master of the school in which they are educated. But those who are to be raised to any one of the greater orders, shall, a month before ordination, repair to the bishop, who shall commission the parish priest, or such other person as may seem to be more expedient, haying stated publicly in the church the names and the desire of those who wish to be promoted, diligently to inform himself, from persons worthy of credit, touching the birth, age, morals, and life of those to be ordained, and to transmit to the bishop himself, as soon as possible, letters testimonial, containing the actual inquiry that has been made.
CHAPTER VI
The Age of Fourteen Tears is required for on Ecclesiastical Benefice; who is to enjoy the Privilege of the Court,[1]
No one, after being initiated by the first tonsure, or even after being constituted in minor orders, shall be able to hold a benefice before his fourteenth year. Furthermore, he shall not enjoy the privilege of the court, unless he have an ecclesiastical benefice; or, wearing the ecclesiastical dress and tonsure, he serves in some church by the bishop's command, or lives with the bishop's permission in an ecclesiastical seminary, or in some school, or university, on the way as it were to receive the greater orders. But as regards married clerks, the constitution of Boniface VIII., which begins, Clerici qui cum tmicis, shall be observed; provided these clerks, being deputed by the bishop to the service or ministry of some church, serve and minister therein, and make use of the clerical dress and tonsure: no privilege, or custom, even immemorial, herein availing any one.
CHAPTER VII.
Those to be ordained are to be examined by Persons skilled in Divine and Human Law.
The holy synod, adhering to the footsteps of the ancient canons, decrees, that when a bishop has arranged to hold an ordination, all who may wish to be received into the sacred ministry shall be summoned to the city, on the Thursday
- ↑ I e. the ecclesiastical court
