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Religiosorum
institutio
Instruction
on the Careful Selection And Training Of Candidates For The
States Of Perfection And Sacred Orders
Sacred Congregation For
Religious
February 2, 1961
Contents
Purpose, Binding Force, And Extent Of This
Instruction
1. The Instruction Quantum Religiones
2. The Purpose Of This Instruction And Its
Binding Force
3. The Principal Sources Of This Instruction
4. To Whom This Instruction Is Addressed
I. The More Common Causes Of Defection
5. An Inquiry Into The Causes Of Defections
6. Undue Family Influence
7. Undue Influence Of Superiors And Directors
8. Ignorance Of Obligations And Lack Of Liberty
In Accepting Them
9. Fear Of An Uncertain Future
10. Difficulty With Chastity
11. Loss Of The Religious Spirit
12. Weakness And Subjective Character Of Such
Arguments
13. Removal Of All Appearance Of Justification
For These Claims; Superiors' Obligation In Conscience
II. The Care To Be Taken In
The Selection Of Candidates For The State Of Perfection And The Clerical
State
A) General Warnings
14. Quality Before Quantity
15. Positive Signs Of A Vocation
16. Moral Certainty Of The Fitness Of Candidates
17. The Responsibility Of The Internal And
External Forum; Both Should Use The Same Principles
18. The Role Of The Confessor And The
Spiritual Director
19. The Careful Choice Of Confessors And
Spiritual Directors
20. The Cooperation Of Candidates;
Recommendation Of Sincerity And Docility
21. The Time For Definitive Selection
B) The Required Freedom
22. Freedom: A Sign Of A Divine Vocation
23. Superiors Should Seek Out Supernatural
Motives
24. Fatherly Help For Those Who Suffer
Interior Or Exterior Trials
25. Acquiescence To The Judgment Of
Directors Of The Forum
26. How To Handle The Hesitant
C) Necessary Knowledge Of The Obligations
27. Candidates Should Be Taught The Obligations
To Be Assumed
28. Denunciation Of Temerity In Embracing
The Religious And Clerical Life
D) The Required Chastity
29. Importance Of This Point; Young Persons Are
To Be Properly Instructed And Warned Of Its Dangers
30. Those To Be Excluded; Practical
Directives
31. Care Of Psychopathic Cases
III. Care In Training And Strengthening
Vocations
32. Experienced Directors Should Be Appointed
And Sought Out Wherever They May Be
33. The Qualities And Appointment Of Those
In Charge Of Formation
34. Avoiding False Humanism
35. Natural Considerations Are Not To Be
Made Light Of But Supernatural Ones Are To Be Preferred
36. Training In Obedience And Self-Sacrifice
37. Students Should Be Trained For The
Apostolate, But Especially For A Spiritual And Deeply Religious And
Priestly Life
IV. Declarations And Investigations
Required Before Profession Or Incorporation, And Before Orders
38. Attestation Of One's Own Vocation To Sacred
Orders In The Religious Life
39. Above All, The Fitness Of The Candidate
Is To Be Established Clearly
40. The Best Time For Conferring Sacred
Orders; Major Orders Should Not Be Conferred Before Perpetual Or
Definitive Profession
41. New Inquiry Before Subdeaconate
42. Oath To Be Signed Before The
Subdeaconate
43. Before Deaconate Or Priesthood Superiors
Should Carefully Inquire Into The Fitness Of Candidates
44. In General, Dispensations Are Not To Be
Requested
45. Superiors' Obligation In Conscience In
Issuing Dimissorial Or Testimonial Letters
V. The Care Of Newly Ordained Priests
46. Precautions To Be Taken In The First Years
Of The Priesthood; The Dangers Of Inexperience
47. The Danger Of The "Heresy Of
Action"
48. The Danger Of Imitating Worldly Conduct
49. Young Priests Should Be Introduced Into
The Ministry Gradually Under The Direction Of An Experienced Guide
50. Young Priests Should Not Be Assigned To
Small Houses; Interest In Those Who Are Absent
51. Vacations With Relatives, At Spas And
Other Worldly Centers
52. The Reading Of This Instruction
Subject: Entire 1961 Vatican document barring
those afflicted with "evil tendencies" to homosexuality or
pederasty from the priesthood: Careful Selection And Training Of
Candidates For The States Of Perfection And Sacred Orders
An Instruction, Religiosorum institutio, to the Superiors of
Religious Communities, Societies without vows, and Secular Institutes on
the careful selection and training of candidates for the states of
perfection and Sacred Orders is as follows.
Purpose, Binding Force, And Extent Of This
Instruction
1. The Instruction Quantum
Religiones
The training of religious and of others pursuing perfection and aspiring
to the ranks of the clergy in the states of perfection has always been
particularly close to the heart of the Sacred Congregation for Religious.
Thus, in the Instruction Quantum Religiones, of December 1, 1931,
the Sacred Congregation instructed the superiors general of religious
communities and clerical societies on the proper religious and clerical
training of their subjects, and on the investigation to be carried out
before profession and the reception of Sacred Orders.1
The main purpose of this Instruction was, in so far as human frailty may
permit, to forestall serious cases of defection not only from the
religious state but likewise from the sacred ranks in which religious had
been enrolled through the reception of Orders.
2. The Purpose Of This Instruction And Its
Binding Force
Now, however, without any change in the chief directives and criteria
contained in the aforesaid Instruction, this Sacred Congregation proposes
to take up this same question again and to treat it anew (can. 22),
especially as regards the selection and training of candidates and the
investigation to be made prior to professions and Sacred Orders in order
that the aforesaid Instruction may be in complete harmony with subsequent
developments and with later pertinent pontifical documents.
3. The Principal Sources Of This
Instruction
In the Jubilee Year of 1950 there was held at Rome an International
Congress of the States of Perfection, in which specialists summoned from
all over the world on the basis of their knowledge and experience, spoke
and wrote on the selection, nurturing, and perfecting of religious and
clerical vocations. These discussions were published in the four-volume Acta
et Documenta of the Congress. Later, congresses were held in various
nations and in them the same topics were taken up.
During this same period other documents of the utmost importance
appeared. These were the encyclical letter of Pope Pius XI, of immortal
memory, Ad Catholici Sacerdotii, of December 20, 1935,2 and
various others published by Pope Pius XII, of venerable memory, to whom
the states of perfection are so indebted, such as his Exhortation to the
Clergy, Menti Nostrae, of September 23, 1950,3 his
encyclical letter, Sacra Virginitas, of 25 March, 1954,4 his
allocution, Sollemnis Conventus, of June 24, 1939, to all clerical
students and their superiors,5 his allocution, Haud Mediocri,
of February 11,1958, to the superiors general of religious orders and
congregations resident in Rome.6 and especially the Apostolic
Constitution, Sedes Sapientiae, of May 31, 1956, on religious,
clerical and apostolic training of clerics in the states of perfection.7
Nor of any lesser value are those documents which the Sovereign Pontiff,
John XXIII, happily reigning, has issued on the priesthood and priestly
formation, both in his solemn allocution on the occasion of the first
Roman Synod and likewise in the Synodal Constitutions.8 There was
also published a reserved Circular Letter of the Sacred Congregation of
the Sacraments on December 27, 1955,8a addressed to local
Ordinaries for secular clerics, imposing an investigation of candidates
before their promotion to Orders.
Certainly it was most opportune for, and even the duty of, this
Sacred Congregation to incorporate the fruits of this longstanding and
rich experience and evolution into a new Instruction, which would likewise
serve as a particularized commentary on the Apostolic Constitution, Sedes
Sapientiae (cf. n. 40 and the Statuta Generalia, art. 17).
4. To Whom This Instruction Is Addressed
This Instruction is addressed to the superiors of religious
communities, societies living the common life, and secular institutes,
especially as far as the last are concerned, if their members are
incorporated into the institute as clerics. Therefore, although
frequently, for the sake of convenience, only religious will be mentioned,
the norms and criteria set forth in this Instruction are also applicable
to the members of the other states of perfection (cf. Stat. Gen.,
art. 16, SS 1-2).
Likewise, although the Instruction refers especially to candidates for the
clerical state, nevertheless those points which by their very nature deal
with the selection and training of candidates for the states of perfection
are, with due adaptations, to be applied also to lay religious, including
religious women (Ibid., S3, 2 ).
I. The More Common Causes Of Defection
5. An Inquiry Into The Causes Of
Defections
It is necessary at the very outset to set down the most
frequent grounds alleged for defections and to lay before superiors the
reasons which religious priests claim to be the causes why they lose
interest in the life they have embraced and ask the Holy See for
secularization or even for "laicization," i.e., reduction to the
lay state. Attention must be drawn also to the pretexts under which these
same religious priests presume to leave the religious life and return to
the world on their own initiative, or even make so bold as to question
before the Apostolic Dicasteries their clerical obligations, especially
celibacy. Once the causes of defections are known, superiors will be able
to exercise more experienced care and vigilance either in examining the
divine vocation of candidates or in strengthening and preserving it by
their devoted efforts.
In general, the aforesaid religious claim either that they
entered on this way of life and continued in it without a genuine divine
vocation, or that they lost the genuine divine vocation during the period
of their formation or in the early years of their ministerial life.
6. Undue Family Influence
Frequently such religious claim undue influence from parents and
members of their family, inasmuch as they were born into a large or poor
family and thus were advised either by their parents or by other relatives
to leave the paternal home and go to the seminary as a happy solution of
family difficulties and were even at times pressured by request,
persuasion, or even disguised threats, into embracing the life of
perfection and the priestly life and continuing in it. As a result, they
allege that their repugnance or reluctance to accept the religious
clerical state, for which they had an aversion, was broken down.
7. Undue Influence Of Superiors And
Directors
There were also those who lay at the door of their religious
superiors and their spiritual directors the responsibility for their most
difficult situation, claiming that these latter, although they had noticed
in them no happiness in the religious clerical life, no spirit of piety,
and no zeal as they grew older, nevertheless did not hesitate to urge them
on, either because they hoped the subjects would do better in the future
or because they were more interested in the number than in the quality of
vocations, or because, blinded by a false sense of kindness toward the
candidates, they threatened them with the danger of loss of eternal
salvation if they left the religious clerical state.
8. Ignorance Of Obligations And Lack Of
Liberty In Accepting Them
Not infrequently religious priests plead insufficient knowledge
of religious and clerical obligations, especially celibacy, or uncertain
will in advancing to perpetual profession or Sacred Orders. If they
entered a religious seminary as young boys or in their early adolescent
years with only a confused knowledge of the religious and ecclesiastical
vocation or with a very uncertain will, these unfortunate religious and
priests claim that they never got over this state of mind, once they had
completed their studies and their years of formation. Nevertheless, they
did not withdraw from the path on which they had entered either because
they heedlessly followed their companions according to custom, or because,
being bashful and incapable of any serious decision, they unwillingly went
along with the urgings and counsels of their superiors. Hence they affirm
that in making
profession or receiving Orders they were not sufficiently aware of the
obligations of the priestly life or did not accept them with full freedom.
9. Fear Of An Uncertain Future
At times such candidates, on the verge of Sacred Orders or perpetual
profession and somewhat mature in age, finding themselves without academic
degrees and untrained in any art or liberal profession, were afraid to
leave the religious life, feeling deep down in their hearts that if they
returned to the world, they could not make an upright living unless by
manual labor, or would be obliged to make difficult and uncertain efforts
to acquire a liberal profession. Therefore they regarded the decision to
continue in the religious clerical life as a lesser evil.
10. Difficulty With Chastity
Sometimes these religious priests affirm that it is now impossible
for them to observe chastity, first because of bad habits contracted in
youth, which were sometimes corrected but still never completely
eradicated, and secondly because of sexual tendencies of a pathological
nature, which they feel cannot be brought under control either by ordinary
or extraordinary means, even those of a spiritual order, in such a way
that they frequently fall into the solitary sin.
11. Loss Of The Religious Spirit
Lastly, not infrequently there is adduced as a cause the loss of the
religious spirit either because, under the insidious impact of present-day
naturalism, these priests become incapable of discipline and religious
observance, or because, living in religious houses an indolent and
unproductive life, deceived by the desire of life outside and
ill-regulated pseudo-apostolic activism and neglecting the interior life,
they fall victims to dangers of all kinds, which they do not avoid and do
not even
recognize.
12. Weakness And Subjective Character Of
Such Arguments
Unforunate religious priests bring forth these and other similar
arguments, at times even attempting to make the Church responsible for
their deplorable condition, as though the Church, through her ministers,
had admitted them to the religious and priestly life without the necessary
qualifications, or did not know how to train and protect them once they
had been called unto the portion of the Lord. But, as the Sacred
Congregation of the Sacraments states in the above-mentioned Circular
Letter: "it cannot be denied that these charges made by the priests
during the trials have only a shadowy appearance of truth, for often the
only proof is the statement made by the plaintiff alone, a very interested
party, and not by witnesses or documents proved in court."8b
Nor is this surprising since these unfortunate religious priests not
infrequently take their present state of mind and psychic crisis, which
has gradually evolved over a period of years, and unconsciously transfer
it to the time of their profession and
ordination, being unaware of the inner change which has taken place within
themselves.
13. Removal Of All Appearance Of
Justification For These Claims; Superiors' Obligation In Conscience
And yet the honor of the Church, the welfare of religious
communities and the edification of the faithful demand of superiors most
accurate diligence and untiring zeal in order not to provide even a
vestige of foundation for priests advancing such claims.
Superiors should see to it that they be not responsible for the
mistakes or errors of those in charge of selecting and training young men.
This will be the case if they are culpably uninformed of the norms laid
down by the Church, or ignore them, or apply them carelessly; if, ignoring
the necessary discernment of spirits, they admit into religious life and
allow to remain therein those who have not been called by God, or if they
neglect to give proper formation to those who are evidently called and to
safeguard them in their divine vocation. Therefore, this Sacred
Congregation regards it as its duty to exhort superiors most earnestly
always to keep before their eyes the norms herein set forth, being mindful
of the grave warning of this Sacred Congregation in its Instruction, Illud
Saepius, of August 18, 1915: "When a religious leaves his order,
the superior of that same order, if he has diligently examined his
conscience before God, will very frequently be well aware that he himself
is not without fault and has failed in his duty. This neglect of duty is
often verified either in the admission of candidates or in training them
to the religious life, or, after they have made vows, in keeping watch
over them."9
II. The Care To Be Taken In The
Selection Of Candidates For The State Of Perfection And The Clerical State
A) General Warnings
14. Quality Before Quantity
First of all, although vocations to the state of evangelical
perfection and to the priesthood are to be promoted by every means (Stat.
Gen., art. 32), still care must be taken lest an immoderate desire to
increase numbers should interfere with quality and selection.
Let all be convinced that, unless great zeal for an abundance of
students is closely bound up with proper care for their formation, such
zeal does not produce the desired effects, and even does just the
contrary. For just as it is evident that, with the help of God's grace,
nothing contributes more to inspiring vocations than the exemplary life of
those who have been properly formed, in the same way nothing is more
conducive to impeding the growth of vocations or to suffocating them than
the example of mistakes which are unfortunately beheld in those who are
without proper solid formation.
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice and all these
things will be added unto you. We can say, and all superiors should
repeat: Let us seek out quality first of all, because then, if we may use
such an expression, quantity will automatically be present by itself. This
will be the concern of Divine Providence. It is not our task to look for
numbers, since it is not given to us to inspire vocations in souls. In
this truth there is contained the whole of the theology of a vocation: it
comes from God and only God can give it. It is our task to nurture this
vocation, to enrich it, and to adorn it . . . This is the guarantee and
promise of your future prosperity."10
As a matter of fact, experience teaches us that God favors with an
abundance of vocations those religious communities which flourish with the
rigor of discipline and carry out their own proper role in the Mystical
Body of Christ, and that, on the contrary, those communities suffer a lack
of candidates, whose members do not comply faithfully with His divine
counsels.
Wherefore, those who are suffering from a shortage of vocations and
anxiously devote themselves to collecting them, using at times methods and
procedures which are certainly not to be recommended, would do well to
exert the greatest care in training in the best way possible the
candidates who spontaneously come to them or are drawn to them by prudent
means and are already entrusted to them by the Church and Divine
Providence.
For the rest, let us not be unmindful of the teaching of Holy
Scripture, which the Sovereign Pontiff recalls to us in such timely
fashion: "Gedeon, who had at his disposal an immense multitude of men
apparently ready and prepared to fight all battles and conquer all
difficulties, heard the voice of the Lord declaring that to accomplish
hard and difficult tasks, rather than large numbers, the courage of a few
was sufficient."11
15. Positive Signs Of A Vocation
It will be helpful to recall, then, that only those candidates can be
admitted who are free of any canonical impediment and who, at the same
time, show positive signs of a divine vocation, conformably to the
prescriptions of the Apostolic Constitution, Sedes Sapientiae, and
the Statuta Generalia, art. 31, S 2, 1 , 2 . Let this be the first
and absolute principle in selecting vocations. For, as we are clearly
admonished by the same Apostolic Constitution, Sedes Sapientiae:
"A call from God to enter the religious or the sacerdotal state is so
necessary that, if this is lacking, the very foundation on which the whole
edifice rests is wanting. For whom God has not called, His grace does not
move nor assist."12
The canonical fitness of the candidate for bearing the obligations of
the institute (can. 538; Stat. Gen., art. 31, S 1) must be evinced
by positive arguments (can. 973, S3), and it must consist in all the
requirements and, according to differences in age, all the physical,
intellectual and moral qualities, either of nature or of grace, whereby a
young man is rightly prepared for the worthy acceptance and performance of
religious and priestly obligations (Stat. Gen., art. 33).
16. Moral Certainty Of The Fitness Of
Candidates
Candidates should not be admitted to religious seminaries
except after careful investigation and the securing of detailed
information on each individual. In seminaries and novitiates the necessary
proofs and investigations are to be repeated with faithful observance of
the General Statutes of the Apostolic Constitution Sedes Sapientiae,
art. 31-34. Doubtful fitness is not enough but "as often as there
still remains some prudent doubt as to the fitness of a candidate, it is
wrong to permit him to contract obligations (can. 571, S 2), especially if
they be definitive, (can. 575, S 1; 637).13 Still greater care must
be exercised in this regard if there be question of Sacred Orders.14
The period of trial is to be continued as provided for in canon law, and
all possible means must be employed which may be useful in acquiring this
moral certitude" (can. 571, S 2; 574, S 2; Stat. Gen., art.
34, S 2, 1 , 2 , 3 ). Appropriately, therefore, all due proportion being
guarded as to the different degrees of probation and selection, should
superiors and all those engaged in deciding vocations apply to themselves
the canonical prescriptions whereby the bishop is warned "that he
should confer Sacred Orders on no one unless he is morally certain, by
positive arguments, of the candidate's canonical fitness; otherwise, he
not only sins most grievously himself but exposes himself to the danger of
sharing in the sins of others" (can. 973, S 3). For the selection and
training of a religious candidate is a step toward
sacred ordination and in the ordination of religious, as Pius XI wisely
warns, the Bishop "always places full confidence in the judgment of
their superiors."15 Consequently, in case of doubt as to
fitness, it is certainly unlawful to proceed further for there is involved
something on which the welfare of the Church and the salvation of souls
depend in a special manner, and in which consequently, the safer opinion
must always be followed. "This safer opinion in the question now
before us, does more to protect the best interests of ecclesiastical
candidates since it turns them aside from a road on which they might be
led on to eternal ruin."16
17. The Responsibility Of The Internal
And External Forum; Both Should Use The Same Principles
In this most important task the chief responsibility lies with major
superiors. It is their work to organize and direct this entire activity,
to be acquainted thoroughly with the norms set down by the Apostolic See,
and to make sure they are faithfully carried out. On them, consequently,
in this matter lies the greatest burden of responsibility (Stat. Gen.,
art. 27, S 1).
But major superiors need the helpful cooperation of all who are
in charge of selecting and training candidates, whether they be superiors
and directors in the external forum or confessors and spiritual prefects,
each within the limits of his office. For some of the signs of a divine
vocation or lack of it, by their very nature, come to the knowledge of
superiors in the external forum, while others, since they belong rather to
the intimate realm of mind and conscience, can oftentimes be known only by
confessors and spiritual directors. All these individuals accept a burden
in conscience in the choice of priests and religious and in their
admission to profession and to ordination, and through their ignorance or
negligence they may have a share in the sins of others.
Nevertheless, they must use different methods in discharging their duties.
Directors in the external forum must do their duty exteriorly according to
the norms of common and particular law. The case is different with
confessors who are bound by "the inviolable sacramental seal,"
and with spiritual directors in the stricter sense (cf. Stat. Gen.,
art. 28, S 2, 9 ), who are likewise bound to secrecy "by virtue of
the religious office they have accepted." Confessors and spiritual
directors should strive, but only in the internal forum, to see that those
who either are not called by God or who have become unworthy should not go
farther.
But although the procedure in the internal and the external forum is
different, it is of the utmost importance that "all should use the
same principles in testing vocations and taking appropriate precautions to
the end that young men may be prudently admitted to profession and to
Orders."17
18. The Role Of The Confessor And The
Spiritual Director
Confessors have the grave duty of warning, urging, and ordering unfit
subjects, privately and in conscience, with no regard for human respect,
to withdraw from the religious and clerical life. Although they may appear
to have all the dispositions required for sacramental absolution, they
are, nevertheless, not for that reason to be regarded as worthy of
profession or ordination. The principles governing the sacramental forum,
especially those pertinent to the absolution of sins, are different from
the criteria whereby, according to the mind of the Church, judgment is
formed on fitness for the priesthood and the religious life. Consequently,
penitents who are certainly unworthy of profession and ordination can be
absolved if they show proof of true sorrow for their sins and seriously
promise to drop the idea of going on to the religious or clerical state,
but they must be effectively barred from profession and ordination.
Likewise spiritual directors are under obligation in the
non-sacramental internal forum, to judge of the divine vocation of those
entrusted to them and are also under the obligation to warn and privately
urge those who are unfit, to withdraw voluntarily from the life they have
embraced.
19. The Careful Choice Of Confessors And
Spiritual Directors
Lastly, using this occasion, this Sacred Congregation earnestly stresses
for superiors both the importance and the necessity of carefully choosing
as confessors and spiritual directors in religious seminaries men properly
trained and gifted with great prudence and perspicacity in understanding
the minds of the young (Stat. Gen., art. 24, S 2). Superiors
themselves must encourage a watchful and uniform policy among all those
dedicated to the formation of the young lest they allow unqualified
candidates to ascend to Orders.
20. The Cooperation Of Candidates;
Recommendation Of Sincerity And Docility
Finally, candidates should be prudently urged to cooperate in the
formation of a correct judgment on their vocation, for to them this is of
the utmost importance. They should understand correctly that leaving the
religious life and the ranks of the clergy is not always and for everyone
an evil. It is not an evil but is actually something good for those who
are not called or are not properly disposed. Indeed, infidelity resulting
in the loss of a divine vocation is certainly dangerous, but the situation
would be still more serious if those who are not called or who are
unworthy were blindly to take on religious and clerical obligations.
Therefore, they are especially urged to practice simplicity and sincerity
in opening their hearts, and docility and perfect obedience to the
counsels and precepts of their confessors, directors, and superiors:
"According as young men will be known for their integrity and
sincerity, all the more effectively can they be assisted by their
superiors, when the time comes to decide if they are divinely called to
enter upon the way of perfection and to receive Sacred Orders."18
Consequently, all candidates should be well aware of the mind of the
Church on the manifestation of conscience as set forth in canon 530, S 2,
and as explained in the Statuta Generalia.19
21. The Time For Definitive Selection
As for the time when the definitive selection is to be made,
every means should be diligently employed to insure that this selection
takes place within the time limits determined by law. Superiors shall bear
well in mind that only rarely should a further extension of probation be
requested (cf. Stat. Gen., art. 34, S3). The excellent norm laid
down in the encyclical letter, Ad Catholici Sacerdotii, should be
observed: "And although it is better not to postpone this selection
unduly, since in this matter delay usually leads to error and causes harm,
nevertheless, whatever may have been the motive for the delay, just as
soon as it is evident that
there has been a deviation from the right path, then, with no trace of
human respect, the remedy must be applied."20
B) The Required Freedom
22. Freedom: A Sign Of A Divine
Vocation
Among the requisites for a genuine divine vocation there is rightly
listed the free will of the candidates or a choice free of all moral
pressure along with perfect knowledge of the obligations of their state.
Full freedom is prescribed by ecclesiastical law for the reception of
Orders and for the validity of the novitiate and profession21 and,
in virtue of art. 32, S 3 of the Statuta Generalia, in the
recruitment of vocations everything must be avoided which could diminish
the freedom of the candidates or improperly affect it. Particularly in the
free acceptance of this counsel there is discerned the special call from
God or the
movement of the Holy Spirit, who interiorly enlightens and inspires a
person, who has the other qualifications, to pursue the evangelical
counsels or to embrace the priesthood. For the divine inspiration required
by St. Pius X22 in a true vocation, or that marked attraction for
sacred duties mentioned by Pius XI in his encyclical letter, Ad
Catholici Sacerdotii,23 is discerned in their right propensity
and intention of mind or the choice of their free will (cf. can. 538),
rather than in an inner urging of conscience and sensible attraction which
may be lacking.
23. Superiors Should Seek Out Supernatural
Motives
Since it is the task of superiors to pass judgment on the vocation of
their candidates, they should the more carefully examine the spontaneous
response of these candidates or the decision of their free will. Let them
examine very frequently into the supernatural motives of vocations in
their students, especially if they come from poor families, or are without
the means of leading an upright life in the world, or are lacking academic
degrees, or if they are known for narrow-mindedness, anxiety or
ambivalence, worried by scruples, or completely incapable of facing up to
anything important. To provide fuller knowledge of candidates, they can
request of them an "historical sketch" of their vocation in so
far as this may be possible. Thus they can be brought face to face with
genuine
personal reflection on their own vocation.
24. Fatherly Help For Those Who Suffer
Interior Or Exterior Trials
Superiors should not fail to remind candidates in a fatherly way that
if any one, as the result of undue influence from parents or relatives, or
because of financial difficulties, feels himself being forced into
profession or ordination against his will, he should confidently make the
situation known to his superiors or confessor. These latter should show
themselves ready to provide assistance to enable the candidate to escape
this danger unscathed, providing ways and means, if possible, to help him
conveniently obtain a respectable livelihood in the world.24
25. Acquiescence To The Judgment Of
Directors Of The Forum
When any student, on the advice of his confessor or spiritual
director, informs his superiors that he does not have the qualifications
for the priesthood, then the superior should accept this statement and
make no further investigation. If the candidate in question is a subdeacon
or deacon, then, with his consent, the superior should take up with the
Apostolic See his reduction to the lay state.25
26. How To Handle The Hesitant
In the case of candidates who are undecided and apprehensive and who
cannot make up their minds either to accept or leave the religious life or
to receive or decline Orders, superiors should dismiss those whom they
recognize as unworthy. Those whom they deem qualified should be exhorted
to make vows or to agree to be ordained. Nevertheless, they should refrain
from forcing profession or ordination on them and should leave the final
decision to their own free will, avoiding all undue influence which could
give the impression of drawing them on to profession or ordination by
coaxing or by threatening spiritual disaster and the pains of hell which
they would incur if they withdrew from profession or ordination.26
C) Necessary Knowledge Of The
Obligations
27. Candidates Should Be Taught The
Obligations To Be Assumed
Candidates must make vows and receive Orders deliberately; otherwise they
would not be free. Superiors are seriously obliged in conscience to make
sure that aspirants and novices as well as students throughout the entire
period of their studies be carefully instructed on the duties and
obligations of the religious and clerical life.
The duties and obligations of the religious and clerical life should
be discussed frequently by novice masters and spiritual prefects, each in
his own field, by means of timely warnings and the usual instructions and
exhortations. Preachers should likewise take up this subject in retreats
before perpetual profession and sacred ordinations. Lastly, in their
explanation of the tract on Orders, professors of moral theology should
provide lectures on clerical duties and obligations, and candidates for
Orders should be questioned on these points in their examinations.
28. Denunciation Of Temerity In Embracing
The Religious And Clerical Life
It is commendable to keep the sanctity of the religious life and the
dignity and excellence of the priesthood frequently placed before
candidates from the very beginning and throughout the whole period of
their formation, and defection from a genuine divine vocation is justly
censured. But similarly, and even more severely, should rashness in
embracing the religious and priestly state be denounced and its manifold
dangers pointed out for those who either were not called by God or have
become unworthy of a divine vocation, but who venture to make vows or to
receive Sacred Orders. Superiors should form the conscience of candidates,
carefully avoiding all error and confusion in their teaching on the
religious and priestly vocation, and on virginity and Christian marriage.
Let all be
firmly convinced that the time for sounding out a vocation does not lapse
completely with the first admission of the candidate, but continues on to
perpetual profession and ordination to the priesthood.27
D) The Required Chastity
29. Importance Of This Point; Young
Persons Are To Be Properly Instructed And Warned Of Its Dangers
Among the proofs and signs of a divine vocation the virtue of
chastity is regarded as absolutely necessary "because it is largely
for this reason that candidates for the ranks of the clergy choose this
type of life for themselves and persevere in it." Consequently:
a) "Watchful and diligent care is to be taken that candidates for the
clergy should have a high esteem and love for chastity, and should
safeguard it in their souls.
b) "Not only, therefore, are clerics to be informed in due time on
the nature of priestly celibacy, the chastity which they are to observe
(cf. can. 132), and the demands of this obligation, but they are likewise
to be warned of the dangers into which they can fall on this account.
Consequently, candidates for Sacred Orders are to be exhorted to protect
themselves from dangers from their earliest years."28
c) Although virginity embraced for the kingdom of heaven is more excellent
than matrimony, nevertheless, candidates for Sacred Orders should not be
unaware of the nobility of married life as exemplified in Christian
marriage established by the plan of God. Therefore, let them be so
instructed that, with a clear understanding of the advantages of Christian
matrimony, they may deliberately and freely embrace the greater good of
priestly and religious chastity.
d) But should superiors find a candidate unable to observe ecclesiastical
celibacy and practice priestly chastity, then, completely ignoring any
other outstanding qualities, they should bar him from the religious life
and the priesthood (cf. Stat. Gen., art. 34, S 2, 4 ), conforming
to the following directives and using all prudence and discretion in the
application of the same, namely:
30. Those To Be Excluded; Practical
Directives
1. A candidate who shows himself certainly unable to observe religious and
priestly chastity, either because of frequent sins against chastity or
because of a sexual bent of mind or excessive weakness of will, is not to
be admitted to the minor seminary and, much less, to the novitiate or to
profession. If he has already been accepted but is not yet perpetually
professed, then he should be sent away immediately or advised to withdraw,
according to individual cases, no matter what point in his formation he
has already reached. Should he be perpetually professed, he is to be
barred absolutely and permanently from tonsure and the reception of
any Order, especially Sacred Orders. If circumstances should so demand, he
shall be dismissed from the community, with due observance of the
prescriptions of canon law.
2. Consequently, any candidate who has a habit of solitary sins and who
has not given well-founded hope that he can break this habit within a
period of time to be determined prudently, is not to be admitted to the
novitiate. Nor can a candidate be admitted to first profession or to
renewal of vows unless he has really amended his ways. But if a novice or
a temporarily professed religious gives evidence of a firm purpose of
amendment with good grounds for hope of success, his probation can be
extended as provided for in canon law (canons 571, S2; 574, S2; 973, S 3;
Stat. Gen., art. 34, S 2, 3 ).
Well-grounded hope of amendment can be provided by those youths who are
physically and psychically normal or endowed with good bodily and mental
health, who are noted for solid piety and the other virtues intimately
connected with chastity, and who sincerely desire the religious and
priestly life.
3. A much stricter policy must be followed in admission to perpetual
profession and advancement to Sacred Orders. No one should be admitted to
perpetual vows or promoted to Sacred Orders unless he has acquired a firm
habit of continency and has given in every case consistent proof of
habitual chastity over a period of at least one year. If within this year
prior to perpetual profession or ordination to Sacred Orders doubt should
arise because of new falls, the candidate is to be barred from perpetual
profession or Sacred Orders (cf. above, no. 16) unless, as far as
profession is concerned, time is available either by common law or by
special indult to extend the period for testing chastity and there be
question of a candidate who, as was stated above (no. 30, 2) affords good
prospects of amendment.
4. If a student in a minor seminary has sinned gravely against the sixth
commandment with a person of the same or the other sex, or has been the
occasion of grave scandal in the matter of chastity, he is to be dismissed
immediately as stipulated in canon 1371, except if prudent consideration
of the act and of the situation of the student by the superiors or
confessors should counsel a different policy in an individual case, sc.,
in the case of a boy who has been seduced and who is gifted with excellent
qualities and is truly penitent, or when the sin was an objectively
imperfect act.
If a novice or a professed religious who has not yet made perpetual
vows should be guilty of the same offense, he is to be sent away from the
community or, should the circumstances so demand, he is to be dismissed
with due observance of canon 647, S 2, 1 . If a perpetually professed
religious is found guilty of any such sin, he is to be perpetually
excluded from tonsure and the reception of any further Order. If the case
belongs to the external forum, he is to receive a canonical warning
unless, as provided for in canons 653 and 668, there be grounds for
sending him back to the world (cf. Stat. Gen., art. 34, S 2, 4 ).
Lastly, should he be a subdeacon or deacon, then, without prejudice to the
above-mentioned directives and if the case should so demand, the superiors
should take up with the Holy See the question of his reduction to the lay
state.
For these reasons, clerics who in their diocese or religious
who in another community have sinned gravely against chastity with another
person are not to be admitted with a view to the priesthood, even on a
trial basis, unless there be clear evidence of excusing causes or of
circumstances which can at least notably diminish responsibility in
conscience (Circular Letter of S. C. of the Sacraments, n. 16; Canon Law
Digest, 4, p. 314).
Advantage to religious vows and ordination should be barred to
those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or
pederasty, since for them the common life and the priestly ministry would
constitute serious dangers.
5. Very special investigation is needed for those students who, although
they have hitherto been free of formal sins against chastity, nevertheless
suffer from morbid or abnormal sexuality, especially sexual hyperesthesia
or an erotic bent of nature, to whom religious celibacy would be a
continual act of heroism and a trying martyrdom. For chastity, in so far
as it implies abstinence from sexual pleasure, not only becomes very
difficult for many people but the very state of celibacy and the
consequent loneliness and separation from one's family becomes so
difficult for certain individuals gifted with excessive sensitivity and
tenderness, that they are not fit subjects for the religious life. This
question should perhaps receive more careful attention from novice masters
and superiors of scholasticates than from confessors since such natural
tendencies do not come out so clearly in confession as in the common life
and daily contact.
31. Care Of Psychopathic Cases
In addition, special attention must be paid to those who give
evidence of neuropsychosis and who are described by psychiatrists as
neurotics or psychopaths, especially those who are scrupulous, abulic,
hysterical, or who suffer from some form of mental disease (schizophrenia,
paranoia, etc.). The same is true of those who have a delicate
constitution or, particularly, those who suffer from weakness of the
nervous system or from protracted psychic melancholia, anxiety or epilepsy
(can. 984, 3 ), or who are afflicted with obsessions. Similarly,
precautions are needed in examining the children of alcoholics or those
tainted with some hereditary weakness, especially in the mental order (cf.
Stat. Gen., art. 33; 34, S 1). Finally, those young men are in need of
special attention who manifest exaggerated attachment to the comforts of
life and worldly pleasures.
Superiors should carefully examine all these types and subject them to a
thorough examination by a prudent and expert Catholic psychiatrist who,
after repeated examinations, will be in a position to determine whether or
not they will be able to shoulder, with honor to that state, the burden of
religious and priestly life, especially celibacy.
III. Care In Training And Strengthening
Vocations
32. Experienced Directors Should Be
Appointed And Sought Out Wherever
They May Be
After the accurate selection of vocations, superiors should have as
their second principle the task of appointing excellent and experienced
directors for the education of young religious conformably to art. 24 of
the Statuta Generalia. "To these religious houses,"
advises Pius XI, "assign priests adorned with excellent virtue, and
do not be afraid to take them away from other tasks which may be
apparently more important but which cannot match this work of capital
importance, which can be replaced by no other. Look for them also in other
fields, wherever you find men capable and fit for this most noble
task."29 Only if this advice is heeded will this Instruction
produce any real fruit; if this counsel is not heeded, then the entire
Instruction will be to no purpose.
33. The Qualities And Appointment Of Those
In Charge Of Formation
Let all superiors, each one within his own jurisdiction, exactly
carry out all the pertinent prescriptions of the Apostolic Constitution, Sedes
Sapientiae, articles 24 and 25. Two points call for special emphasis
in this Instruction:
1. Responsibility for formation should not be entrusted to younger
religious. It should be observed, first of all, that it is extremely
dangerous to turn over to younger priests the very difficult work of
religious and priestly formation and especially the task of training
minds, since these younger religious have not yet fully completed their
own personal formation nor achieved the maturity of age required by canon
559, S 1, nor acquired any measure of experience in the ministry.30
2. Nor should they be assigned without preparation. Secondly, superiors
should beware of directors who are chosen haphazardly or who are
unprepared. A natural disposition is not enough but, presupposing all the
natural and supernatural gifts needed for this difficult task, they
usually have a real need to study ecclesiastical pedagogy because, in this
sacred discipline, those in charge of formation learn the principles,
criteria, and the practical norms of clerical and religious training
according to the words and the mind of the Church. On the other hand,
ignorance of these principles gives rise to many lamentable evils.
34. Avoiding False Humanism
The Apostolic Constitution, Sedes Sapientiae, with the
accompanying Statuta Generalia, deals with religious, clerical, and
apostolic formation. Nothing needs to be added to this Constitution lest
we fall into unnecessary repetitions, but some points having a particular
bearing on our purpose need to be mentioned.
In the first place, those charged with the training of youth should
never lose sight of the warning of Pius XII, formulated in the Apostolic
Constitution, Sedes Sapientiae, n. 23 (Canon Law Digest, 4, p. 176), where
he states: "Nevertheless, though all should make much of the human
and natural training of the religious cleric, the supernatural
sanctification of the soul undoubtedly has the first place in the entire
course of his development."
Therefore, the religious life must be defended against any appearance of
false humanism or naturalism, and its supernatural character and sanctity
must be safeguarded by all available means. "This is necessary
particularly today, if at any time, when so-called naturalism has worked
its way into the minds and souls of men."31
35. Natural Considerations Are Not To
Be Made Light Of But Supernatural Ones Are To Be Preferred
Consequently, supernatural reasons for embracing religious vows and the
priestly life should be stressed and they should be preferred to the
natural virtues in the training of young religious. For rightly, in this
matter, does Leo XIII warn: "It is truly difficult to understand how
those imbued with Christian wisdom can prefer natural to supernatural
virtues and attribute to the former greater efficacy and fecundity. Will
nature, with the help of grace, be weaker than if left to its own powers?
Did those most holy men whom the Church admires and openly honors show
themselves weak and incompetent in the order of nature because they were
outstanding for Christian virtue?"32
And Pius XII in the Apostolic Constitution, Sedes Sapientiae,
teaches as follows: "With regard to the resources and methods of
education, those which nature itself supplies and those which are offered
by the human ingenuity of the present age, if they are good, are clearly
not to be neglected, but to be highly esteemed and wisely employed.
However, there is no more fatal mistake than to rely exclusively or
excessively on these natural means and to relegate supernatural aids and
resources to a secondary place or in any way to neglect them. Because in
order to attain religious and clerical perfection and apostolic results,
the supernatural means, the sacraments, prayer, mortification, and the
like, are not merely necessary but altogether primary and essential."33
36. Training In Obedience And
Self-Sacrifice
On more than one occasion in these modern times the Roman Pontiffs
have spoken on religious obedience and abnegation of the will, and they
have enlightened us on their supernatural nature, the diligence and
perfection with which religious should practice them, on dangerous
doctrines on these subjects and, in particular, on the false concept of
personality and a certain popular or democratic spirit which is making its
way into men's minds and which makes obedience as taught and practiced by
Christ our Lord altogether void of meaning.
Attention should be called to the pernicious effects on the religious
life of that practical "system" which, ignoring more or less the
obligations of the religious life, gives in to all the inclinations and
pleasures of nature, which are not only not regarded as unlawful but are
even looked upon as a postulate of our times and as a perfecting of human
nature and, as a result, as something owed to nature or at least
altogether permitted. Whence, upon the pretext of progress, bodily
comforts and pleasures of all kinds are sought out as well as freedom for
the internal and external senses, the satisfaction of one's faculties, and
the indiscriminate indulgence of curiosity in regard to books, newspapers,
radio, movies, television,34 profane worldly spectacles, and,
lastly, a life without subjection, with ample free play for one's will and
activity. All these endanger even the essential obligations of the
religious life since they preclude any spirit of humility, self-sacrifice,
and mortification which, on the contrary, according to the words of
Christ, "If any one wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross and follow me," (Matt. 16:24), must be taken as
the foundation of the
entire Christian life35 and which can be achieved only through
crucifixion to the world (Gal. 6:14).
"He who is half-hearted or slothful," the Sovereign Pontiff
exhorts, "who wishes to loll around in the comforts of this life, who
burns with excessive thirst for human things and human knowledge, and who
wants to experience all that earth can give, can neither be nor be called
a true soldier of the kingdom of God. Beloved sons, take careful note of
this, namely, that the secret and fruitful power of your future apostolate
lies particularly in the necessary right detachment of soul from the
things of earth." "The man who, shying away from the austerity
of religious discipline, would want to live in a religious community just
as if he were
a man of the world, who seeks out according to his own will whatever seems
to be to his own advantage, whatever pleases and satisfies him - would
that man be worthy of Christ his Head?"36
Consequently, superiors have a grave obligation to implant the following
rule of the life of perfection in the souls of their young subjects:
religious may use these comforts and pleasures of life only in so far as
they contribute to the pursuit of evangelical perfection and the proper
exercise of the apostolate according to one's own constitutions. This norm
differs not a little from the one used as a standard for the common state
of the Christian life.
However, this does not prevent the acceptance of today's fine, useful
discoveries when they are regarded as aids to a fuller formation, or as
helps in multiplying apostolic activities and advancing perfection,
carefully shunning all the extras which please and satisfy nature but
which are not at all necessary for the achieving of the scope of the
religious life and the apostolate.
Wherefore, buildings intended for seminaries should be built and furnished
according to the norms of religious simplicity and poverty, which demand
that these houses be so organized that the minds of the students will be
imbued with that spirit of austerity and self-sacrifice which, by its very
nature, is required both by the state of the evangelical counsels and
likewise by their future apostolic life.
37. Students Should Be Trained For The
Apostolate, But Especially For
A Spiritual And Deeply Religious And Priestly Life
Lastly, it is an all too clear fact that many young men at the present
time are more interested in the external activity of the apostolate, which
falls in well with their particular bent of mind, than in the religious
perfection of their own souls, of which they have only vague ideas and
little esteem. Because of this, after some years in the active life, they
are bored by religious practices whose real value they do not understand,
or which they regard as hindrances to the apostolate. Then they want to be
free of these observances and wish to enter the secular clergy.
In order to forestall this danger, superiors, in training their students,
should take very special care that the life of evangelical perfection is
kept before them and explained in its various phases that they may be
attracted to the religious life and be strengthened in perseverance
therein, not merely out of the desire of engaging in the apostolate, but
particularly from a sincere determination to pursue evangelical perfection
unwaveringly through the observance of the evangelical counsels and their
own constitutions (can. 593) out of an intense love of God in imitation of
Jesus Christ and a supernatural desire of sanctifying their souls,
because, as Pius XII notes, "the priest is by his very office an
instrument for the
sanctification of others, so much so that the salvation of souls and the
growth of the Kingdom of God depend in a considerable degree upon his
holiness."37
IV. Declarations And Investigations
Required Before Profession Or Incorporation, And Before Orders
38. Attestation Of One's Own Vocation
To Sacred Orders In The Religious Life
Since in the acceptance of religious or clerical obligations it is
most important to safeguard and foster the liberty and spontaneous freedom
of the candidates and to avoid completely the weakness which may be called
the "follow-the-crowd" attitude, and since it is altogether
proper that in serious decisions in matters affecting their own life they
form the habit of thinking for themselves, the following directives shall
henceforth be observed by all superiors of clerical Religious Communities,
Societies and Secular Institutes.
Before temporary profession, which absolutely must precede promotion
to tonsure and Minor Orders, novices are to present to their superiors a
written declaration in which they attest explicitly to their vocation to
the state of perfection and the clerical state, and at the same time
declare their firm intention to bind themselves forever to the ranks of
the clergy in the state of perfection.38 This declaration can again
be demanded of temporarily professed candidates before perpetual
profession. These petitions and attestations are to be preserved in the
archives. Lest the students sign approved printed formulas mechanically,
they should write out these declarations in their own hand and, before
they sign their name, should carefully consider, in consultation with
their spiritual director,
each and every one of the points contained therein.
39. Above All, The Fitness Of The
Candidate Is To Be Established Clearly
Superiors should not allow any one to be advanced to Orders, even
only Minor Orders, without clear evidence, secured through careful
examination, regarding his conduct, piety, modesty, chastity, inclinations
for the clerical state, progress in ecclesiastical studies, and religious
discipline.39 To obtain this with greater certainty, superiors
should get the opinion of the spiritual prefect, if he is directly
responsible for the training of the students, and that of others who,
because of their special association with the students, may be in a
position to have a thorough knowledge of their life and conduct.40
These opinions should not be
accepted lightly but should be carefully weighed, with all due
consideration of the prudence, sincerity, and maturity of judgment of
those who have given them.
An authentic report of these investigations and of the outcome of
these inquiries should be drawn up and kept in the archives.
Finally, the superiors, either personally or through some other
experienced and prudent priest likely to win the confidence of the
students, should question them carefully in order to acquire still greater
certainty that they are aspiring to Orders in the religious state freely,
deliberately, and for supernatural motives.
40. The Best Time For Conferring Sacred
Orders; Major Orders Should Not Be Conferred Before Perpetual Or
Definitive Profession
As regards ordination itself, this Sacred Congregation adopts
the timely directives formulated by the Sacred Congregation of the
Sacraments in no. 14 of its Circular Letter, namely: For the more careful
and immediate preparation of candidates for Orders, especially Sacred
Orders, provision should be made that sacred ordinations be had at the
time more fit for them, at a date well known ahead of time and never
unexpectedly. As a result, it seems very appropriate to exclude the time
immediately preceding or following the end of the scholastic year. At this
time, as a rule, the students, tired by work and preoccupied in mind
because of the examinations recently taken in sacred studies or because of
those soon to
be taken, lack the necessary peace of mind for being properly able to
ponder the very serious business of their ordination.
As for the reception of Major Orders, superiors of the states of
perfection should bear in mind that they may not promote their students to
these orders before perpetual profession or incorporation (can. 964, 3 ,
4). In those states of perfection which do not have perpetual obligations
or vows, superiors are likewise forbidden to promote their candidates to
Sacred Orders before these vows or obligations have become definitive.41
41. New Inquiry Before Subdeaconate
Before candidates are admitted to the subdeaconate, superiors must
make a new inquiry on the above-mentioned points (n. 39). To this end, the
records of the investigation already made and preserved in the archives
are to be examined anew and further testimony on the conduct and spiritual
qualities of the student is to be compared with previous reports in order
to see clearly what progress these young men have made since their first
profession both in religious discipline and in clerical studies. After all
this, if the candidates are found worthy and fit, and if there is no
canonical reason for withholding them from the reception of Orders, the
superiors may issue dimissorial or testimonial letters for their
ordination, with due observance of the prescriptions of canon law and
their own constitutions.42
42. Oath To Be Signed Before The
Subdeaconate
In all the states of perfection, before presenting candidates for the
subdeaconate, superiors must, in view of the sacred ordination which is to
follow in proper time and in addition to the inquiry prescribed above,
demand an attestation written personally by the candidates and confirmed
under oath before the superior in the following terms:
"I, the undersigned, . . . a member of the (Order, Congregation,
Society, Institute of . . . ), in presenting this petition to Superiors
for the reception of the Order of the Subdeaconate, after having carefully
considered the matter before God, do hereby testify under oath: 1) that in
the reception of the said Sacred Order I am moved by no coercion,
compulsion, or fear, but am seeking it of my own accord, and do of my own
full and free will desire to embrace it together with the obligations that
are attached to it. 2) I acknowledge that I am fully informed of all the
obligations that flow from the aforesaid Sacred Order, and I freely
embrace
them, and resolve with the help of God to keep them faithfully during my
entire life. 3) I declare that I clearly understand all that the vow of
chastity and the law of celibacy prescribe, and I firmly resolve with the
help of God to observe these obligations faithfully until the end of my
life. 4) Finally, I sincerely promise that I will always, according to the
sacred canons, most respectfully obey in all things which are commanded me
by my Superiors according to the discipline of the Church, and am prepared
to give good example both in work and in word, so that in the reception of
this great office I may be worthy to receive the reward which God has
promised. To all this I testify and swear upon these sacred Gospels which
I touch with my hand.
This . . . . . . day of . . . 19 . . . (43)
(Signed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
43. Before Deaconate Or Priesthood
Superiors Should Carefully Inquire Into The Fitness Of Candidates
Although for the Order of deaconate and priesthood it is not
necessary to gather such detailed information and to require new
testimonials, nevertheless, superiors should be watchful and determine
whether, in the interval between the conferral of one sacred ordination
and the next, any new factors may have emerged which might raise doubts on
their vocation to the priesthood or show they have no vocation. In this
case, after a most careful investigation and after seeking the advice of
prudent men, superiors should strictly forbid the reception of any new
Order and should refer the case to this Sacred Congregation, which,
according to the requirements of individual cases, will decide what seems
most opportune in the Lord.44
44. In General, Dispensations Are Not
To Be Requested
Superiors should bear in mind the prescription of the Statuta
Generalia, art. 34, S 3, 2 , 3 , namely: "Only in individual cases
and for causes which are proportionately really serious should superiors
venture to ask for dispensations concerning: . . . 2 and the other
requirements for Orders, especially Sacred Orders; 3 organized course of
studies, either as regards the individual disciplines, attendance at
class, or passing examinations." Superiors of religious orders who
have the faculty of anticipating sacred ordinations beyond the limits laid
down by common law should, in the use of this privilege, as long as it
remains in force,
follow the same restrictive criterion as that formulated in art. 34. In
addition, as is proper in the use of other privileges, they should comply
with the practice and rules customarily observed by the S. Congregation
for Religious in granting similar indults to those subject to common law.
When there is question of age, superiors should lean more toward
postponing rather than anticipating ordination.
45. Superiors' Obligation In Conscience In
Issuing Dimissorial Or Testimonial Letters
As regards the ordination of religious, in virtue of canon law major
superiors either issue dimissorial letters to the ordaining Bishops (can.
964, 2 , 3 ; 966, S 1) or at least they present their candidates for
ordination with testimonial letters (can. 993, 5 ). By these testimonial
letters the religious superior not only testifies that the candidates
belong to his community but also certifies that they have completed the
prescribed studies, have taken the oath, and have complied with the other
requirements of law (can. 995, S 1). Hence it is clear that the very
serious obligation, which binds Bishops to train, test, and choose their
secular candidates who wish to receive Sacred Orders, likewise extends to
religious superiors to whom it pertains to permit their subjects to
advance to Sacred Orders. And although, as canon law provides (can. 997, S
2), Bishops are free to disregard the declarations of superiors and to
examine religious ordinands personally, nevertheless, they are not bound
to do so but, before God and the Church, they may accept the testimony of
superiors and throw back on them the full responsibility in conscience for
the training and the worthiness of their candidates (can. 970; 995, S 2).
V. The Care Of Newly Ordained Priests
46. Precautions To Be Taken In The
First Years Of The Priesthood; The Dangers Of Inexperience
After they have completed their course of studies and the pastoral
year and have received Sacred Orders, young priests should start their
ministry with all due precautions, aware of the very special dangers
confronting them in the first years of their priesthood, during which, not
infrequently, as Pius XII observed in his exhortation to the clergy, the
great hopes entertained for young priests have apparently faded away.45
At the outset of their ministry, both because of the passions
besetting their youth and because of their more frequent contacts with the
world, many serious difficulties usually arise along with new kinds of
temptations. And since new priests experience a certain sense of
independence and feel that they must do their work in their own way in the
ministry entrusted to them, they easily tend to shake off all restraint
and, because of their inexperience, can fall into numerous errors and
failings which may rightly be feared to lead to deplorable defections.
This is why young priests sometimes think they must act on their own and
introduce many reforms, disregarding the methods and systems of older
priests. Lastly, they frequently are either left without any fruitful
occupation or else are overloaded with self-assigned work or work which
has been given to them by their superiors, not without danger to their
spiritual life.
47. The Danger Of The "Heresy Of
Action"
On this spiritual danger Pope Pius XII, of venerable memory, has
warned us in the following most serious words: "We cannot refrain
from expressing Our concern and Our anxiety for those who, because of
special circumstances of our day and age, have too frequently so engulfed
themselves in a whirl of external activity as to neglect the first duty of
priests, that is to say, procuring their own personal sanctification. We
have already publicly stated (cf. A.A.S., 36 [1944] - 239, Letter Cum
proxime exeat) that 'those men must be recalled to the right path who
rashly hold that man can be saved by what is rightly and deservedly called
the "heresy of action," that kind of action, We say, which is
not based on the assistance of Divine Grace and does not make constant use
of the necessary means for the pursuit of sanctity provided by Jesus
Christ.' "46
48. The Danger Of Imitating Worldly
Conduct
It happens that the sacred ministry, which should be an instrument
for personal sanctification, at times becomes for some people, through
their own fault, an occasion for relaxation of discipline and harm to
their religious spirit. Not rarely in the exercise of this ministry
religious priests adopt the habits of people in the world in speech,
conduct, and comportment; they violate poverty through uncontrolled use of
material things; they lose esteem for regular discipline and the exercises
of piety through prolonged absence from their religious house. Such
priests quickly go seeking outside their religious house activities, which
provide stable and permanent work in order to have a pretext for
withdrawing from
religious discipline.
49. Young Priests Should Be Introduced
Into The Ministry Gradually Under The Direction Of An Experienced Guide
Superiors will forestall these difficulties if, in the first
place, they effectively put into practice the excellent advice, based on
experience, of the Statuta Generalia, art. 51, namely: that "the
young priest should not be regarded as definitively formed and put to the
test in his religious and apostolic life until, after the completion of
about his thirtieth year and through personal contact with the
ministry," he has rounded out his formation. In the meantime,
according to the directives contained in the aforementioned exhortation of
Pope Pius XII,47 young
priests should be introduced gradually into the apostolic ministry,
safeguarded with wise and watchful care, and paternally directed in their
activities. For this reason, contact with the world should not be either
abrupt, frequent, or awkward; rather it should be moderate, humble, and
gracious while the young priests devote themselves to study and prayer
under the direction of a skilled spiritual director and, as far as
possible, the guidance of some other experienced priest assigned to assist
them. For "just as long periods of time are necessary for oak trees
to put
down solid roots, in the same way long-standing patience is always
required for the formation of a man of God. Consequently, restraints
should be placed on the generous self-assurance of youth whereby they
would be plunged into activity before their time, since undue haste in
activity scatters rather than builds, and is both for him who indulges in
it and for the apostolic ministry itself a source of harm."48
50. Young Priests Should Not Be
Assigned To Small Houses; Interest In Those Who Are Absent
As a general rule, young priests should not be assigned to small
houses but should rather be assigned where religious discipline is easily
reconciled with moderate exercise of the apostolate and where the
prescriptions of the preceding article can be conveniently complied with.
In addition, superiors should see to it that the aforesaid
priests do not spend unduly long periods away from their religious house
and, in every case, that they return to the community for the monthly day
of recollection and for their retreat.
Finally, they shall exercise special vigilance over those who are absent
from the religious house in what concerns their life, conduct,
comportment, and the use and administration of temporal goods.49
51. Vacations With Relatives, At Spas
And Other Worldly Centers
Superiors should not allow religious priests to spend long periods
with relatives or friends for vacation or rest since this practice causes
surprise to people of the world and becomes a source of criticism among
their fellow-religious. Nor for purposes of health should they be
permitted to make frequent visits to the homes of relatives nor given easy
access to spas and other public places, which are indeed places for
convalescence but are likewise centers of unrestrained and worldly
satisfactions, contrary to religious decorum and spirit. If there be
question of sojourns at beaches or if religious must spend time outside
their house at warm springs, "they should carefully conform to the
prescriptions laid down by local Ordinaries."50 For the rest,
the directives enumerated by this Sacred
Congregation for Religious for superiors general51 on the
frequentation of spas are confirmed and once again it is recommended that
religious houses be located in healthful climates where those in need of
rest and treatment may occupy themselves and at the same time live their
religious life.
52. The Reading Of This Instruction
It is of the greatest importance for the Church that the criteria and
directives here set down should, first of all, be known and that they
should be kept in mind and constantly put into practice. It is no less
important that there should be a uniform policy in all the states of
perfection and, especially, that within the same institute there should be
concerted action on the part of all those dedicated to the training of
youth.
Wherefore, let superiors see to it that at the beginning of each school
year, in place of the Instruction Quantum Religiones, this
Instruction be read or at least summarized before the superiors, masters,
spiritual prefects and their assistants, confessors, and professors, as
well as in monastic, general, and provincial councils.
At the same time there should be read or made known to the young
candidates the prescriptions which touch them directly, such as those
referring to freedom and the conditions to be complied with in embracing
the religious and clerical life, the sworn declaration mentioned in n. 42,
and other similar provisions.
By the faithful observance of all these directives, the task of
investigating the canonical fitness of candidates for the state of
perfection and Sacred Orders will meet with success; those who are not fit
will be barred in time and at the very outset, and only those worthy and
fit will be admitted to Sacred Orders. These, in turn, properly instructed
and trained, will effectively promote the glory of God and the salvation
of souls to the honor of the Church and the state of evangelical
perfection.
In the audience graciously granted on 23 January, 1961, to the
undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, our
Holy Father, Pope John XXIII, deigned to approve this Instruction and
ordered that it be communicated to superiors of institutes of evangelical
perfection.
Rome, the 2nd day of February, feast of the Purification of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, in the year 1961.
Sacred Congregation for Religious
----------
(Translated from the original Latin text - Published in Canon Law
Digest, 5 Pages: 452 - 486 - Note: Although this Instruction was not
published in AAS or any other public form but was privately circulated, it
is, nevertheless, referred to by the S. C. Rel. itself as "a matter
of public law" (cf. below: S. C. Rel., 28 April, 1961).
-------------------
Notes
1. AAS 24 (1932) -74 -81; Enchiridion de Statibus Prefectionis,
Rome, 1949, n. 363, pp. 471-479. Cf. also the Instruction Illud saepius, De
Qualitatibus recipiendorum, 15 August, 1915, in Enchiridion de
Stat. Perf., n. 286, pp. 340-344. English version of Quantum
Religiones in Canon Law Digest, 1, pp. 473-482.
2. AAS 28 (1936)-5-533; Ench. de Stat. Perf., n. 367,
481-521.
3. AAS 42 (1950)-657-702.
4. AAS 46 (1954)-161-191.
5. AAS 31 (1939)-245-251; Ench. de Stat. Perf., n 373, pp.
530-537; Canon Law Digest, 2, pp. 427-433.
6. AAS 50 (1958) 153-161; Canon Law Digest, 5, pp. 365-374.
7. Cf. the doctrinal section in AAS 48 (1956) 354-365. The Statuta
Generalia appended to this same Apostolic Constitution were printed
and promulgated separately from the AAS. The references in the Instruction
are to the second edition published under the direction of the Sacred
Congregation for Religious. English version of doctrinal section in Canon
Law Digest, 4, pp. 169-182; English version of the Statuta is
available from the Catholic University of America Press.
8. These documents of Pope John XXIII can be consulted in AAS 52
(1960)-179-309, and in the Prima Romana Synodus, A.D. 1960, Vatican
Press.
8a. English version in Canon Law Digest, 4, pp. 303-315.
8b. Canon Law Digest, 4, p. 308.
9. Ench. de Stat. Perf., n. 286, p. 341.
10. Allocution of Pius XI to the General Chapter of the Oblates of
Mary Immaculate, 14 September, 1932. Allocution of Pius XII to the
superiors General, February 11, 1958, in AAS 50 (1958)-160; Canon Law
Digest, 5, p. 373.
11. John XXIII, allocution of 28 January, 1960, to the clerical
students of the Diocese of Rome or residing in Rome, in AAS 52 (1960)-263;
English version in The Pope Speaks, 6 (1960)-364. Prima Romana Synodus,
p. 436. Cf. Pius XI, encyclical Ad Catholici Sacerdotii, AAS 28
(1936)-44; Ench. de Stat. Perf., n. 367, p. 513.
12. Apostolic Const. Sedes Sapientiae, nn. 12-13; Canon Law
Digest, 4, P. 173.
13. Stat. Gen., art. 34, S 2, 1 .
14. Ibid., n. 2 .
15. Pius XI, Encyclical Ad Catholici Sacerdotii, AAS 28
(1936) Ench. de Stat. Perf., n. 367, p. 513.
16. Pius XI, ibid., AAS 28 (1936)-41; Ench. de Stat. Perf.,
n. 367;
p. 511. Cf. also the Encyclical Sacra Virginitas, AAS 46
(1954)-180-181.
17. Prima Romana Synodus, 484, S 3.
18. Cf. Prima Romana Synodus, 477.
19. Cf. Stat. Gen., art. 28, S 3, 1 .
20. Pius XI, Encyc. Ad Catholici Sacerdotii, AAS 28
(1936)-39; Ench.
de Stat. Perf., n. 367, pp. 509-510.
21. Cf. canons 971; 542, 1 ; 572, S 1, 4 ; 2352.
22. St. Pius X, Apostolic letter, Cum primum, 4 Aug., 1913,
in AAS, 5 (1913)-388; Ench. de Stat. Perf., n. 279, p. 331.
23. Pius XI, Encyc. Ad Catholici Sacerdotii, AAS 28
(1936)-39; Ench.
de Stat. Perf., n. 367, p. 510.
24. Circular Letter of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments,
n. 5; Canon Law Digest, 4, p. 311.
25. Ibid., n. 6; Canon Law Digest, loc. Cit.
26. Stat. Gen., art. 32, S3. Cf. Prima Romana Synodus, 467,
S2. Circular Letter of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, n. 7; Canon
Law Digest, 4, p. 311.
27. Cf. Stat. Gen., art. 39, S1, 1 .
28. Pius XII, Exhort. Menti Nostrae, AAS 42 (1950)-690-691;
cf. Encyc. Sacra virginitas, AAS 46 (1954)-164, 170, 174, 179, 182.
29. Pius XI, Encyc. Ad Catholici Sacerdotii, AAS 28
(1936)-37; Ench. de Stat. Perf., n. 367, p. 508.
30. Cf. Stat. Gen., art. 5l.
31. Pius XII, Exhort. Menti Nostrae, AAS 42 (1950)-673.
32. Leo XIII, Letter Testem benevolentiae, 12 Jan., 1899, in
Acta Leonis XIII, vol. XIX, pp. 15-16.
33. Pius XII, Apost. Const. Sedes Sapientiae, n. 21; cf.
also Pius XII, Alloc. Haud Mediocri, 11 Feb., 1958, to superiors
general resident in Rome, AAS 50 (1958)-153 ff. Cf. respectively Canon
Law Digest, 4, pp. 175-176; 5, pp. 365 ff.
34. Cf. Sacred Congregation for Religious, Letter to the Superiors
General of the
Institutes of Perfection on the use of radio and television, 6 August,
1957; Canon Law Digest, 4, pp. 206-209.
35. Cf. Alloc. of Pius XII, Haud Mediocri, as quoted above
in note 33; Alloc. to the Superiors General, 11 Feb., 1958, in AAS 50
(1958)-156; Canon Law Digest, 5, p. 368.
36. Quotations from John XXIII and Pius XII respectively: John
XXIII, Alloc. to the ecclesiastical students in Rome, AAS 52 (1960)-264;
The Pope Speaks, 6 (1960)-364; Prima Romana Synodus, p. 437; Pius
XII, Alloc. to the Society of Jesus assembled in General Congregation, 10
Sept., 1957, in AAS 49 (1957)-808; The Pope Speaks, 4 (1957-58)-449.
37. Pius XII, Apost. Const. Sedes Sapientiae, n. 23; Canon Law
Digest, 4, p. 176; also his Allocution to Superiors General, 11 Feb.,
1958, in AAS 50 (1958)-157; Canon Law Digest, 5, p. 370. Cf. Stat.
Gen., art. 37; 40, S2, 1 , 2 ; 3.
38. Cf. can. 973, S 1; Sacred Congregation for Religious,
Instruction Quantum Religiones, 1 Dec., 1931, in AAS 24 (1932)-79; Ench.
de Stat. Perf; n. 363, p. 477; Canon Law Digest, 1, pp. 479-80.
39. Cf. can. 973, S 1 and can. 1357, S 2.
40. Cf. Stat. Gen., art 28, S 2, 3 , 9 , 10 , and the
Instruction Quantum Religiones, n. 14, as quoted above in note 38.
41. Cf. Stat. Gen., art. 8, S 1, 2 ; Sacred Congregation for
Religious, Instruction Quantum Religiones, n. 15, in AAS 24
(1932)-80; Ench. de Stat. Perf., n. 363, p. 478; Canon Law Digest,
1, p. 480.
42. Sacred Congregation for Religious, Instruction Quantum
Religiones, n. 16; Canon Law Digest, 1, pp. 480-481.
43. Ibid., n. 17; Canon Law Digest, 1, p. 481.
44. Ibid., n. 20; Canon Law Digest, 1, p. 482.
45. Pius XII, Exhort. Menti Nostrae, AAS 42 (1950)-692. Cf.
also the Instruction Quantum Religiones, n. 10; Canon Law Digest,
1, p. 478.
46. Pius XII, Exhort. Menti Nostrae, AAS 42 (1950)-677.
47. Ibid., p. 692.
48. Pius XII, Alloc. Quamvis Inquieti, 17 Sept., 1946, in
AAS 38 (1946) -383; Ench. de Stat. Perf., n. 385, p. 574.
49. Cf. the Instruction of the Sacred Congregation for Religious on
religious military chaplains, in AAS 47 (1955)-93-97, and the decree on
religious in military service, especially articles IV and V, 30 July,
1957, in AAS 49 (1957)-871-874. For these documents respectively, see Canon
Law Digest, 4, pp. 152-157; 90-93.
50. Cf. Prima Romana Synodus, 87.
51. Sacred Congregation for Religious, Circular Letter of 15 July,
1926; Canon Law Digest, 3, p. 216.
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