Holy Orders

Before any debate, one must hear what the Church says about Holy Orders in itself. The Catechism gives a very precise definition, distinguishing it from every other sacrament.

“Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his Apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time: thus it is the sacrament of apostolic ministry. It includes three degrees: episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1536^[8]

Everything is already there. Holy Orders is not first a promotion or a function: it is a channel of transmission. Through it, what Christ entrusted to the Twelve — preaching the Gospel, sanctifying through the sacraments, governing the People of God — does not die with the Apostles, but passes from age to age through an unbroken chain of ordinations. This is called apostolic succession.

Why the name “orders”?

The word can surprise: it may suggest arrangement or command more than the sacred. It comes from Roman law. In antiquity, the word ordo designated “an established civil body, especially a governing body”, and ordinatio meant incorporation into an ordo^[9]. The Church adopted this vocabulary for her own established orders — not without biblical warrant, since Scripture speaks of Christ as “priest according to the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 110:4; Heb 7:11)^[10]. The liturgy therefore speaks of the ordo episcoporum (the order of bishops), the ordo presbyterorum (of priests), and the ordo diaconorum (of deacons)^[11].

To ordain is not simply to elect

The decisive point is negative: to ordain is not to designate. The election of a leader, the delegation of a task, or the institution of an office by an assembly is not an ordination. The Catechism insists on this:

“Today the word ‘ordination’ is reserved for the sacramental act which integrates a man into the order of bishops, presbyters, or deacons, and goes beyond a simple election, designation, delegation, or institution by the community, for it confers a gift of the Holy Spirit that permits the exercise of a ‘sacred power’ which can come only from Christ himself through his Church.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1538^[12]

Ordination is also called consecratio, “consecration”, because it is “a setting apart and an investiture by Christ himself”^[13]. Its visible sign, for all three degrees, is constant: “the laying on of hands by the bishop, with the consecratory prayer”^[14]. This nucleus will return when we ask what is concretely required for an ordination.

Three degrees, one sacrament

Holy Orders is the only sacrament received in distinct degrees. Catholic doctrine “recognizes two degrees of ministerial participation in the priesthood of Christ: the episcopacy and the presbyterate. The diaconate is intended to help and serve them”^[15]. Hence the word sacerdos (“priest”) today designates bishops and priests, but not deacons. Yet all three degrees — “the degrees of priestly participation (episcopate and presbyterate) and the degree of service (diaconate)” — are conferred by a sacramental act called “ordination”^[16]. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, at the beginning of the second century, already named them together:

“Let all revere the deacons as Jesus Christ, and the bishop as the image of the Father, and the presbyters as the senate of God and the assembly of the apostles: without these, one cannot speak of the Church.” — Saint Ignatius of Antioch, To the Trallians, 3, 1^[17]

The Christian priesthood is not a late invention: according to the Church, God prepared it from afar throughout the Old Testament before bringing it to fulfillment in Christ and communicating it to his Church. The governing idea is ancient: “Sacrifice and priesthood are, by divine ordinance, so united that both have existed in every law”^[18]. Where there is a sacrifice, there is a priest to offer it.

The priesthood of the Old Covenant

God had made Israel “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex 19:6). Yet within the people he chose the tribe of Levi, “set apart for liturgical service”, whose inheritance was God himself^[19]. A proper rite consecrated these priests, whose function is summarized by the Letter to the Hebrews:

“Every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.” — Letter to the Hebrews, 5:1^[20]

This priesthood was real, but unable to save: because it had to “repeat sacrifices ceaselessly”, it could not bring about “definitive sanctification”, which only Christ's sacrifice would accomplish^[21]. The Church's liturgy sees in Aaron's priesthood, the service of the Levites and the institution of the “seventy elders” (Num 11:24-25) prefigurations of the ordained ministry of the New Covenant^[22]. Even today, the consecratory prayer for bishops recalls that God, “throughout the Old Covenant, began to give form to his Church” by instituting “rulers and priests”^[23].

The unique priesthood of Christ

All these figures “find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus, the one mediator between God and men” (1 Tim 2:5)^[24]. Tradition sees in Melchizedek, “priest of God Most High” (Gen 14:18), a prefiguration of Christ, the “one high priest according to the order of Melchizedek”, “holy, blameless, unstained”, who “by a single offering has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Heb 7:26; 10:14)^[25].

Here a formidable question arises: if Christ is the one priest, and his sacrifice unique and accomplished “once for all”, why should there be a Christian priesthood? The Church's answer is coherent. Just as Christ's unique sacrifice is “made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Church”, so “the one priesthood of Christ is made present through the ministerial priesthood without diminishing the uniqueness of Christ's priesthood”^[26]. The priest adds nothing to Christ: he makes him present.

“Therefore Christ is the only true priest, the others being only his ministers.” — Saint Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews, 7, 4^[27]

Two participations in the one priesthood of Christ

Christ, “high priest and unique mediator, has made of the Church a kingdom, priests for his God and Father” (Rev 1:6; 1 Pet 2:5, 9)^[28]. There are therefore in the Church two distinct ways of participating in Christ's priesthood, and they must not be confused.

The first is the common priesthood of all the baptized: “by the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation the faithful are consecrated to be a holy priesthood”^[29]. The second is the ministerial priesthood of bishops and priests. Vatican II states their relationship forcefully:

“The ministerial or hierarchical priesthood of bishops and priests, and the common priesthood of all the faithful, while each in its own proper way participates in the one priesthood of Christ, differ essentially and not only in degree, while being ordered one to another.” — Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, 10^[30]

The nuance is decisive and often misunderstood. The two do not differ in degree (as though the priest were “more” Christian), but in essence: they are two realities of different nature, “ordered one to another”. The ministerial priesthood does not exist for itself; it is “at the service of the common priesthood”, “one of the means by which Christ unceasingly builds up and leads his Church”^[31]. For this reason it is transmitted through a proper sacrament, the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Acting “in the person of Christ the Head”

How can a sinful man represent Christ? The answer lies in a technical but decisive formula: in persona Christi Capitis, “in the person of Christ the Head”. In the ordained minister, “it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth”^[32].

“It is the same priest, Christ Jesus, whose sacred person his minister truly represents. If he is assimilated to the supreme Priest by the priestly consecration he has received, he enjoys the power of acting by the power of Christ himself whom he represents.” — Pius XII, encyclical Mediator Dei^[33]

This presence of Christ in the minister does not make him impeccable. The Catechism states this honestly: it “is not to be understood as if the latter were preserved from all human weaknesses, the spirit of domination, errors, even sin”^[34]. The power of the Spirit guarantees the fruit of the sacraments — even when celebrated by an unworthy minister — but not the minister's personal holiness. This is the scope of the principle ex opere operato, treated in What is a sacrament?.

A “ministerial” priesthood: serving, not dominating

The word ministerial comes from ministerium, “service”. This priesthood “is entirely related to Christ and to men” and was “instituted for the good of men and the communion of the Church”^[35]. It communicates a “sacred power”, but “the exercise of this authority must be measured against the model of Christ, who by love made himself the least and the servant of all” (Mk 10:43-45; 1 Pet 5:3)^[36].

“The Lord made clear that concern for his flock was proof of love for him.” — Saint John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood, 2, 4^[37]

The priest also acts “in the name of the whole Church” when he presents her prayer to God and especially “when he offers the Eucharistic sacrifice”^[38]. Yet this does not make him a mere delegate of the community: “the prayer and offering of the Church are inseparable from the prayer and offering of Christ, her Head”^[39]. It is precisely “because the ministerial priesthood represents Christ that it can represent the Church”.

The ordained ministry, “divinely instituted, is exercised in different orders by those who already in antiquity are called bishops, priests, and deacons” (LG 28)^[40]. This is how the Church understands each of these three degrees.

The episcopate: the fullness of the priesthood

The bishop holds “the first place” among the ministries^[41]. Vatican II settled a long-debated question: is the episcopate merely an added jurisdiction over the priesthood, or a true degree of the sacrament? The council teaches that it is indeed a sacramental degree, and the highest one:

“By episcopal consecration the fullness of the sacrament of Orders is conferred, that fullness which the Church's liturgical custom and the voice of the holy Fathers call the high priesthood, the supreme reality of the sacred ministry.” — Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, 21^[42]

Through this consecration, “together with the office of sanctifying, the offices also of teaching and ruling are conferred”, and “the sacred character is impressed”, so that bishops “take the place of Christ himself, teacher, shepherd and priest”^[43]. The episcopate is collegial by nature: one becomes a member of the episcopal body “by virtue of sacramental consecration and hierarchical communion with the head and members of the college” — hence the ancient practice by which several bishops take part in a consecration^[44]. For an episcopal ordination to be legitimate, “a special intervention of the Bishop of Rome is required today”^[45].

The presbyterate: co-workers of the bishops

Priests (presbyters) do not possess the fullness of the priesthood: they receive a share in it, “in a subordinate degree”, to be “co-workers of the episcopal order”^[46]. The conciliar decree Presbyterorum ordinis gives the reference definition:

“The priesthood of priests, while presupposing the sacraments of Christian initiation, is conferred by that special sacrament through which priests, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are marked with a special character and so configured to Christ the Priest that they can act in the person of Christ the Head.” — Second Vatican Council, Presbyterorum ordinis, 2^[47]

It is “in the Eucharistic worship or synaxis that their sacred office is exercised above all”: there, “taking the place of Christ”, they make present “the unique sacrifice of the New Testament”^[48]. From this sacrifice, “their whole priestly ministry draws its strength”. The priests of a diocese, united to their bishop, form “one presbyterium”^[49]: they can exercise their ministry only “in dependence on the bishop and in communion with him”, as expressed by the promise of obedience made at ordination and the bishop's kiss of peace. The ministerial priesthood is so bound to the altar that its fruits always overflow toward the Eucharist.

The diaconate: ordained “for service”

The third degree has its own nature. The deacon receives the sacrament, and therefore the character, but not the priesthood:

“At a lower level of the hierarchy are deacons, upon whom hands are imposed ‘not unto the priesthood, but unto ministry.’” — Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, 29^[50]

The sacrament “marks them with an imprint that cannot be removed and that configures them to Christ, who made himself the ‘deacon’, that is, the servant of all” (Mk 10:45; Lk 22:27)^[51]. It belongs to deacons “to assist the bishop and priests in the celebration of the divine mysteries, above all the Eucharist, to distribute it, to assist at and bless marriages, to proclaim the Gospel and preach, to preside over funerals and to devote themselves to the various ministries of charity”^[52]. Since Vatican II, the Latin Church has restored the permanent diaconate “as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy” — a diaconate “which can be conferred on married men”^[53].

If one asks what is concretely required to ordain, the Church's answer is very sober — and it is the same for all three degrees. On the distinction between matter and form common to all sacraments, see The matter and form of the sacraments.

The essential rite: laying on of hands and consecratory prayer

“The essential rite of the sacrament of Holy Orders for all three degrees consists in the bishop's imposition of hands on the head of the ordinand and in the bishop's specific consecratory prayer asking God for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and his gifts proper to the ministry to which the candidate is being ordained.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1573^[54]

The matter is therefore the gesture: the bishop's laying on of hands, the apostolic gesture par excellence — Saint Paul reminded Timothy of “the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Tim 1:6). The form is the essential words of the consecratory prayer, proper to each degree, invoking the Holy Spirit. This point long involved some uncertainty among theologians; it was definitively settled by Pius XII in the apostolic constitution Sacramentum Ordinis (1947), which fixed the laying on of hands as the matter and the precise words of each consecratory preface as the form^[55]. This determination touches the validity of the sacrament: it was by analyzing matter, form and intention that Leo XIII declared Anglican ordinations null in 1896^[56].

The course of the celebration

Ordination “should take place with as many of the faithful as possible taking part”. It preferably occurs “on Sunday, in the cathedral”, and “its place is within the Eucharistic liturgy”^[57]. Around the essential rite, “additional rites” express the many aspects of the grace^[58].

A doctrine clarified through controversy

The sacramentality of Holy Orders was denied by the sixteenth-century Reformers, who saw in it only a rite designating ministers of the Word. The Council of Trent, in session XXIII (15 July 1563), answered point by point. It first affirms that “holy ordination, which is conferred by words and outward signs, confers grace”, and that “no one should doubt that Order is truly and properly one of the seven sacraments”^[59]. It then condemns the opposing errors in eight canons.

“If anyone says that Order, or sacred ordination, is not truly and properly a sacrament instituted by Christ the Lord; or that it is a human invention, devised by men ignorant of ecclesiastical matters; or that it is only a rite for choosing ministers of the Word of God and of the sacraments: let him be anathema.” — Council of Trent, session XXIII, canon 3 on Holy Orders^[60]

The following table summarizes what each of Trent's eight canons intended to defend — each “let him be anathema” aimed at a precise error of the time.

Two practical questions determine the validity of ordination: who can ordain, and who can be ordained?

The minister: the bishop, successor of the Apostles

One rule governs everything: only a bishop can ordain. “Because the sacrament of Holy Orders is the sacrament of the apostolic ministry, it is for the bishops as successors of the Apostles to hand on the spiritual gift”^[69]. And only “validly ordained bishops, that is, those who are in the line of apostolic succession, validly confer the three degrees of the sacrament of Holy Orders”^[70]. Trent defined this point against the Reformation:

“If anyone says that bishops are not superior to priests, or that they do not have the power of confirming and ordaining, or that the power which they have is common to them and to priests: let him be anathema.” — Council of Trent, session XXIII, canon 7 on Holy Orders^[71]

A priest, even if he is an abbot or vicar general, therefore cannot ordain: he lacks the fullness of the priesthood. This requirement belongs to validity, not merely to liceity: an “ordination” conferred by someone who is not a bishop would be simply null. On validity, see The validity of the sacraments; on the minister's required intention, see The intention of the minister.

The subject: “only a baptized man”

On the side of the recipient, Church law is concise: “Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination” (CIC, can. 1024)^[72]. Two conditions of validity are joined here. First, Baptism: Holy Orders, like every sacrament, presupposes the entrance gate which is Baptism; a non-baptized person cannot be validly ordained. Second, being a man — a point that must be set out carefully, because it is today the subject of frequent objections.

Why can the Church not ordain women?

The objection is familiar: reserving the priesthood to men would be a cultural survival, an injustice to be corrected. The Church's answer rests neither on contempt for women nor on a question of ability, but on fidelity to a choice of Christ which she does not recognize herself as having power to change. The Catechism gives the foundation:

“The Lord Jesus chose men (viri) to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them. [...] The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1577^[73]

The argument is therefore not “women cannot”, but “the Church has not received the power to”. Christ, who feared none of the boldness of his time toward women — and entrusted Mary Magdalene with the first announcement of the Resurrection — did not call a woman into the college of the Twelve; and the Church, merely the steward of the sacraments, cannot dispose of what she has received. John Paul II closed the debate in 1994 with a declaration of the most solemn authority:

“In order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.” — John Paul II, apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, 22 May 1994^[74]

This reservation of the priesthood in no way diminishes the place of women in the Church: the priesthood is a service, not a rank of honor; and the first of all the redeemed, the Virgin Mary, received no ordination. The summit of Christian holiness is not the ministerial priesthood, but charity.

No one has a “right” to Holy Orders: a call, a gift

Another truth tempers every claim: “No one has a right to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders”^[75]. One does not appropriate this office: “one is called to it by God” (Heb 5:4). The man who believes he recognizes the signs of this call “must humbly submit his desire to the authority of the Church, who has the responsibility and right to call someone to receive orders”^[76]. Like every grace, “this sacrament can be received only as an unmerited gift”.

Priestly celibacy and the Eastern discipline

In the Latin Church, “all the ordained ministers, with the exception of permanent deacons, are normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate ‘for the sake of the kingdom of heaven’” (Mt 19:12)^[77]. Celibacy is not a devaluation of marriage: it is “a sign of this new life”, a self-gift “with an undivided heart to the Lord” (1 Cor 7:32), which “radiantly proclaims the Reign of God”^[78].

This is a discipline, not a dogma: the Eastern Churches have long known a different rule. In them, “while bishops are chosen solely from celibates, married men can be ordained as deacons and priests”^[79]. This practice “has long been considered legitimate”. Yet one rule is common to East and West: “a man who has already received the sacrament of Holy Orders can no longer marry”^[80].

Like Baptism and Confirmation, Holy Orders does two things: it imprints an indelible character and gives a grace proper to the ministry.

The indelible character: “one does not become a layman again”

“As in the case of Baptism and Confirmation this share in Christ's office is granted once for all. The sacrament of Holy Orders, like the other two, confers an indelible spiritual character and cannot be repeated or conferred temporarily.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1582^[81]

This is why the same man is never ordained twice to the same degree, and why ordination “cannot be conferred temporarily”: once imprinted, the character is “for ever”^[82]. A priest may, for grave reasons, be “discharged from the obligations and functions linked to ordination or forbidden to exercise them” — what is sometimes, imprecisely, called “reduction to the lay state” — but “he cannot become a layman again in the strict sense, because the character imprinted by ordination is for ever”^[83]. Trent defined it:

“If anyone says that the Holy Spirit is not given by sacred ordination; or that ordination does not imprint a character; or that one who has once been made a priest can again become a layman: let him be anathema.” — Council of Trent, session XXIII, canon 4 on Holy Orders^[84]

On the nature of this spiritual seal, common to Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders, see The sacramental character.

The unworthiness of the minister does not prevent Christ from acting

From the character follows a consoling consequence. Since “it is ultimately Christ who acts and effects salvation through the ordained minister, the unworthiness of the latter does not prevent Christ from acting”^[85]. The Mass of a sinful priest is a true Mass; the absolution of a mediocre confessor is a true absolution. Saint Augustine expressed this with a luminous image:

“As for the proud minister, he is to be ranked with the devil. The gift of Christ is not thereby profaned: what flows through him keeps its purity; what passes through him remains clear and comes to fertile earth. [...] The spiritual power of the sacrament is like light: those who are to be enlightened receive it in its purity, and if it passes through defiled beings, it is not defiled.” — Saint Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, 5, 15^[86]

This truth — ex opere operato — protects the faithful: their sacramental life does not depend on the holiness of this or that priest, but on Christ's fidelity. It does not in any way authorize the minister to mediocrity, as the next section shows.

The grace of configuration to Christ the Priest

Beyond the character, Holy Orders gives a grace. “The grace of the Holy Spirit proper to this sacrament is configuration to Christ as Priest, Teacher, and Pastor, of whom the ordained is made a minister”^[87]. This grace is modulated according to the degree: for the bishop, it is first “a grace of strength”, the grace “to guide and defend his Church with strength and prudence as a father and pastor, with gratuitous love for all and a predilection for the poor, the sick and the needy”^[88]; for the priest, the strength “to stand without blame before the altar and to proclaim the Gospel”^[89]; for the deacon, “the strength needed to serve the People of God in the diakonia of the liturgy, of the word, and of charity”^[90].

Before “the greatness of the priestly grace and office”, the saints did not feel pride, but “an urgent call to conversion”^[91]. The character gives the power; it does not dispense from holiness — it demands it.

“One must be light in order to enlighten”: Saint Gregory of Nazianzus

As a young priest frightened by his charge, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus left moving pages on the priesthood, which the Catechism quotes at length:

“One must begin by purifying oneself before purifying others; one must be instructed to be able to instruct; one must become light in order to enlighten, draw near to God in order to bring others near to him, be sanctified in order to sanctify, lead by the hand and counsel with intelligence.” — Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 2^[92]

The priest, he says further, “shares in the priesthood of Christ”, “brings up to the altar on high the victims of the sacrifices”, “remodels the creature and restores in it the image of God”^[93]. The vocation is so high that it can only be borne by a man who first lets himself be transformed.

The holy Curé of Ars: “The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus”

Closer to us, Saint John Mary Vianney, Curé of Ars (1786-1859), patron of priests, spoke famous words on the priesthood, also gathered by the Catechism:

“It is the priest who continues the work of redemption on earth. [...] If we understood the priest on earth, we would die not of fright, but of love. [...] The Priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.” — Saint John Mary Vianney, Curé of Ars^[94]

These words say the essential thing: the priesthood is not a power one possesses, but a love one prolongs. The priest has meaning only when turned toward the Heart of Christ whose gifts he distributes.

Praying for priests and rekindling the gift received

Scripture itself exhorts the minister not to let the grace received lie dormant. “I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Tim 1:6)^[95], Saint Paul wrote to Timothy. This exhortation applies to every ordained man — and it calls forth, from the faithful, a response: prayer for priests. The whole Church is “a priestly people”; the ministerial priesthood exists only to serve the common priesthood of all the baptized^[96], received in Baptism and unfolded in Confirmation. The ordained ministry and the priesthood of the faithful are “ordered one to another”: the Church does not stand without her priests, nor priests without the holiness of the people they serve.

• What is a sacrament? — the general notion of sacrament: an efficacious sign of grace, matter/form/minister, ex opere operato.
• The sacramental character — the indelible seal imprinted by Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders.
• The matter and form of the sacraments — the “thing” and the “words” that constitute each sacrament.
• The validity of the sacraments · The liceity of the sacraments · The intention of the minister.
• The ordinary and extraordinary minister — who can administer each sacrament.
• The Eucharist — the sacrifice to which the whole ministerial priesthood is ordered.
• Baptism · Confirmation — Christian initiation and the common priesthood of the faithful.
• Marriage — the other sacrament “at the service of communion”.