RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Priest
of himself, but he must be called of God; and those are called of God who are called by the " legitimate ministers of the Church " (Roman catechism, De ord. sacr., I., p. 603). Ordination can be imparted only by the bishops. It is a sacrament, the effect of which is the ineffaceable spiritual character by virtue of which the priest has power to " make sacrifice to God and administer the sacraments of the Church " (I.e. 5, p. 614), especially to " produce the body and blood of our Lord." This character distinguishes the priest from other believers. The secondary effect is the reception of the " grace of justification," which enables the recipient to fill his office rightly (I.e., p. 618). The ceremony of ordination is made to conform to these ideas. The bishop and the priests present lay their hands on the candidate, the bishop puts the stole over his shoulders crossing it before his breast, anoints the candidate's hands, and then gives him the full cup and the paten with the host. The candidate thereby becomes an " interpreter and mediator between God and man, which is considered the chief function of the priest." Finally, there is another imposition of hands with the words: " Receive the Holy Spirit, whose soever sins ye remit," etc. (I.e., 5, p. 614). The candidate must be baptized and of the male sex, and is required to be morally sound. He must have knowledge of the Scriptures and the administration of the sacraments. Ordination is Forbidden to the married, those not yet twenty-five years of age, slaves, all who have shed blood, those with serious bodily defects, and all born out of wedlock. In the ancient Church it was not allowed without induction at the same time into a suitable oenefice, and the Council of Trent renewed this provision. The Council opened the way, however, to ivoid the restriction by providing that, if the titulus beneficii be lacking, ordination may take place on ground of a titulus patrimonii, i.e., the possession 3y the candidate of adequate personal means. The 'itulus mensce, i.e., assurance by another to provide 'or the candidate's support, may be substituted for ;he titulus patrimonii. (A. Hauck.)
It is to be noted as an evidence of the determination to continue the ministry as it had come down through the ages from the primitive Church, that, while throwing off corruptions and 4. Anglican exaggerations concerning the priestly Conception, office, the reformed Church of England deliberately refused to substitute ' presbyter " for " priest " in the Book of Common Prayer, and retained sacerdotes as the designation )f the clergy in the authorized Latin version of the Thirty-nine Articles (art. XXXII.) . Controversy :oncerning priesthood chiefly gathers round two Doints: (1) the offering which priests present, .2) the mediatorial position which they occupy. 1) While repudiating any material sacrifice in the Christian Church (save in the most subordinate :ense), or any renewal of our Lord's sacrificial death, Anglican divines have maintained in the eucharist 1 continual commemoration, according to Christ's nstitution, of that one perfect oblation, and the ipplication of its virtue to us, as in the peace-offerng> by partaking of the consecrated elements. Showing Christ's obedience unto death (the essence
of his sacrifice), we are taught, according to St. Paul, to offer likewise ourselves, as members of his mystical body — our souls and bodies — a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice to God. This is the sacrificial side of the Eucharist in the Anglican liturgy, and according to her representative divines. This is a priestly act of the whole body under Christ, the high priest of our profession, led by the Church's appointed representatives in the official priesthood. The priest acts not as substitute for the people, but as their leader. Without such a duly appointed leader there can be no celebration of the Eucharist; while he is not to perform the service without a congregation (cf . D. Waterland, A Review of the Doctrines of the Eucharist, chap, xii., in Works, vol. vii., 11 vols., Oxford, 1823-28; J. Bramhall, Consecration of Protestant Bishops Vindicated, chap, xi., and Protestants' Ordination Defended, in vols. iii. and v. of his Works, 5 vols., Oxford, 1842-45; Answer of the Archbishops of England to the Apostolic Letter of Pope Leo XIII. on English Ordinations, pp. 18, 19, 37, London, 1897). (2) The priesthood is not a caste separate or separable from the Church; it is the divinely ordained organ through which the body executes ministerial functions. In public prayer as in the Eucharist the priest is the leader of the congregation. In private ministrations likewise, it is his office to lead persons to God, aiding them, where need requires, in their penitence and confession, and then, as one authorized to plead in the Church's name, invoking upon them God's blessing, or (where he judges it to be applicable) his absolution.
Thus in the ministration of the sacraments the priest acts as the representative of the Church, as well as of the Lord the head of the Church. Sacraments are an approach in an appointed way to God. Their administration is always accompanied by prayer, calling forth the gift that God has promised.
The Anglican conception of the office of priesthood is clearly shown in the ordinal. (1) No one is suffered to act as a priest without ordination by a bishop, through whom the ministerial commission is transmitted. (2) In this ordination the Holy Ghost is solemnly invoked, and prayers are offered for the candidate, and he is then by the imposition of hands empowered to execute the office of a priest in the Church of God, and is bidden to be a faithful dispenser of the Word of God and of his holy sacraments. A. C. A. Hall.
Bibliography: On I.: A fairly good guide to the literature is indicated in the bibliographies under High Priest; and Levi, Levites, the reference in which to the literature on the Hexateuch is important; of especial value are the works of Kuenen, Curtiss, Green, Baudissin, Van Hoonacker, Carpenter and Harford-Battersby, Schurer, and the articles in the Bible dictionaries there mentioned, to which add Vigouroux, Dictionnaire, part xxxii., cols. 640-660. The subject is treated in the works on Jewish antiquities — Ewald, Germ., pp. 345 sqq., 3d ed., Gottingen, 1866, Eng. transl., pp. 260 sqq., Boston, 1876; Benzinger, Archaologie, pp. 342 sqq.; and Nowack, Archaologie, vol. ii. Consult further: K. C. W. F. Bahr, Symbolik des mosaischen Cultus, Heidelberg, 1839; Kiiper, Das Priestertum des alten Bundes, Berlin, 1866; Oort, in ThT, 1884, 289 sqq.; H. Vogelstein, Der Kampf zwischen Priestern und Levilen seit den Tagen des Ezechiels, Stettin, 1889; B. Bantsch, Das Heiligkeitsgesetz, pp. 142 sqq., Erfurt, 1893; A. Biichler, Die Priester und der Cultus im letzten Jahrzehnt des jerusalemischen Tempels, Vienna,
Priest Primate