rector and holds the diocesan faculties. To him alone belongs the right of administering and ruling the same; neither is it a right only, but an obligation; 'but if any man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God?'[1] Let him know of what spirit he is himself, and how among priests mutual charity and reverence of heart ought constantly to be seen from one to another. Let him, therefore, be as the elder among his assistants, not as lording it over the clergy, but as their father, or rather as their eldest brother. For they ought to be trained and taught as the servants of the Good Shepherd, who in their time shall themselves be worthy and capable of ruling missions. Moreover, from the fact that the cure of souls is committed in chief to the rectors of the missions, the assistants must not think that they are free from so great a burden; for it is their part in dependence on the rector to help him, that is, in preaching, in hearing confessions, in teaching Catechism to children, in visiting the sick, and in administering to them the Sacraments, and in fulfilling the other offices of missionaries."
In this paragraph are laid down the following principles:
- ↑ 1 S. Tim. iii. 5.
