The officials of a regional vicariate shall be appointed as determined by the provincial chapter.

1. In every vicariate there shall be a council whose consent or advice the regional prior must seek on more serious matters.
2. The number of these councillors and the manner of their election or appointment shall be determined.

1. The regional prior has charge of the vicariate and has, in addition to the faculties granted by the provincial chapter, the right:
   1. to assign brothers who are in the vicariate;
   2. to confirm a conventual prior as provided for in n. 467 and to appoint superiors of houses as provided for in n. 332, unless the vicariate statute provides otherwise;
   3. to participate by right of office in the provincial council, unless something different has been laid down in the pro­vincial statute;
   4. to participate by right of office in a provincial chapter – see 352, § I, 1. (P, n. 494; K, n.372)
2.  
   1. The regional prior is elected for four years by the voters assigned in the region and is confirmed by the prior provincial with the consent of his council;
   2. when the time for which the regional prior was elected has expired or when for any reason whatsoever he has ceased to hold office, until a successor has been confirmed his office shall be held by the prior who has spent the longest time in the Order in the same vicariate;
   3. what has been laid down for a conventual prior in n. 302, § I, holds for a regional prior, mutatis mutandis. 

1. Two years after a prior provincial has been confirmed in office, he must summon to the next provincial council, in addition to its members, regional priors, vicars provincial, and conventual priors, unless the provincial chapter has determined otherwise regarding regional priors, vicars provincial, and priors in remote regions.
2. At this council meeting, all topics are to be dealt with that seem to be useful for the good of the province, a secret scrutiny shall be held on the retention or absolution of the prior provincial, to be transmitted to the Master of the Order. The brothers who have requested absolution are bound to indicate the reasons to the Master of the Order as soon as possible. On the manner of conducting this scrutiny cf. appendix n. 14.

Among other things, the following must be dealt with in the provincial council:

1. the appointment or removal of a regional prior and of a conventual prior;
2. the presentation or removal of a pastor;
3. the erection of a house as a convent, in accordance with n. 262;
4. the cassation of a decision of a conventual chapter or council, councillors assigned to that convent being excluded from taking part in the cassation;
5. the transfiliation of a brother;
6. temporarily excluding a brother from active voting rights for a grave reason;
7. a declaration of the fact for the dismissal of a brother in accordance with common law (CCL 694, § 2). 

1. The masters of novices, students, and cooperative brothers, the directors of schools and colleges, the syndic, and other officials of the province should always be present at the provincial council to be heard when matters pertaining to their office are being discussed.
2. When something of particular importance concerning his community is to be discussed, a superior should also be present.

1. The official transcript of each session shall be prepared by the secretary. When it has been approved by the chapter and signed by the president and the secretary, it shall be placed in the archives of the province.
2. The place and date of the next provincial chapter shall be indicated in the acts.
3. The names of the deceased brothers, to which brief accounts of their lives are added, shall be published in the acts.
4. The acts shall be written in Latin. Copies, signed by the president, the diffinitors, and the secretary, and bearing the seal of the province, shall be sent to the Master of the Order as quickly as possible so that they can be examined and approved. After corrections have been made, the Master shall send a letter of approval along with the text to the province. One copy of the acts shall be sent to the archives of the Order and another for publication in abbreviated form in the Analecta of the Order.

A provincial chapter must be celebrated in the following manner:

1. on the day designated for the commencement of the chapter, or on the previous day:
   1. the testimonial letters shall be examined by the three voters senior in the Order: serious difficulties shall be referred to the chairman and voters of the chapter;
   2. after the voters have been approved, a secretary, – or two, if needed – shall be appointed by the chairman with the consent of the voters;
   3. the chairman and the voters shall form chapter commissions from among the voters;
   4. each commission shall elect its chairman in a single ballot and shall choose its secretary.
2. The chapter shall begin with the Mass of the Holy Spirit. In the prayer of the faithful after the homily, petitions shall be made for the successful outcome of the chapter, and for the living and the dead, mentioning by name those who have died in the Lord since the last chapter.
3.  
   1. Among matters to be dealt with by the commissions are apostolic activity, the state of the province with regard to personnel, disciplinary and economic matters – all this as shown in the reports presented by different superiors as determined in the statute of the province;
   2. the conclusions of each commission, set down in writing, shall be made available in a suitable place so that they can be examined by all the voters before the plenary sessions;
   3. afterwards, under the direction of the chairman of the chapter, the plenary sessions of all the voters shall begin, and it will be the duty of the voters to decide which conclusions of the commissions are to be retained so that they can be defined by the diffinitors.
4. When all these things have been done, the chairman and the diffinitors shall decide whatever they judge to be necessary or useful; whatever has been established or rejected by a majority of the voters may not be defined changed by the diffinitors.
5. It also pertains to the diffinitory:
   1. to make admonitions, ordinations, declarations and petitions;
   2. to issue assignations, to fill offices or positions, and to attend to other matters in accordance with our laws.

A provincial chapter must be celebrated in the following manner:

1. on the day designated for the commencement of the chapter, or on the previous day:
   1.  the testimonial letters shall be examined by the three voters senior in the Order: serious difficulties shall be referred to the chairman and voters of the chapter;
   2. after the voters have been approved, a secretary, – or two, if needed – shall be appointed by the chairman with the consent of the voters;
   3. the chairman and the voters shall form chapter commissions from among the voters;
   4. each commission shall elect its chairman in a single ballot and shall choose its secretary.
2. The chapter shall begin with the Mass of the Holy Spirit. In the prayer of the faithful after the homily, petitions shall be made for the successful outcome of the chapter, and for the living and the dead, mentioning by name those who have died in the Lord since the last chapter. 
3.  
   1. Among matters to be dealt with by the commissions are apostolic activity, the state of the province with regard to personnel, disciplinary and economic matters – all this as shown in the reports presented by different superiors as determined in the statute of the province;
   2. the conclusions of each commission, set down in writing, shall be made available in a suitable place so that they can be examined by all the voters before the plenary sessions;
   3. afterwards, under the direction of the chairman of the chapter, the plenary sessions of all the voters shall begin, and it will be the duty of the voters to decide which conclusions of the commissions are to be retained so that they can be defined by the diffinitors.
4. When all these things have been done, the chairman and the diffinitors shall decide whatever they judge to be necessary or useful; whatever has been rejected by a majority of the voters may not be defined by the diffinitors.
5. It also pertains to the diffinitory:
   1. to make admonitions, ordinations, declarations and petitions;
   2. to issue assignations, to fill offices or positions, and to attend to other matters in accordance with our laws.

The vocals of the provincial chapter are:

1.  
   1. regional priors;
   2. vicars provincial elected in accordance with n. 389;
   3. conventual priors; if the prior cannot attend on account of sickness or another grave reason accepted by the prior provincial, the subprior may take his place;
   4. socii of priors going to the chapter, in accordance with n. 490;
   5. delegates of the brothers, in accordance with nn. 497-501;
   6. a prior provincial who immediately before the chapter completed his term of office in that province.
2. If the vocals at a provincial chapter, elected in accordance with the constitutions, are fewer than twenty, the statute of the province may make provision for extra voters. It is obliged to do this if there are fewer than ten voters. These, of whom there may not be more than three, are to be constituted such by election and not by personal entitlement.
3. If it has been determined in the statute of the province, a non-priorial house can send one delegate to the provincial chapter, in the manner of a convent, when that house is erected in a foreign nation where no other presence of the same province exists.