§ 1. Since in ecclesiastical benefices those things which bear the appearance of hereditary succession are odious to the sacred constitutions and contrary to the decrees of the Fathers, as is stated in the Council of Trent, session 25, chapter 7, it follows that no Cleric is born evil. Therefore, if anyone lives contrary to the canons, it is either because an evil man was chosen or because after being ordained he departed from virtue. Bishops will prevent both by sagacious caution. For scarcely anyone is evil for long without the fact becoming known to someone; wickedness always betrays itself by some indication.
§ 2. The reason Clerics generally turn out evil is their parents, teachers, guardians, and kinsmen, because they are educated either negligently or vainly. Therefore the complaints of secular people concerning the vices of Clerics are dishonest. Do you marvel that your son is vain, proud, and drunken? He takes after his father; he drew your vices from paternal authority. Or tell me, what has he done which he did not learn in your house or among the intimates to whom you committed him? Yet if he did not learn from you to be evil, see whether it was not brought about by your indulgence, peevishness, or imprudence that he did not remain good.
§ 3. Those who are not suitable must in no way be admitted. Thus the law and the Councils. A golden canon is that of the Fourth Council of Milan:
By the authority handed down to him by the law of the canons and by the Council of Trent, the Bishop, if he does not find suitable those presented even by any patrons whatsoever, shall neither approve, admit, nor institute them, nor provide for them under any title whatsoever, but shall reject them outright. Moreover, he shall not judge suitable those whom, after the test of an examination has been diligently made by questions, he does not see to be endowed with learning, skill in chant, and the other qualities necessary for rightly and duly performing the duties incumbent upon or connected with the benefice to which the person is presented.
Furthermore, by canonical law the ordainer of an unworthy person is deposed: Distinction 50, chapter 55, Ex paenitentibus; and Distinction 59, chapter 1:
He who has not been imbued with ecclesiastical disciplines in due order and trained for divine service by the approval of time shall by no means presume to aspire to the supreme priesthood of the Church. Ambition shall be regarded as effective not only in him but also in his ordainer, so that they may lack the order which they believed should be presumed without order
contrary to the commands of the Fathers.
This canon must be recalled if priestly piety and sincerity are to be restored.
The mode and method of establishing who are suitable are also gathered from Distinction 77 and other sources.
§ 4. The greater the dignity of the order to which someone is assumed, the greater the care that must be taken concerning the abilities and virtues of the one to be ordained. The first care must be expended in choosing Bishops. For the Church cannot be healthy in its members if it suffers in its head. Therefore the electors of Bishops sin most gravely when they take no account of their duty.
§ 5. Account is indeed taken of years in the orders, but not according to the ancient custom. The Sixth Synod, canon 15; Distinction 77, chapter 4:
Let a subdeacon be ordained at no less than twenty years. But if anyone has been ordained in any priestly order before the established times, let him be deposed.
And the Third Council of Carthage, canon 4:
It has pleased us that neither Deacons be ordained nor virgins consecrated before twenty-five years of age, and that readers not salute the people.
The Council of Agde establishes the same in chapters 16 and 17:
Let a Bishop in no way confer the blessing of the diaconate upon those younger than twenty-five years. Certainly, if married young men consent to be ordained, the will of their wives must also be required in such a way that, after separation of their dwelling and bedchamber has been made and religious life promised, they may be ordained after they have afterwards been converted in like manner. But let none of the metropolitans presume to ordain a Presbyter or Bishop before thirty years—that is, before he reaches the age of a perfect man—or Deacons before twenty-five, lest through their age, as sometimes happens, they be blamed for some error.
They require thirty years in a Priest, Distinction 78, chapter 4:
Let a Presbyter not be ordained before thirty years of age, although his life is approved; rather, let him wait until the appointed time. For our Lord Jesus Christ was baptized in his thirtieth year and then preached.
The same things are in the Novels, in the Authentic On the Most Holy Bishops, 9, Clericos, and in Leo, Letter 83, chapter 1, to the African Bishops. Yet Pope Zachary, in a case of necessity, permitted ordination to the priesthood at twenty-five years.
I judge that in so many cases of younger Priests it is expedient for a greater age to be established, especially when necessity is absent and the diaconate or subdiaconate is sought not from necessity but from desire for greater revenues. For that age which is now priestly through dispensation and the necessity of the Church permitting it is not such by free judgment. Next, I do not think that one must labor greatly concerning the minor orders, because they do not bind to perpetual chastity. Yet haste is harmful for another reason, since readers, exorcists, and acolytes are appointed who can neither read nor even conjecture what those orders mean. Such was not the standard of Peter and the ancients. The laws require twelve years in these orders, but presume that they have been suitably instructed. Thus Distinction 28, chapter 5:
Concerning those whom the will of their parents has bound to clerical office from the first years of infancy, we establish that the following be observed: immediately after being tonsured or handed over to the ministry of readers, they ought to be educated by an appointed master in the house of the Church under episcopal supervision. But when they have completed the eighteenth year of their age, let their will concerning the seeking of marriage be investigated by the Bishop in the sight of all the people. If, with God inspiring, the grace of chastity is pleasing to them and they promise that they will preserve their chastity without the necessity of marriage, let them, as seekers of the very narrow way, be subjected to the most gentle yoke of the Lord; and, after probation of their profession has been held, let them first undertake the ministry of the subdiaconate from their twentieth year. But if they pass the twenty-fourth year of their age blamelessly and without offense, they ought to be promoted to the office of the diaconate, if the Bishop finds that they are able knowingly to fulfill it. Yet they must beware lest at any time, forgetful of their promise, they return again to earthly marriages or secret concubinage. But if perhaps they do so, let them be regarded as guilty of sacrilege and strangers to the Church. Yet from those whose own will at the time of questioning has persuaded them to desire marriage, we cannot take away the license granted by the Apostle; but when, placed in marriage and advanced in age, they promise by equal consent that they will renounce works of the flesh, let them aspire to sacred orders.
I altogether require maturity and constancy, especially since they will live in the world and contend amid daily dangers and shipwrecks of chastity.
§ 6. Let no one be admitted to the Clergy without a lawful examination. Distinction 24, chapter 2: “Let no Cleric be ordained unless he has been proved either by the examination of Bishops or by the testimony of the people.” I ask: in certain places, who is ordained in this way? Where is so great an account taken of morals and learning? Distinction 24, chapter 4:
Let Bishops be advanced to ecclesiastical dignity by the judgment of the metropolitans and of the Bishops who are round about—those, namely, who are proved over a very long time both in the word of faith and by the example of an upright manner of life.
For in truth a teacher of virtue must also be a leader. If the salt becomes insipid, with what shall it be salted?
The method of examination is in the same place, chapter 5:
When the Bishop proposes to conduct ordinations, all who wish to approach the sacred ministry must be summoned to the city on the fourth weekday before the ordination itself, together with the archpresbyters who ought to present them. Then the Bishop shall choose from his side Priests and other prudent men, knowledgeable in divine law and practiced in ecclesiastical statutes. Before all things, these shall diligently investigate the life, lineage, homeland, age, education, and place where the candidates were educated; whether they are well instructed in letters; whether they are instructed in the law of the Lord; whether they firmly hold the Catholic faith and can assert it in simple words. But those to whom this care is entrusted ought to beware lest, either for the sake of favor or enticed by desire for any gift, they depart from the truth and apply an unworthy and less suitable person to the Bishop’s hands for the reception of sacred grades. If they do this, both the man who approached unworthily will be removed from the altar, and those who attempted to sell the gift of the Holy Spirit, already condemned before God, will lack ecclesiastical dignity. Therefore let them be diligently examined for three continuous days; and thus on the Sabbath let those found approved be presented to the Bishop.
Yet they are not examined if a Bishop has given testimony to a Cleric or an Abbot to a monk—unless perhaps the Abbot himself is judged unlearned, for in that case his testimony refutes itself: Cause 16, Question 1, Si quis. The method of a true examination is described in the Fifth Council of Milan:
As regards the collation of benefices: when someone is examined for an ecclesiastical benefice for which provision must be made, let a trial of him be made by examination not only in knowledge of letters but also in skill in chant, for duly and rightly performing the statutes of that benefice, and, furthermore, in the practice and knowledge which he possesses in reciting the hourly prayers of the divine office. When either a theological or penitentiary prebend becomes vacant, even if the right of conferring it pertains to someone other than the Bishop—apart from the Apostolic See—let the customary notice be posted, by which all who wish to undergo an examination for the sake of that office, or to nominate others to undergo it, are called to the competition. After the appointed period has elapsed, let a trial or test of each of those who have assembled under that title be made in letters and doctrines by every, or the most diligent, method of inquiry and questioning. The Bishop, after associating with himself at his discretion other skilled and upright men, shall also inquire accurately into their life, morals, age, degree, order, and the other conditions necessary for such an office.
Only then, after all these matters have been accurately weighed, let the Bishop himself deliberate maturely in the Lord and freely choose the man whom, according to the religion of his conscience, he judges more worthy and suitable, to whom an office of such weight may rightly be committed. In this consideration and deliberation, especially as regards the Penitentiary, let him see that, in addition to the necessary skill, he weighs above all innocence of life, gravity of morals, zeal for spiritual exercises, more experienced prudence from longer practice in hearing confessions, and the other virtues of religious piety.
You, great God, give us such a Charles in Germany—not one who merely establishes these things, but one who executes them. For now prebends of Doctors and populous parishes are frequently possessed by boys, nobles, scribes, and idiots, to their own most certain damnation and the destruction of others.
§ 7. Because questions are frequently raised concerning what each person ought to know, and many frauds lie hidden under this pretext and devices are sought for evading the examination, it seemed good to me to present the method of examination which the Fifth Council held at Milan composed at length. It reads as follows.
ON THE METHOD OF EXAMINING
In the administration of the Church the office of examination concerning skill in letters and discipline is as necessary as it is manifold. At one time it is employed by the Bishop both for those who are to be initiated by the sacrament of Order and also for the approval of preachers and confessors; furthermore, for investigating and observing the condition and progress of the Clergy in literary studies; and it likewise assists and serves the Bishop in many other matters. At another time it is instituted and completed not only concerning those who are placed over parochial churches and other benefices having the care of souls, but also concerning those upon whom ecclesiastical benefices of any kind are conferred either by the authority of Apostolic letters customarily drawn up in the form DIGNUM, or by another right, or who are instituted to them by presentation, nomination, or election. Therefore, so that this method of examining, undertaken for any cause whatsoever, may be completed by the examiners as rightly as possible, in addition to certain things more fully explained and decreed especially in the Fourth Provincial Council, we have judged that these instructions also should be drawn up. Some pertain to this whole method of examination, while others are proper to particular examinations.
And each Bishop, according to his own piety and prudence, may add other instructions to all these or remit something from them, according as he sees that it serves the conditions and practice of his own diocese.
Let it be the care of the same Bishop and of the Vicar who presides over the examination that these instructions be introduced into custom and use.
Moreover, first of all, when the examiners appointed in the diocesan synod enter upon the examination of those who are to be placed over parochial Churches, let them remember the oath by which they publicly bound themselves in the synod when they were first chosen. Let them see that, after laying aside every human affection, they rightly care for and administer the office they have undertaken, lest they violate what they holily and religiously promised and thereby become perjurers.
On account or by occasion of the examination, let them accept absolutely nothing, not even the least thing, either before or afterwards. Otherwise let those who give know that, under the Tridentine statute, they have incurred the crime of simony; moreover, neither they nor even those who give may be absolved unless they resign whatever ecclesiastical benefices they possess. Let them likewise know that they have been rendered incapable of having these or other benefices conferred upon them in the future.
For every fault committed in the office they have undertaken, let them also render an account in the provincial Synod and there be gravely punished by the authority of the Council of Trent.
Likewise, those who at the Bishop’s free discretion are associated as examiners for examining others under any title or for any cause must never accept anything by occasion of the examination, not even food or drink. Whoever acts contrary to this shall both henceforth be judged unworthy to discharge that office and be affected with another punishment at the Bishop’s discretion.
Let all examiners, whoever they may be, know that an office so grave is entrusted to them that, if they conduct themselves negligently or badly in any manner, they will have to render to God before all an exact account of the fault committed in that office.
Therefore let them exercise the care of the office committed to them, led neither by hope, fear, reward, regard for persons, nor any affection.
With the fear of God set before them first, let them not approve anyone whom they know to be unworthy; conversely, let them not reject one whom, after a trial or test has been made, they find suitable and worthy. Therefore let them deliberate gravely, maturely, prudently, and rightly both concerning approval and concerning rejection.
When they have assembled in the place where it is customary for the trial of Clerics to be made, before they begin, let them commence with the appointed prayer prescribed for the use of assemblies, which the one presiding over the examination shall pronounce from the book. Let them devoutly and inwardly pray especially that by God’s help they may accomplish it rightly, prudently, and in conformity with the divine will.
Let no examiner recommend in any way to his other colleagues anyone concerning whom an examination or trial is being made.
Let no one take part in anyone’s examination or possess the right to vote unless he has been summoned to it by command of the Bishop or Vicar.
If anyone has privately taught a person who is to undergo the examination, let that teacher not even be present when the person undergoes it, much less be employed in the examination; but let another be summoned in his place at that time by command of the Bishop or Vicar.
Let diligent precaution be taken lest anyone experience the examination or undergo the trial in another person’s name, which has sometimes been found to have occurred.
Let diligent inquiry also be made concerning those who have approached to undergo the examination: whether at other times they have made a trial or test of themselves by questions instituted according to custom for examining, and whether anything exists which has been discovered or determined concerning them.
Let no examination begin unless the Bishop or Vicar is present and also at least three examiners according to the prescription of the Council of Trent, when an examination is instituted for conferring a benefice with cure by any right. Let this also have place thereafter when an examination is completed either concerning one to be initiated into major orders or concerning the approval of a preacher or confessor.
When anyone comes to the examination, let his face, bodily bearing, clothing, gait, gestures, and speech be diligently inspected.
If anyone approaches either clothed in clerical dress deformed and foreign to the decorum or discipline of the ecclesiastical order, or without a tonsure suitable to the bearing of his own status and order, let him not be admitted to any method of examination or trial unless, clothed in becoming dress and with the prescribed tonsure, he returns to it.
Concerning anyone to be initiated—unless the Bishop has at some time judged otherwise—let no examination or trial be held before he has brought or presented written attestations of age, birth, or a granted dispensation, and of an ecclesiastical benefice, pension, or patrimony, which have been inspected by the Episcopal Vicar and signed and approved by his subscription, unless at some time the Bishop has ordered that they be produced or inspected after the examination.
Nor likewise shall an examination be held unless he has given the other attestations prescribed by provincial decrees or an Episcopal edict.
Nor, moreover, shall this be done unless the examiners have heard and learned from the Episcopal Chancellor whatever investigations concerning him, made at the Bishop’s command and prescribed by office, have been signified, denounced, or reported in the letters of others.
Let all attestations presented either by the one to be initiated or by anyone else on occasion of the examination be restored or handed over to the Episcopal Chancellor.
It shall belong to him to enter a summary of these attestations in a definite register prepared for that purpose and finally to preserve it in the Episcopal Archive. But let the same Chancellor preserve the attestations of age and birth and, if the matter concerns one to be initiated into major orders, of patrimony or ecclesiastical benefice; and in the public letters which he shall draw up concerning the person who has received the order, let him make attestation concerning these according to the method prescribed to him.
Therefore, when an examination is instituted of one to whom the care of a particular parochial Church is to be entrusted, let the examiners first consider who and of what kind, and how numerous, is the people whose parochial care he will undertake.
After this matter has been diligently investigated, let them propose to themselves in the examination they enter upon that they will ascertain accurately whether he is altogether suitable for undertaking and discharging that care.
After all these things have thus been prescribed, let the examiners proceed in order to interrogations or questions. In the examination let the following method be entered upon: let that examiner propose the interrogations or questions whom, by a system of alternation and according to the kind of learning or discipline, the Bishop or Vicar presiding over the examination has ordered to question—now this man, now that man—in that same examination, so that one may not interrupt another competitively by a varied and manifold method of questioning.
Moreover, let the examiners maintain this method in their interrogations and questions: after these have been distributed among them, full satisfaction shall be given, as is fitting, to the purposes of the examination instituted. Let each one inquire or question concerning the category which he has undertaken to investigate in such a way that, as is proper, the questions or interrogations of that category have been sufficiently explained.
While the examination is being held, let them keep silence and hold no conversation or discussion among themselves. Likewise let them not propose mutual questions or explanations of doubts to one another; rather, attentive to the answers of the person whose learning is investigated by questions, let them apply their mind to him with studious attention so that he may rightly explain the questions proposed to him. Nor let another disturb the examiner questioning in his own place; rather, let each await the time when it falls to him in order to question according to the category or method of the question.
In proposing questions or interrogations, let them show themselves severe or vehement neither by words, appearance, nor in any manner, lest those who undergo examination, frightened by severity, lose courage and their memory grow languid and falter, not without some disgrace. Rather, let them hear them disputing or answering with signs of a benevolent and gracious mind, and let them not interrupt them with little questions or in any other way.
But if they observe them to err in disputing, reading, pronouncing, or answering, let them not then teach, rebuke, or even admonish them, unless something pertains to rightly instituting or completing the examination. Rather, after the examination has been completed, let them briefly admonish or teach them if they judge that it is then necessary for them to be admonished or taught concerning anything.
In all and each interrogation of the examination, regard shall be given not only to the knowledge of each person examined but also to his practice, judgment, intellectual power, and dexterity.
Let this method therefore be instituted for all examinations:
First, inquiry shall be made concerning the vow, state of life, lineage, homeland, or domicile of the person undergoing examination.
Whether he has any impediment by which, being entangled, he cannot be initiated, receive and exercise the ecclesiastical benefice in whose name the trial is made, the office of preaching, or the hearing of confessions. If anyone is bound even secretly by such an impediment, let him disclose it at least to the Bishop, lest anyone be unlawfully initiated, obtain a benefice, or undertake and discharge another office.
Whether he is practiced in the study and use of holy prayer.
With what meditations he has been instructed silently to pray to God.
What is the method of prayer.
What are its fruits or benefits.
Of how many and what parts it consists.
How many are the rules of preparation for prayer, and many other things of the same kind, according as a prudent and pious examiner sees need for them by reason either of the person concerning whom inquiry is made or of the cause for which the examination occurs.
After these things have been investigated, let the examiners descend to a trial of knowledge or learning. But so that they may set before themselves a fixed form by which they may test both the literary learning, the discipline of clerical life, and the experience of ecclesiastical affairs of those who are examined, in every method of trial or examination let them employ the sacred Bible, the Roman Catechism, especially the Council of Trent, the decrees of the sacred canons, other Pontifical constitutions, and both provincial and diocesan synods. From these let them draw their interrogations, by which, according to the capacity of the candidates’ intelligence, they may investigate their knowledge and their acquaintance with and practice of ecclesiastical affairs.
But let care be taken that, if anyone while being questioned shows himself so untrained and ignorant that he possesses no knowledge or practice of easy and very small matters, time is not consumed by questions concerning other, difficult matters.
Conversely, when it has been ascertained that someone is skilled in learning and literary practice to whatever degree, there is no reason to deal with him longer by further questions.
Now, therefore, we shall prescribe generally below the things which pertain to the method of each examination of those who either are initiated by the Sacrament of Order, undertake the care of parochial Churches or the office of another benefice, assume the office of hearing sacred confession, or are sent to preach the word of God. But in particular, far more or indeed fewer matters are left to the judgment of the prudent examiners—and especially of the Bishop or the one presiding over the examination—according to the capacity of those who approach the examination, the order into which one is to be initiated, the character of the places to which they are sent, and the kind of doctrine which they profess.
Those, however, who show themselves less instructed in the matters contained in this instruction and indicated by definite questions, let the Bishop admonish to apply themselves diligently to learning in the future and strive especially to acquire experience and knowledge of these very matters, so that when the duty of visitation or another review of their studies and progress in letters is employed, they may be found rightly and skillfully instructed in every such category of learning.
First, therefore, let the examiners command the person concerning whom an examination must be made to read, until by trial they see whether he reads rightly and distinctly.
Then, if a trial is made on account of an order, a benefice, or the review of some Cleric’s progress in literary study, let them propose the construction of words according to the custom of grammarians. In this category, if he errs or slips so that he does not possess their practice or skill even according to the method of grammar, let them not on that account disturb, interrupt, or impede him from returning to the proposed method of grammatical instruction.
Then let them ask him for the sense of the words which he has read and construed. So that he may rightly elicit and express it, let the passage which they propose to him for reading be of such a kind that a whole and perfect meaning is concluded within it and that it contains nothing which falls under an understanding of history or whose explanation depends upon another preceding or following chapter; and then to
§ 7 (continued). other more serious tests of his learning or discipline let the examiners proceed.
From each and every one of those who are to receive the first tonsure or minor or major orders and who approach for a trial or examination, let it further be asked, both generally and individually, whether they are held entangled in the impediments which were enumerated in the decree of the Fourth Provincial Council concerning those to be initiated; namely, whether they are:
Advanced in age.
Untrained and ignorant.
Criminals.
Solemn penitents.
Neophytes.
Given to drunkenness and gluttony.
Unchaste.
Fallen after receiving an order.
Perjurers.
Manifest usurers.
Infamous.
Bound by accounts to be rendered.
Slaves.
Defective in body.
Remarkably deformed.
Illegitimate by birth.
Foreigners and unknown persons.
Bigamists.
Irregular in any other way.
In this category let care be taken that, among other things, the following be sought from him particularly:
Whether he has served for military pay, from which killings of men have resulted.
Whether he has discharged the office of a criminal judge in a secular court.
Whether he has pronounced a sentence of death.
Whether he has dictated or written the proceedings, sentence, and testimonies concerning a crime in whose name someone was condemned to death.
Whether in such a matter he administered the office of procurator or fiscal advocate and exercised other functions from which he contracted the stain of irregularity.
Whether they are suspended.
Whether interdicted.
Whether excommunicated.
Whether insane.
Whether suffering from the falling sickness.
Whether possessed.
Or whether they have not been examined and approved.
Let it likewise be investigated whether he has received an order secretly or by leaping over a grade.
Furthermore, when anyone who is to receive an order comes to the examination, let it be investigated how long it has been since he received another order, so that ascent to a higher grade may lie open to no one unless he has remained for a suitable space of time in each of the other grades of inferior order, according to the prescription of the Tridentine decree.
Whether he knows the force and nature and the mysteries of the order which he is to receive.
Likewise, whether he knows the rites and ceremonies which are employed from the Pontifical when they are initiated.
Likewise, whether he knows their more sacred significations.
Likewise, whether he knows the mysteries and things signified by the sacred vestments with which they are clothed.
Whether he has knowledge of the functions of the order into which each is to be initiated.
Whether he rightly possesses their use and exercise, both in reading and also in chant; in this trial let those skilled in chant be employed.
Let these matters be investigated generally in all and each. Now, in addition, there follow those matters proper to each order which, prescribed in their own place, are to be sought individually—yet in such a way that the examiners, according to the method of their prudence, may sometimes seek even from those who are initiated into a higher order the matters required in the examination or trial of an inferior order.
Concerning those who are to be initiated by the first tonsure, let it first be asked and investigated for what reason they wish to become Clerics.
Whether they seek to be initiated for the purpose of avoiding secular judgment.
Whether they are entangled in contentious lawsuits.
Whether they engage in quarrelling and enmity.
Likewise, what craft they possess, or in what art or manner of life they have hitherto been occupied.
Whether they are such as give hope that they will become useful ministers of the Church.
By what priest, a master of a more holy life, they have been instructed in the manner of clerical life.
Whether they know how to read, pronounce, and write; and let a trial of them be made in both categories.
Whether they know the precepts and institutions of Christian doctrine.
Whether they possess an understanding of the Epacts.
Furthermore, whether they have received the sacrament of Confirmation.
But concerning those who wish to be enrolled in minor orders, let it be asked and learned by trial:
Whether they understand at least the beginnings of grammar and the Latin language.
Whether their promise of learning shows them to be such as are worthy sometime to ascend to major orders.
But since those who are to be initiated into sacred orders—namely the subdiaconate, diaconate, and priesthood—ought to be adorned and cultivated with those virtues which are required in Clerics of inferior orders, just as they ascend to a higher grade of order, so they ought to manifest, as it were, an ascent in virtues, probity, and learning.
For this reason let the examiners see before all whether those who are initiated by the sacrament of Order have made greater progress through each of its grades and in the discipline of spiritual life.
Whether they possess the Breviary and sacred Bible, likewise the volumes of the holy Fathers, the Council of Trent and also the provincial councils, the synods of the diocesan Bishop, the Roman Catechism, the Rationale of Divine Offices, and some books written concerning the methods of spiritual life and adapted to the use of their office.
From subdeacons especially let inquiry be made concerning the difference between minor and major orders.
Whether he has been approved in minor orders.
Likewise concerning the vow of continence which is joined to the order of the subdiaconate.
Also concerning the doctrine of the sacraments, at least generally. Then let a trial or test of them be made in the method of reciting the divine office.
Let an examination or test of deacons furthermore be made somewhat more diligently concerning the doctrine of the sacraments.
Likewise let some trial be made in delivering sermons, according to the method prescribed below for the examination of preachers.
From those who wish to be initiated into the priesthood, let these matters be sought individually with care:
Whether they have conducted themselves piously and faithfully in the ministries previously performed.
Whether they are of proven piety and chaste morals.
Whether a distinguished example of good works and evidences of life may be expected from him.
Let these matters also be asked:
What the sacrifice of the Mass is.
What the effects of that sacrifice are.
What its parts are.
What mysteries are present in it.
What the significations of the sacred vestments are.
What is required in offering that office.
Where and when it is not lawful to do so.
What doubts can sometimes arise.
What matters require explanation in order that it may be performed rightly.
Then let a trial of them be made according to the rules prescribed below.
Whether they possess some skill in sacred confession.
Whether they are suitable for rightly and duly administering the other sacraments likewise.
Whether they have a more explicit knowledge of them, according to the prescribed interrogations, as below concerning the Parish Priest.
Whether they likewise possess the learning by which they may treat the word of God rightly or deliver a sermon.
And whether concerning sacred matters, the duties of Christian virtues, and everything necessary for salvation they can suitably instruct or teach the people.
But whereas inquiry is to be made of all the others, as prescribed a little before, who are enrolled in the clerical soldiery concerning the institutions and exercises of a spiritual and more holy life, it is to be made especially of those who either are initiated into the priesthood, undertake a parochial cure, assume the office of hearing sacred confession, or wish to be occupied in treating the word of God and in sacred sermons.
When all and each of these come to the examination, in addition to the other things which pertain to the practice of a holy spiritual life, let those matters especially be investigated which have been handed down concerning the method of praying and concerning every exercise of holy meditations or heavenly contemplations by others who have exercised themselves religiously in that category.
But concerning those priests who are to undertake the cure of parochial Churches, let it further be asked and first learned by trial:
Whether they are capable of perceiving senses, not only those which are taken for grammatical understanding, but also those more interior and more sacred senses which pertain both to the mysteries of Christ and the Church and to the manner of spiritual life.
Whether they know how to compose or deliver discourses.
If they have delivered any, whence they took them or what method they employed in composing or writing them; and indeed, if they then have any written out in their possession, let them show and hand them over.
Whether they can do something extemporaneously in that category; then let a trial be made, by an extemporaneous and brief discourse, of how much power they possess in preaching.
And if the character of the parochial Church which is to be committed requires a parish priest more experienced in the practice of treating the word of God, let an examination be entered upon in some part which seems preferable in the judgment of the examiners, according to the norm of interrogations established below for the examination of preachers.
Let it further be asked whether they have ever at another time discharged the care of souls; but if they affirm it, let them then also be asked both where they discharged it and why they departed thence.
Whether they understand how great a thing it is to undertake and, in turn, discharge the care of souls, and what those duties and virtues are with which a good and vigilant curator of souls must be endowed.
Likewise, whether they know all the impediments on whose account it is forbidden that anyone administer a sacrament and that anyone receive one.
Whether they understand the force and nature of the sacraments, but especially of those of which he is the minister; and concerning these let the following matters first be asked individually:
What is the matter of each of the sacraments, and likewise what is the form.
What is their principal efficient cause.
What is the instrumental efficient cause.
What is the final cause.
What is their difference.
What are the effects, or what are the fruits.
What are their rites, or what are their ceremonies.
Whether above all they possess skill in hearing sacred confession.
What books of this kind, and indeed what Summas, they possess.
Then let a trial be made of how experienced by practice they are in cases of conscience and how skillfully they are versed both in these and in other matters of that kind, and especially in ecclesiastical constitutions which pertain to the right practice of life and to the morals and virtues of the Christian people.
Whether they know the cases reserved by law and by man to the most holy Pope and likewise to the Bishop.
And indeed, more diligently, according as there shall be need, let them be asked concerning each of the matters which will be prescribed below for the method of examining priest-confessors.
Furthermore, let the examiners see whether they possess some knowledge of the sacred canons and, especially as regards the Tridentine and provincial councils and diocesan synods, whether they know the following:
Namely, whether they know the doctrine concerning the principal articles of the Christian Religion which that ecumenical Synod of Trent defined against the heretics.
Likewise, what it prescribed concerning residence.
Also what it established concerning parish priests and parochial Churches, the worship of the divine offices, and other matters of the same kind.
What it further decreed concerning the honorable conduct of Clerics.
Finally, the other things which it established concerning the discipline of the Clergy or the people or the reformation of other matters, which it is in the interest of parish priests to know and understand well.
From the provincial councils let them ask individually:
What has been established concerning the honorable conduct of clerical life and the duties of parish priests.
Likewise, what concerning the right administration of the sacraments, what concerning the sacrifice of the Mass, and what furthermore concerning the divine offices.
Also what concerning sacramentals; what concerning the veneration of feast days; what concerning the worship of Churches; what concerning schools of Christian doctrine; what concerning the instruction and moral discipline of the Christian people; and what concerning other matters especially pertaining to the office of parochial life has been decreed.
From diocesan synods let them enter upon that same method of examination, divided into definite heads, according to the kind of decrees which the Bishop has composed in them.
Concerning one who approaches the examination on account of a benefice of any kind, provided it does not have cure, let these matters be investigated:
Whether he knows how to recite the office of the canonical hours according to the institution and rubrics of the Breviary.
Whether he is instructed in all the learning and discipline which the order into which he ought to be initiated demands, according to the character of the benefice, office, or dignity on whose account the examination is instituted.
Likewise, whether he possesses skill in the functions which the character of that benefice, dignity, or office requires.
Whether he possesses those things which it is necessary to know for rightly and duly performing those functions or the benefice, including those which pertain to the method or system of singing rightly.
And these indeed are the matters which pertain to the instruction for the examination of those who either are to be initiated by the sacrament of Order, are to be placed over parochial Churches, or are to have benefices conferred upon them.
But now there follows the method of examination for confessors, concerning whom, in addition to the other matters which are joined to the office or duty of a priest and parish priest, let these also be sought individually and by a more searching method:
Concerning the necessity of the Sacrament of Penance.
Why this sacrament was instituted, and by whom it was instituted.
What is the matter of this sacrament.
What is its form.
What is its effect.
Who is its minister.
What conditions are required in it.
What are the rules for discerning and distinguishing mortal sin from venial.
What are the parts of penance.
What is the character of those parts.
What Contrition is.
What things are necessary for true contrition.
What are the fruit and utility of contrition.
§ 7 (continued). By what method anyone may exercise himself toward contrition.
What are the signs of true contrition.
Let it likewise be sought what is the nature and substance of confession, which is the second part of penance.
Whether he knows how diligently to inquire into the circumstances of the sinner and likewise of the sin.
Which circumstances change the species of the sin and which must be explained in confession.
Which matters demand restitution and what are the roots or causes of restitution.
Whether they know doubtful or suspect contracts, or at least know how to institute or enter upon doubts and questions concerning them.
To which crimes censures are annexed.
Likewise, whether they possess skill in and knowledge of their force.
Whether they know the cases in which the stain of irregularity is contracted.
Whether at least in all these and in the other matters which pertain to a true and perfect minister of this sacrament of Penance they know how to doubt and know how to consult the skilled concerning how that matter about which they are brought into doubt is to be handled.
Likewise, what are the rites and sacred ceremonies of confession.
What conditions are necessary for the confession of one who is truly penitent.
What is the order of confessing; when anyone ought to confess immediately; likewise when he ought to repeat a confession.
Concerning satisfaction, which is the third part of penance, let it be asked:
What are the parts of satisfaction.
What is the end of satisfaction.
What are the fruits or utilities of satisfaction.
What things are required in satisfaction.
Of what kind and how great a penance ought to be imposed upon the penitent.
Whether they know how to enjoin salutary and suitable satisfactions according to the gravity of the crimes and the capacity of the penitents.
Likewise, whether, according to the prescription of Innocent III, after the manner of a skilled physician they know how to pour wine and oil into the wounds of the injured person, and what remedy or counsel they ought to provide.
Furthermore, whether they rightly possess the penitential canons.
What is the difference among satisfactions, penances, and so forth.
Concerning absolution let it be investigated:
What formula of words is required.
What prayers or orations are further employed.
What order must be observed in absolving both from sins and from excommunication or suspension.
Likewise, let several questions be asked concerning the seal of confession, and especially what is the force, and how great the force, of the seal.
What things fall under it.
From ecclesiastical decrees—the Council of Trent and both provincial and also diocesan synods—let it be investigated what things established in them pertain to the sacrament of Penance, and what things have been established concerning the discipline and morals of the Clergy and the people, as was demonstrated a little before in the examination of parish priests.
But thus far concerning the method of interrogations which are employed in examining priest-confessors.
Now is the place for the examination of preachers and interpreters of sacred Scripture, from whom let these things be asked:
First, concerning the articles of doctrine or dogmas explained by the Council of Trent, namely concerning the canon of Scripture, original sin, justification, the sacraments, and generally the sacrifice of the Mass, purgatory, the invocation and veneration of the Saints, sacred relics, images of the Saints, indulgences, the power and authority of the Pope, fasts and feast days, and many remaining matters.
Whether he furthermore possesses the remaining known and treated topics of Theology.
What author he has made familiar to himself especially among the Scholastics.
Whether he has very frequently and studiously gone through the volumes of the sacred Bible with a gloss or another commentary, and whether he has been so diligently versed in them that he can readily and suitably bring forth passages from them for every kind of sacred treatment.
Whether he is learnedly versed in the practice of holy interpretations.
Whether he knows how to elicit the true sense of Scripture from what precedes and follows; and likewise whether he knows how to compare these things in the Evangelists when they treat the same kind of narrative.
Whether, conversely, he rashly and according to his own pleasure twists sacred Scripture away from its true sense.
Whether he devises tropological or moral senses that cohere with the literal sense.
Whether in explaining parables he regards the right and principal sense of the matters, passing over explanations which contribute nothing to the purpose.
Whether he has knowledge of Apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions.
Whether he is skillfully versed in the writings and discourses of the holy Fathers.
Likewise, which of the Fathers he especially follows and imitates in preaching.
Whether he knows the mysteries of the sacred seasons, or possesses the significations of sacred rites.
Whether he possesses knowledge of affairs transacted in the holy Church, and especially of the universal Councils.
Whether he knows the lives of the Saints and true history.
Whether he possesses a suitable knowledge of the canons.
Whether he knows the laws and institutions of the Supreme Pontiffs.
Whether he has at hand the decrees of councils, especially provincial and diocesan ones, as was prescribed in the examination of parish priests.
Whether he is instructed in the learning of cases of conscience.
Whether he knows well the precepts and exercises of that mystical Theology which is wholly occupied with handing down the institutions of spiritual life and with purifying the affections and interior reformation.
Finally, whether he has practice in holy meditations and mental prayer.
Whether he possesses the topics of moral teaching and Christian discipline, not only collected in order, but rightly known.
What topics he possesses by which the minds of his hearers are stirred either to love of God, desire for the heavenly fatherland, zeal for the virtues, detestation of crimes, mercy, or, furthermore, definite affections which, when raised toward heaven, produce Christian virtues.
Finally, whether they are capable and suitable for conceiving and explaining the treatment of topics of Theology not only in itself, but by similitudes which are drawn from agriculture, a vineyard, sowing, and other matters which fall under sense and the understanding, especially the understanding of even the untrained to whom the sermon is delivered.
Whether he employs a right method at the beginning of a sermon and avoids those faults which very many admit in this category.
Whether he rightly and orderly disposes the whole sermon.
Whether he relates matters clearly and distinctly.
Whether he pronounces well.
Whether his words have weight and also force, so that they not only touch the ears of the hearers but penetrate their minds inwardly.
Whether throughout the whole sermon, according to the character of each matter which he treats, he acts rightly, suitably, becomingly, and congruently.
In investigating this whole category and making trial of it, and in more diligently examining other matters, the examiners, as occasion permits, shall employ as diligently as possible the instructions concerning preachers which were issued by our command, by the authority of the Provincial Council, for the use of the whole province.
When an examination of someone is instituted not on account of a definite cure or another benefice, office, or duty, but only on account of reviewing his learning or progress in literary studies, by that diligent and principal inquiry and by the interrogations variously described above, according to the condition of each person, let his learning and his skill and practice in ecclesiastical ministries be investigated.
But at least four classes of these, or even more, may be established, to which they may be assigned according to the measure of their skill as demonstrated by trial.
Let there be assigned to the first class those who show themselves so capable both in perfect skill in preaching and in the explanation of cases of conscience that they can benefit and preside over many others, and who accordingly are suitable not only for the office of parish priest, but also for the office of provost, rural Vicar, or visitor, or for discharging the office or attaining the dignity in a cathedral Church of a penitentiary prebend, a doctoral prebend, or a theological prebend, and other matters of that kind.
To the second class are to be assigned those who, if they cannot preach perfectly like the former, nevertheless can do so moderately, even from the pulpit, and who have been studiously versed in the Summas of cases of conscience and indeed diligently possess the doctrine of the Roman Catechism.
Of the third class will be those who attain only enough understanding that, if not by an accurate and learned sermon, they can at least deliver a discourse from the altar and relate and explain the Gospel as occasion occurs; and who are so experienced in the practice of administering the Sacraments and cases of conscience that, with some study employed, they can suitably unravel and explain those which customarily occur more frequently.
Of the fourth class are those who, if not by great literary study, are nevertheless by some practice fitted for some brief explanation of the Gospel, and who have some knowledge of the things necessary for salvation that pertain to teaching the people, administering the Sacraments, and explaining cases of conscience, so that on account of a scarcity of priests and a necessary cause some spiritual cure may sometimes be entrusted to them, according to the character of the place and especially for a time.
In an inferior class let the rest be enrolled, of whom no account at all ought to be taken in entrusting the cure of souls, in granting the faculty of administering a sacrament, or in delivering discourses to the people.
In this whole method of examining, let the Chancellor perform the following things by virtue of the duty of his office.
Let him possess a definite book of provisions to parochial Churches and other benefices which, after an examination has been employed, are to be conferred, including by Apostolic letters.
In this book let the following be noted by him rightly and in order:
The proceedings of the examination which occur on each day, as occasion for examining arises.
The day on which a definite benefice became vacant, and likewise the manner of its vacancy, and other matters of that kind.
Also the day of promulgation or prolongation of the edict which is customarily proposed concerning the competition, when the character of the benefice’s vacancy requires it, and the remaining matters which pertain to the promulgation.
Likewise, the names of the examiners whom the Bishop has chosen by name to conduct the examination on account of that definite vacant benefice.
Also the names of those who are proposed for examination on that account.
Furthermore, the day on which each underwent the examination.
Also the names of the examiners who were present.
The approval or rejection which, by their judgment, each received.
Likewise, the name and surname of the one whom the Bishop chose as more suitable and more qualified, to whom the benefice is conferred by him or by the one to whom it pertains.
To this book let him further add other things which the Bishop has judged proper.
Let him prepare another book in which he enters all and each whom the Bishop, after employing an examination, either approves or disapproves for the purpose of preaching, hearing confession, or interpreting a sacred reading.
In this same book let him also note both the names of the examiners and the day on which they conducted the examination, and likewise the causes of rejection, if anyone received one.
Let him observe the same concerning the definite day, examination, approval, or rejection of those whose trial is made on account of sacred ordination.
Let him possess a third book in which he enters the examinations which are generally instituted and indeed conducted to investigate and examine the progress of the Clergy in literary studies.
See also the Council of Cologne in the year 1549. And this is the intention of the Council of Trent, Session 7, chapter 13: “Those presented, elected, or nominated by any ecclesiastical persons whatsoever, even Nuncios of the Apostolic See, to any ecclesiastical benefices whatsoever, shall not be instituted, confirmed, or admitted—even under pretext of any privilege or custom, even one prescribed from time immemorial—unless they have first been examined by the Ordinaries of the places and found suitable. And no one may protect himself by the remedy of appeal so as not to be bound to undergo examination. Those presented, elected, or nominated by universities or general institutions of learning are nevertheless excepted.”
§ 8. A simoniac is not to be ordained. The first cause is wholly occupied with this matter, and the Church always fights against this vice, while the world bears arms in its defense. The judgment of Saint Gregory, Epistle 110, Book 7, is approved by me: “Whoever is ordained through money” (Cause 1, question 1, canon 5). “Those things which were established by the holy Fathers concerning simoniacs we too confirm both by the judgment of the Holy Spirit and by Apostolic authority. Therefore, whatever has been acquired either in sacred orders or in ecclesiastical affairs by money given or promised, we judge to be void and never to possess any force.”
And canon 6: “Those who are found to have purchased sacred dignity at a price, although unworthy by their merits, ought, when convicted, to be restrained, for they perpetrate such a deed not without peril, because the condemnation of Simon, to which sacred reading bears witness, enfolds both giver and receiver alike.”
§ 9. Let neither an unwilling nor an ambitious man be ordained. Cause 1, question 6, Sicut. For orders cannot be given to one unwilling; they ought not be given to one ambitious.
§ 10. Homicides cannot be ordained, distinction 50, canon 4, Miror. Indeed, neither can soldiers and others, distinction 5, canon 1: “We have learned that certain men from among those who, after receiving the grace of baptism, were occupied in forensic practice and assumed obstinacy in winning their cases were summoned to the priesthood, among whose number Rufinus and Gregory are said to be; certain men from the military, who, when they obeyed the authorities, necessarily executed savage commands; certain men from among the curials, who, while obeying the authorities, did the things commanded them; and certain men who celebrated pleasures and public shows for the people have attained the honor of the highest priesthood. None of all these ought to have attained even to fellowship in the order of Clerics. If we command each of these things to be investigated, by our zeal for correction we shall introduce no small disturbances or scandals into the provinces of Spain, which we desire to heal;
therefore we think that these things should rather be remitted. But lest similar things be committed hereafter, the maturity of your charity will have to provide that at least now a necessary end be placed upon so great a usurpation, with this provision, namely, that whoever shall have been ordained in such circumstances be deposed together with those who ordained them.”
And canon 2: “The classes of laymen from which men cannot attain to the Clergy have been designated; that is, if any of the faithful has served as a soldier; if any of the faithful has pleaded causes, that is, has acted as an advocate; if any of the faithful has administered office. Concerning curials, however, it is manifest, since even if men of this kind are found who ought to be made Clerics, nevertheless, because they must rather frequently be reclaimed by the curia, one must beware of these because of the tribulation which frequently comes upon the Church from them.”
§ 11. Nor is a Cleric to be ordained from among penitents, distinction 50, canon 15: “Although he may be good, let no Cleric be ordained from among penitents. If it shall have been done through the Bishop’s ignorance, let him be deposed from the Clergy, because at the time of ordination he did not disclose that he had been a penitent. But if the Bishop knowingly ordained such a man, let even he himself be deprived solely of the power of ordaining in his Bishopric. A Bishop shall be subject to a similar sentence if he knowingly ordained as a Cleric one who had a widow, a divorced woman, or a second woman as wife.”
And canons 57 and 58: the same Nicene Canons exclude penitents even from the lowest offices of Clerics. These things, however, are understood concerning public penitents, by whose crimes the Church has been struck with terror; Augustine, Epistle 54, calls this the humblest penance, and the Council of Agde describes it in canon 15. This decree was mitigated at the First Council of Toledo, distinction 50, canon 68: “It has pleased us that penitents not be admitted to the Clergy unless only necessity or utility demands it, and then let them be assigned among the doorkeepers or among the readers, yet in such a way that they do not read the Gospel or the Epistle. But if any were ordained deacons before, let them be regarded as subdeacons, in such a way that they do not impose a hand or touch the sacred things. But we call him a penitent who, after baptism, either for homicide or for diverse crimes and very grave sins, performing public penance under sackcloth, has been reconciled to the divine altar.”
The cause which moved the Fathers to exclude solemn penitents was that they did not wish those who must teach and administer the sacraments in the Church to be publicly known for very grave sins, on account of which penance is imposed, and to be in some manner infamous. So much the more must vigilance now be exercised lest not only penitents but even impenitent men should hold an honored place in the Church after very grave sins.
§ 12. Usurers are not to be admitted, distinction 47, canons 1, 2, and 4. Not only are they not to be admitted; they are not to be retained either, but are rightly judged to be cast down from their rank. That avarice is unjust and is a subtler but more wicked invasion of another’s property than theft or robbery. Even now, when all things are going to ruin, when Christians organize and encourage the usuries of Jews so that this is the business of many cities, and the senate itself in many places of Germany seems to have entered into partnership with Jewish usurers and to use those wretched men as ministers—from here, I say, the Jews penetrate even into some houses of Clerics, although some men generate gold from gold even without Jews. If these men are Clerics, the canons judge that they must be deposed; if laymen, that they must not be admitted to orders. The civil laws also hold them infamous, nor is it lawful to choose any moneylender as a senator; but it is much more unworthy for the senate itself to fill its treasury with usuries, that is, with subtler and more harmful thefts. Senators of that sort, once the case has been heard, ought to be cast down from their dignity and offices. But another place is mine for speaking about usury. Now let each person consider how shameful that is in a servant of God which the laws punish in the princes of the world.
§ 13. Apostates also are not admitted to the Clergy. For if they have made void their first pledge to God, how can the Church honor them as faithful ministers of God and entrust herself to them? Thus from the Council of Arles, distinction 50, canon 69: “Those who apostatize after a holy profession of religion and return to secular conduct, and afterwards do not seek the remedies of penance, shall receive no communion at all without penance. We also command that they not be admitted to the office of the Clergy. And whoever he may be, let him not presume to assume secular dress after penance. But if he shall have presumed to do so, let him be regarded as alien from the Church.” Much less are those who so rashly cast away their own soul and destroyed it by their example for others to be employed in the care of souls.
Therefore praiseworthy is the statute of the Theological Faculty in the Academy of Mainz, that apostates not be admitted to Theological degrees or into the senate, although after penance they may have crept into some Church.
§ 14. Slaves and curials are excluded. For a slave is made free by ordination, and injury is therefore done to his master. Thus Leo, First Epistle to the Bishops of Campania, distinction 54, canons 1 and 2: “If a slave has secretly crept into the priesthood, he must be punished by the loss of his peculium and remains subject to servitude,” canons 9 and 10. Indeed, he cannot even be admitted to religious life. If he is ordained while his master is present and does not contradict it, the dignity of the order and consequently freedom remain to him; nevertheless, neither the one who presented him nor the Bishop who ordained him will go unpunished, for they are bound to make double restitution. But the slave is made free, distinction 54, Si servus. Indeed, the master is seen to consent unless he shall have brought forward a just cause for his silence.
He must therefore be presented with freedom, for a freedman can become a Cleric. Formerly, when there was a multitude of slaves, the Church had very many slaves and freedmen, from whom she frequently chose the suitable for the Clergy. Concerning the making and defense of freedmen, and so forth, see Binius’s volumes of the Councils: tome 2, part 2, folios 372 and 535, column 1; folio 566; folio 357, columns a–b; folio 38, column 2; folio 32, columns e–f; folio 499, column 1d; tome 2, part 1, folio 555, column 1c; folio 267, column 2c; folio 356f; folio 280d; folio 516f; tome 1, part 1, folio 197f; tome 1, part 1, folio 767, column 2c; and tome 3, part 2, folio 650, column 2d.
Thus much concerning slaves; concerning bigamists it has already been said above.
§ 15. The illegitimate are excluded from orders, distinction 56 and many subsequent precepts. At the Council of Poitiers under Paschal: “The sons of priests and others born in fornication shall not be promoted to orders unless they either become monks or live regularly in a canonical congregation; nevertheless, they are commanded to be altogether incapable of prelacies.”
§ 16. Nor is ordination performed without a title approved. Thus the Council of Chalcedon, canon 6, distinction 70, canon 1: “Let no one be ordained absolutely as a priest or deacon or as anyone constituted in ecclesiastical ordination, unless the one ordained plainly deserves the designation of an ordination publicly declared in the church of a city or estate, or in a martyrium, or in a monastery. But concerning those who are ordained absolutely, the holy Synod decreed that the imposition of hands be void and that no such act have any force, to the reproach of the one who ordained him.”
In the Latin, “and that no such act have any force” is obscure; in the Greek it is clear, μηδαμοῦ δύνασθαι ἐνεργεῖν, “that he cannot exercise it anywhere,” for it is not lawful to use an order received in this manner. A title, therefore, is necessary, so that either he may have a title and maintenance in a Church, or certainly be maintained by the Bishop, or possess such resources that he can live sufficiently from his own patrimony—lest he wander about as a vagrant and, pressed by poverty, turn to unlawful things.
§ 17. The sons of ravishers of virgins are not admitted to the Church, Council of Meaux, canon 64, “unless perhaps either the greatest necessity or utility of the Church demands them, or an evident prerogative of merits commends them.”
§ 18. Eunuchs are not admitted to orders unless it was done because of disease or by the violence of another. The first canon of the Council of Nicaea reads as follows:
Εἴ τις ἐν νόσῳ ὑπὸ ἰατρῶν ἐχειρουργήθη, ἢ ὑπὸ βαρβάρων ἐξετμήθη, οὗτος μενέτω ἐν τῷ κλήρῳ· εἰ δὲ ὑγιαίνων ἑαυτὸν ἐξέτεμε, τοῦτον καὶ ἐν τῷ κλήρῳ ἐξεταζόμενον συμφέρει παύσασθαι· καὶ ἐκ τοῦ δεῦρο μηδένα τῶν τοιούτων χρὴ προάγεσθαι. ὥσπερ δὲ τοῦτο πρόδηλον, ὅτι περὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδευόντων τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ τολμώντων ἑαυτοὺς ἐκτέμνειν εἴρηται· οὕτως εἴ τινες ὑπὸ βαρβάρων δεσποτῶν τε εὐνουχίσθησαν, εὑρίσκοιντο δὲ ἄλλως ἄξιοι, τοὺς τοιούτους εἰς κλῆρον προσιέναι ὁ κανὼν.
If anyone has been cut by physicians because of sickness, or castrated by barbarians, let him remain in the Clergy. But if anyone, being healthy, has cut himself, it is fitting that he, even though constituted in the Clergy, abstain, and that henceforth none of such men ought to be promoted. But just as this is clear—that it has been said concerning those who affect this deed and dare to cut themselves—so the rule admits to the Clergy those whom either barbarians or masters have castrated, if they are found otherwise most worthy.
Leontius supplied the cause of the canon. Having been commanded to cease from association with a suspect young woman, he gave himself over to be castrated so that he might not be separated from her and yet might escape suspicion. Nevertheless, he was deposed and, overcome by indignation, defected to the camp of the Arians as if in revenge. The Apostolic Canon which the Council of Nicaea cites is 22. But it is better to hear the words of the Apostles.
Canon 21:
Εὐνοῦχος εἰ μὲν ἐξ ἐπηρείας ἀνθρώπων ἐγένετό τις, ἢ ἐν διωγμῷ ἀφῃρέθη τὰ ἀνδρεῖα, ἢ οὕτως ἔφυ, καὶ ἔστιν ἄξιος, γινέσθω.
If a eunuch was made so through the malice of men, or if his male members were amputated in persecution, or if he was born so, and he is worthy, let him be made a Bishop.
Canon 22:
Ὁ ἀκρωτηριάσας ἑαυτὸν μὴ γινέσθω κληρικός· φονεὺς γάρ ἐστιν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δημιουργίας ἐχθρός.
If anyone has cut himself—that is, if anyone has amputated his male members—let him not become a Cleric, because he is his own murderer and an enemy of God’s creation.
Canon 23:
Εἴ τις κληρικὸς ὢν ἑαυτὸν ἀκρωτηριάσει, καθαιρείσθω· φονεὺς γάρ ἐστιν ἑαυτοῦ.
If anyone, being a Cleric, mutilates himself, let him be deposed, for he is his own murderer.
A layman who cuts himself shall be deprived of communion for three years, because he has proved an assailant of his own life.
Canon 24:
Λαϊκὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀκρωτηριάσας, ἀφοριζέσθω ἔτη τρία· ἐπίβουλος γάρ ἐστιν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ζωῆς.
A layman who cuts himself shall be deprived of communion for three years, because he is an assailant of his own life.
Nor does the command in Deuteronomy 23 differ from this Apostolic command: “A eunuch whose testicles have been crushed or amputated shall not enter into the Church of the Lord.” I think that in that Church, even if the defect of nature or the injury of men had produced it, it was nevertheless prescribed in the Law that they not discharge the priesthood; but in the New Church voluntary cutting is in question, such as Origen wished to undergo, who for that cause was deposed by Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria. Eusebius, Book 6, chapters 7 and 17.
There are several reasons why the canons detest that deed so greatly. First, because that mutilation is accomplished at great peril to life, and therefore such men are regarded as αὐτόχειρες, murderers of themselves. Next, because even the vigor of the mind perishes and a certain malignity and pusillanimity enter in; the bodies themselves become worse. This is also perceived in beasts. Third, not even thus is temptation avoided, nor is the will toward pleasures cut out. Fourth, it was also forbidden by the civil laws; Epiphanius, Heresy 64. Justin, in his oration to Antoninus, relates that a young man, in order that he might be free from every irrational movement of the flesh, presented a petition to Felix the Augustal Prefect that a physician might be permitted to do it. The same sin was committed by two Egyptian monks whom Theophilus of Alexandria cast out; Epiphanius admonished and corrected them while they wandered about, cast out from everywhere. Fifth, it was insulting to so many virgins and continent persons if it were believed that chastity must be sought by iron by Christians, rather than from the grace of the Lord. Sixth, the ministers of Cybele and others removed their members with sharp flint, as he says, and served the demon by cruel and foolish superstition; others feigned a brief continence by the coldness of lead and hemlock. Therefore the Church did not wish her own to be or appear similar to them, mindful that continence is a gift of God which, with the integrity of God’s work preserved, would consecrate us to its Author.