The following are assembled and have votes in a general chapter of diffinitors:

1. the Master of the Order;
2. ex-Masters of the Order;
3. diffinitors elected by each province;
4. delegates elected by each vice-province and general vicariate;
5. delegates of other vicariates, chosen in accordance with n. 409-bis, but excluding regional priors and vicars provincial;

1. Conferences of priors provincial and regional priors as well as vicars shall be established according to nations or regions so that fraternal collaboration is truly organized and has a permanent character. These conferences shall meet regularly according to norms drawn up by the members of the entities and approved by the Master of the Order.
2. To foster these mutual relationships, the socii of the Master of the Order shall visit these regions frequently and remain there for some time. At an opportune time, they shall inform the Master of the Order and the general chapter about the activities and progress made there.

Where the conditions for a regional vicariate indicated in n. 384 above are lacking, a provincial chapter has power to establish a provincial vicariate and to draw up a special statute for it. If there are at least ten voters, they have the right to elect a vicar provincial; otherwise, having consulted the brothers, a vicar provincial shall be appointed by the prior provincial.

A brother who holds the office of vicar of the province upon the death or removal of the prior provincial must report to the provincial chapter on his administration.

The vicar of the province remains in office until the newly elected or postulated prior provincial is present where the chapter is located, and who from that moment shall discharge the office of vicar of the province and preside over the chapter.

1. When a prior provincial ceases to hold office in accordance with n. 344, § I, the vicar of the province, as laid down in the statute of the province, will be: either the prior provincial himself ceasing from office or some brother who is or was a conventual prior in the province. or the prior convent where the next provincial chapter is to be celebrated or, if that convent does not have a prior at that time, the prior convent where the last chapter was celebrated, and so on, going back; – or the prior provincial himself ceasing from office.
2. When a prior provincial leaves office for any other reason, the vicar of the province will be the socius of that prior provincial up to the day immediately before the vigil of the provincial chapter, from which day the vicar will be the conventual prior where the next provincial chapter is to be held, or if that convent does not have a prior at that time, the prior of the convent where the last chapter was held and so on, retrospectively. The latter ruling should be observed even if there is no socius.
3. When a prior provincial is prevented from exercising jurisdiction, the Master of the Order must be approached. If this is not possible, the socius of the prior provincial becomes the vicar of the province, as set out above in § II.
4. A prior provincial who, without hope of recovery within six months, is prevented by illness from properly fulfilling his duties, shall resign from office.
5. If he is unable or unwilling to resign, the socius of the prior provincial must summon the provincial council and preside over it even without the prior provincial. This council has power to approach the Master of the Order who shall either convoke an extraordinary elective chapter (see n. 351, § II) or appoint the vicar of the province as the vicar of the Master of the Order.

1. In each province there shall be a bursar who shall have charge of the goods of the province in accordance with the norms established for administration.
2. The brother who will have fulfilled this office may be proposed immediately for a second term, but not a third.

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; first of all, there shall be a review of whether the ordinations and exhortations of the last provincial chapter and general chapter have been put into practice.

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

1. the appointment or removal of a regional prior vicar provincial 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).