Ordination

1. To establish or accept a center of academic higher studies, including a university, in addition to the requirements of law and the usual academic conditions, the following are required:
   1. a petition drawn up by the provincial chapter setting out the reasons;
   2. a decree of approval given by the Master of the Order.
2. Centers of academic higher study and universities belonging in any way to the Order shall send an annual report on their specific status to the Master of the Order.
3. For the establishment of a center for special studies or a center for ongoing formation, the approval of the prior provincial and his council is required; the views of the commission for the intellectual life of the province need to be ascertained.

1. Once the chapter has been convoked, the brothers who have the right to do so shall send to the Master or vicar of the Order the petitions and questions which they wish to propose to the chapter.
2. The following, apart from the vocals of the chapter, may submit petitions and questions:
   1. all major superiors, the socii of the Master of the Order, and the procurator general;
   2. any chapter and council and also the moderator team of a centre of studies;
   3. any religious provided that his proposal is countersigned by at least five brothers who have active voting rights, or is presented by a member of the chapter who shall judge whether the petition ought to be submitted or not;
   4. monasteries or federations of our nuns; provincial or national councils of fraternities of St Dominic.
3.  
   1. Questions to be submitted to the general chapter by those who have the right or authority to do so shall be sent to the Master of the Order four months before the chapter;
   2. they shall be set down briefly in Latin and submitted on as many separate pages as there are separate questions.
4.  
   1. The Master of the Order shall see to it that the questions mentioned in § III, 1, assigned to different commissions according to differing material, are conveyed to each member of the chapter as soon as possible;
   2. the vocals shall at once let the Master of the Order know which three commissions they wish to belong to, in their order of preference, while acknowledging the Master’s right to arrange things freely according to the needs of the chapter;
   3. the Master of the Order shall then appoint the presidents of the commissions and inform the vocals about the commission to which each has been assigned so that in the meantime they may study very carefully the questions which have been assigned to their own commission.

1. Once the chapter has been convoked, the brothers who have the right to do so shall send to the Master or vicar of the Order the petitions and questions which they wish to propose to the chapter.
2. The following, apart from the members of the chapter, may submit petitions and questions:
   1. all major superiors, the socii of the Master of the Order, and the procurator general;
   2. any chapter and council and also the moderator team of a centre of studies;
   3. any religious provided that his proposal is countersigned by at least five brothers who have active voice, or is presented by a member of the chapter who shall judge whether the petition ought to be submitted or not;
   4. monasteries or federations of our nuns; provincial or national councils of fraternities of St Dominic.
3. Councils general or federations of congregations aggregated to the Order may submit their requests and suggestions concerning the Dominican family to a general chapter.
4.  
   1. Questions to be submitted to the general chapter by those who have the right or authority to do so shall be sent to the Master of the Order four months before the chapter;
   2. they shall be set down briefly in Latin and submitted on as many separate pages as there are separate questions.
5.  
   1. The Master of the Order shall see to it that the questions mentioned in § IV, 1, assigned to different commissions according to differing material, are conveyed to each member of the chapter as soon as possible;
   2. The members of these commissions are: brothers having a voice in the chapter, including the associates of the prior provincials and diffinitors who enjoy the right of election (cf. n. 407 § III); assistants of the Master of the Order designated by the Master himself (cf. n. 410 § I); the prior provincials mentioned in n. 258, the vice-provincials and the vicars general of territories not belonging to a province or vice-province or delegates from them according to the norm of n. 410 § II;
   3. all the vocals shall at once let the Master of the Order know which three commissions they wish to belong to, in their order of preference, while acknowledging the Master’s right to arrange things freely according to the needs of the chapter;
   4. the Master of the Order shall then appoint the presidents of the commissions and inform the capitulars about the commission to which each has been assigned so that in the meantime they may study very carefully the questions which have been assigned to their own commission.

1. Once the chapter has been convoked, the brothers who have the right to do so shall send to the Master or vicar of the Order the petitions and questions which they wish to propose to the chapter.
2. The following, apart from the members of the chapter, may submit petitions and questions:
   1. all major superiors, the socii of the Master of the Order and the procurator general and the socii of the Master of the Order;
   2. any chapter and council and also the moderator team of a centre of studies;
   3. any religious provided that his proposal is countersigned by at least five brothers who have active voting rights, or is presented by a member of the chapter who shall judge whether the petition ought to be submitted or not;
   4. monasteries or federations of our nuns; provincial or national councils of fraternities of St Dominic.
3. Councils general or federations of congregations aggregated to the Order may submit their requests and suggestions concerning the Dominican family to a general chapter.
4.  
   1. III.1. Questions to be submitted to the general chapter by those who have the right or authority to do so shall be sent to the Master of the Order six months before the chapter;
   2. III.2. they shall be set down briefly in Latin or a modern language accepted by the general council and submitted on as many separate pages as there are separate questions.
5.  
   1. IV.1 The Master of the Order shall see to it that the questions mentioned in § III IV, 1, assigned to different commissions according to differing material, are conveyed to each member of the chapter vocal as soon as possible;
   2. members of these commissions are: brothers with voting rights in the chapter, including the associates of the prior provincials and diffinitors who enjoy the right of election (cf. n. 407 § III); the socii of the Master of the Order designated by the Master himself (cf. n. 410 § I); the prior provincials mentioned in n. 258, the vice-provincials and the vicars general of territories not belonging to a province or vice-province according to the norm of n. 410 § II;
   3. IV.2. then all the voters shall at once let the Master of the Order know which three commissions they wish to belong to, in their order of preference, while acknowledging the Master’s right to arrange things freely according to the needs of the chapter;
   4. IV.3. the Master of the Order shall then appoint the presidents of the commissions and inform the capitulars vocals about the commission to which each has been assigned so that in the meantime they may study very carefully the questions which have been assigned to their own commission.

1. The place and time of a chapter shall be determined by the preceding chapter. The date assigned for the beginning of a chapter shall not be postponed or anticipated by more than six months except with the consent of a majority of the provinces.
2. A general chapter shall be convoked by the Master or vicar of the Order by circular letter eight months before the date assigned for holding the chapter. Prayers for the successful outcome of the chapter shall be requested in this letter.
3. When the office of Master of the Order falls vacant, an elective chapter shall be convoked within a month from the date of the vacancy. This time may be extended – but not beyond six months – if there is a grave reason and a majority of  the provinces consent.
4. With the consent of his council, the Master or vicar of the Order may, for a just cause, change the designated location for the next general chapter.

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).