The Provincial Chapter

1. The voters at a provincial chapter are:
   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 voters 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.

1. If, however, the provincial chapter is due to be held during the four months prior to a general chapter, counting from the first day of the month assigned in the acts for its celebration, the chapter shall be postponed until after the promulgation of the acts of the general chapter. It then falls to the Master of the Order to assign a date for the provincial chapter, after consulting the prior provincial.
2. A provincial chapter shall not be omitted even if a prior provincial has already been appointed.

The chapter, which the voters shall not fail to attend, shall be convoked by the prior provincial or by the vicar of the province at least three months before it is to be held.

When the letter of convocation has been received:

1. the election of delegates mentioned in n. 352, § I, 5, shall be held; and in convents having the right, the election of the socius or socii of the prior going to the chapter shall be held under the presidency of the subprior; further, an election shall be held for supplementary voters to provide for the situation referred to in n. 352, § II.
2. three months before the beginning of the chapter, the prior provincial shall send out a report on the state of the province and the more serious problems facing it; the officials of the province (see nn. 376-381) shall send to the capitulars and convents a report on all that is within their competence;
3. in every convent of the province a discussion shall be held under the presidency of the prior in which the reports described in n. 2 shall be examined, and proposals or petitions to be sent
   to the chapter to the benefit of the province or the convent shall be determined.

The statute of the province determines:

1. whether to have preparatory commissions; 
2. the day on which the election of the prior provincial and the diffinitors of the chapter shall be held;
3. how many diffinitors of the chapter are to be elected, namely, four, six, or eight;
4. whether councillors of the province are to be elected, how many of them and when;
5. the day on which the elections for the general chapter shall be held.

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.

In a provincial chapter all matters shall be decided ordinarily by secret vote. If at any time the votes are tied, the president shall break the tie.

1. The chapter shall end within a month. However, with the consent of the Master of the Order, it may, in a special case, be extended for fifteen days.
2. For a reasonable cause, approved by the Master of the Order, the chapter may be interrupted, but not beyond fifteen days. During the interruption, the power mentioned in n. 360 belongs to the prior provincial.

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 or a modern language accepted by the general council. Five 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.
   If the acts are not written in one of the languages accepted by the general council, a translation shall be made into Latin or into one of those languages and five copies of the translation shall be sent to the Master of the Order with the addition of two copies in the original language.
   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.

1. The acts may not be published before they have been approved by the Master of the Order. After approval, however, they shall be printed either in Latin or the vernacular, promulgated by the prior provincial, and sent to the convents of the province. Moreover, they shall be read publicly in each convent as the chapter itself may determine.
2. The authority of the acts begins from their promulgation and ends with the promulgation of the acts of the following chapter.

A prior provincial may not change or rescind the acts of a chapter, nor may such authority be delegated to him by the diffinitors; he may, however, interpret the acts of a chapter and in a particular case dispense from them.