CatholicTheology.info

Choose a topic from Part 3 Suppl:

• Penance (Continued)
• Extreme Unction
• Order (Holy Orders)
  • 34. The Sacrament of Orders
  • 35. The Effect of the Sacrament of Orders
  • 36. Qualities in Those to be Ordained
  • 37. The Distinction of Orders: The Character
  • 38. The Minister of Holy Orders
  • 39. The Impediments to Orders
  • 40. Matters Pertinent to the Sacrament of Orders
• Matrimony
• The General Resurrection
• The Last Things
• Appendix I (The Innocents in Limbo)
• Appendix II (Two Notes on Purgatory)

39. The Impediments to Orders

1. No woman may receive the sacrament of orders. St. Paulsays (I Tim. 2:12): "I suffer not a woman to teach (in theChurch)." The nature of this sacrament, the example of Christ,and the constant law and practice of the Church, make it abundantlyevident that the female sex is an absolute impediment to thereceiving of the sacrament of orders.

2. The Church sets a definite age for the ordaining ofcandidates. As regards minor orders, very young boys might bevalidly ordained. Prudence and reverence demand, however, that thecandidate for any order be old enough to discharge its duties withseemliness and with an appreciation of the dignity and theresponsibility it lays uponhim. {-Thecanonical age is the age set by the laws or canons of theChurch as minimal for ordination. For example, a man is notordained to the priesthood until he has entered his twenty-fifthyear, that is, has passed his twenty-fourth birthday.-}

3. One who is enslaved cannot lawfully be raisedto orders. Yet, if he be actually ordained, the ordination isvalid. The same is true of those who are under the burden of heavydebts, and of those who are bound to the exacting care ofothers.

4. One who has been guilty of homicide, though penitentand pardoned, cannot lawfully be ordained. Still, if he wereordained, the ordination, though illicit, would be valid.

5. Legitimate birth is required in the candidate forlawful ordination. Here again, the impediment is one of licitness,not of validity. For lawful ordination, an illegitimate person mustfirst be dispensed by the Church from his impediment ofillegitimacy.

6. Any notable and noticeable deformity of body is animpediment to lawful ordination.

"Those who love God are always happy, because their whole happiness is to fulfill, even in adversity, the will of God."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

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"God looks neither at long nor beautiful prayers, but at those that come from the heart."
The Cure D'Ars

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"Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? Indeed a humble rustic who serves God is better than a proud intellectual who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars."
Thomas á Kempis

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