5. Six other orders of ministry precede the priesthood, four lesser and two greater.
By these several and divers Orders, as by certain steps, advance is made unto the priesthood (Council of Trent, 23, 4). This is to emphasize the dignity of the priesthood. For the same reason a fixed period of time must intervene between the reception of the different degrees of higher orders. The first preparation for Orders is the reception of the tonsure, by which a man is taken into the ranks of the clergy, and becomes a cleric, no longer a layman. In giving the tonsure, the bishop cuts off some of the hair from the top of the candidate’s head. After this the four minor Orders are given, which impart to him who receives them the right to minister, to the priest by virtue of his office. The first of the three greater Orders, the subdiaconate, follows. This was formerly reckoned among the minor Orders, but is classed by the Council of Trent among the major Orders; it confers the right to arrange everything in the sanctuary, and serve the priest at the altar, and pledges the recipient to celibacy and to the recitation of the breviary. The bishop may empower an ordinary priest to administer the tonsure and the four minor Orders, but not so the greater.
[Today, the traditional ordinations, including minor orders, are only conferred on members of Religious Orders and Institutes who exclusively offer the Traditional Mass]
6. There are three degrees in the Sacrament of Orders: The consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops. These three constitute but one sacrament.
The second of the greater Orders is the diaconate, which was instituted by the apostles for the relief of the poor. It confers the power to preach, to baptize, and to dispense holy communion. The three most celebrated deacons mentioned in the annals of the Church are St. Stephen, who was stoned by the Jews; St. Lawrence, who was broiled upon a gridiron in Rome; and St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order, who bore in his body the sacred stigmata. One year after the acceptance of the diaconate follows ordination proper, the priesthood, whereby the power is given to offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and to forgive sins. There is one degree higher than the priesthood, and that is the episcopate. By this power is conferred to ordain priests, to administer Confirmation and to rule the Church of God. For the consecration of a bishop three bishops must take part. These three ordinations form but one sacrament. The consecration of deacons appertains virtually to the Sacrament of Holy Orders, because it confers an inferior part of the sacerdotal powers, and is administered with imposition of hands and prayer. St. Paul mentions deacons together with bishops and priests; the Fathers speak of them with the utmost reverence, as the “ministers of God,” and the Council of Trent reckons them of the ecclesiastical hierarchy (Council of Trent, 23, 6). The consecration of priests appertains to the Sacrament of Orders, because by it the greater part of the sacerdotal powers are conferred. The consecration of bishops is the completion of the Sacrament of Orders; by it the plenitude of the sacerdotal power is communicated. The principal distinction between a bishop and a priest is that the former can ordain priests and the latter cannot. When at the Council of Alexandria in 319, the Arians accused St. Athanasius, who was then bishop of that town, of having treated a priest named Ischyras with undue severity, the Synod dismissed the charge on the ground that Ischyras was not a priest, since he had been ordained by a priest, not a bishop.
7. It is the duty of the faithful to pray God to send them good priests.
Our Lord says: “Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that He send forth laborers into His harvest” (Matt. ix. 38). Remember that a priest is the salvation or the perdition of his flock. In the Old Testament we read that when other scourges were of no avail to turn the people, hardened in sin, from their evil ways, God sent upon them the heaviest scourge of all, wicked and corrupt priests. Let us therefore make it our continual prayer, that we may have good priests. The Ember days are appointed for this purpose. Special prayer should be offered to the Holy Ghost, for unless a priest is enlightened by the Holy Spirit we may apply to him the words: “If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit” (Matt. xv. 14).
Keep the Faith!
