Breviloquium

Concerning the Sacrament of Order, this is to be held in summary: “order is a certain sign by which spiritual power is handed over to the person ordained.”¹ — Although Order is one of the seven Sacraments, the grade of orders is nevertheless sevenfold. The first is that of ostiaries, the second of readers, the third of exorcists, the fourth of acolytes, the fifth of subdeacons, the sixth of deacons, and the seventh of presbyters. To these, as it were by way of preparation, are added the clerical tonsure and also the office of psalmist; by way of completion, the episcopate, patriarchate, and even papacy are superadded. From these the orders proceed and must be conferred under due signs, both on the part of sight and on the part of hearing, with due solemnity nevertheless observed in regard to time, place, office, and person.

The reason for understanding the foregoing is this: our principle of restoration, namely, the incarnate Word, because he is God and man, instituted the remedies of the Sacraments for the salvation of human beings in an orderly, discriminating, and empowered manner, according to the demands of his goodness, wisdom, and power. Hence he entrusted the remedies of the Sacraments to human beings to be dispensed, not just anyhow, but in the manner demanded by order, discretion, and power. It was therefore necessary to distinguish and set apart certain persons for carrying out this office, to whom such power would be entrusted by ordinary right. — And because this distinction ought to be made only through sacred signs, such as the Sacraments, it follows that there had to be some Sacrament that would be a sacred sign of ordaining, distinguishing, and empowering, for the other Sacraments to be dispensed in a distinguishing, empowering, and ordering manner. And therefore Order is defined as “a certain sign in which spiritual power is handed over to the one ordained”; so that the three things just mentioned are enclosed together in its very definition, and from them one can gather in summary what is required for the integrity of Order.

First, then, since Order is a sign that distinguishes and sets apart from all the people, so that a person may be wholly devoted to divine worship, the orders are therefore preceded by a certain distinction in the tonsure and crown, by which the cutting away of temporal desires and the elevation of the mind to eternal things are understood, so that the cleric may be shown to be entirely dedicated to divine worship; and therefore, in receiving the crown, he says: “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance”² etc. — And since such a person ought to be instructed in divine praises, which chiefly consist in the Psalms, the office of psalmist therefore precedes the other orders as a preparation, although Isidore counted it broadly among the orders.

Second, since Order is an ordering sign and is itself also ordered, and since Order consists in a complete disparity and distinction of grades, according to what the sevenfold grace requires—for the dispensing of which the Sacrament of Order is principally ordained—it follows that there are seven orders arranged by degrees up to the priesthood, in which the state of orders resides, since it belongs to the priesthood to consecrate the Sacrament of Christ’s body, in which is the fullness of all graces. Hence the other six are, as it were, subordinate ministries and certain steps by which one ascends to Solomon’s throne;³ they are six both because of the perfection of the number, since six is the first perfect number, and because the perfection and sufficiency of the ministry of service require this arrangement. For some must minister, as it were, from farther away, some from nearer, and some from closest at hand, so that nothing is lacking in the ordered ministry. And because each of these ministries is doubled according to the acts of purifying and enlightening,⁴ it follows that there are six ministerial orders, and a seventh, the most perfect of all, in which the Sacrament of the altar is effected, and which is consummated in one order as in its final and complete term.

Finally, since Order is a sign of power not only with respect to dispensing the other Sacraments but also with respect to itself—and power over power is eminent power—it therefore has not only simple power, such as exists in a simple order, but also an eminence of power, such as belongs to those whose office it is to confer and dispense orders.⁵ And because excellence, the more it descends, the more it is extended, and the more it ascends, the more it is unified, it follows that there are many bishops, fewer archbishops, very few patriarchs, and one father of fathers, who is rightly called the Pope, as the one, first, and highest spiritual father of all fathers—indeed, of all the faithful—and the chief hierarch, the one bridegroom, the undivided head, the supreme Pontiff, the vicar of Christ, the fountain, origin, and rule of all ecclesiastical principalities. From him, as from the highest, ordered power is derived down to the lowest members of the Church, according to what the pre-eminent dignity of the ecclesiastical hierarchy requires.⁶

And because this dignity chiefly remains in Order, this Sacrament ought not to be dispensed except with great discretion and solemnity, and therefore not by just anyone, nor to just anyone, nor in just any place, nor at just any time. Rather, such orders ought to be conferred by bishops upon persons learned, honorable, and free from every irregularity, on an empty stomach, in a sacred place, at the time of Mass, and at the times established by ecclesiastical law. To bishops, on account of their eminence, are reserved the conferral of orders, confirmation through the imposition of hands, the consecration of nuns and abbots, and the dedication of churches;⁷ and on account of their solemnity these ought not to be dispensed except by those who possess pre-eminent power.