The Church: Her Books and Her Sacraments

by E. E. Holmes

Considering the importance of this first step in the Ministry, both to the man himself, and to the people, it is well that the laity should know what safeguards are taken by the Bishop to secure "fit persons to serve in the sacred ministry of the Church"[[9]]—and should realize their own great responsibility in the matter. First, there is the age.

(1) The Age.

No layman can be made a Deacon under 23.

(2) The Preliminaries.

The chief preliminary is the selection of the Candidate. The burden of selection is shared by the Bishop, Clergy and Laity. The Bishop must, of course, be the final judge of the Candidate's fitness, but the evidence upon which he bases his judgment must very largely be supplied by the Laity.

We pray in the Ember Collect that he "may lay hands suddenly on no man, but make choice of fit persons". It is well that the Laity should remember that they share with the Bishop and Clergy in the responsibility of choice.

For this fitness will, as in the case of the Priest, be moral and intellectual.

It will be moral—and it is here that the responsibility of the laity begins. For, in addition to private inquiries made by the Bishop, the laity are publicly asked, in the church of the parish where the Candidate resides, to bear testimony to the integrity of his character. This publication is called the Si quis, from the Latin of the first two words of publication ("if any..."), and it is repeated by the Bishop in open church in the Ordination Service. The absence of any legal objection by the laity is the testimony of the people to the Candidate's fitness. This throws upon the laity a full share of responsibility in the choice of the Candidate. Their responsibility in giving evidence is only second to that of the Bishop, whose decision rests upon the evidence they give.

Then, there is the testimony of the Clergy. No layman is accepted by the Bishop for Ordination without Letters Testimonial—i.e. the testimony of three beneficed Clergymen, to whom he is well known. These Clergy must certify that "we have had opportunity of observing his conduct, and we do believe him, in our consciences, and as to his moral conduct, a fit person to be admitted to the Sacred Ministry". Each signature must be countersigned by the signatory's own Bishop, who thus guarantees the Clergyman's moral fitness to certify.