Vocation to the Clerical State

751. On vocation itself and its necessity. 1. By the name of clerical state here is understood the condition of those who have received sacred order: for since the condition of those who have been initiated only in minor orders is not yet constant and immovable from obligation, clerics of minor orders do not yet have a state properly so called.

2. A twofold vocation is distinguished: external, which consists in this, that the one to be ordained, having been approved and elected by the bishop, is admitted to the clerical state; internal, which consists in the decree of divine providence by which, from the common state of laymen, some are chosen to the clerical state and fitting helps are prepared for them for fulfilling the special obligations of this state.

3. That external vocation is required is clear from this: that the bishop must approve those whom he admits to the ecclesiastical state before he confers orders on them.

In this sense are to be understood the words: Nor does anyone take honor to himself, but he who is called by God as Aaron was;² and elsewhere the Apostle says: Impose hands quickly on no one.³ But let these (deacons) first be proved, and so let them minister, having no crime.⁴

4. That internal vocation is required for the clerical state is gathered both from the nature of divine providence and from the singular excellence of the state itself, and from the condition of the Christian Church.

a. Since divine providence directs all things to their ends, a special end demands a special decree, which destines to the end and prepares for those destined means consonant with the end; but the clerical state constitutes a special end distinct from the common end of other men and more excellent, which because of its excellence demands more abundant and more perfect helps of grace.

b. Since the Church of Christ is on the one hand perpetual, but on the other cannot endure without ministers, divine providence must at no time fail to prepare for the Church ministers suited by vocation to the clerical state.

5. He who does not follow a divine vocation to the clerical state certainly known does not seem to sin gravely, but he certainly sins lightly.

a. Since this vocation is only an invitation to a higher state and does not involve a strict precept, he who does not follow it does not commit a sin properly so called because of this. Moreover this would be a sin insofar as he who does not follow God calling deprives himself of the graces necessary for obtaining salvation; but God denies to no one graces sufficient for salvation; indeed through the help of prayer efficacious graces also can be obtained.

b. But he sins lightly, because, supposing a divine vocation certainly known, the one called cannot be carried to declining the will of God except by motives not consonant with reason, such as weariness of labor, sensuality, desire of worldly liberty, etc.

6. He who enters the clerical state without a vocation certainly known does not seem to sin gravely, provided he has a good will of fulfilling all the obligations of the clerical state and is duly admitted by superiors to receiving orders.

He who lacks vocation must be kept from orders, even if he is imbued with good morals. But if one who feels himself destitute of vocation nevertheless enters the clerical state, he acts rashly, yet he does not seem to sin gravely. For he would sin insofar as he either would not wish or would not be able to fulfill the offices of the state; but since good will is supposed in him, he will not be deprived by God of necessary graces for this reason alone, that he lacks vocation. Yet this is certain: a priest destitute of vocation experiences greater difficulties in fulfilling his offices and is therefore in greater danger of losing eternal salvation.

¹ Ballerini-Palmieri IV, n. 224 ss.; Genicot II, n. 24 ss.; Aem. Berardi, De clerico ad ordines sacros initiando (Faenza: Novelli, 1888); Vermeersch, De vocatione religiosa et sacerdotali (Bruges: Beyaert, 1903).

² Heb. 5:4. In this place there is discussion of external vocation. Therefore the Roman Catechism (part 2, c. 7, q. 3): "But they are said to be called by God who are called by the legitimate ministers of the Church."

³ 1 Tim. 5:22.

⁴ Ibid. 3:10; cf. Council of Trent, sess. 23, c. 5, De reform.

752. On proving clerics to be promoted to sacred orders. 1. From many laws of the Church, a grave obligation is incumbent on the bishop of carefully proving clerics to be initiated in sacred orders and of keeping away the unworthy, who are imbued with depraved morals. Although the habit of any grave sin renders one to be ordained unworthy, nevertheless this holds most of all concerning the vice of luxury, wherefore the laws of the Church explicitly require that those to be ordained be of proved chastity.

a. And let these (deacons) first be proved, and so let them minister.¹

b. Let no one be permitted to approach sacred order unless he is either a virgin or is of proved chastity.²

c. Let subdeacons and deacons be ordained who have good testimony and have been proved in minor orders ... who hope, God being the author, that they can contain themselves.³

2. As regards the force of these laws, some affirm that they oblige only the bishop, that he keep from sacred orders those who are not immune from external sins (concerning which, namely, it can be established in the external forum of the Church);⁴ but others contend that they affect not only the bishop but also the one to be ordained and his confessor, so that by force of these laws the one to be ordained is prohibited under grave obligation from approaching orders unless he has already amended himself from the habit of sinning, especially against chastity; and that the confessor is bound under grave obligation to deny absolution to a cleric with a bad habit wishing to approach sacred orders, even if otherwise disposed, because this very will itself is gravely sinful, unless he is endowed by God with so great a compunction as to furnish security concerning change of life.⁵

3. Concerning a habituated cleric. He is not immune from grave sin who, laboring under a bad habit of sinning, receives sacred order, unless he has a founded hope that, once ordained, he will preserve chastity.

a. It is difficult to demonstrate that the aforesaid laws of the Church refer directly and immediately not only to the bishop and to external proof, but also to the one to be ordained and to his internal state;⁶ nevertheless from them the mind and intention of the Church is clear, which in those to be promoted to sacred orders desires and requires immunity from a bad habit even internal.

b. From the nature of the matter a cleric cannot approach sacred orders with a safe conscience unless he holds a founded hope that he will live at least habitually chastely, as he is about to promise to God in ordination; but he who is entangled in a bad habit cannot have this hope (except in the case of extraordinary help). He can indeed, with the help of grace, overcome any temptations whatever; but considering the character of the human heart and the ordinary operation of divine grace, he will not overcome them, but exposes himself to manifest danger of sinning against the vow and of accumulating very many sacrileges.

How long a cleric must be free from a bad habit, so that safely, that is, with founded hope of preserving chastity in the future, he can approach sacred order, cannot be determined by a general rule, since it depends on diverse circumstances, namely on the intensity of the bad habit, on the greater or lesser diligence of employing means of amendment, on the danger of giving scandal to the faithful by external sins, etc. But this counsel must altogether be given, that at least for several (six) months he have amended the custom of sinning before he approaches sacred order.

¹ 1 Tim. 3:10.

² C. Nemo 12, d. 32.

³ Council of Trent, sess. 23, c. 13, De reform.

⁴ Ballerini-Palmieri; Berardi.

⁵ St. Alphonsus defends this opinion in the dissertation De clerico habituato in vitio turpi cupienti statim initiari in sacris, l. 6, n. 63-77.

⁶ Cf. Benedict XIV, De synodo, l. 11, c. 2, n. 18.

— Since, especially today, orders are not received without some intention and hope of priesthood, we must be solicitous about vocation to the sacerdotal state alone. Concerning this, these few things are noted.

1. By the will by which Christ instituted in His Church the perpetual Sacrifice and the perpetual dispensation of the sacraments, several of which can be conferred only by sacred ministers, by the same will He also willed to adorn the Church with an abundance of priests who would offer that Sacrifice and dispense these sacraments. And it pertains to divine Providence efficaciously to provide that the Church not lack necessary ministers.

Therefore it cannot be doubted that many are called to the priesthood, insofar as they receive efficacious graces for embracing and exercising that state holily.

But while the evangelical counsels of themselves are proposed to all, on the contrary it is certain that the sacerdotal state is not proposed to all, since priests pertain to the hierarchy which God Himself willed to be distinct from the people. Besides this, while a religious, as such, pursues his own proper sanctity, the sacerdotal state is referred not so much to the private good of someone as to the common good of the Christian republic. No one becomes a priest for himself.

2. Nor does someone become a priest by his own will alone.

On the contrary, in Sacred Scripture and in the Council of Trent the action of God calling and of the ecclesiastical Superior is placed directly. "Nor does anyone take honor to himself, but he who is called by God, as Aaron was" (Epistle to the Hebrews 5:4). "Impose hands hastily on no one." Thus the Apostle admonishes his disciple in 1 Timothy 5:22. And the Council of Trent, after in sess. 23, cap. 4, it had recalled that not all can aspire to the hierarchy, in can. 7 strikes with anathema him who says that "those who are neither duly ordained nor sent by ecclesiastical and canonical power, but come from elsewhere, are legitimate ministers of the word and of the sacraments." Again, however, it is within the power, at least of the Supreme Pontiff⁽¹⁾, that because of the necessity of the Church he can command a faithful man to ascend to the sacerdotal state. Therefore:

3. To the question, who are called to the sacerdotal state, we judge that this must briefly be answered thus:

a) by the will of God consequent upon the external assumption itself, all those who have been duly assumed by the Church, to whom the selection of priests has been committed, are called. Therefore the Catechism of the Council of Trent, on the cited place of the Epistle to the Hebrews, says: "They are said to be called by God who are called by the legitimate ministers of the Church." And in the letter of July 2, 1912, the Cardinal Secretary of State reported that the judgment of the Commission of Cardinals had been approved by the Supreme Pontiff, by which the work of Canon Lahitton, La vocation sacerdotale, is said to be worthy of distinguished praise in that part in which it establishes "1. That no one ever has any right to ordination antecedently to the free election of the bishop."

b) But if you ask who are called by the antecedent will of divine good pleasure, that is, who please God when they aspire to that state, in vain and without valid argument will you demand some special instinct or quasi-internal speech of God calling; but it is lawful for any suitable person to seek this state with a sincere intention of executing the obligations of the same state. Nor in this matter is it lawful or expedient for the confessor himself to assume other parts than those of a prudent counselor, lest the one ordained, with danger of unhappy and sometimes scandalous inconstancy, seem to himself to have undertaken grave obligations by another's command. But with St. Th., 2, 2, q. 189, art. 1, ad 3, and St. Alph., l. 6, n. 802, in order that someone be suitable, besides gifts of talent and suitable knowledge, we require the present sanctity of life itself. For sacred orders are received by those who do not have well-chastened morals with too much detriment to themselves and danger to the Church, and too much against its mind, for these men to be able of themselves to ascend to the priesthood without grave guilt (cf. what was written above, n. 34). But we understand sincere intention as conceived by spontaneous will. For those who seek spiritual offices from a human intention, and those who receive the same unwillingly, moved by necessity or by the authority or consideration of parents, can be judged equally fragile and dangerous to the Church. But by these notes of suitability and right intention true vocation is composed.

To the point, the work of Lahitton mentioned above was also praised by the Commission, with the Pontiff approving, insofar as it establishes: "2. That the condition which must be attended to on the part of the one to be ordained, which is called sacerdotal vocation, consists by no means, at least necessarily and by ordinary law, in some internal aspiration of the subject or invitation of the Holy Spirit for entering the priesthood; 3. but, on the contrary, nothing more is required in the one to be ordained, so that he may be duly called by the bishop, than a right intention together with suitability, placed in those gifts of grace and nature, and proved by that probity of life and sufficiency of doctrine, which make a founded hope that he will rightly be able to undertake the duties of the priesthood and holily to observe its obligations." Cf. Periodica, VI, 262, and our little work: De vocatione religiosa et sacerdotali.

⁽¹⁾ The Code, c. 973, §2, denies that a cleric of inferior grade can be compelled by the bishop to receive superior orders. Concerning the prior law, cf. Gasparri, De sacra ordinatione, I, 638, 639.

B. For the priestly state in the world, the confessor must seriously examine sufficient capacity, especially intellectual capacity and competent knowledge, chiefly practical judgment, a right end (as for a religious) and probity of life. Aspirants to the priesthood, just as to religion, must be holy, indeed rather holier because they remain in the dangers of the age; and therefore, that someone may become a good priest in the world, it is necessary that first he has led a very exemplary life, remote from worldly amusements, from idleness and bad companions, and devoted to prayer and frequenting of the sacraments, and especially chaste; otherwise he exposes himself to danger of damnation.

It should be noted that these things are to be understood concerning indications of the divine will or concerning vocation in first act and proximate aptitude, for vocation formally and in second act is given by the bishop, in the name of Christ.

739. The qualities and endowments required in one to be ordained are usually enumerated: divine vocation, legitimate age, due knowledge, congruous morals, and, for the major orders, a title of support.

1. Divine vocation, as is intimated in Heb. V, 4 and John XV, 16. For the ordained man is mediator between men and God, by whom therefore he ought to be accepted; he is dispenser of the mysteries of God, whence he must be legitimately deputed by Him.

Its signs are suitability for the clerical state and priesthood from the gifts of grace and nature, right intention or a free, firm, and constant will of assuming and fulfilling the obligations of the state, and for the most part a supernatural inclination or impulse of grace, although by ordinary law this is not necessary. These signs constitute an internal vocation and in first act; in second act it is formally conferred and externally completed by the bishop calling in the name of God.²

² Cf. Lahitton, La vocation sacerdotale; Hurtaud, La vocation au sacerdoce; Mulders, La vocation au sacerdoce.

2. Canonical age, as is clear from the Council of Trent, sess. 23, de ref., c. 12, and from can. 974, 3 and 975.

For tonsure and minor orders no age is directly determined, but only indirectly insofar as other qualities are required, such as certain knowledge. For major orders can. 975 establishes: "Let the subdiaconate not be conferred before the completed twenty-first year; the diaconate before the completed twenty-second; the presbyterate before the completed twenty-fourth"; for the episcopate the completed thirtieth year is required from can. 331, 2. These are to be understood of a civil year and are to be understood strictly, so that he cannot be ordained without dispensation who lacks only a few hours.

Dispensation concerning age pertains to the Holy See; it dispenses very rarely for the subdiaconate, rarely for the diaconate, more often for the presbyterate even in the defect of one and a half years. It is accustomed to delegate to bishops the faculty of dispensing in the defect of one year, but only for receiving the priesthood.

3. Due knowledge, as is clear from the Council of Trent, sess. 23, de ref., cc. 13-14, and from can. 974, 4, by which the one to be ordained should know "so much... as suffices for him to be directed in the act of that order..., more or less according as his office extends itself to more or fewer things; namely, that those who are set over others, receiving care of souls, should know those things which pertain to the doctrine of faith and morals, and that others should know those things which look to the execution of their order" (q. 36, a. 2).

From can. 976: "1. Let no one, whether secular or religious, be promoted to first tonsure before the theological course has been begun. 2. Let the subdiaconate not be conferred except as the third year of the theological course is ending; the diaconate except when the fourth year has been begun; the presbyterate except after the middle of the same fourth year. 3. The theological course must have been completed not privately, but in schools established for this according to the plan of studies determined in the law, can. 1365."

From can. 331, 5, a bishop must possess a doctorate or at least a licentiate in sacred theology or canon law from an athenaeum or institute of studies approved by the Holy See, or be truly skilled in the same disciplines; but if he belongs to some religion, he must have from his major superiors either a similar title or at least testimony of true expertise.

4. Morals congruous to the order to be received, which should become known from probity of life, so that it can prudently be expected that the one to be ordained will exercise the order worthily and will be a worthy priest (can. 974, 2 and 973).

For this reason it is established in law: a) Let priests, especially pastors, take pains that boys who show indications of an ecclesiastical vocation be kept by particular cares from the contagions of the world, be formed to piety, be imbued with the first studies of letters, and that the germ of divine vocation in them be fostered (can. 1353).

b) Care is to be taken that those aspiring to sacred orders be received into the Seminary from tender years; but all are bound to remain there at least for the whole course of sacred theology, unless the Ordinary in particular cases, for a grave cause, his conscience being burdened, has dispensed (can. 972, § 1).

c) Those who aspire to orders and legitimately remain outside the Seminary are to be commended to a pious and suitable priest, who watches over them and forms them to piety (ibid., § 2).

5. A title of support is a surety by which provision is made for the one to be ordained concerning honest and perpetual support (can. 979, § 2). It is required for major orders from the Council of Trent, sess. 23, de ref., c. 2, and from can. 974, 7, both lest clerics be forced to practice a base art or to beg, and that they may more freely devote themselves to spiritual things.

The title can be various.

A. For secular clerics:

1. The title of a canonical benefice (can. 979, § 1), which, namely, has actually been obtained and peacefully possessed.

2. If this is lacking, the title of patrimony or pension (ibid.), whose quantity and nature, so that it may be truly sufficient, must be defined by the statutes or norms of the Ordinary (ibid., § 2).

3. If the customary titles are lacking, the title of service of the diocese can supply, or also of the mission for places subject to the S. C. de Prop. Fide, yet in such a way that the one to be ordained devotes himself by oath to perpetual service of the diocese or mission (can. 981, § 1): entrance into religion is not excluded by the oath in a diocese, but is excluded in missions, without permission of the Holy See.

B. For religious:

1. The title of poverty, or of solemn religious profession, for regulars, who namely have emitted solemn vows (can. 982, § 1).

2. For religious of perpetual simple vows, the title of common table or of the congregation or another title, according to the norm of the constitutions (can. 982, § 2).

Let it be noted: a) He who loses the title is not thereby suspended, but must provide another for himself, unless, in the judgment of the bishop, provision has otherwise been made for his congruous support (can. 980, § 1).

b) The bishop who knowingly ordains or permits to be ordained a subject without a canonical title, himself and his successor must furnish necessary sustenance to the same needy man, until provision has otherwise been made for congruous support (ibid., § 2).

c) But if a bishop ordained someone without title with the agreement that the ordained man would not ask sustenance from him, this agreement would lack all force (ibid., § 3).

d) An insufficient title of benefice can be supplied by patrimony and conversely, as the S. C. C. resolved, as Benedict XIV has it, Quaest. can. 46.

e) The resignation of a benefice, by whose title the cleric was ordained, is void unless express mention is made that the cleric had been promoted by its title, and that, with the consent of the Ordinary, he substituted another title for it (can. 1485).

f) Religious with temporary vows, as regards the title of ordination, are ruled by the law of seculars (can. 982, § 3).

g) Religious who depart must seek another title for themselves, and meanwhile, until they have found a benevolent receiving bishop, or the Apostolic See has otherwise provided, they cannot exercise sacred orders outside religion (can. 641).

I. The vocation of which the discourse now is can be described as being an act of supernatural providence, by which God chooses these men rather than those, and prepares them with endowments consonant with the sacred offices to be performed. The priestly state is supernatural, for which no one is fit by his own industry and labour; and therefore a supernatural providence is necessary, which may direct and confer helps consonant with so great a state. Those whom God calls to this state, he prepares with opportune endowments.

II. The necessity of that divine vocation the holy Scriptures manifest. Christ the Lord, who was made the exemplar to be imitated by us, was foreordained a priest according to the order of Melchisedech, as is had in Psalm 109. He came not of himself, but sent by the Father, that he might be for us a Pontiff, says St. Paul, Hebrews 7, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Wherefore he himself cried out in the temple, teaching: I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true. John 7. He, being sent by his Father, called the Apostles to the same priesthood; he called unto him whom he would himself. Mark 3. When the Apostles had to substitute one who should fill the place of Judas, they implored from God signs by which the one to be elected might be manifested: Show whether of these two thou hast chosen. Acts 1. Those who dare, not being called, to occupy this dignity, are thus disapproved by Christ: Amen, amen I say to you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber. John 10. He subjoins in the same place: By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Lastly St. Paul, Hebrews 5, says: Neither doth any man take the honour to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was. So Christ also did not glorify himself, that he might be made a high priest: but he that said unto him: Thou art my Son.

III. The things which hitherto have been said out of the holy Scriptures could be confirmed by the examples of the holy Fathers. The more they shone with holiness, the more strongly did they either refuse ordination or, being expressly called, gave assent. Innumerable examples could I adduce, which the brevity set before me does not suffer.

IV. The divine vocation is as it were the fount and root of the graces and gifts which confer strength equal to the sustaining. The vocation being taken away, the necessary safeguards are lacking; and it being posited, all things succeed prosperously. Those who, God not calling, but either the dignity of splendour alluring or the little gain of revenues impelling, receive sacred Orders, cannot please God. Would the services of servants be pleasing to their masters which were performed against their will? Let us hear Christ himself speaking, Matthew 15: Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Again John 15: Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he will take away. Those words are to be noted, in me. It is not enough to bear fruit. It must be seen whether they be in God: in me. Lastly Matthew 7: Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name, and cast out devils in thy name, and done many miracles in thy name? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.

V. Who, meditating these oracles, O Christ Jesus, does not tremble in all his limbs? Who does not see how tremendous and fearful is the deliberation of choosing thy sheep, without imploring the mercy of God and the grace of vocation? What then, you will say, are so many priests, so many pastors to be reckoned, who, no prayer being sent before, no examination of vocation being made, undertook that state? Will they therefore sow in another's field, whence they cannot reap? Do they run in vain, since they are not sent by God? Ought they to forsake this state? If the state can be forsaken, as the government of souls, without doubt it must be laid down when grave signs occur that the vocation to such a state was lacking, and that the gifts of vocation are lacking. For the rest, the secret of the divine vocation lies hidden from us, and is open to God alone. Saul was called, Judas was called; both were disapproved. The beginnings of others' vocation appeared evil to men; but the pursuit was good, the outcome holy. Of Catholics few are chosen; many are called. No one nevertheless ought to despair of his own salvation. But all ought to busy themselves with pious prayers and laborious works, that they may make their own vocation certain and holy. No one can forsake his own state, from which he cannot recede without sin.

VI. Nor should you object that the doctrine given turns many away from the religious state: since I reply, Would that it were true, that it turned away very many of those who enter in troops not through the door, but otherwise, as thieves and robbers. For it is better (says the Fourth Lateran Council) chiefly in the ordination of priests, to have a few good than many bad. Here let those consider again who, that they may fill Churches, monasteries, convents, and colleges, under pretext of the necessity of propagating offspring and of filling their seats, admit indiscriminately the lame, the humpbacked, the blind, and the dissolute. Here the propagation is heavenly, spiritual, and divine. It ought to proceed from God, not from human industry.

VII. QUESTION I. What are the signs of a vocation to the religious and priestly state? ANSWER. Those are not called to sacred Orders whom defects of body and of mind render unfit for performing the sacred ministries. Defects of body are plain to all. Of defects of mind some are ambiguous, others probable, others almost certain. Of defects of mind some are as it were implanted by nature, and are called defects and vices of nature: as a fierce spirit, a savage or stern disposition, or a soft, flowing character unstable to every wind; a blunt, leaden, stupid talent, altogether inept for acquiring the necessary sciences. Others are moral and voluntary, as anger, pride, ambition, and vicious habits. Those who labour under vices of nature are not to be promoted to the sacred duties. Shall priests of a fierce disposition allure the flock? Shall pastors of leaden and blunt talent pour forth the divine eloquences upon the people? If they be of a soft and flowing character and an effeminate nature, they lack evangelical fortitude, by which they may repel ravening wolves and press down the proud. But at their sides, they say, sit fit ministers, by whose help they direct the flock. O men most wretched in their own ways! Are pastors therefore made for the state, and ministers for the doctrine? And the ministers lack the grace of vocation, and lack the abundance of heavenly gifts: since these have been intruded for the most part not by God calling, but by human artifice pandering. It is a most pernicious illusion to wish to compensate the ineptitude of a pastor by the skill of ministers.

VIII. Moral defects of mind, because voluntary, can be corrected, chiefly when the vocation is true. A different judgment is to be formed of these and of incurable vices of nature. For if a keen talent, an excellent disposition, fortitude of mind, and the other endowments of nature be present, crimes and vices can be amended. Let a prudent director prescribe to penitents an exercise of piety; let him scatter the seeds of virtues; and from the fruits he will gather whether the plant is to be transferred into the heavenly garden.

IX. The signs of a divine vocation in a youth to be promoted to sacred Orders are: 1. If the youth be torn away from the delights of the world and severed from the enticements of the world; 2. If he feel himself kindled not for a private life to be led with himself, but for service and the salvation of his neighbour, and for fulfilling the work of God; 3. If he be affected with a study of prayer, that by its help he may be able to explore the divine will: for prayer is a commerce with God, and joins the soul to him, and asks the necessary gifts; 4. An ardent desire of attaining sacred Orders. This sign nevertheless is frequently false, as proceeding from a cupidity of gaining bread, or of obtaining a dignity, not from a love of serving God. For very many seek the clerical state because they are incited to it by their parents, because they hope thence to unburden their family. Others, pressed by the want of family means, refuse to labour with their own hands, as the Apostle Paul did, to dig and to harrow; and they consider the clerical state as it were an art and profession by which without labour and sweat they can conveniently attain food and clothing. Wherefore the signs recounted are ambiguous, and it will be the part of a prudent director to detect, according to the diversity of circumstances, which is a true and which a painted vocation. But the matter has come to such a pitch of evils that very many, no counsel being sent before, assume a state out of their own inclination, and not all bishops are vigilant in exploring the vocation of those to be ordained.

X. QUESTION II. Is it lawful for clerics to seek ecclesiastical dignities and the government of souls? ANSWER. Those who seek the government of souls — namely the episcopate, a parish, and so forth — are either foolish or proud. St. Thomas turns over this question at large, II-II, q. 185, art. 1, where he distinguishes three things: 1. There is the office, which regards the worship of God and the utility of the neighbour; 2. There is the loftiness of grade, by force of which a pastor rules over subjects; 3. There are the revenues and the service of subjects. The desire of labouring and working in the vineyard of the Lord is good; but as it is borne toward dignities, honours, grades, and temporal emoluments, it is vain and ambitious. Very many say: I desire to avoid idleness, and to attain an occupation of labouring and working in the vineyard of the Lord. Under this mask iniquity lies to itself, and cupidity lurks, and ambition creeps. If a man desire the episcopate, he desireth a good work, says Paul: Jerome subjoins: a work, not a dignity; a labour, not delights, by which humility may decrease, not swell with loftiness. If these men truly wished to labour in the vineyard of the Church, is it not open to all? Let them visit the hospices and console the sick; let them go to the country districts and the mountains; let them instruct the rude, teach the ignorant, unteach the erring, succour the poor, preach the word of God. Let them go to the bishop and say: Behold me, send me. What? We wish to send, not to be sent; to command, not to obey; to be served, not to serve; to be exalted, not to exalt. This assuredly is the legitimate and genuine answer.

XI. What of those who play the courtier and solicit patrons, that they may procure for themselves a bishopric or a parish; who serve matrons themselves, that they may bind their lovers to intercede and to procure a grade and a dignity? These are the vilest bondmen of ambition, thieves and robbers, who, being unable to enter through the door, take care that ladders be applied to the windows, that they may be able to ascend, and study to be helped and raised up by any men and women whatsoever. They prate that in this age all things are so distributed that, unless human industry and offices and procurations be employed, all lie prostrate, and no one is promoted. I distinguish. That no one is promoted without offices and procurations: by man, I concede; by God, I deny. Tell me: do you wish to be promoted by man or by God? By God, you say. Why then do you prate that human industry is necessary? Is God ignorant of your endowments and your aptitude? Or if he shall have judged you fit, does he not dispose by his infallible providence that you be set over the Church to be governed? You press that God does not work miracles without necessity, and does not forbid but command human industry. Human industry indeed God requires in all those things which depend upon man, otherwise in those which he has reserved to himself. The vocation to the government of the Christian Church is the work of God alone. Do not the sacred canons themselves forbid offices and procurations of this kind? But why do we pour forth more words? Unless those who preside reject all those whom they shall know to prepare for themselves a way to grades and dignities of the Church by offices and ambition, our labour is in vain. Truth is of itself clear. It has need of execution, not of persuasion.

Titius, a religious priest, was giving spiritual exercises to young men about to be initiated into holy orders. Caius, one of them, a man of excellent disposition and character, came to him and said that he wished to renounce his intention of receiving the priesthood because he was not certain that he was called by God. He applied to himself the words of St. Alphonsus (vi, 802): “Therefore those who, not called by God, thrust themselves into sacred ministries are themselves those of whom it says through Jeremiah: ‘I did not send the prophets, and they themselves ran.’ Indeed, as the Catechism says, nothing can be more unhappy and wretched than this kind of men, nothing more calamitous to the Church.” Titius, however, wished to know how Caius should be treated. Hence it is asked:

1. What is a divine vocation to a definite state of life?

2. How can a divine vocation to the priesthood be recognized?

3. What is to be said of the case?

1. What is a divine vocation to a certain state of life?

A divine vocation may be defined as a purpose of Divine Providence choosing a person for a special state of life and giving him the helps that are required for it. Such a vocation is manifested in him who is called by an internal and external fitness for the state, and by special lights of the understanding and motions of the will by which he is conscious that he could serve God and save his soul in that state.

2. How may a divine vocation to the priesthood be known?

A divine vocation to the priesthood may be known by the signs which have just been mentioned. If the person in question be fit to exercise the duties of the priesthood, if he hold out hopes that he will do so with the help of God, if he wishes to receive the priesthood so as to be able the better to serve God, help his fellow men, and save his soul, he shows the ordinary signs of a vocation from God.

3. The case. Titius should put a few questions to Caius with a view to finding out whether he is fit for the priesthood and whether there is a prospect of his being able to fulfil its duties properly. As he is a youth of excellent disposition and character and therefore fit for the priesthood, it will be well to ask him why up to the present he fostered the intention of becoming a priest. In all probability the answer will be satisfactory and will show that his intention was supernatural, resting on faith, on the desire to please God and save his soul. In that case he should be encouraged to persevere; he should be told to put his trust in God, who will never forsake those who trust in Him; he should be told that the words of St. Alphonsus are not meant for him, but for such as are unfit for the priesthood and who do not intend to fulfil its duties, but who intrude themselves into the clerical state for worldly motives.

Julius, the youngest son of a certain nobleman, who was soon to be initiated into the subdiaconate, came to Caius, a priest who was giving spiritual exercises to certain clerics about to be ordained. Caius had described the burdens of the priesthood in grave words, and thereby had aroused anxieties and doubts in Julius’s mind. For Julius had never seriously thought about those burdens; almost from infancy he had always heard from his parents and from a certain bishop who was a very close friend of the family that he ought to devote himself to the service of the Church, which needs such men to hold ecclesiastical prelacies. Led by this purpose he had pursued his studies at college, and had become a cleric rather to answer the expectation of his parents and friends than to indulge his own inclination. He intends faithfully to fulfill, with God’s help, whatever the duties of the state may be; he hopes that he can bear the burdens, and moreover he is imbued with good morals. When Caius heard these things, he began to doubt Julius’s vocation and whether he ought not advise Julius to return to his parents and to the world. Hence it is asked:

1. What is a divine vocation to the priesthood?

2. What is the obligation to follow a divine vocation?

3. Does one who becomes a priest without being called sin, and to what extent?

4. What is to be said of the case?

1. This question is answered above, p. 23.

2. What obligation is there to follow a divine vocation?

A vocation to the priesthood is a great favor bestowed by God and it should be thankfully received. It is not commonly imposed by God as a precept, and so there would not be sin in neglecting to follow it except in cases where by so doing he who is called knowingly exposes his salvation to danger.

3. Is sin committed and how by becoming a priest without a vocation?

One who is unfit for the priesthood or who does not intend to live up to its obligations and yet becomes a priest sins grievously. One who is not unfit and who intends to live up to his obligations, but who becomes a priest from natural motives without a divine vocation, acts rashly, but in the judgment of many theologians he does not sin grievously. The reason is because such a one violates no grave precept, nor does he expose himself to serious danger of losing his soul or doing serious harm to others.¹

1 Ballerini-Palmieri, Opus Morale, tract, ix, c. ii, n. 6.

4. The case. Julius is not unfit for the priesthood, though the motives which have led him so far. are natural rather than supernatural. Caius would do well to tell him to take the opportunity of the retreat to think seriously over his position. He might teach him how to make his election of a state of life on supernatural principles. Let him think therefore on the duties and helps of the priesthood, and of its dangers as well, and then if in the presence of God he thinks that he can serve God and the Church and save his soul as a priest, and if he can purpose to do this, let him be ordained. If any doubt remains he should defer ordination for a time until his course is clear. But if he can not look at things from this supernatural point of view he had better return to his family.