The Catholic priesthood (Ad Catholici Sacerdotii) : encyclical of His Holiness Pope Pius XI : with excerpts on the priesthood from other encyclicals


The

CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD
(Ad Catholici Sacerdotii)

Encyclical of

HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS XI

With Excerpts on the Priesthood

From Other Encyclicals

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February 1, 1930.



The Catholic Priesthood
(Ad Catholici Sacerdotii)

The Encyclical issued by His Holiness
,
Pope Pius XI, on December 20,

1935. Text of translation furnished by the News Service

of the National Catholic Welfare Conference.

BY the inscrutable design of Divine Providence We wereraised to this summit of the Catholic priesthood. From
that moment Our thoughts were turned to all the in-
numerable children whom God entrusted to Us. Yet, in a
special way, We have felt an affectionate and earnest solici-
tude towards those who have the commission to be “the salt
of the earth and the light of the world,” for those who have
been signalled out and adorned by the priestly character.
In a still more special way Our thoughts have turned towards
those dearly beloved young students who are being educated
in the shadow of the sanctuary and are preparing themselves
for this most noble charge, the priesthood.

Even in the first months of Our Pontificate, before We
had addressed Our solemn word to the whole Catholic world,
We hastened to lay stress upon the principles and ideals
which ought to guide and inspire the education of future
priests. This We did by Our Apostolic Letter Ofliciorum
omnium written on the first of August, 1922, to Our beloved
son, the Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for

Seminaries and Universities. And whenever Our pastoral
watchfulness prompts Us to consider more in particular the
good estate and the needs of the Church, Our attention is
directed always, and before all things else, to priests and
clergy.

Special Interest

Nor is there lacking witness to this Our special interest
in the priesthood. For We have erected many new semi-
naries; and others We have, at great expense, provided with
new and befitting buildings, or endowed more liberally with
revenues or staff, that they may the more worthily attain
their high aim.

Upon the occasion of Our Sacerdotal Jubilee, We allowed



2 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

that event, so blessed in its memories, to be celebrated with
some solemnity, and We even encouraged with fatherly grati-
fication the marks of filial affection which came to Us from
every part of the globe. Our reason was that We regarded
this celebration not so much as a homage to Our Person,
as a dutiful tribute of honor to the dignity of the priestly
character.

Similarly, We decreed a reform of studies in ecclesiasti-
cal faculties, by the Apostolic Constitution Deus scien-
tiarum Dominus, of the twenty-fourth of May, 1931. Our
special purpose in this decree was to make even broader and
higher the culture and learning of priests.

This matter, indeed, is of so great and universal im-
portance that We think fitting to devote to it a special En-
cyclical

;
since it is Our desire that the faithful, who already

possess the priceless gift of Faith, may appreciate the sub-
limity of the Catholic Priesthood and its providential mis-
sion in the world; that those, too, who do not yet possess
the Faith, but with uprightness and sincerity are in search
of Truth, may share this appreciation with the faithful;
above all, that those who are themselves called may have
still deeper understanding and esteem of their vocation.
This subject is particularly opportune at the present mo-
ment, for it is the end of the year which has seen extended,
beyond the Eternal City to the whole Catholic world, the
Jubilee of the Redemption. This Extraordinary Jubilee, at
Lourdes, came, like a sunset, to a splendid close. There,

under the mantle of the Immaculate, for a fervent and un-
interrupted Eucharistic Triduum, gathered together Cath-
olic clergy of every tongue and rite. Our beloved and
venerated priests, never more energetic in well-doing than
during this special Holy Year, are the ministers of the Re-
demption of which this year was the Jubilee. Moreover, this

year, as We said in the Apostolic Constitution Quod nuper,
commemorated, likewise, the nineteenth centenary of the in-

stitution of the priesthood.

Apostles of Education

Our previous Encyclicals were directed to throwing the
light of Catholic doctrine upon the gravest of the problems

peculiar to modem life. Our present Encyclical finds a nat-
ural place among these others, opportunely supplementing



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 3

them. The priest is, indeed, both by vocation and divine
commission, the chief apostle and tireless furtherer of the
Christian education of youth

;
in the name of God, the priest

blesses Christian marriage, and defends its sanctity and in-
dissolubility against the attacks and evasions suggested by
cupidity and sensuality; the priest contributes most effec-
tively to the solution, or at least the mitigation, of social

conflicts, since he preaches Christian brotherhood, declares
to all their mutual obligations of justice and charity, brings

peace to hearts embittered by moral and economic hardship,
and alike to rich and poor points out the only true riches to
which all men both can and should aspire. Finally, the
priest is the most valorous leader in that crusade of expia-
tion and penance to which We have invited all men of good
will. For there is need of reparation for the blasphemies,
wickedness and crimes which dishonor humanity today, an
age perhaps unparalleled in its need for the mercy and
pardon of God. The enemies of the Church themselves well
know the vital importance of the priesthood

;
for against the

priesthood in particular, as We have already had to lament
in the case of Our dear Mexico, they direct the point of
their attacks. It is the priesthood they desire to be rid of

;

that they may clear the way for that destruction of the
Church, which has been so often attempted yet never
achieved.

I

The human race has always felt the need of a priest-
hood: of men, .that is, who have the official charge to be
mediators between God and humanity, men who should con-
secrate themselves entirely to this mediation, as to the very
purpose of their lives, men set aside to offer to God public
prayers and sacrifices in the name of human society. For
human society as such is bound to offer to God public and
social worship. It is bound to acknowledge in Him its
Supreme Lord and first beginning, and to strive toward Him
as to its last end, to give Him thanks and offer Him propitia-
tion. In fact, priests are to be found among all peoples
whose customs are known, except those compelled by vio-
lence to act against the most sacred laws of human nature.
They may, indeed, be in the service of false divinities; but
wherever religion is professed, wherever altars are built,



4 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

there also is a priesthood surrounded by particular marks
of honor and veneration.

Yet in the splendor of Divine Revelation the priest is
seen invested with a dignity far greater still. This dignity

was foreshadowed of old by the venerable and mysterious
figure of Melchisedech, Priest and King, whom St. Paul re-
calls as prefiguring the Person and Priesthood of Christ Our
Lord Himself.

St. Paul's Definition

The priest, according to the magnificent definition given
by St. Paul is indeed a man Ex hominibus assumptus, “taken
from amongst men,” yet pro hominibus constituitur in his
quoe, sunt ad Deum, “ordained for men in the things that
appertain to God”: his office is not for human things, and
things that pass away, however lofty and valuable these
may seem; but for things divine and enduring. These eter-
nal things may, perhaps, through ignorance, be scorned and

contemned, or even attacked with diabolical fury and mal-
ice, as sad experience has often proved, and proves even
today; but they always continue to hold the first place in

the aspirations, individual and social, of humanity, because
the human heart feels irresistibly it is made for God and is
restless till it rests in Him.

The Old Law, inspired by God and promulgated by
Moses, set up a priesthood, which was, in this manner, of
divine institution; and determined for it every detail of its
duty, residence and rite. It would seem that God, in His
great care for them, wished to impress upon the still primi-
tive mind of the Jewish people one great central idea. This
idea throughout the history of the chosen people, was to
shed its light over all events, laws, ranks and offices: the
idea of sacrifice and priesthood. These were to become,
through faith in the future Messias, a source of hope, glory,
power and spiritual liberation. The temple of Solomon, as-
tonishing in richness and splendor, was still more wonderful
in its rites and ordinances. Erected to the one true God
as a tabernacle of the divine Majesty upon earth, it was
also a sublime poem sung to that sacrifice and that priest-
hood, which, though type and symbol, was still so august,
that the sacred figure of its High Priest moved the con-
queror Alexander the Great, to bow in reverence; and God



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 5

Himself visited His wrath upon the impious king Balthasar
because he made revel with the sacred vessels of the temple.
Yet that ancient priesthood derived its greatest majesty and
glory from being a foretype of the Christian priesthood

;
the

priesthood of the New and eternal Covenant sealed with the
Blood of the Redeemer of the world, Jesus Christ, true God
and true Man.

The Apostle of the Gentiles thus perfectly sums up what
may be said of the greatness, the dignity and the duty of
the Christian priesthood: Sic nos existimet homo ut minis-
tros Christi et dispensatores mysteriorum Dei—“Let a man
so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and the dis-
pensers of the mysteries of God.” The priest is the minister
of Christ, an instrument, that is to say, in the hands of the
Divine Redeemer. He continues the work of the Redemption
in all its world-embracing universality and divine efficacy,
that work that wrought so marvellous a transformation in
the world. Thus the priest, as is said with good reason, is
indeed “another Christ”; for, in some way, he is himself a
continuation of Christ. “As the Father hath sent Me, I also
send you,” is spoken to the priest, and hence the priest, like
Christ, continues to give “glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace to men of good will.”

Teachings of Council

For, in the first place, as the Council of Trent teaches,
Jesus Christ at the Last Supper instituted the Sacrifice and
the priesthood of the New Covenant: “our Lord and God,
although once and for all, by means of His death on the
altar of the cross, He was to offer Himself to God the Father,
that thereon He might accomplish eternal Redemption; yet,
because death was not to put an end to His priesthood, at
the Last Supper, the same night in which He was betrayed,
in order to leave to His beloved spouse the Church, a sacri-
fice which should be visible (as the nature of man requires),
which should represent that bloody sacrifice, once and for
all to be completed on the cross, which should perpetuate
His memory to the end of time, and which should apply its
saving power unto the remission of the sins we daily commit,
showing Himself made a priest forever according to the order
of Melchisedech, offered to God the Father, under the ap-
pearance of bread and wine, His Body and Blood, giving



6 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

them to the Apostles (whom He was then making priests of
the New Covenant) to be consumed under the signs of these
same things, and commanded the Apostles and their suc-
cessors in the priesthood to offer them, by the words 4 Do
this in commemoration of Me.’ ”

And thenceforth, the Apostles, and their successors in
the priesthood, began to lift to heaven that “clean oblation”
foretold by Malachy, through which the name of God is
great among the gentiles. And now, that same oblation in
every part of the world and at every hour of the day and
night, is offered and will continue to be offered without in-
terruption till the end of time: a true sacrificial act, not

merely symbolical, which has a real efficacy unto the recon-

ciliation of sinners with the Divine Majesty.

“Appeased by this oblation, the Lord grants grace and
the gift of repentence, and forgives iniquities and sins, how-
ever great.” The reason of this is given by the same Coun-
cil in these words: “For there is one and the same Victim,
there is present the same Christ who once offered Himself
upon the Cross, who now offers Himself by the ministry of
priests, only the manner of the offering being different.”

Power of the Priest

And thus the ineffable greatness of the human priest
stands forth in all its splendor; for he has power over the
very Body of Jesus Christ, and makes It present upon our
altars. In the name of Christ Himself he offers It a victim
infinitely pleasing to the Divine Majesty. “Wondrous things
are these,” justly exclaims St. John Chrysostom, “so wonder-
ful, they surpass wonder.”

Besides this power over the real Body of Christ, the
priest has received other powers, august and sublime, over
His Mystical Body. There is no need, My Venerable
Brethren, to enlarge upon the beautiful doctrine of the
Mystical Body of Christ, a doctrine so dear to St. Paul; this
beautiful doctrine that shows us the Person of the Word-
made-Flesh in union with all His brethren. For from Him
to them comes a supernatural influence, so that they, with
Him as Head, form a single Body of which they are the
members. Now a priest is the appointed “dispenser of the
mysteries of God,” for the benefit of the members of the
Mystical Body of Christ; since he is the ordinary minister



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 7

of nearly all the Sacraments,—those channels through which
the grace of the Saviour flows for the good of humanity.

The Christian, at almost every important stage of his mortal
career, finds at his side the priest with power received from
God, in the act of communicating or increasing that grace

which is the supernatural life of his soul.
Scarcely is he 'bom before the priest baptizing him,

brings him by a new birth to a more noble and precious life,
a supernatural life, and makes him a son of God and of the
Church of Jesus Christ. To strengthen him to fight bravely
in spiritual combats, a priest invested with special dignity
makes him a soldier of Christ by holy chrism. Then, as
soon as he is able to recognize and value the Bread of Angels,
the priest gives It to him, the living and life-giving Food
come down from Heaven. If he fall, the priest raises him
up again in the name of God, and reconciles him to God
with the Sacrament of Penance. Again, if he is called by
God to found a family and to collaborate with Him in the
transmission of human life throughout the world, thus in-
creasing the number of the faithful on earth and, thereafter,
the ranks of the elect in Heaven, the priest is there to bless
his espousals and unblemished love; and when, finally, ar-
rived at the portals of eternity, the Christian feels the need
of strength and courage before presenting himself at the
tribunal of the Divine Judge, the priest with the holy oils
anoints the failing members of the sick or dying Christian,
and reconsecrates and comforts him.

Thus the priest accompanies the Christian throughout
the pilgrimage of this life to the gates of Heaven. He ac-
companies the body to its resting place in the grave with
rites and prayers of immortal hope. And even beyond the
threshold of eternity he follows the soul to aid it with Chris-
tian suffrages, if need there be of further purification and
alleviation. Thus, from the cradle to the grave the priest
is ever beside the faithful, a guide, a solace, a minister of
salvation and dispenser of grace and blessing.

Power to Remit Sins

But among all these powers of the priest over the Mysti-
cal Body of Christ for the benefit of the faithful, there is
one of which the simple mention made above will not con-
tent Us. This is that power which, as St. John Chrysostom



8 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

says: “God gave neither to Angels nor Archangels”—the
power to remit sins. “Whose sins you shall forgive they
are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain they
are retained”; a tremendous power, so peculiar to God that
even human pride could not make the mind conceive that
it could be given to man. “Who can forgive sins but God
alone?” And, when we see it exercised by a mere man
there is reason to ask ourselves, not, indeed, with Phari-
saical scandal, but with reverent surprise at such a dignity:
“Who is this that forgiveth sins also?” But it is so: the
God-Man who possessed the “power on earth to forgive
sins” willed to hand it on to His priests; to relieve, in His
divine generosity and mercy, the need of moral purification
which is rooted in the human heart.

What a comfort to the guilty, when, stung with remorse
and repenting of his sins, he hears the word of the priest
who says to him in God’s name: “I absolve thee from thy
sins!” These words fall, it is true, from the lips of one who,
in his turn, must needs beg the same absolution from another
priest. This does not debase the merciful gift; but makes
it, rather, appear greater; since beyond the weak creature
is seen more clearly the hand of God through whose power is
wrought this wonder. As an illustrious layman has written,
treating with rare competence of spiritual things: . . when
a priest, groaning in spirit at his own unworthiness and at
the loftiness of his office, places his consecrated hands upon
our heads; when, humiliated at finding himself the dispenser

of the Blood of the Covenant; each time amazed as he pro-
nounces the words that give life

;
when a sinner has absolved

a sinner; we, who rise from our knees before him, feel we
have done nothing debasing. . . . We have been at the feet
of a man who represented Jesus Christ, ... we have been
there to receive the dignity of free men and of sons of
God.”

These august powers are conferred upon the priest in a
special Sacrament designed to this end: they are not merely

passing or temporary in the priest, but are stable and per-
petual, united as they are with the indelible character im-

printed on his soul whereby he becomes “a priest forever”

;

whereby he becomes like unto Him in whose eternal priest-
hood he has been made a sharer. Even the most lamentable
downfall, which, through human frailty, is possible to a



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 9

priest, can never blot out from his soul the priestly char-
acter. But along with this character and these powers, the
priest through the Sacrament of Orders receives new and
special grace with special helps. Thereby, if only he will

loyally further, by his free and personal cooperation, the
divinely powerful action of the grace itself, he will be able

worthily to fulfill all the duties, however arduous, of his
lofty calling. He will not be overborne, but will be able to
bear the tremendous responsibilities inherent to his priestly

duty; responsibilities which have made fearful even the
stoutest champions of the Christian priesthood, men like St.
John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory the Great, St.

Charles and many others.

Minister of Christ

The Catholic priest is minister of Christ and dispenser
of the mysteries of God in another way, that is, by his
words. The “ministry of the word” is a right which is
inalienable; it is a duty which cannot be disallowed; for it
is imposed by Jesus Christ Himself: “Going, therefore, teach
ye all nations . . . teaching them to observe all things what-
soever I have commanded you.” The Church of Christ,
depository and infallible guardian of divine revelation, by
means of her priests, pours out the treasures of heavenly
truth; she preaches Him who is “the true Light which en-
lighteneth every man that cometh into this world”

;
she sows

with divine bounty that seed which is small and worthless
to the profane eyes of the world, but which is like the mus-
tard seed of the Gospel. For it has within itself power to
strike strong deep roots in souls which are sincere and
thirsting for the truth, and make them like sturdy trees
able to withstand the wildest storms.

Amidst all the aberrations of human thought, infatuated
by a false emancipation from every law and curb

;
and amidst

the awful corruptions of human malice, the Church rises up
like a bright lighthouse warning by the clearness of its beam
every deviation to right or left from the way of truth, and
pointing out to one and all the right course that they should
follow. Woe if ever this beacon should be—We do not say
extinguished, for that is impossible owing to the unfailing
promises on which it is founded—but if it should be hindered



10 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

from shedding far and wide its beneficent light! We see
already with Our own eyes whither the world has been
brought by its arrogant rejection of divine revelation, and
its pursuit of false philosophical and moral theories that
bear the specious name of “science.” That it has not fallen
still lower down the slope of error and vice is due to the
guidance of the light of Christian truth that always shines
in the world. Now the Church exercises her “ministry of
the word” through her priests of every grade of the Hier-
archy, in which each has his wisely allotted place. These
she sends everywhere as unwearied heralds of the good
tidings which alone can save and advance true civilization
and culture, or help them to rise again. The word of the
priest enters the soul and brings light and power; the voice
of the priest rises calmly above the storms of passion, fear-
lessly to proclaim the truth, and exhort to the good; that
truth which elucidates and solves the gravest problems of
human life; that good which no misfortune can take from
us, which death but secures and renders immortal.

Consider the truths themselves which the priest if faith-
ful to his ministry, must frequently inculcate. Ponder them
one by one and dwell upon their inner power; for they make
plain the influence of the priest, and how strong and bene-
ficent it can be for the moral education, social concord and
peaceful development of peoples. He brings home to young
and old the fleeting nature of the present life

;
the perishable-

ness of earthly goods
;
the value of spiritual goods and of the

immortal soul; the severity of divine judgment; the spotless

holiness of the divine gaze that reads the hearts of all; the

justice of God, which “will render to every man according
to his works.” These and similar lessons the priest teaches;
a teaching fitted indeed to moderate the feverish search for

pleasure, and the uncontrolled greed for worldly goods, that
debase so much of modern life, and spur on the different
classes of society to fight one another like enemies, instead
of helping one another like friends. In this clash of sel-
fish interest, and unleashed hate, and dark plans of revenge,
nothing could be better or more powerful to heal, than
loudly to proclaim the “new commandment” of Christ.
That commandment enjoins a love which extends to all,
knows no barriers nor national boundaries, excludes no
race, excepts not even its own enemies.



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 11

Power for Good

The experience of twenty centuries fully and gloriously
reveals the power for good of the word of the priest. Being
the faithful echo and reecho of the “word of God,” which
“is living and effectual and more piercing than any two-
edged sword,” it too reaches “unto the division of the soul
and spirit”; it awakens heroism of every kind, in every
class and place, and inspires the self-forgetting deeds of the
most generous hearts. All the good that Christian civiliza-
tion has brought into the world is due, at least radically, to

the word and works of the Catholic priesthood. Such a
past might, of itself, serve as sufficient guarantee for the

future; but we have a still more secure guarantee, “a more
firm prophetical word” in the infallible promises of Christ.

The work, too, of the Missions manifests most vividly
the power of expansion given by divine grace to the Church.
This work is advanced and carried on principally by priests.
Pioneers of faith and love, at the cost of innumerable sacri-
fices, they extend and widen the Kingdom of God upon
earth.

Finally, the priest, in another way, follows the example
of Christ. Of Him it is written that He “passed the whole
night in the prayer of God” and “ever lives to make inter-
cession for us”

;
and like Him, the priest, is public and offi-

cial intercessor of humanity before God; he has the duty
and commission of offering to God in the name of the
Church, over and above sacrifice strictly so-called, the “sac-
rifice of praise,” in public and official prayer; for several
times each day, with psalms, prayers and hymns taken in
great part from the inspired books, he pays to God this duti-
ful tribute of adoration and thus performs his necessary
office of interceding for humanity. And never did humanity,
in its afflictions, stand more in need of intercession and of
the divine help which it brings. Who can tell how many
chastisements priestly prayer wards off from sinful mankind,
how many blessings it brings down and secures?

Recourse to Prayer

If Our Lord made such magnificent and solemn prom-
ises even to private prayers, how much more powerful must
be that prayer which is said ex officio in the name of the
Church, the beloved Spouse of the Saviour? The Christian,



12 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

though in prosperity so often forgetful of God, yet in the
depth of his heart keeps his confidence in prayer, feels that
prayer is all powerful, and as by a holy instinct, in every
distress, in every peril whether private or public, has re-
course with special trust to the prayer of the priest. To
it the unfortunate of every sort, look for comfort

;
to it they

have recourse, seeking divine aid in all the vicissitudes of
this exile here on earth. Truly does the “priest occupy a
place midway between God and human nature: from Him
bringing to us absolving beneficence, offering our prayers to

Him and appeasing the wrathful Lord.”
A last tribute to the priesthood is given by the enemies

of the Church. For as We have said on a previous page,
they show that they fully appreciate the dignity and im-
portance of the Catholic priesthood, by directing against
it their first and fiercest blows; since they know well how
close is the tie that binds the Church to her priests. The
most rabid enemies of the Catholic priesthood are today
the very enemies of God

;
a homage indeed to the priesthood,

showing it the more worthy of honor and veneration.

II

Most sublime, then, Venerable Brethren, is the dignity
of the priesthood. Even the falling away of the few un-
worthy in the priesthood, however deplorable and distress-
ing it may be, cannot dim the splendor of so lofty a dignity.
Much less can the unworthiness of a few cause the worth
and merit of so many to be overlooked

;
and how many have

been, and are, in the priesthood, preeminent in holiness, in
learning, in works of zeal, nay, even in martyrdom.

Nor must it be forgotten that personal unworthiness does
not hinder the efficacy of a priest’s ministry. For the un-
worthiness of the minister does not make void the Sacra-
ments he administers; since the Sacraments derive their
efficacy from the Blood of Christ, independently of the sanc-
tity of the instrument, or, as scholastic language expresses

it, the Sacraments work their effect ex opere operato.
Nevertheless, it is quite true that so holy an office de-

mands holiness in him who holds it. A priest should have
a loftiness of spirit, a purity of heart and a sanctity of life
befitting the solemnity and holiness of the office he holds.
For this, as We have said, makes the priest a mediator be-



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 13

tween God and man; a mediator in the place, and by the
command, of Him who is “the one mediator of God and
men, the man Jesus Christ.” The priest must, therefore,
approach as close as possible to the perfection of Him whose
vicar he is, and render himself ever more and more pleasing
to God, by the sanctity of his life and of his deeds

;
because

more than the scent of incense, or the beauty of churches
and altars, God loves and accepts holiness. “They who are
the intermediaries between God and His people,” says St.
Thomas, “must bear a good conscience before God, and a
good name among men.” On the contrary, whosoever
handles and administers holy things, while blameworthy in
his life, profanes them and is guilty of sacrilege: “They who
are not holy ought not to handle holy things.”

Dignity of Priesthood

For this reason even in the Old Testament God com-
manded His priests and levites: “Let them therefore be holy
because I am also holy: the Lord who sanctify them.” In
his canticle for the dedication of the temple, Solomon the
Wise made this same request to the Lord in favor of the
sons of Aaron: “Let Thy priests be clothed with justice:
and let Thy saints rejoice.” So, Venerable Brethren, may
we not ask with St. Robert Bellarmine: “If so great up-
rightness, holiness and lively devotion was required of
priests who offered sheep and oxen, and praised God for
temporal blessings; what, I ask, is required of those priests

who sacrifice the Divine Lamb and give thanks for eternal
blessings?” “A great dignity,” exclaims St. Laurence Jus-
tinian, “but great too is the responsibility; placed high in
the eyes of men they must also be lifted up to the peak of
virtue before the eye of Him who seeth all

;
otherwise their

elevation will be not to their merit but to their damnation.”

And surely every reason We have urged in showing the
dignity of the Catholic priesthood does but reinforce its

obligation of singular holiness; for as the Angelic Doctor
teaches: “To fulfill the duties of Holy Orders, common
goodness does not suffice

;
but excelling goodness is required

;

that they who receive Orders and are thereby higher in rank
than the people, may also be higher in holiness.” The
Eucharistic Sacrifice in which the Immaculate Victim who



14 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

taketh away the sins of the world is immolated, requires in
a special way that the priest, by a holy and spotless life,
should make himself as far as he can, less unworthy of God,
to whom he daily offers that adorable Victim, the very
Word of God incarnate for love of us. Agnoscite quod
agitis, imitamini quod tractatis, “realize what you are doing,
and imitate what you handle,” says the Church through the
Bishop to the deacons as they are about to be consecrated

priests. The priest is also the almoner of God’s graces of
which the Sacraments are the channels; how grave a re-
proach would it 'be, for one who dispenses these most pre-
cious graces, were he himself without them, or were he even

to esteem them lightly and guard them with little care.
Moreover, the priest must teach the truths of faith; but

the truths of religion are never so worthily and effectively
taught as when taught by virtue; because, in the common
saying: “Deeds speak louder than words.” The priest
must preach the law of the Gospel; but for that preaching
to be effective, the most obvious and, by the Grace of God,
the most persuasive argument, is to see the actual practice
of the law in him who preaches it. St. Gregory the Great
gives the reason: “The voice which penetrates the hearts of
the hearers, is the voice commended by the speaker’s own
life; because what his word enjoins, his example helps to
bring about.” This exactly is what Holy Scripture says
of our Divine Saviour: He “began to do and to teach.” And
the crowds hailed Him, not so much because “never did man
speak like this man,” but rather because “He hath done all
things well.” On the other hand, they who “say and do
not,” practising not what they preach, become like the

Scribes and Pharisees. And Our Lord’s rebuke to the other
hand, they who “say and do not,” practising not what they
preach, the word of God, was yet administered publicly,
in the presence of the listening crowd: “The Scribes and
Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses. All things

therefore whatsoever they shall say to you observe and do:
but according to their works do ye not.” A preacher who
does not try to ratify by his life’s example the truth he
preaches, only pulls down with one hand what he builds
up with the other. On the contrary, God greatly blesses
the labor of those heralds of the Gospel who attend first to
their own holiness; they see their apostolate flourishing and



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 15

fruitful, and in the day of the harvest, “coming they shall
come with joyfulness carrying in their sheaves.”

Salvation Endangered

It would be a grave error fraught with many dangers
should the priest, carried away by false zeal, neglect his own
sanctification, and become over immersed in the external
works, however holy, of the priestly ministry. Thereby, he
would run a double risk. In the first place he endangers his
own eternal salvation, as the great Apostle of the Gentiles
feared for himself: “But I chastise my body, and bring it
into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to
others, I myself should become a castaway.” In the second
place he might lose, if not divine grace, certainly that unction

of the Holy Spirit which gives such a marvellous force and
efficacy to the external apostolate.

Now to all Christians in general it has been said: “Be
ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect”; how much
more then should the priest consider these words of the
Divine Master as spoken to himself, called as he is by a
special vocation to follow Christ more closely. Hence the
Church publicly urges on all her clerics this most grave
duty, placing it in the code of her laws: “Clerics must lead
a life, both interior and exterior, more holy than the laity,
and be an example to them by excelling in virtue and good
works.” And since the priest is an ambassador for Christ,
he should so live as to be able with truth to make his own
the words of the Apostle: “Be ye followers of me, as I
also am of Christ”

;
he ought to live as another Christ who

by the splendor of His virtue enlightened and still en-
lightens the world.

It is plain, then, that all Christian virtues should flour-

ish in the soul of the priest. Yet there are some virtues
which in a very particular manner attach themselves to the
priest as most befitting and necessary to him. Of these the
first is piety, or godliness, according to the exhortation of

the Apostle to his beloved Timothy: Exerce . . . teipsum ad
pietatem, “exercise thyself unto godliness.” Indeed the

priest’s relations with God are so intimate, so delicate and
so frequent, that clearly they should ever be graced by the
sweet odor of piety; if “godliness is profitable to all things,”

it is especially profitable to a right exercise of the priestly



16 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

charge. Without piety the holiest practices, the most sol-
emn rites of the sacred ministry, will be performed mechani-
cally and out of habit; they will be devoid of spirit, unction
and life. But remark, Venerable Brethren, the piety of
which We speak is not that shallow and superficial piety
which attracts but does not nourish, is busy but does not
sanctify. We mean that solid piety which is not dependent
upon changing mood or feeling. It is based upon principles
of sound doctrine; it is ruled by staunch convictions; and
so it resists the assaults and the illusions of temptation.
This piety should primarily be directed towards God our
Father in Heaven; yet it should be extended also to the
Mother of God. The priest even more than the faithful
should have devotion to Our Lady, for the relation of the
priest to Christ is more deeply and truly like that which
Mary bears to her Divine Son.

It is impossible to treat of the piety of a Catholic priest

without being drawn on to speak, too, of another most pre-
cious treasure of the Catholic priesthood, that is, of chastity;

for from piety springs the meaning and the beauty of chas-
tity. Clerics of the Latin Church in higher Orders are bound
by a grave obligation of chastity; so grave is the obligation
in them of its perfect and total observance that a transgres-
sion involves the added guilt of sacrilege.

Celibacy Revered

Though this law does not bind, in all its amplitude,
clerics of the Oriental Churches, yet among them also, eccle-
siastical celibacy is revered; indeed in some cases, espe-
cially in the higher Orders of the Hierarchy, it is a neces-

sary and obligatory requisite.
A certain connection between this virtue and the sacer-

dotal ministry can be seen even by the light of reason alone:
since “God is a Spirit,” it is only fitting that he who dedi-
cates and consecrates himself to God’s service should in
some way “divest himself of the body.” The ancient
Romans perceived this fitness; one of their laws which ran
Ad divos adeunto caste

,

“approach the gods chastely,” is

quoted by one of their greatest orators with the following
comment: “The law orders us to present ourselves to the
gods in chastity—of spirit, that is, in which are all things.
Nor does this exclude chastity of the body, which is to be



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 17

understood, since the spirit is so far superior to the body;

for it should be remembered that bodily chastity cannot be
preserved, unless spiritual chastity be maintained.” In the

Old Law, Moses in the name of God commanded Aaron and
his sons to remain within the Tabernacle, and so to keep
continent, during the seven days in which they were exer-

cising their sacred functions.

But the Christian priesthood, being much superior to
that of the Old Law, demanded a still greater purity. The
law of ecclesiastical celibacy, whose first written traces pre-
suppose a still earlier unwritten practice, dates back to a
canon of the Council of Elvira, at the beginning of the
fourth century, when persecution still raged. This law only
makes obligatory what might in any case almost be termed
a moral exigency that springs from the Gospel and the
Apostolic preaching. For the Divine Master showed such
high esteem for chastity, and exalted it as something beyond
the common power; He Himself was the Son of a Virgin
Mother, Florem Matris Virginis, and was brought up in the
virgin family of Joseph and Mary; He showed special love
for pure souls such as the two Johns—the Baptist and the
Evangelist. The great Apostle Paul, faithful interpreter of
the New Law and of the mind of Christ, preached the ines-
timable value of virginity, in view of a more fervent service
of God, and gave the reason when he said: “He that is
without a wife is solicitous for the things that belong to the
Lord, how he may please God.” All this had almost in-
evitable consequences: the priests of the New Law felt the
heavenly attraction of this chosen virtue; they sought to
be of the number of those “to whom it is given to take this
word,” and they spontaneously bound themselves to its ob-
servance. Soon it came about that the practice, in the Latin
Church, received the sanction of ecclesiastical law. The
Second Council of Carthage at the end of the fourth century
declared: “What the Apostles taught, and the early Church
preserved, let us too, observe.”

Harmony Between Churches

In the Oriental Church, too, most illustrious Fathers
bear witness to the excellence of Catholic celibacy. In this

matter as in others there was harmony between the Latin
and Oriental Churches where accurate discipline flourished.



18 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

St. Epiphanius at the end of the fourth century tells us that
celibacy applied even to the subdiaconate: “The Church does
not on any account admit a man living in the wedded state
and having children, even though he have only one wife, to
the orders of deacon, priest, bishop or subdeacon; but only
him whose wife be dead or who should abstain from the
use of marriage

;
this is done in those places especially where

the ecclesiastical canons are accurately followed.” The Dea-
con of Edessa and Doctor of the Universal Church, well
called the Harp of the Holy Spirit, St. Ephraem, the Syrian,
is particularly eloquent on this matter. In one of his poems,
addressed to his friend, the Bishop Abraham, he says: “Thou
art true to thy name, Abraham, for thou also art the father
of many: but because thou hast no wife as Abraham had
Sara, behold thy flock is thy spouse. Bring up its children
in thy truth; may they become to thee children of the spirit
and sons of the promise that makes them heirs to Eden.
O sweet fruit of chastity, in which the priesthood finds its
delights ... the horn of plenty flowed over and anointed
thee, a hand rested on thee and chose thee out, the Church
desired thee and held thee dear.” And in another place: “It
is not enough for the priest and the name of the priesthood,
it is not enough, I say, for him who offers up the living body,
to cleanse his soul and tongue and hand and make spotless
his whole body; but he must at all times be absolutely and
preeminently pure, because he is established as a mediator

between God and the human race. May He be praised who
made His servants clean!” St. John Chrysostom affirms:
“The priest must be so pure that, if he were to be lifted up
and placed in the heavens themselves, he might take a

place in the midst of the Angels.”

In short the very height, or, to use St. Epiphanius’

phrase, “the incredible honor and dignity” of the Christian
priesthood, which We have briefly described, shows how
becoming is clerical celibacy and the law which enjoins it.
Priests have a duty which, in a certain way, is higher than
that of the most pure spirits “who stand before the Lord.”
Is it not right, then, that he live an all but angelic life? A
priest is one who should be totally dedicated to the things
of the Lord. Is it not right, then, that he be entirely de-

tached from the things of the world, and have his conversa-

tion in Heaven? A priest’s charge is to be solicitous for the



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 19

eternal salvation of souls, continuing in their regard the work
of the Redeemer. Is it not, then, fitting that he keep himself
free from the cares of a family, which would absorb a great
part of his energies?

And truly an ordination ceremony, frequent though it be
in the Catholic Church, never fails to touch the hearts of
those present: how admirable a sight, these young ordinands,
who before receiving the subdiaconate, before, that is, con-
secrating themselves utterly to the service and the worship
of God, freely renounce the joys and the pleasures which
might rightfully be theirs in another walk of life. We say
“freely,” for though, after ordination, they are no longer
free to contract earthly marriage, nevertheless they advance
to ordination itself unconstrained by any law or person, and
of their own spontaneous choice

!

Notwithstanding all this, We do not wish that what We
said in commendation of clerical celibacy should be inter-
preted as though it were Our mind in any way to blame, or,
as it were, disapprove the different discipline legitimately
prevailing in the Oriental Church. What We have said has
been meant solely to exalt in the Lord something We con-
sider one of the purest glories of the Catholic priesthood;
something which seems to Us to correspond better to the
desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to His purposes in
regard to priestly souls.

Not less than by his chastity, the Catholic priest ought
to be distinguished by his detachment. Surrounded by the
corruptions of a world in which everything can be bought
and sold, he must pass through them utterly free of selfish-
ness. He must holily spurn all vile greed of earthly gains,
since he is in search of souls, not of money, of the glory of
God, not his own. He is no mercenary working for a
temporal recompense, nor yet an employee who, whilst at-
tending conscientiously to duties of his office, at the same
time is looking to his career and personal promotion; he is
the “good soldier of Christ” who “entangleth not himself
with secular business: that he may please Him to whom he
hath engaged himself.”

The minister of God is a father of souls; and he knows
that his toils and his cares cannot adequately be repaid with
wealth and honors of earth. He is not indeed forbidden to
receive fitting sustenance, according to the teaching of the



20 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

Apostle: “They that serve the altar may partake with the
altar ... so also the Lord ordained that they who preach
the Gospel should live by the Gospel.” But once “called
to the inheritance of the Lord,” as his very title “cleric”
declares, a priest must expect no other recompense than that
promised by Christ to His Apostles: “Your reward is very
great in Heaven.” Woe to the priest who, forgetful of these
divine promises should become “greedy of filthy lucre.” Woe
if he join the herd of the worldly over whom the Church like
the Apostle grieves: “All seek the things that are their own:
not the things that are Jesus Christ’s.” Such a priest, be-
sides failing in his vocation, would earn the contempt even
of his own people. They would perceive in him the de-
plorable contradiction between his conduct and the doctrine
so clearly expounded by Christ, which the priest is bound
to teach: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth:
where the rust and moth consume and where thieves break
through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in
Heaven.” Judas, an Apostle of Christ, “one of the twelve,”
as the Evangelists sadly observe, was led down to the abyss
of iniquity precisely through the spirit of greed for earthly
things. Remembering him, it is easy to grasp how this same
spirit could have brought such harm upon the Church
throughout the centuries: greed, called by the Holy Spirit
the “root of all evil,” can incite to any crime; and a priest
who is poisoned by this vice, even though he stop short of
crime, will nevertheless, consciously or unconsciously, make
common cause with the enemies of God and of the Church,
and cooperate in their evil designs.

On the other hand, by sincere disinterestedness the
priest can hope to win the hearts of all. For detachment
from earthly goods, if inspired by lively faith, is always
accompanied by tender compassion towards the unfortunate
of every kind. Thus the priest becomes a veritable father
of the poor. Mindful of the touching words of his Saviour,
“As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you
did it to Me,” he sees in them, and, with particular affection,
venerates and loves Jesus Christ Himself.

Thus the Catholic priest is freed from the bonds of a
family and of self-interest,—the two chief bonds which could
bind him too closely to earth. Thus freed, his heart will
more readily take flame from tha't heavenly fire that bums



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 21

in the Heart of Jesus; that fire that seeks only to inflame

apostolic hearts and through them “cast fire on all the
earth.” This is the fire of zeal. Like the zeal of Jesus de-

scribed in Holy Scripture, the zeal of the priest for the glory
of God and the salvation of souls ought to consume him.
It should make him forget himself and all earthly things.
It should powerfully urge him to dedicate himself utterly
to his sublime work, and to search out means ever more
effective for an apostolate ever wider and ever better.

The Good Shepherd said: “And other sheep I have that
are not of this fold; them also I must bring;” and again,
“See the countries for they are white already to the har-

vest.” How can a priest meditate upon these words and
not feel his heart enkindled with yearning to lead souls to

the Heart of the Good Shepherd? How can he fail to offer
himself to the Lord of the harvest for unremitting toil? Our
Lord saw the multitudes “lying like sheep that have no
shepherd.” Such multitudes are to be seen today not only
in the far distant lands of the Missions, but also, alas! in

countries which have been Christian for centuries. How can
a priest see such multitudes and not feel deeply within him-
self an echo of that divine pity which so often moved the
Heart of the Son of God?—a priest, we say, who is con-
scious of possessing the words of life and of having in his
hands the God-given means of regeneration and salvation?

But thanks be to God, it is just this flame of apostolic
zeal which is one of the brightest jewels in the crown of the
Catholic priesthood. Our heart fills with fatherly consola-
tion at the sight of Our Brothers and Our beloved Sons,
Bishops and Priests, who like chosen troops ever prompt to
the call of their chief hasten to all outposts of this vast field.

There they engage in the peaceful but bitter warfare of
truth against error, of light against darkness, of the King-
dom of God against the kingdom of Satan.

But, by its very nature as an active and courageous
company, the Catholic priesthood must have the spirit of
discipline, or, to use a more deeply Christian word, obedi-
ence. It is obedience which binds together all ranks into the
harmony of the Church’s Hierarchy.

The Bishop, in his admonition to the ordinands, says:
“With a certain wonderful variety Holy Church is clothed,
made comely and is ruled

;
since in her some are consecrated



22 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

Pontiffs, and others priests of lesser degree, and from many
members of differing dignity there is formed one Body of
Christ.” This obedience priests promised to the Bishop
after Ordination, the holy oil still fresh on their hands.
On the day of his consecration the Bishop, in his turn, swore
obedience to the supreme visible Head of the Church, the
successor of St. Peter, the Vicar of Jesus Christ. Let then
obedience bind ever closer together these various members
of the Hierarchy, one with another, and all with the Head;
and thus make the Church Militant a foe truly terrible to the
enemies of God, ut castrorum aciem ordinatam, “as an army
set in array.” Let obedience temper excessive zeal on the
one hand, and put the spur to weakness and slackness on
the other. Let it assign to each his place and station. These
each should accept without resistance; for otherwise the
magnificent work of the Church in the world would be sadly
hindered. Let each one see in the arrangement of his hier-
archical Superiors the arrangements of the only true Head,
whom all obey: Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who became for us
“obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.”

The divine High Priest wished us to have abundant wit-
ness to His own most perfect obedience to the Eternal Fa-
ther; for this reason both the Prophecies and the Gospels
often testify to the entire submission of the Son of God to
the will of the Father. “When He cometh into the world
He saith; sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldst not: but a
body Thou has fitted to Me. . . . Then said I: Behold I come.
In the head of the book it is written of Me that I should do
Thy will, O God. . . .” “My meat is to do the will of Him
that sent Me.” On His very cross He consecrated obedience.
He did not wish to commit His soul into the hands of His
Father before having declared that all was fulfilled in Him
that the Sacred Scriptures had foretold; He had accom-
plished the entire charge entrusted to Him by the Father,
even to the last deeply mysterious “I thirst,” which He pro-
nounced “that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” By these
words He wished to show that zeal even the most ardent
ought always to be completely subjected to the will of the

Father; that our zeal should always be controlled by obedi-
ence to those who for us, have the place of the Father, and
convey to us His will, in other words our lawful Superiors in

the Hierarchy.



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 23

Learning

But the portrait of the Catholic priest which We in-
tend to exhibit to the world would be unfinished were We to
omit another most important feature,—learning. This the
Church requires of him; for the Catholic priest is set up as
a “Master in Israel”; he has received from Jesus Christ the
office and commission of teaching truth: “Teach ... all na-
tions.” He must teach the truth that heals and saves; and
because of this teaching, like the Apostle of the Gentiles,

he has a duty towards “the learned and the unlearned.”
But how can he teach unless he himself possess knowledge?
“The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall
seek the law at his mouth,” said the Holy Spirit in the
Prophecy of Malachy. Who could ever utter a word in
praise of sacerdotal learning more weighty than that which
divine Wisdom itself once spoke by the mouth of Osee:
“Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee

that thou shalt not do the office of priesthood to Me.” The
priest should have full grasp of the Catholic teaching on
faith and morals; he should know how to present it to oth-
ers; and he should be able to give the reasons for the dog-
mas, laws and observances of the Church of which he is min-
ister. Profane sciences have indeed made much progress;
but in religious questions there is much ignorance still dark-
ening the mind of our contemporaries. This ignorance the
priest must dispel. Never was more pointed than today
the warning of Tertullian, Hoc unum gestit interdum (veri-
tas), ne ignorata damnetur,” “This alone truth sometimes
craves, that it be not condemned unheard.” It is the priest’s
task to clear away from men’s minds the mass of preju-
dices and misunderstandings which hostile adversaries have
piled up; the modern mind is eager for the truth, and the
priest should be able to point it out with serene frankness

;

there are souls still hesitating, distressed by doubts, and the
priest should inspire courage and trust, and guide them with
calm security to the safe port of faith, faith accepted by
both head and heart; error makes its onslaughts, arrogant
and persistent, and the priest should know how to meet
them with a defense vigorous and active, yet solid and un-
ruffled.



24 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

Continued Studies

Therefore, Venerable Brethren, it is necessary that the
priest, even among the absorbing tasks of his charge, and
ever with a view to it, should continue his theological studies
with unremitting zeal. The knowledge acquired at the semi-
nary is indeed a sufficient foundation with which to begin

;

but it must be grasped more thoroughly, and perfected by
an ever-increasing knowledge and understanding of the
sacred sciences. Herein is the source of effective preaching
and of influence over the souls of others. Yet even more is
required. The dignity of the office he holds, and the main-
tenance of a becoming respect and esteem among the people,
which helps so much in his pastoral work, demand more
than purely ecclesiastical learning. The priest must be
graced by no less knowledge and culture than is usual among
well-bred and well-educated people of his day. This is to
say that he must be healthily modern, as is the Church,
which is at home in all times and all places, and adapts
itself to all

;
which blesses and furthers all healthy initiative

and has no fear of the progress, even the most daring
progress, of science, if only it be true science.

Indeed, in all ages the Catholic clergy has distinguished
itself in every field of human knowledge; in fact, in certain
centuries it so took the lead in the field of learning that

the word “cleric” became synonymous with “learned.” The
Church preserved and saved the treasures of ancient cul-
ture, which without her and her monasteries would have
been almost entirely lost; and her most illustrious Doctors
show that all human knowledge can help to throw light
upon and to defend the Catholic faith. An illustrious ex-
ample of this We Ourselves have recently called to the world’s
attention. For We crowned with the halo of sanctity and
the glorious title of Doctor of the Church that great teacher
of the incomparable Aquinas: Albert of Cologne, whom his
contemporaries had already honored with the titles of Great
and of Universal Doctor.

Today it could hardly be hoped that the clergy could
hold a similar primacy in every branch of knowledge; the

range of human science has become so vast that no man can
comprehend it all, much less become distinguished in each
of its numberless branches. Nevertheless wise encourage-



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 25

ment and help should be given to those members of the
clergy, who, by taste and special gifts, feel a call to de-
vote themselves to study and research, in this or that

branch of science, in this or that art; they do not thereby

deny their clerical profession
;
for all this, undertaken within

just limits and under the guidance of the Church, redounds

to the good estate of the Church and to the glory of her
divine Head, Jesus Christ. And among the rest of the
clergy, none should remain content with a standard of learn-
ing and culture which sufficed, perhaps, in other times; they
must try to attain—or, rather, they must actually attain

—

a higher standard of general education and of learning. It
must be broader and more complete

;
and it must correspond

to the generally higher level and wider scope of modern
education as compared with the past.

Sometimes, it is true, and even in modern times, Our
Lord makes the world, as it were, His plaything; for He has
been pleased to elect to the priestly state men almost devoid
of that learning of which We have been speaking; and
through them He has worked wonders. But He did this
that all might learn, if there be a choice, to prize holiness

more than learning; not to place more trust in human than
in divine means. He did this because the world has need,
from time to time, to hear repeated that wholesome, practi-

cal lesson: “The foolish things of the world hath God chosen
to confound the wise . . . that no flesh should glory in His

sight.”

In the natural order, divine miracles suspend for a mo-
ment the effect of physical laws, but do not revoke them.
So, too, the case of these Saints, real living miracles in

whom high sanctity made up for all the rest, does not make
the lesson We have been teaching any the less true or any
the less necessary.

Virtue, Learning Required

It is clear, then, that virtue and learning are required,
that there is need of example and of edification, need for
the priest to spread on all sides, and to all who draw near
him “the good odor of Christ.” This need is today more
keenly felt, and has become more evident and urgent. This
is because of Catholic Action, that movement so consoling,
which has within it the power to spur on to the very highest



26 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

ideals of perfection. Through Catholic Action the relations
of the laity with priests are becoming more frequent and
more intimate. And in this collaboration, the laity quite
naturally look upon the priest not merely as a guide, but as
a model also of Christian life and of apostolic virtue.

Ill

The state of the priesthood is thus most sublime, and
the gifts it calls for very lofty. Hence, Venerable Brethren,
the inescapable necessity of giving candidates for the sanc-

tuary a training correspondingly superior.
Conscious of this necessity, the Church down the ages

has shown for nothing a more tender solicitude and moth-
erly care than for the training of her priests. She is not
unaware that, as the religious and moral conditions of peo-
ples depend in great measure upon their priests, so too, the
future of the priest depends on the training he has re-
ceived. The words of the Holy Spirit apply no less truly
to him than to others: “A young man according to his way,
even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Hence,
the Church, moved by the Holy Spirit, has willed that every-
where seminaries should be erected, where candidates for
the priesthood may be trained and educated with singular
care.

The seminary is and should be the apple of your eye,
Venerable Brethren, who share with Us the heavy weight
of the government of the Church; it is, and should be, the
chief object of your solicitude. Careful above all should be
the choice of superiors and professors; and, in a most special
manner, of the spiritual father, who has so delicate and so
important a part in the nurture of the priestly spirit. Give
the best of your clergy to your seminaries; do not fear to

take them from other positions. These positions may seem
of greater moment, but in reality their importance is not to
be compared with that of the seminaries, which is capital
and indispensable. Seek also from elsewhere, wherever you
can find them, men really fitted for this noble task. Let
them be such as teach priestly virtues, rather by example
than by words, men who are capable of imparting, together
with learning, a solid, manly and apostolic spirit. Make
piety, purity, discipline and study flourish in the seminary.

With prudent foresight, arm and fortify the immature minds



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 27

of students both against the temptations of the present, and
against the far more serious perils of the future. For they
will be exposed to all the temptations of the world, in the
midst of which they must live, “that they save all.”

Scholastic Philosophy

Now it is of great importance, as We have said, that
priests should have a learning adequate to the requirements
of the age. For the attainment of this, in addition to a
solid classical education, there is required both instruction
and training in scholastic philosophy “according to the
method, and the mind and the principles of St. Thomas
Aquinas”

—

ad Angelici Doctoris rationem, doctrinam et
principia. This Our Illustrious Predecessor, Leo XIII, has
called the philosophia perennis. It is essential to the future

priest. It will help him to a thorough understanding of
dogma. It will effectively forearm him against modern
errors of whatever sort. It will sharpen his mind to dis-
tinguish truth from falsehood. It will form him to habits
of intellectual clearness, so necessary in any studies or prob-
lems of the future. It will give him a great superiority over
others, whose mere erudition, perhaps, is wider but who lack
philosophical training.

There are some regions, where the dioceses are small, or
students unhappily few, or where there is a shortage of
means and suitable men. Hence it is impossible for every
diocese to have its own seminary, equipped according to all
the regulations of Canon Law and other prescriptions of the
Church. Where this happens, it is most proper that the
Bishops of the district should help one another in broth-
erly charity, should concentrate and unite their forces in
a common seminary, fully worthy of its high purpose. The
great advantages of such concentration amply repay the sac-
rifices entailed in obtaining it. It is indeed a sacrifice, griev-

ous to the fatherly heart of a Bishop, to see his clerics, even
for a time, taken away from their shepherd, who wishes him-
self to give his future co-workers his own apostolic spirit;
and to see them taken away from the diocese which is to
be the field of their ministry. But these sacrifices will all
be repaid with interest when these clerics return as priests.
They will be better formed, and more richly endowed with
spiritual wealth, which they will spend with greater gener-



28 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

osity and with greater profit to their diocese. Therefore,
We have never let pass an opportunity to favor, and en-
courage and foster such efforts. Often, in fact, We have
suggested and recommended them. On Our part, also,
wherever We thought it necessary, We have Ourselves, as
is well known, erected or improved or enlarged several such
regional seminaries, not without heavy expense and trouble;
and We will continue in the future, by the help of God, to
apply Ourselves with all zeal to this work; for We hold it
to be most conducive to the good of the Church.

This achievement in the erection and management of
Seminaries for the education of future priests deserves all
praise. But it would be of little avail, were there any lack
of care in the selecting and approving of candidates. In
this selection and approval, all who are in charge of the
clergy should have some part: superiors, spiritual directors
and confessors, each in the manner and within the limits
proper to his office. They must indeed foster and strength-
en vocations with sedulous care

;
but with no less zeal they

must discourage unsuitable candidates, and in good time
send them away from a path not meant for them. Such are
all youths who show a lack of necessary fitness, and who
are, therefore, unlikely to persevere in the priestly ministry

both worthily and becomingly. In these matters hesitation
and delay is a serious mistake and may do serious harm. It
is far better to dismiss an unfit student in the early stages;
but if, for any reason, such dismissal has been delayed, the
mistake should be corrected as soon as it is known. There
should be no human consideration or false mercy. Such
false mercy would be a real cruelty, not only towards the
Church, to whom would be given an unfitted or unworthy
minister, but also towards the youth himself

;
for, thus em-

barked upon a false course, he would find himself exposed
to the risk of becoming a stumbling block to himself and

to others with peril of eternal ruin.

True Priestly Vocation

The Head of the Seminary lovingly follows the youths
entrusted to his care and studies the inclinations of each.
His watchful and experienced eye will perceive, without dif-
ficulty, whether one or other have, or have not, a true



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 29

priestly vocation. This, as you well know, Venerable
Brethren, is not established so much by some inner feeling
or devout attraction, which may sometimes be absent or
hardly perceptible; but rather by a right intention in the
aspirant, together with a combination of physical, intellec-

tual and moral qualities which make him fitted for such a
state of life. He must look to the priesthood solely from
the noble motive of consecrating himself to the service of
God and the salvation of souls; he must likewise have, or
at least strive earnestly to acquire, solid piety, perfect purity

of life and sufficient knowledge such as We have explained
on a previous page. Thus he shows that he is called by God
to the priestly state. Whoever, on the other hand, urged
on, perhaps, by ill-advised parents, looks to this state as a
means to temporal and earthly gains which he imagines
and desires in the priesthood, as happened more often in
the past; whoever is intractable, unruly or undisciplined,
has small taste for piety, is not industrious, and shows little
zeal for souls

;
whoever has a special tendency to sensuality,

and after long trial has not proved he can conquer it; who-
ever has no aptitude for study and who will be unable to
follow the prescribed courses with due satisfaction

;
all such

cases show that they are not intended for the priesthood.
By letting them go on almost to the threshold of the sanc-
tuary, superiors only make it ever more difficult for them
to draw back; and, perhaps, even cause them to accept ordi-
nation through human respect, without vocation and with-
out the priestly spirit.

Let Superiors of seminaries, together with the spiritual
directors and confessors, reflect how weighty a responsibil-
ity they assume before God, before the Church, and before
the youths themselves, if they do not take all means at their
disposal to avoid a false step. We declare too, that confessors
and spiritual directors could also be responsible for such a
grave error; not indeed because they can take any outward
action, since that is severely forbidden them by their most
delicate office itself, and often also by the inviolable sacra-
mental seal

;
but because they can have a great influence on

the souls of the individual students, and with paternal firm-
ness they should guide each according to his spiritual needs.

Should the superiors, for whatever reason, not take steps or

show themselves weak, then especially should confessors



30 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

and spiritual directors admonish the unsuited and unworthy,
without any regard to human consideration, of their obliga-
tion to retire while yet there is time; in this they should

keep to the most secure opinion, which in this case is the one
most in favor of the penitent, for it saves him from a step
which could be for him eternally fatal. If sometimes they
should not see so clearly that an obligation is to be im-

posed, let them, at least, use all the authority which springs
from their office and the paternal affection they have for
their spiritual sons, and so induce those who have not the
necessary fitness to retire of their own free will. Let con-
fessors remember the words of St. Alphonsus Liguori on a
similar matter: “In general ... in such cases the more
severity the confessbr uses with his penitents, the more will
he help them towards their salvation; and on the contrary,
the more cruel will he be the more he is benign.” St. Thomas
of Villanova called such over-kind confessors: Impie pios—
“wickedly kind”; “such charity is contrary to charity.”

Bishop’s Responsibility

The chief responsibility, however, rests with the Bishop,
who according to the severe law of the Church “should not
confer holy orders on anyone, unless from positive signs he

is morally certain of canonical fitness; otherwise he not only

sins grievously, but also places himself in danger of sharing

in the sins of others.” This canon is a clear echo of the

warning of the Apostle to Timothy: “Impose not hands

lightly on any man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins.”
“To impose hands lightly,” Our Predecessor St. Leo the
Great expounds, “is to confer the sacerdotal dignity on per-

sons not sufficiently approved: before maturity in age, be-

fore merit of obedience, before a time of testing, before trial

of knowledge; and to be a partaker of other men’s sins is

for the ordainer to become as unworthy as the unworthy

man whom he ordains”; for as St. John Chrysostom says,
“You who have conferred the dignity upon him must take
the responsibility of both his past and his future sins.”

These are severe words, Venerable Brethren, yet still

more dreadful is the responsibility which they declare, a re-

sponsibility which justified the great Bishop of Milan, St.

Charles Borromeo in saying: “In this matter, my slightest



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 31

neglect can involve me in very great sin.” Listen to the
warning of Chrysostom whom We have just quoted: “Im-
pose not hands after the first trial, nor after the second, nor

yet the third, but only after frequent and careful observa-

tion and searching examination”; a warning which applies

in an especial way to the question of the uprightness of life
in candidates to the priesthood: “It is not enough,” says

the holy Bishop and Doctor St. Alpbonsus de Liguori, “that
the Bishop know nothing evil of the ordinand, but he must
have positive evidence of his uprightness.” Hence, do not

fear to seem harsh if, in virtue of your rights and fulfilling
your duty, you require such positive proofs of worthiness be-
for ordination; or if you defer an ordination in case of
doubt; because, as St. Gregory the Great eloquently teaches:

“Cut from the forest beams fit for building; but do not
place the weight of the building upon them at once. Delay
many days, until they are dried and made fit for the pur-
pose; because if this precaution be omitted, very soon they

will break under the weight”
;
or, to use the short but clear

expression of the Angelic Doctor: “Holiness must come be-
fore holy orders . . . hence the burden of orders should be

placed only on walls seasoned with sanctity, freed of the

damp of sins.”
In short, let all canonical prescriptions be carefully

obeyed, and let everyone put into practice the wise rules on
this subject, which We caused to be promulgated a few
years ago by the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments.
Thus will the Church be saved much grief, and the faithful
much scandal.

We have also had similar regulations sent to Religious;
and while We urge upon all concerned their faithful observ-
ance, We now recall them to the attention of all heads of
religious institutes, who have youths destined for the priest-
hood. They should consider as addressed also to them what
We have recommended above concerning the formation of
the clergy; since it is they who present their students for
ordination, and the Bishop usually relies upon their judg-
ment.



32 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

Need for Severity
Bishops and religious superiors should not be deterred

from this needful severity by fear of diminishing the num-
ber of priests for the diocese or institute. The Angelic Doc-
tor St. Thomas long ago proposed this difficulty, and an-
swers it with his usual lucidity and wisdom: “God never
abandons His Church; and so the number of priests will
be always sufficient for the needs of the faithful, provided
the worthy are advanced and the unworthy sent away.”
The Same Doctor and Saint, basing himself upon the severe
words quoted by the Fourth Oecumenical Council of the
Lateran, observes to Our purpose: “Should it ever become
impossible to maintain the present number, it is better to
have a few good priests than a multitude of bad ones.” It
was in this sense that We Ourselves, on the solemn occasion
of the international pilgrimage of seminarists during the

year of Our priestly Jubilee, addressing an imposing group
of Italian Archbishops and Bishops, reaffirmed that one
well trained priest is worth more than many trained badly
or scarcely at all. For such would be not merely unreliable
but a likely source of sorrow to the Church. What a terri-
fying account, Venerable Brethren, We shall have to give to
the Prince of Shepherds, to the Supreme Bishop of souls, if
we have handed over these souls to incompetent guides and
incapable leaders.

Yet although it remains unquestionably true that mere
numbers should not be the chief concern of those engaged in
the education of the clergy, yet at the same time, all should

do their utmost to increase the ranks of strong and zealous
workers in the vineyard of the Lord; the more so, as the
moral needs of society are growing greater instead of less.

Of all the means to this noble end, the easiest and the most
effective is prayer. This is, moreover, a means within the
power of everyone. It should be assiduously used by all,
as it was enjoined by Jesus Christ Himself: “The harvest,
indeed, is great but the laborers are few. Pray ye, therefore,

the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers into
His harvest.” What prayer could be more acceptable to
the Sacred Heart of our Saviour? What prayer is more
likely to be answered as promptly and bounteously as this,

which meets so nearly the burning desire of that Divine

Heart?” “Ask therefore, and it will be given unto you”;



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 33

ask for good and holy priests and Our Lord will not refuse
to send them to His Church, as ever He has done throughout
the centuries. It has been, in fact, precisely in times which

seemed least propitious, that the number of priestly voca-
tions increased. This is clear from Catholic hagiography of

the nineteenth century, a century rich in splendid names on
the rolls both of secular and regular clergy. One has only
to think of those three splendid saints whom We Ourselves
had the consolation of canonizing—St. John Mary Vianney,
St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo and St. John Bosco, men of
truly lofty holiness, each in his special way.

Now God Himself liberally sows in the generous hearts
of many young men this precious seed of vocation; but
human means of cultivating this seed must not be neglected.
There are innumerable ways and countless holy means sug-
gested by the Holy Spirit; and all such salutary works
which strive to preserve, promote and help priestly voca-
tions, We praise and bless with all Our heart. “No matter
how we seek,” says the lovable Saint of charity, Vincent de
Paul, “we shall always discover ourselves unable to con-
tribute to anything more great than to the making of good
priests.” In truth nothing is more acceptable to God, of
more honor to the Church, and more profitable to souls than
the precious gift of a holy priest. If he who offers even a
cup of water to one of the least of the disciples of Christ

“shall not lose his reward,” what reward will he receive who
places, so to speak, into the pure hands of a young priest
the sacred chalice, in which is contained the Blood of Re-

demption; who helps him to lift it up to heaven, a pledge
of peace and of blessing for mankind?

Catholic Action

And here Our thoughts turn gladly to that Catholic Ac-
tion, so much desired and promoted and defended by Us.
For by Catholic Action the laity share in the hierarchical
apostolate of the Church, and hence it cannot neglect this
vital problem of priestly vocations. Comfort has filled Our
heart to see the associates of Catholic Action everywhere

distinguishing themselves in all fields of Christian activity,

but especially in this. Certainly the richest reward of such

activity is that really wonderful number of priestly and



34 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

religious vocations which continue to flourish in their organ-
izations for the young. This shows that these organizations
are both a fruitful ground of virtue, and also a well-guarded
and well cultivated nursery, where the most beautiful and
delicate flowers may develop without danger. May all mem-
bers of Catholic Action feel the honor which thus falls on
their association. Let them be persuaded that, in no better
way than by this work for an increase in the ranks of the
secular and regular clergy, can the Catholic laity really par-
ticipate in the high dignity of the “kingly priesthood” which

the Prince of the Apostles attributes to the whole body of
the redeemed.

But the first and most natural place where the flowers
of the sanctuary should almost spontaneously grow and
bloom, remains always the truly and deeply Christian fam-
ily. Most of the saintly Bishops and priests Whose “praise
the Church declares,” owe the beginning of their vocation
and their holiness to the example and teaching of a father
strong in faith and manly virtues, of a pure and devoted
mother, and of a family in which the love of God and neigh-
bor, joined with simplicity of life, has reigned supreme. To
this ordinary rule of Divine Providence exceptions are rare

and only serve to prove the rule.
In an ideal home the parents, like Tobias and Sara, beg

of God a numerous posterity “in which Thy name may be
blessed forever,” and receive it as a gift from heaven and
a precious trust

;
they strive to instill into their children from

their early years a holy fear of God, and true Christian
piety; they foster a tender devotion to Jesus, the Blessed

Sacrament and the Immaculate Virgin; they teach respect
and veneration for holy places and persons. In such a home
the children see in their parents a model of an upright, in-
dustrious and pious life; they see their parents holily loving
each other in Our Lord, see them approach the Holy Sacra-
ments frequently and not only obey the laws of the Church

concerning abstinence and fasting, but also observe the

spirit of voluntary Christian mortification; they see them
pray at home, gathering around them all the family, that

common prayer may rise more acceptably to heaven; they
find them compassionate towards the distress of others and

see them divide with the poor the much or the little they
possess.



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 35

In such a home it is scarcely possible that, while all
seek to copy their parents’ example, none of the sons should
listen to and accept the invitation of the Divine Master:
“Come ye after Me, and I will make you to be fishers of
men.” Blessed are those Christian parents who are able
to accept without fear the vocations of their sons, and see
in them a signal honor for their family and a mark of the
special love and providence of Our Lord. Still more blessed,
if, as was often the case in ages of greater faith, they make
such divine visitations the object of their earnest prayer.

Parental Objections

Yet it must be confessed with sadness that only too
often parents seem to be unable to resign themselves to the
priestly or religious vocations of their children. Such
parents have no scruple in opposing the divine call with
objections of all kinds; they even have recourse to means
which can imperil not only the vocation to a more perfect
state, but also the very conscience and the eternal salva-
tion of those souls they ought to hold so dear. This hap-
pens all too often in the case even of parents who glory in
being sincerely Christian and Catholic, especially in the
higher and more cultured classes. This is a deplorable
abuse, like that unfortunately prevalent in centuries past,
of forcing children into the ecclesiastical career without the
fitness of a vocation. It hardly does honor to those higher
classes of society, which are on the whole so scantily repre-
sented in the ranks of the clergy. The lack of vocations in
families of the middle and upper classes may be partly ex-
plained by the dissipations of modern life, the seductions,
which especially in the larger cities, prematurely awaken
the passions of youth; the schools in many places which
scarcely conduce to the development of vocations. Never-
theless, it must be admitted that such a scarcity reveals a
deplorable falling off of faith in the families themselves.

Did they indeed look at things in the light of faith, what
greater dignity could Christian parents desire for their sons,

what ministry more noble, than that which, as We have said,
is worthy of the veneration of men and angels? A long and
sad experience has shown that a vocation betrayed—the
word is not to be thought too strong—is a source of tears
not only for the sons but also for the ill-advised parents;



36 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

and God grant that such tears be not so long delayed as to
become eternal tears.

IV

And now, finally, to you, dear Children, Priests of the
Most High, both secular and regular, the world over, We
address Our words. You are “Our glory and joy,” you,
who with such generosity bear the “burden of the day and
the heats,” you, who so powerfully help Us and Our Breth-
ren of the Episcopate in fulfilling the duty of feeding the
flock of Christ. To you We send Our Paternal thanks and
Our warmest encouragement. We know and fully appre-
ciate your admirable zeal; and to it, in the needs of the
present, We make this heartfelt appeal. These needs are
becoming daily graver. All the more must your redeeming
work grow and intensify; for “you are the salt of the earth,
and the light of the world.”

If, however, your work is to be blessed by God and pro-
duce abundant fruit, it must be rooted in holiness of life.
Sanctity, as We said above, is the chief and most important
endowment of the Catholic priest. Without it other gifts
will not go far; with it, even supposing other gifts be
meager, the priest can work marvels. We have the example
of St. Joseph of Cupertino, and in times nearer to our own,
of that humble Cure d’Ars, St. John Mary Vianney, of whom
We have already spoken; whom We have willed to set up
before all parish priests as their model and heavenly Patron.
Therefore with the Apostle of the Gentiles, We say to you:
“Behold your vocation”; and beholding it, you cannot fail to
value ever more highly the grace given to you in ordination
and to strive to “walk worthily of the vocation in which you
are called.”

Spiritual Exercises

In this striving you will be most wonderfully helped by
a practice commended by Our Predecessor of holy memory
Pius X. This commendation is contained in that “Exhorta-
tion to the Catholic Clergy,” which he wrote with such
unction and affection. This We warmly recommend you
to read. In it, among all the means to preserve and in-
crease the grace of the priesthood, he placed first the use

of the Spiritual Exercises. This means We Ourselves have



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 37

also frequently recommended; and particularly in Our En-
cyclical Letter Mens Nostra

,

We have paternally and sol-
emnly urged it upon all Our sons, but more especially upon
Our Priests. As the year of Our priestly Jubilee drew to a
close, We could find no better and more salutary reminder
of that happy anniversary, than to give to Our sons an in-
vitation, through the above-mentioned letter, to draw more
copiously from the waters of life springing up into life ever-
lasting, this inexhaustible fountain providentially opened by
God to His Church. Again now, to you, Our Dear Brethren,
who are all the closer to Us because you work more directly
with Us to establish the kingdom of Christ upon earth, We
believe We cannot give better proof of Our Fatherly affec-
tion than by exhorting you most fervently to make use of
this means of sanctification, to the best of your abilities.
Take for your guide those principles and norms laid down
by Us in the above-mentioned Encyclical. It is not enough
to withdraw to the sacred seclusion of the Spiritual Exer-
cises only at the intervals and in the exact measure pre-
scribed by ecclesiastical law but you should enter into re-
treat more often and for longer periods, as far as possible
to you, and you should consecrate, in addition, a day of
each month to more fervent prayer and greater recollection,
according to the practice of priests of great zeal.

In such retreats and recollection even one who may have
entered in sortem Domini, not by the straight way of a true
vocation, but for earthly or less noble motives, will be able
to “stir up the grace of God.” For he, too, is now indis-
solubly bound to God and the Church, and so nothing re-
mains for him but to follow the advice of St. Bernard: “If
sanctity of life did not precede, let it at least follow ... for

the future make good your ways and ambitions and make
holy your ministry.” The grace of God, and specifically
that grace proper to the Sacrament of Hbly Orders, will not
fail to lend aid, if he sincerely wishes to correct whatever

was originally amiss in his purpose or conduct. However
it may have come about that he undertook the obligations
of the priesthood, the abiding grace of this divine sacra-

ment will not be wanting in power to enable him to fulfill
them.

Each and all of you, then, from the recollection and
prayer of a retreat will come out fortified against the snares



38 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

of the world, quickened by lively zeal for the salvation of
souls, and enkindled with the love of God, as befits priests
in times like the present. For together with so much cor-
ruption and diabolical malice, there is everywhere felt a pow-
erful religious and spiritual awakening, a breath of the Holy
Spirit, sent forth over the world to sanctify it, and to renew
with its creative force the face of the earth. Filled with the
Holy Ghost you will communicate this love of God like a
holy fire to all who approach you, becoming in a true sense
bearers of Christ in a disordered society, which can hope
for salvation from Jesus Christ alone, since He, and He
alone, is ever “the true Saviour of the world.”

Preparation Urged

Before concluding, We turn Our thoughts and Our
words, with very special tenderness to you who are still in
your studies for the priesthood; and urge you from the
depth of Our heart to prepare yourselves with all serious-
ness for the great task to which God calls you. You are
the hope of the Church and of the people, who look for so
much, or rather everything, to you. For to you they look
for that living and life-giving knowledge of God and of
Jesus Christ, in which is eternal life. In piety, purity,
humility, obedience, discipline and study strive then to make
yourselves priests after the Heart of God. We assure you that
in the task of fitting yourselves for the priesthood by solid
virtue and learning, no care, no diligence, no energy can be
too great

;
because upon it so largely depend all your future

apostolic labors. See to it that on the day of your ordi-

nation to the priesthood, the Church find you in fact such

as she wishes you to be, that is “replenished with heavenly

wisdom, irreproachable in life and established in the ways

of grace,” so that “the sweet odor of your life may be a
delight to the Church of Christ, that both by word and good
example you may build the house, that is, the family of
God.”

Only thus can you continue the glorious traditions of the

Catholic priesthood and hasten that most auspicious hour

when it will be given to all humanity to enjoy the fruits of
the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ.

And before concluding Our letter, to you, Venerable
Brethren in the the Episcopate, and through you to all Our



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 39

beloved sons of both clergy, We are happy to add a solemn
proof of Our gratitude for the holy cooperation by which,
under your guidance and example, this Holy Year of Re-
demption has been made so fruitful to souls. We wish to
perpetuate the memory and the glory of that Priesthood, of
which Ours and yours, Venerable Brethren, and that of all
priests of Christ, is but a participation and continuation.
We have thought it opportune, after consulting the Sacred
Congregation of Rites, to prepare a special votive Mass, for
Thursdays, according to liturgical rules: De summo et
(Bterno Iesu Christi Sacerdotio, to honor “Jesus Christ, Su-

preme and Eternal Priest.” It is Our pleasure and conso-
lation to publish this Mass together with this, Our Encycli-
cal Letter.

There only remains for Us, Venerable Brethren, to im-
part to all the Apostolic and paternal Benediction, which
all expect and desire from their common Father. May it
be a blessing of thanksgiving for all the benefits poured out
by Divine Providence in these extraordinary Holy Years
of the Redemption; may it be a blessing of good augury for
the new year which is about to begin.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, the twentieth day of
December, 1935, in the fifty-sixth anniversary of Our priest-
hood, the fourteenth of Our Pontificate.

PIUS PP. XI.

Excerpt from the Encyclical of

Pope Pius XI
“On Atheistic Communism”

Priests as “First-line Ministers”

rpO apply the remedies thus briefly indicated to the task
of saving the World as We have traced it above, Jesus

Christ, our Divine King, has chosen priests as the first-line
ministers and messengers of His gospel. Theirs is the duty,
assigned to them by a special vocation, under the direction



40 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

of their bishops and in filial obedience to the Vicar of Christ
on earth, of keeping alight in the world the torch of Faith,
and of filling the hearts of the Faithful with that super-
natural trust which has aided the Church to fight and win
so many other battles in the name of Christ: “This is the
victory which overcometh the world, our Faith.”

“Go to the Workingmen”

To priests in a special way We recommend anew the oft-
repeated counsel of Our Predecessor, Leo XIII, to go to
the workingman. We make this advice Our own, and, faith-
ful to the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church, We
thus complete it: “Go to the workingman, especially where
he is poor; and in general, go to the poor.” The poor are
obviously more exposed than others to the wiles of agitators
who, taking advantage of their extreme need, kindle their
hearts to envy of the rich and urge them to seize by force
what fortune seems to have denied them unjustly. If the
priest will not go to the workingman and to the poor, to
warn them or to disabuse them of prejudice and false theory,
they will become an easy prey for the apostles of Com-
munism.

Indisputably much has been done in this direction, es-
pecially after the publication of the Encyclicals Rerum No-
varum and Quadragesimo Anno. We are happy to voice
Our paternal approval of the zealous pastoral activity mani-
fested by so many bishops and priests who have with due
prudence and caution, been planning and applying new
methods of apostolate more adapted to modern needs. But
for the solution of our present problem, all this effort is still

inadequate. When our country is in danger, everything not
strictly necessary, everything not bearing directly on the

urgent matter of unified defense, takes second place. So we
must act in today’s crisis. Every other enterprise, however
attractive and helpful, must yield before the vital need of
protecting the very foundation of the Faith and of Christian
civilization. Let our parish priests, therefore, while provid-

ing of course for the normal needs of the Faithful, dedicate

the better part of their endeavors and their zeal to winning
back the laboring masses to Christ and to His Church. Let
them work to infuse the Christian spirit into quarters where



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 41

it is least at home. The willing response of the masses, and
results far exceeding their expectations, will not fail to re-

ward them for their strenuous pioneer labor. This has been

and continues to be our experience in Rome and in other
capitals, where zealous parish communities are being formed

as new churches are built in the suburban districts, and real
miracles are being worked in the conversion of people whose

hostility to religion has been due solely to the fact that they

did not know it.

Priest’s Example

But the most efficacious means of apostolate among the
poor and lowly is the priest’s example, the practice of all
those sacerdotal virtues which We have described in Our
Encyclical Ad Catholici Sacerdotii. Especially needful, how-
ever, for the present situation is the shining example of a
life which is humble, poor and disinterested, in imitation
of a Divine Master who could say to the world with divine
simplicity: “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air
nests, but the Son of Man hath nowhere to lay His head.”
A priest who is really poor and disinterested in the Gospel
sense may work among his flock marvels, recalling a St.
Vincent de Paul, a Cure of Ars, a Cottolengo, a Don Bosco
and so many others; while an avaricious and selfish priest,
as We have noted in the above-mentioned Encyclical, even
though he should not plunge with Judas to the abyss of
treason, will never be more than empty “sounding brass”
and a useless “tinkling cymbal.” Too often, indeed, he will
be a hindrance rather than an instrument of grace in the
midst of his people. Furthermore, where a secular priest or
Religious is obliged by his office to administer temporal
property, let him remember that he is not only to observe
scrupulously all that charity and justice prescribe, but that
he has a special obligation to conduct himself in very truth
as a father of the poor.



42 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

Excerpt from the Encyclical of
Pope Pius XI

“On the Reconstruction of the
Social Order”

Social Studies for Seminarians

NO easy task is here imposed upon the clergy, whereforeall candidates for the sacred priesthood must be ade-
quately prepared to meet it by intense study of social matters.
It is particularly necessary, however, that they whom you
specially select and devote to this work show themselves en-
dowed with a keen sense of justice ready to oppose with real
manly constancy unjust claims and unjust actions; that they
avoid every extreme with consummate prudence and discre-
tion; above all, that they be thoroughly imbued with the
charity of Christ, which alone has power to incline men’s
hearts and wills firmly and gently to the laws of equity and
justice. This course, already productive of success in the

past, we must follow now with alacrity.
Further, We earnestly exhort in the Lord the beloved

sons who are chosen for this task, to devote themselves
wholeheartedly to the formation of the men entrusted to
them. In the execution of this most priestly and apostolic
work, let them make opportune use of the powerful resources
of Christian training, by instructing youth, by founding
Christian associations, by forming study circles on Christian
lines.

Retreats to Foster Zeal

Above all, let them hold in high esteem and employ with
diligence for the benefit of their disciples the spiritual exer-

cises, a most precious means of personal and of social re-
form, as We said in Our Encyclical “Mens Nostra.” These
exercises We declared in express terms to be most useful for
the laity in general and especially for workingmen, and We
warmly recommended them; for in that school of the spirit
not only are excellent Christians formed, but real apostles of

every state of life are trained and enkindled with the fire of



THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD 43

the Heart of Christ. From that school they will go forth, as

the Apostles from the cenacle in Jerusalem, strong in faith,

unconquerable in steadfastness under trials, aflame with zeal,

eager only for the spread in every way of the Kingdom of
Christ.

Excerpt from the Apostolic Letter

of Pope Pius XI
On the Mexican Episcopate

ND precisely to revive your confidence in Divine Aid,
and to encourage you to continue in the practice of a fer-

vent Christian life, We address this letter to you, and We
avail ourselves of this occasion to remind you how, under the

present difficult circumstances, the most efficacious means for

a Christian restoration are—and also among you—above all
the holiness of priests, and in the second place the correct
formation of the laity in order that they may be capable of
cooperating fruitfully in the apostolate of the Hierarchy, so

much more necessary in Mexico both because of the vastness
of the territory and because of other circumstances known

Our thought, therefore, is fixed in the first place on those
who must be the light that illuminates, the salt which con-
serves, the good leaven which penetrates the entire mass of
the Faithful: We mean your priests. In truth, We know
how tenaciously and at the cost of how many sacrifices you
care for the selection and increase of sacerdotal vocations, in
the midst of all sorts of difficulties, well persuaded as you
are thus to provide the solution of a vital problem, truly the
most vital of all the problems relating to the future of the
Church. In view of the almost absolute impossibility of
having in your own country well-ordered and tranquil semi-
naries, you have found in this city an ample and gracious
refuge in the South American Pio Latino College, which has
formed and continues to form in science and virtue so many
worthy priests and which, for its precious work, is particu-
larly dear to Us. But since in many cases it has been im-
possible to send your students to Rome, you have worked

to all.



44 THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

solicitously to find an asylum in the hospitality of a great
neighboring nation.

Expression of Gratitude

In congratulating you on this praiseworthy initiative,
which is already becoming a consoling reality, We again ex-
press Our gratitude to all those who have so generously
tendered you hospitality and assistance. And with paternal
instinct We remind you again on this occasion of Our pre-
cise wish that you make known and explain suitably, not
only to the clerics, but to all your priests, Our Encyclical Ad
Catholici Sacerdotii, which explains Our thoughts on this,
the gravest and most important among the grave and impor-
tant subjects treated by Us.

The Mexican priests thus formed according to the Heart
of Jesus Christ will feel that in the actual conditions of their

country (of which We spoke in Our Apostolic Letter Paterna
Sane Solicitudo of February 2, 1926)—which are so similar
to those of the early times of the Church, when the Apostles
appealed for the collaboration of the laity—it would be very
difficult to reconquer for Christ so many misguided souls
without the providential assistance which the laity give by
means of Catholic Action. More so since at times grace pre-
pares among them generous souls ready to develop most
fruitful activity if they encounter a learned and holy clergy
capable of understanding and guiding them.

Therefore, to the Mexican priests, who have dedicated
their lives to the service of Jesus Christ, of the Church and
of souls—to these We direct Our first and warmest appeal,
that they will generously second Our and your solicitude for
the progress of Catholic Action, dedicating to it their best

efforts and most opportune diligence. The methods of an
effective collaboration of the laity with your action will never

be lacking if the priests will devote themselves with care-

ful attention to cultivating the Christian people by means
of wise spiritual direction and careful religious instructions,

not diluted in vain discourses, but nourished with sound doc-

trine taken from Holy Scripture and full of unction and of
force.



3-34 °ll

The Following of Christ
by

GERARD GROOTE

Translated Into English by

JOSEPH MALAISE, S.J.

The discovery of the Liibeck Manuscript

establishes Gerard Groote as the author

of The Following of Christ.

The question of centuries is settled.

Thomas a Kempis collected, edited, and

translated the spiritual diaries of Gerard

Groote.

The first English edition based on

Groote’s text and translated directly

from the original Dutch.

$2.50

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