Ordination

At the end of his term of office, a prior shall present a report on his administration according to the procedure laid down in the statute of the province.

If the prior, the subprior, and the vicar are absent, the priest who is oldest in order of profession, who has active voting rights and is assigned to the convent, shall be accepted as vicar.

If he judges it opportune, a prior may appoint as his vicar any priest brother assigned to his convent who shall have whatever authority the prior gives him.

1. If it should happen that a prior’s three-year term of office is due to end within the three months which precede the holding of a provincial chapter or the election of a prior provincial, the prior’s authority is extended until the completion of the chapter, or if a prior provincial is elected outside a chapter, until the prior provincial takes office.
2. Where, for a just cause, it does not seem advisable to hold the election of a prior within a month after the office becomes vacant, the prior provincial, having consulted the chapter of the convent, may appoint the outgoing prior or the subprior in capite as his vicar to govern the convent for not longer than six months, unless within that six-month period a provincial chapter is to be held.

1. A prior should frequently preach the word of God to the brothers and offer the sacrifice of the Mass for them;
2. he should willingly seek the advice of the brothers, encourage them to be responsible, and foster the collaboration of all for the good of the community and the salvation of humankind.

Precepts cease to bind either by the passage of time or by the termination of the authority of the one imposing the precept.

Dispensations, nominations, and similar measures issued in any way whatever by a general chapter or by the Master of the Order without a time limit remain in force until they have been revoked by a similar authority. If they are issued in any way whatever by lesser chapters or superiors, they remain in force until the promulgation of the acts of the following chapter or until their successors take office, unless the contrary is expressly stated in our legislation.

Ordinations made in canonical visitations remain in effect until the next visitation by a similar authority.

The ordinations of superiors and of those who take their place cease when they leave office, without prejudice to n. 284.

1. Ordinations in the statute of a province remain in force until they are revoked by a provincial chapter, without prejudice to n. 279, § III.
2. Other ordinations of a provincial chapter remain in force until the date when the acts of the following provincial chapter take effect.