. 11. Deliberately: and therefore not if there is only some injurious expression, but if either the whole book, or a notable part of it, or some entire chapter afflicts the ecclesiastical hierarchy, or the clerical or religious state with insults; not some private person, unless from this vituperation turns against the hierarchical order itself, or a part of it, or against the clerical or religious state itself. "Let it be forbidden to edit, read, or retain books in which sorceries, divination, magic, evocation of spirits, and other superstitions of this kind are taught or commended." § 12. Are taught, for exercising them. Are taught or commended: not if they merely narrate superstitious facts, or treat or discourse concerning them, for reproving them and showing their malice and danger. "Books or writings which narrate new apparitions, revelations, visions, prophecies, miracles, or which introduce new devotions, even under the pretext that they are private, if they are published without legitimate permission of the Superiors of the Church, are proscribed." § 13. Writings, although they are not books, but booklets or leaves; although they are manuscripts, for they are most properly writings. If they are published: therefore the prohibition does not affect books published before this Constitution. Without legitimate permission: if this is had, it now no longer seems to be required, by force of the present Constitution, that there be a protestation according to the Decree of Urban VIII. But cf. what is had here at the end of the number. Without legitimate, etc. All books concerning sacred things and morals are indeed to be subjected to ecclesiastical censure so that they may be licitly edited; but not for that reason are all prohibited if they have been edited without legitimate approval, § 41; while on the contrary books of which there is question in this paragraph, published without permission of the superiors of the Church, are proscribed, and consequently can neither be read nor retained. Cf. 1306. "Likewise books are prohibited which establish as lawful duel, suicide, or divorce; which treat of masonic sects or other societies of the same kind, and contend that they are useful and not pernicious to the Church and civil society; and which defend errors proscribed by the Apostolic See." § 14. Books of authors of any kind, non-Catholics or Catholics. Establish, contend, defend: therefore they do this not incidentally but deliberately. Errors proscribed by the Apostolic See, e.g., errors proscribed in the Syllabus. Sacred Congregation of the Index, May 23, 1898. E.M. "Concerning sacred Relics these things are to be held. If Bishops, who alone can in this matter, know certainly that a Relic is spurious, let them remove it from the worship of the faithful. If the authenticating documents of some Relic, perhaps because of civil disturbances or from any other case, have perished, let it not be proposed publicly unless duly recognized by the Bishop. The argument of prescription or of founded presumption will then only be valid if the cult is commended by antiquity; namely according to the decree issued in the year 1896 by the sacred Council for examining indulgences and sacred Relics, by which it is declared: Ancient Relics are to be preserved in that veneration in which they have been up to now, unless in a particular case certain arguments are present that they are false or supposititious. But when there has been a judgment concerning pious traditions, it is necessary to remember this: the Church uses so great prudence in this matter that she does not permit traditions of this sort even to be narrated in writing unless much caution has been employed and the declaration sanctioned by Urban VIII has been prefaced; and although this is duly done, nevertheless she does not assert the truth of the fact, but, unless human arguments for believing are lacking, only does not prohibit it from being believed.

Thus plainly the sacred Council for guarding legitimate rites, thirty years ago, declared by Decree of May 2, 1877: Apparitions or revelations of this kind have neither been approved nor condemned by the Apostolic See, but have only been permitted as piously believable by human faith alone, according to the tradition which they bear, confirmed also by suitable testimonies and records. He who holds this will be free from every fear. For the religion of any apparition, insofar as it regards the fact itself and is called relative, always has the implicit condition concerning the truth of the fact; but insofar as it is absolute, it always rests on truth, for it is borne toward the very persons of the Saints who are honored. Similarly it must be affirmed concerning Relics. Finally We entrust this to the Council of vigilance, that they assiduously and diligently keep their eyes also on social institutions and on any writings concerning the social matter, lest anything of modernism lie hidden in them, but that they correspond to the precepts of the Roman Pontiffs." Pius X, Encyclical Letter Pascendi dominici gregis, September 8, 1907.

S. Th., Suppl., q. 37; q. 35, a. 2 and 5; and q. 40.

725. There are several orders in the Church, which are ordered to different offices. - This is certain, indeed defined by the Council of Trent, sess. 23, c. 2 and can. 2, as pertaining to Catholic truth.

St. Thomas gives the reasons, q. 37, a. 1:

"The multitude of orders has been introduced in the Church for three reasons:

1. For commending the wisdom of God, which shines forth most of all in an ordered distinction of things, both in natural things and in spiritual things...

2. For assisting human infirmity, because through one man all things which pertained to the divine mysteries could not be fulfilled without great burden; and therefore diverse orders are distinguished for diverse offices. And this is clear from the fact that the Lord gave seventy elders to Moses for assistance.

3. That a broader way of profiting may be given to men, while many are distributed in diverse offices, so that all may be cooperators of God; than which nothing is more divine, as Dionysius says in Eccl. hier. 3."

726. Seven orders are distinguished in the Church, by which, as by grades, clerics ascend even to the priesthood. - This is certain from the Council of Trent, sess. 23, c. 2.

St. Thomas, a. 2, takes the reason of the distinction from the relation to the Eucharist, to which the sacrament of Order is ordered: the priest consecrates the Eucharist; the three more noble somehow cooperate with him in order to the Eucharist itself: the deacon immediately cooperates with the priest in the sacrament itself, and indeed does not consecrate it but dispenses it; the subdeacon prepares the matter in sacred vessels, but the acolyte in vessels not sacred; the remaining three cooperate only in order to preparing those receiving the Eucharist: the exorcist cleanses the faithful who have an impediment from the power of the demon; the lector prepares the subject by instructing, or by teaching the rudiments of faith; the ostiary keeps the unworthy from the Church, by opening to the worthy alone.

Thus in the Latin Church; and although in the time of the apostles the inferior ministers had not yet been distinguished from deacons, but their power and office remained contained in the diaconate, nevertheless from the beginnings of the Church all orders with their proper ministries are known to have been in use.¹

¹ Thus the Council of Trent, l. c. - Thus, for example, Cornelius (a. 251), ep. to Fabius of Antioch (H. E. VI, 43), says "that in the Roman Church there are 46 presbyters, 7 deacons, 7 subdeacons, 42 acolytes, and 52 exorcists and lectors with ostiaries." The function of all these is described by the Apostolic Constitutions, l. II, c. 57. They are also numbered in the Liber Pontificalis, decree of Pope Caius; afterward in the canons which come under the name of the Council of Carthage IV. - Already before Cornelius, in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, subdeacons and lectors are named; indeed in can. 7 of Hippolytus lectors are exhibited as fulfilling an excellent function, so that they ought to be adorned with the virtues of deacons. The Council of Laodicea also speaks of several, even of exorcists, who according to can. 26 must be ordained by bishops.

In the Greek Church, however, besides the diaconate there are only the subdiaconate and lectorate; but the offices of the others are reduced to these: thus the acolyte-ship and ostiary-ship are conferred together with the subdiaconate, the exorcistate with the diaconate.

727. All orders are more probably sacraments, but they constitute only one sacrament of Order. - This is the obvious sense of the Councils of Florence and Trent, l. c.

A. The individual orders are sacraments. It is proved:

1. From the Councils. For the Council of Florence says: "The sixth sacrament is Order, whose matter is that by the handing over of which Order is conferred"; which it applies to the presbyterate, diaconate, subdiaconate, and similarly to the other orders.

It does the same for the form of the orders. Afterward it adds: The effect is an increase of grace, that one may be a fit minister.

Similarly the Council of Trent, after it has enumerated the seven orders, immediately adds without restriction: that Order is a sacrament.

2. From the Pontifical, which generally says concerning all orders: "Let the bishop admonish those to be ordained to touch the instruments by which character is imprinted."

3. From the reason of St. Thomas, q. 35, a. 2: "Some have said that character is imprinted only in the priestly order; but this is not true, because no one can licitly exercise the act of a deacon unless he is a deacon; and thus it is clear that he has some spiritual power in the dispensation of the sacraments which others do not have. And because of this others have said that character is imprinted in sacred orders, but not in minor orders. But again this is nothing, because through each order someone is constituted above the people in some grade of power ordered to the dispensation of the sacraments. Whence, since character is a sign distinctive from others, it is necessary that character be imprinted in all; a sign of this also is that they remain perpetually, and are never repeated."

Moreover, that their character is indelible is clear from the fact that it is not taken away by excommunication.

Many moderns, however, deny this, and hold all orders below the diaconate not as sacraments but as mere sacramentals instituted by the Church, both because they were not always in the Church, and because they are not conferred by the imposition of hands, which is the essential rite of Order instituted by Christ. - Resp. If Christ did not determine the sacramental sign in its ultimate species, but left it to the Church to be more determined, she could ordain that the power which at first was conferred all at once in the presbyterate or in the diaconate should now or elsewhere be conferred in several times by partitions; and also that this might fittingly be done by a sign, even if diverse from the imposition of hands. "In the primitive Church," says St. Thomas, q. 37, a. 2, ad 2, "on account of the paucity of ministers, all the inferior ministries were committed to deacons... Nevertheless all the aforesaid powers were there, but implicitly in the one power of the deacon. But afterward divine worship was enlarged; and what the Church implicitly had in one order, she handed over explicitly in diverse orders."

B. All orders are one sacrament in species. This is clear from the fact that in the Church there are neither more nor fewer than seven sacraments. And it is understood from the fact that the sacrament of Order essentially and principally consists in the sacred power of character, which exists fully in the supreme order, namely, in the priesthood, and in the others participatively and defectively.

Whence St. Thomas: "The division of order is not that of an integral whole into its parts; nor of a universal whole (as a genus which has several species), but of a potestative whole, whose nature is that the whole according to its complete account is in one, but in the others there is some participation of it. And so it is here: for the whole fullness of this sacrament is in one order, namely, the priesthood, but in the others there is a certain participation of order... And therefore all orders are one sacrament" (q. 37, a. 1, ad 2).

728. Note. - Three orders are called sacred by a special title, namely, by reason of the matter, because they are concerned with a sacred thing. For "order is called sacred in two ways: in one way according to itself, and thus any order is sacred, since it is a certain sacrament (at least, according to others, a sacramental); in another way by reason of the matter concerning which it has some act, and thus that order is called sacred which has some act concerning some consecrated thing. And thus there are only three sacred orders, namely, priesthood and diaconate, which have an act concerning the consecrated body and blood of Christ, and subdiaconate, which has an act concerning consecrated vessels; and therefore continence is also enjoined upon them, that those who handle holy things may be holy and clean" (a. 3), and they are kept from nuptials (can. 132, § 1). Hence they are also called major, because in dignity and holiness they exceed the others.

Before the twelfth century, however, the subdiaconate was not considered a major and sacred order; and today in the Greek Church it is still reckoned among the minor orders, where neither does it have the vow of continence annexed.

729. The power and acts of the individual orders. - Orders are distinguished by the grade of sacred power and consequently by the diverse acts to which the power is ordered.

1. The presbyterate is a sacred order by which there is conferred the power of consecrating the body and blood of Christ and remitting sins. That it is a sacrament is doctrine of faith, as was demonstrated, n. 714; but concerning its matter and form there is dispute, as we noted, nn. 718-720. Five of its acts are customarily numbered: "the priest must offer, bless, preside, preach, and baptize," says the Pontifical.

To offer indicates power concerning the real body of Christ, namely, of consecrating the body and blood of the Lord, offering it in sacrifice, and dispensing it in communion. The others are referred to the mystical body of Christ: to bless, even solemnly, things and persons; to preside, i.e., in the absence of the bishop, to preside over the divine offices and to rule the people under the bishop; to preach or announce the word of God; to baptize and confer other sacraments unto the remission of sins, namely Penance and Extreme Unction.

2. The diaconate is a sacred order by which power is handed over for ministering immediately to the priest at the altar in solemn Mass, for solemnly singing the Gospel, and, by legitimate commission, for solemnly baptizing, dispensing the Eucharist, and preaching.

According to the opinion now long common, the diaconate is a sacrament; which seems certain. For in it there is a sensible sign conferring sacred power; it is instituted by Christ, since it pertains to the hierarchy instituted by divine ordination, as the Council of Trent defined, sess. 23, can. 6; it also confers grace, as is deduced from the same Council, can. 4: If anyone shall say that through sacred ordination the Holy Spirit is not given, and therefore that bishops say in vain: Receive the Holy Spirit..., let him be anathema; but bishops say this in the ordination of deacons.

Concerning the rite of the diaconate in the Latin Church there was dispute. Some placed it in the sole imposition of the hand by physical touch, with the words: Receive the Holy Spirit unto strength and unto resisting the devil and his temptations; others in the sole handing over of the book of the Gospels, with the words: Receive the power of reading the Gospel in the Church of God, both for the living and for the dead; others in both together.

Now the question for the future has already been decided from the Apostolic Constitution cited above: "In Diaconal Ordination the matter is the imposition of the Bishop's hand, which alone occurs in the rite of this Ordination. But the form consists in the words of the 'Preface,' of which these are essential and therefore required for validity: 'Send forth upon him, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the Holy Spirit, by whom he may be strengthened by the gift of Thy sevenfold grace for faithfully carrying out the work of Thy ministry.'"

3. The subdiaconate is a sacred order by which the power is conferred of ministering to the deacon in solemn Mass and solemnly singing the epistle in it. Hence he can prepare the matter of the sacrifice, offer the chalice and paten to the deacon, and pour water into the chalice for the priest solemnly celebrating.

The matter is the handing over of an empty consecrated chalice with an empty paten; the form: See whose ministry is handed over to you; therefore I admonish you, that you so exhibit yourselves that you may be able to please God. Yet the consecration of the chalice with the paten does not seem to be required for validity from the rescript of the S. Off., Jan. 28, 1937. To the essence do not pertain: the handing over of the book of epistles (or Missal) under the words: Receive the book of epistles, and have the power of reading them in the Church..., for formerly the epistle was read by the deacon; likewise neither the handing over of the cruets, which is done by the archdeacon, nor of the sacred vestments.

The obligations annexed to the subdiaconate in the Latin Church are of reciting the divine office and preserving continence, whose vow is implicitly emitted by the reception of the order, as the perpetual tradition of the Church has understood; but if someone internally refused to vow, he would nevertheless be held to continence from the precept of the Church.

4. The acolyte-ship is an order by which power is handed over of presenting the cruets with wine and water in Mass and of lighting and carrying the lights; or by which the office is conferred of ministering to the sacred ministers in solemn Mass, and also to the priest in private Mass.

The matter and form are twofold: 1) the handing over of a candlestick with an extinguished candle under the words: Receive the candlebearer with candle, and know that you are bound to the lighting of the lights of the church in the name of the Lord; - 2) the handing over of an empty cruet, with the words: Receive the cruet for supplying wine and water into the Eucharist of the blood of Christ in the name of the Lord.

5. The exorcistate is an order by which the power is conferred of expelling demons by the exorcisms of the Church from the bodies of the baptized or catechumens, and of providing blessed water.

The matter is the handing over of the book of exorcisms, such as the Ritual, in place of which the Pontifical or Missal can be given; the form: Receive and commit to memory, and have the power of imposing hands upon energumens, whether baptized or catechumens. - In practice, however, it is not licit solemnly to pronounce exorcisms over the possessed except by the special and express license of the Ordinary, which is not conceded except to priests who are pious and prudent (can. 1151).

6. The lectorate is an order by which the power is conferred of reading the word of God in the Church, and of catechizing the people in the rudiments of faith.

The matter is the handing over of the book in which the readings of Scripture are contained; in place of which the Bible, Missal, or Breviary can be handed over; the form: Receive and be relaters of the word of God, about to have, if you shall have fulfilled your office faithfully and usefully, a part with those who have ministered the word of God well from the beginning.