Ordination

1. The four-year term is calculated from one provincial chapter to another, disregarding the few days, weeks, or months by which, occasionally, the term falls short of or exceeds the four-year period; and it is terminated on the day immediately before the vigil of the commencement of the provincial chapter.
2. If it should happen that a prior provincial’s four-year term ends when the Order has no Master or that it ends within sex four months of a general chapter (see n. 354, § I), in either case it is understood that his term is extended until the following provincial chapter which will be held after the completion of the general chapter.

The prior provincial shall have a register in which he shall record his activities.

The prior provincial:

1. at the end of a visitation, shall convey to the brothers his observations and ordinations in writing;
2. After visitation he shall report to the Master of the Order, both on the brothers, whether "they are persevering in peace, assiduous in study, fervent in preaching,"1 and faithful in regular observance, and on the relationships between the province and the convents and the ecclesiastical authorities.
3. during the three months before leaving office, shall send a report on the state of the province to the Master of the Order, ensuring that it reaches him before the new election.

The prior provincial is obliged to visitate his entire province twice in four years – personally, if possible, or else by appointing another. He must, however, visitate the convents of the novitiate and the studentate each year.

What has been established above for convents and houses holds good also for convents and houses which are immediately subject to the Master of the Order, unless in a particular case the Master of the Order himself determines otherwise.

The provincial chapter shall determine norms for the brothers living outside a convent or house, especially concerning their rights and obligations with regard to the convent of their assignment.

1.  
   1. A filial house dependent on a convent may be established by a provincial chapter;
   2. the prior of the convent or the superior of the house shall appoint a vicar, who in all matters should act according to the directives given him by the superior.
2. Norms for the appointment of a vicar, for sending brothers to a filial house, and for their rights and obligations in relation to the convent shall be determined by the provincial chapter.
3. The brothers living in a filial house, although assigned to the convent, shall not be reckoned in the number of brothers required for a convent properly speaking.

If the prior provincial so judges, the superior himself may discharge the office of bursar, in case of necessity.

In a house, the council ought not to be distinct from the chapter. The superior, however, shall make no decision without consulting the voters, or obtaining their consent, if it is a matter for which a conventual prior needs advice or consent.

A prior, with the consent of his council, appoints the sacristan and the librarian. To appoint other officials he may deem useful he does not need the consent of the council. The prior shall appoint a sacristan, a librarian, a conventual reader, and other officials whom he shall judge useful.

For each official, a provincial chapter shall determine the conditions, length of service, duties, and other relevant matters.