1. All the socii are appointed by the Master of the Order, remain in office for six years, and may be appointed again for another six years, always leaving the new Master of the Order free to change the brothers who are members of the general council.
2. The appointment of socii for the apostolate, and for the intellectual life, and for fraternal life and formation shall take place after the views of all priors provincial have been ascertained.
3. The appointment of socii to deal with relations between provinces and the Master of the Order shall take place after the priors provincial concerned have been consulted. When they shall have reached an agreement on the matter they shall offer three names to the Master of the Order. The Master of the Order is obliged to appoint one of the three or to ask that three other names be offered.

1. The socii help the Master of the Order in the exercise of his office over the whole Order; with their consent or advice the Master governs the Order, discussing and deciding questions of major importance for the life of the whole Order.
2. The socii of the Master of the Order are to be no fewer than eight and no more than ten. Two of them have charge of matters to do with the apostolate and the intellectual life in the Order respectively; to the others is entrusted care for the relationship of the provinces with the Order, and for other matters which may be committed to them by the Master of the Order (see n. 428).

1. Under the chairmanship of the Master or vicar of the Order, or of their vicar, the general council is composed of the socii to the Master of the Order and of the procurator general; their consent or advice is required according to our laws and common law (cf. appendicem n. 14-bis).
2. The Master of the Order may convoke the councillors to seek their advice and opinion whenever it seems beneficial to him even if this is not required by law.

1. A most general chapter shall not be convened unless the majority of the provinces request it, and it shall be announced two years beforehand unless the need for it is urgent.
2. The same prescriptions shall be observed for its convocation, preparation, and celebration as for general chapters.

The two diffinitors of a most general chapter:

1. must be elected for this purpose, either in a provincial chapter or in an extraordinary elective chapter;
2. they should have the same qualifications as diffinitors of a general chapter, except that those who served as diffinitors in the immediately preceding general chapter may be elected.

A most general chapter (see n. 276, § II) is composed of the Master of the Order, ex-Masters of the Order, priors provincial, and two diffinitors from each province, elected by a provincial chapter.

The Master of the Order may not change the acts and decrees of a chapter but he, and indeed he alone, may dispense from them and declare their meaning.

1. It is strictly forbidden for priors provincial by their decisions to generate prejudice against diffinitors and it is likewise strictly forbidden for diffinitors by their decisions to generate prejudice against priors provincial. And if they attempt to do so, it shall be null and void.
2. The secrecy of the chapter must be observed by all the participants concerning those matters which could cause harm or prejudice to the Order or to the brothers. The president, however, may determine if anything else must be kept secret.

This is the sequence of chapters: the elective chapter, the chapter of diffinitors, the chapter of priors provincial, and so on. A new series of chapters in the aforesaid order begins with the elective chapter even if the election of a Master has to be held before the completion of the nine-year ten-year period.

1. A general chapter shall be held:
   1. every three years; four years after an elective chapter,
   2. three years after a chapter of diffinitors or a chapter of priors provincial;
   3. 2. whenever the office of Master of the Order falls vacant.
2. A chapter may, if it judges it opportune, call the next chapter within a shorter period of time.