(b) Duties to Superiors.—Clerics are especially obliged to show respect to their Ordinaries and to give them the obedience promised in ordination (Canon 127).
(c) Duties to the Clerical State.—Clerics are required to cultivate their minds by sacred and sound studies, and to this end examinations and conferences are also prescribed (Canons 129-131); to keep themselves pure in soul and body by the observance of celibate chastity (Canons 132, 133); to conduct themselves in externals (dwelling, dress, etc.) in a manner befitting their position (Canons 134, 136). The clerical garb in this country is the cassock or habit in the house and church, and dark clothes and the Roman collar, or other distinctive sign for priests and brothers elsewhere. The dress of the clergy should avoid the extremes of dudishness and slovenliness (Second Council of Baltimore, 148; Third Council, 77). The duty of wearing clerical dress at least away from home and regularly is of serious importance, since its purpose is the honor of the clerical state and the protection of its members. It is also forbidden to clerics to cultivate their hair (e.g., to grow long locks, to use curling irons, to oil or perfume their head in dandyish fashion), since this is unbecoming in the followers of a thorn-crowned Leader. The use of the beard is a thing indifferent in itself, and hence it is forbidden in some places (generally in the Latin Church) and required in others (as in the Orient), according to tradition and local usage.
2600. The Obligation of the Divine Office.—(a) Matter.—A cleric is gravely obliged to recite the Office according to his own rite and in the language of his rite, and not to make any notable change in the Office prescribed by the Ordo, either as to quantity (e.g., by omission of a Little Hour or of parts equally long) or as to quality (e.g., by substitution of a minor office for that of one of the great solemnities.) The omission of the Vespers of Holy Saturday, of Pretiosa, or of the Rogation Litanies seems to be only a venial sin, because in the first two cases the prayer is short, while in the third case the precept seems to be _sub levi_. There is also lightness of matter in the omission of an inconsiderable part of the day’s Office, or in the substitution without good reason of an equal part for a prescribed part.
(b) Manner.—Since the Office is a prayer, of a public and daily kind, it must be said: mentally, that is, there must be at least virtual intention (which is present from the fact that one takes up the Breviary to fulfill the obligation) and at least external attention (see 2166 sqq.); vocally, that is, the words must be consciously formed by the lips, mouth, or tongue, but it is not necessary that they be audible, unless two or more are saying the Office together; within the limits of the day, that is, Matins and Lauds may be anticipated from 2 p.m. of the previous day, but the whole Office must be finished before midnight of the current day. These are substantial requisites and bind _sub gravi_, but there may be only venial sin when they are deviated from inconsiderably. Next, since the Office has a continuity of thought, an order of precedence among its hours and their subdivisions, and a special dignity, it must be said uninterruptedly (i.e., without break between the parts of an hour), in order (i.e., according to the succession of Matins, Lauds, Prime, etc.), with external respect as to place and posture (i.e., he who is bound to choral Office should say it in choir and with the rubrical postures, while he who is bound only to private Office should say it in church or some other becoming place, and should observe the rubrical or at least a respectful posture). These are accidental requisites and bind _sub levi_. For a good reason one may interrupt the Office even for a notable part of the day (e.g., one may discontinue in the midst of a Psalm to pay a duty of politeness or to attend to business), and for convenience one may invert the order of hours or of parts of hours, or may say the evening hours in the morning.
2601. Excuses from the Obligation of the Divine Office.—(a) For Substitution.—A sufficient reason makes it permissible to substitute another office not notably different in quantity or quality, as when one lacks a new office, or has greater devotion for another office. When substitution has been made unintentionally, the following rules may be observed, though the last two are not admitted by all: office counts for office, (e.g., he who through mistake has said the office of another day may let that office stand for today’s office, but should add enough to make up for any notable shortness in the office said); hour does not count for hour (e.g., he who through mistake said Tierce twice cannot count the second Tierce for Sext); an error should be corrected when noticed (e.g., he who notices at Sext that he is not saying the right office should change from Sext); an error is not corrected by another error (e.g., he who said today’s office yesterday should not say yesterday’s office today).
(b) For Omission.—The causes that excuse, in whole or in part, from recitation of the Office are physical inability (e.g., loss of the breviary, blindness of one who does not know the hours by heart, sickness or convalescence which makes the recitation a grave hardship), moral impossibility (e.g., when an urgent duty of charity or justice so takes up one’s time that one cannot get in all the Office), just dispensation or commutation given by the Pope or, for temporary release, by the Ordinary.
2602. The Precept of Clerical Celibacy.—(a) Origin.—This law is not divine but ecclesiastical, since it arose, not from any command of Christ, but from a custom of the Church that goes back to the first centuries. Nevertheless, celibacy of the clergy is an imitation of Christ and the Apostles, a following of the counsel given by the Lord, an honor to the sacrifice of the altar, and an example that single chastity is possible. Moreover, by means of it the priest is freed from domestic relations and better enabled to minister as the father, pastor, confessor and counsellor of his people. The celibate is unencumbered by family responsibilities and expenses, and is therefore better able to respond to difficult and dangerous tasks, such as mission work in pagan lands and ministrations to the dying in fire, wreck, or plague, The Church does not denounce or condemn the married clergy of non-Catholic bodies; on the contrary, she permits to some extent a married clergy among the Oriental Catholics, who for many centuries have been accustomed to a married priesthood. But the law of celibacy for the Catholic clergy has not only proved itself more suitable for their work, but it has also justified itself by the general fidelity with which it has been observed and the attachment to it of clergy and laity alike.
(b) Obligation.—The law commands chastity as a grave duty of religion (Canon 132); it forbids the contract or use of marriage (Canon 1072). It forbids, where there is danger to chastity or scandal, cohabitation and companionship with women (Canon 133). Cohabitation refers to dwelling in the same house, even though it be only during the day, and the woman be a servant; companionship refers to visits, conversations, signs of friendship, and the like. The danger to good name or virtue depends on circumstances, such as age, beauty, levity, and privacy of association; and the law presumes that a relationship is suspicious unless a woman is a near relative by blood or by marriage (i.e., in the first or second degree), or is mature in age (about forty years old) and proved in virtue and of good repute.
2603. Negative Duties of Clerics.—The negative duties of clerics are the avoidance of certain acts, occupations, or amusements forbidden as worldly, undignified, dangerous, distracting or scandalous (I Thess., v. 22; II Tim., ii. 4).
(a) Forbidden Acts.—A cleric may not go surety without permission, lest he or his church be involved in scandalous embarrassments (Canon 137); nor engage in trade, lest he be distracted from his spiritual duties and exposed to the danger or suspicion of injustice or greed (Canon 142; for penalty attached see Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, AAS, 42-33D).