Ordination

1. So that the Order’s apostolate in the service of the Church may be exercised more effectively, the provinces which are in the same region or country should help each other, especially those which are in the territory of the same episcopal conference. Not only should they be united in a bond of fraternal charity and help each other occasionally, they should also, as far as possible, cooperate regularly according to mutually agreed norms.
2. The same must be said about houses or convents under the immediate jurisdiction of the Master of the Order so that there may be effective collaboration between all entities of the Order in any one place.

All the brothers, especially those living outside their convent, shall gather periodically to discuss the apostolic and regular life and, if the occasion presents itself, to formulate specific proposals for a future provincial chapter.

1. In every vicariate there shall be a council whose consent or advice the regional prior vicar provincial1 must seek on important transactions according to the norm of vicariate statutes. The acts of this council after being collected are to be sent to the prior provincial.
2. The number of these councillors and the manner of their election or appointment shall be determined by the vicariate statute.
3. When When2 in accordance with the prescriptions of the Book of Constitutions and Ordinations or the statute of the province or vicariate, the prior provincial, with his provincial council, has to deal with matters which concern the vicariate, he must first also consult the vicariate council before consulting the provincial council. When however it is a question of confirming, appointing, or removing the regional prior vicar provincial, he consults only the provincial council (see n. 373, 1).

The statutes of the vicariate ought to determine the norms

1. on the celebration of the chapter of the vicariate;
2. on the office of the Vicar provincial who presides over the vicariate as vicar of the Prior Provincial;
3. on the officials of the Vicariate;
4. on the formation and promotion of vocations;
5. on the right to participate ex officio in the provincial
   council and Provincial Chapter (cf. 352 § I, 1°), with active voice or not;
6. on the faculties which the Vicar of the Prior Provincial, having heard his council, is able to grant, on the admission of candidates to the novitiate and to simple profession, on the assignment of brothers to a house and convent of the vicariate, on the confirmation of conventual priors and the appointment of superiors of houses.

Documents pertaining to the actual government and administration of a province shall be kept either in the secretariat of the province or by the officials concerned. (See Appendix n. 15.)

The prior provincial shall have a secret archive in which are kept secret documents, the import of which he is bound to convey to his successor. These documents shall be burned seventy years after the death of the brothers mentioned in them, provided this can be done without prejudice to those who are still alive, with due regard to civil law taking into account the requirements of civil law.

An archivist, appointed by a provincial chapter, has charge of the archives of the province in which are stored:

1. documents which have been kept in the office of the prior provincial or of other officials and are no longer needed for ordinary government;
2. documents of convents which have been suppressed;
3. unpublished writings, letters, or other documents of deceased brothers or of other people which appear to be of value for the history of the province.

It is the task of the provincial chapter to appoint various officials according to the needs of the province and to determine their duties.

Neither the prior provincial nor a local superior may hold the office of provincial bursar.

Ordinarily the socius should not be a local superior or a parish priest.