A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

1. Letters testimonial of his sound doctrine, good life, and behaviour, for the time elapsed since he was ordained deacon, signed by three beneficed clergymen, and countersigned by the bishop of the diocese in which their benefices are respectively situate, if not beneficed in the diocese of the bishop to whom the candidate applies for ordination. (See Form of Testimonial, in Instructions as to Deacon’s Orders, No. 2.)

2. Notice, or “Si quis,” and certificate of the publication thereof. (See Form thereof, in the Instructions as to Deacon’s Orders, No. 3.)

In case the candidate was ordained deacon by the bishop of another diocese, he must produce not only the papers, Nos. 1 and 2, but also the following papers, Nos. 3, 4, and 5.

As it is not common for a deacon to be ordained priest by any other than the bishop who admitted him to deacon’s orders, a candidate applying to the bishop of another diocese must, in the first instance, state to him the particular circumstances which occasion the application, the curacy which he served, and for what period.

3. Letters of deacon’s orders.

4. A certificate of baptism.

5. Nomination, if not already licensed.

The same subscriptions and oaths are made and taken by candidates for priest’s orders, as by candidates for deacon’s orders.

With respect to foreign Protestants, Palmer observes: “We are not bound to condemn Presbyterian orders in every case: for instance, the appointment of ministers by the Protestants in Germany during the Reformation, was most probably invalid; and yet, considering their difficulties, the fact of their appeal to a general council, their expectation of reunion with the Church, and therefore the impossibility of establishing a rival hierarchy, I think we are not bound to condemn their appointments of ministers, as many learned and orthodox writers have done; who, however, seem not to have observed the peculiarities of their position, and to have supposed that they were at once definitively separated from the Roman churches. Certain differences of opinion, then, in reference to the question of Presbyterian ordinations, may exist without any material inconvenience.

“That ordinations by mere presbyters are, (however excusable under circumstances of great difficulty,) in fact, unauthorized and invalid, is the more usual sentiment of theologians, and is most accordant with Scripture, and with the practice of the Catholic Church in general, and of our Churches in particular, which do not recognise any such ordinations.”