The Sacrament of Holy Orders
Short Introduction
Holy Orders is the sacrament through which men receive the power and grace to perform the sacred
duties of bishops, priests, and other ministers of the Church. Through it, Christ perpetuates in His
Church the priesthood He Himself established at the Last Supper, when He said to the Apostles,
“Do this in commemoration of Me” (Luke 22:19), giving them the power to consecrate His Body
and Blood and to forgive sins in His name. It is the sacrament by which the Church is given her
sacred hierarchy and her ministers of grace.
Full Explanation
What Holy Orders Is
The Catechism teaches that Holy Orders is the sacrament by which bishops, priests, and other
ministers of the Church are ordained and receive the power and grace to perform their sacred
duties. Christ instituted the priesthood at the Last Supper, conferring upon the Apostles the
power to consecrate the Eucharist and, on Easter night, the power to forgive sins. St. Thomas
Aquinas, in the Summa Theologica, teaches that this sacrament exists chiefly for the sake of the
Holy Eucharist, since the priesthood’s highest office is to confect and offer that sacrifice; all the
other powers of Orders are ordered toward this central act of Catholic worship.
The Degrees of Holy Orders
Traditional theology, as reflected in the Catechism and the manuals used in seminaries before 1945,
distinguishes several degrees within the one sacrament of Order:
- Minor Orders — Porter, Lector, Exorcist, and Acolyte, which prepared candidates by stages
for the sacred ministry, each with its own symbolic rite and duties. - Subdeaconate — traditionally counted among the higher orders, binding the candidate to
celibacy and the daily recitation of the Divine Office. - Deaconate — conferring the power to solemnly proclaim the Gospel at Mass, to baptize
solemnly, to distribute Holy Communion, and to assist the priest at the altar. - Priesthood — conferring the power to consecrate the Holy Eucharist, to offer the Sacrifice
of the Mass, and (with proper faculties) to absolve sins in Confession. - Episcopate — the fullness of the priesthood, held by bishops, who alone can ordain other
priests and confirm and who govern the Church as the successors of the Apostles.
Matter and Form
For the priesthood specifically, the Catechism and the theologians of the period taught that the
essential matter consists of the bishop’s imposition of hands upon the candidate, and the essential
form consists of the words of consecration spoken by the bishop invoking the power of the priesthood.
The traditional ordination rite also included the handing of the chalice and paten (the “porrectio
instrumentorum”), by which the newly ordained priest was given the sacred vessels with the words,
“Receive the power to offer sacrifice to God, and to celebrate Mass, both for the living and the
dead.” The ordinary minister who confers Holy Orders is a validly consecrated bishop.
The Effects of Holy Orders
According to the Catechism:
- It confers the grace and the power necessary to perform the sacred duties proper to each
degree of Order worthily and fruitfully. - In the diaconate, priesthood, and episcopate, it imprints an indelible spiritual character on
the soul, distinguishing the ordained man forever, so that Holy Orders, like Baptism and
Confirmation, can never be repeated. - It configures the priest in a special manner to Christ the Eternal High Priest, enabling him
to act “in persona Christi” — in the very person of Christ — above all at the consecration
of the Mass and in the absolution of sins. - It gives an increase of sanctifying grace suited to the dignity and burdens of the clerical state.
Requirements for Candidates
The 1917 Code of Canon Law and the traditional seminary manuals specify that a candidate for
Holy Orders must:
- Be a baptized and confirmed male, of good moral character and sound doctrine.
- Possess a genuine vocation, discerned through prayer, and be free of any canonical impediment
(irregularity) to ordination. - Undergo a lengthy course of study and formation, traditionally including philosophy and
theology in a seminary, under the supervision of the bishop. - Freely embrace the obligation of clerical celibacy from the subdiaconate onward, together
with the daily obligation of reciting the Divine Office. - Be ordained by his own bishop, or with the proper dimissorial letters if ordained elsewhere.
The Dignity and Gravity of the Priesthood
The old spiritual writers were emphatic about the greatness of this sacrament. St. Thomas Aquinas
and the Fathers before him taught that the dignity of the priesthood surpasses even that of the
angels, since no angel has the power to consecrate the Body of Christ. For this reason, the Church
has always surrounded the reception of Holy Orders with long preparation, careful scrutiny of
vocation, and solemn ceremony, holding that a man ordained unworthily incurs grave responsibility
before God.
The Responsibilities of the Newly Ordained
Where Baptism placed duties upon parents and godparents, Holy Orders places corresponding
duties upon the ordained man himself and upon those responsible for forming him:
- The ordained man must live a life befitting his sacred office — a life of prayer,
chastity, and self-denial, since he now acts in the very person of Christ before the faithful. - He must faithfully discharge the duties of his order — offering Mass devoutly (if
a priest), administering the sacraments diligently, preaching sound doctrine, and hearing
confessions with patience and prudence. - He must recite the Divine Office daily, a debt of prayer owed to God on behalf of the
whole Church, binding from at least the subdiaconate onward. - Bishops and seminary formators bear responsibility for careful discernment, en-
suring that only men of sound vocation, adequate learning, and good moral life are presented
for ordination.
- The faithful, in turn, owe reverence and obedience to their priests and bishops in
matters of faith, morals, and church discipline, honoring the sacred character these ministers
bear.
Sources referenced: The Catechism; the decrees of the Council of Trent on the Sacrament of Order;
the 1917 Code of Canon Law; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica.