SESSION XXIII., A. D. 1563.

THE TRUE AND CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF THE SACRA

MENT OF ORDER.

CHAPTER I.—(Of the Institution of the Priesthood of the New Law.)

Sacrifice and priesthood are so joined together by the ordinance of God, that they existed under every dispensation. Therefore, since, under the New Testament, the Catholic Church has received the holy visible sacrifice of the eucharist by the institution of the Lord; it is necessary also to confess that there is in it a new visible and external priesthood, into which the old has been transferred. But the Sacred Writings show, and the tradition of the Catholic Church has always taught, that this was instituted by the same Lord, our Saviour; and that a power was given to

Caput I.

Sacrificium, et sacerdotium ita Dei ordinatione conjuncta sunt, ut utrumque in omni lege extiterit. Cum igitur in Novo Testa

mento sanctum eucharistiæ sacrificium visibile ex Domini institutione Catholica Ecclesia acceperit; fateri etiam oportet, in ea novum esse visibile, et externum sacerdotium, in quod vetus translatum est. Hoc autem ab eodem Domino Salvatore nostro institutum esse; atque apostolis, eorumque successoribus in sacerdotio, potestatem traditam consecrandi, offerendi, et ministrandi

the apostles and their successors in the priesthood, of consecrating, offering, and administering His body and blood, and also of remitting and retaining sins.

corpus et sanguinem ejus, necnon et peccata dimittendi, et retinendi, sacræ litteræ ostendunt, et Catholicæ Ecclesiæ traditio semper docuit.

CHAPTER II.-(Of the Seven Orders.)

But since the ministry of so holy a priesthood is a divine thing, it was right, with a view to its being exercised more worthily and with greater veneration, that in the orderly arrangement of the Church there should be many and diverse orders of ministers, who should serve the priesthood by virtue of their office, being so distributed, that they who had been marked with the clerical tonsure might ascend from the lesser to the greater; for the Sacred Writings make open mention not only of priests but also of deacons, and they teach, in the gravest words, what things are chiefly to be attended to in their ordination; and

Caput II.

Cum autem divina res sit tam sancti sacerdotii ministerium, consentaneum fuit, quo dignius, et majori cum veneratione exerceri posset, ut in Ecclesiæ ordinatissima dispositione plures, et diversi essent ministrorum ordines, qui sacerdotio ex officio deservirent; ita distributi, ut, qui jam clericali tonsura insigniti essent, per minores ad majores ascenderent. Nam non solum de sacerdotibus, sed et de diaconis, sacræ litteræ apertam mentionem faciunt; et quæ maxime in illorum ordinatione attendenda sunt,

from the very beginning of the Church the names of the following orders, and the proper offices of each of them, are known to have been in use, namely, subdeacon, acolyth, exorcist, reader, and doorkeeper. Not that they are all of equal degree, for the subdeaconship is referred to the superior orders, by the Fathers and the sacred councils, in which we very frequently read of the inferior orders.

gravissimis verbis docent; et ab ipso Ecclesiæ initio sequentium ordinum nomina, atque uniuscujusque eorum propria ministeria, subdiaconi scilicet, acolyti, exorcistæ, lectoris, et ostiarii in usu fuisse cognoscuntur, quamvis non pari gradu. Nam subdiaconatus ad majores ordines a Patribus, et sacris conciliis refertur, in quibus, et de aliis inferioribus frequentissime legimus.

CHAPTER III.—(That Ordination is truly and properly a Sacrament.)

Since it is clear by the testimony of Scripture, Apostolical tradition, and the unanimous consent of the Fathers, that grace is conferred by holy ordination which is accomplished by words and outward signs; no one ought to doubt that ordination is truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of

Caput III.

Cum, Scripturæ testimonio, Apostolica traditione, et Patrum unanimi consensu, perspicuum sit, per sacram ordinationem, quæ verbis, et signis exterioribus perficitur, gratiam conferri; dubitare nemo debet, ordinem esse vere, et proprie unum ex septem sanctæ Ecclesiæ sacramentis: inquit enim Apostolus, “Admoneo

holy Church; for the Apostle saith, "I charge thee that thou stir up the grace of God which is in thee by the laying on of my hands;" for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of virtue, and of love, and of soberness.

te, ut resuscites gratiam Dei, quæ est in te per impositionem manuum mearum :" non enim dedit nobis Deus spiritum timoris, sed virtutis (et dilectionis), et sobrietatis.

CHAPTER IV.—(Of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and of Ordination.)

But since in the sacrament of ordination, as is the case also in baptism and confirmation, a character is impressed, which can neither be obliterated nor taken away; the holy Synod deservedly condemns the opinion of those who assert that the priests of the New Testament have only power for a time, and that they who have been once duly ordained can again become laymen, if they do not exercise the ministry of the Word. But if any one affirms that all Christians promiscuously are priests of the New Testament, or all endowed with equal spiritual power

Caput IV.

Quoniam vero in sacramento ordinis, sicut et in baptismo, et confirmatione, character imprimitur, qui nec deleri, nec auferri potest; merito sancta Synodus damnat eorum sententiam, qui asserunt Novi Testamenti sacerdotes temporariam tantummodo potestatem habere; et semel rite ordinatos, iterum laicos effici posse, si verbi Dei ministerium non exerceant. Quod si quis omnes Christianos promiscue Novi Testamenti sacerdotes esse,

one with another, he seems to do nothing else than confound the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which is as it were, the first rank of the camp; as if, contrary to the teaching of St. Paul, all were apostles, all prophets, all evangelists, all pastors, all teachers. The holy Synod next declares that, above the other ecclesiastical degrees, the bishops who have succeeded into the place of the apostles, and are placed by the Holy Spirit, as the same apostle speaks, to govern the Church of God, chiefly appertain to this hierarchical ordination; and that they are superior to presbyters, and can confer the sacrament of confirmation, ordain the ministers of the Church, and perform many other offices, which the rest of the inferior order have no power to discharge. Moreover, the holy Synod teaches that in the ordination of bishops, of priests, and of the other orders, neither the consent, nor

aut omnes pari inter se potestate spirituali præditos affirmet; nihil aliud facere videtur, quam ecclesiasticam hierarchiam, quæ est ut castrorum acies ordinata, confundere; perinde ac si contra beati Pauli doctrinam omnes apostoli, omnes prophetæ, omnes evangelistæ, omnes pastores, omnes sint doctores. Proinde sacrosancta Synodus declarat, præter cæteros ecclesiasticos gradus, episcopos qui in apostolorum locum successerunt, ad hunc hierarchicum ordinem præcipue pertinere; et positos sicut idem Apostolus ait, a Spiritu Sancto regere Ecclesiam Dei, eosque presbyteris superiores esse, ac sacramentum confirmationis conferre, ministros Ecclesiæ ordinare, atque alia pleraque peragere ipsos posse; quarum functionum potestatem reliqui inferioris ordinis nullam habent. Docet insuper sancta Synodus, in ordinatione episcoporum, sacerdotum, et ceterorum ordinum, nec populi, nec cujusvis sæcularis potestatis, et magistratus consen