Saints Peter and Paul Church
Cumberland, Maryland

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.

Picture Catalogue of Father Matthew's Ordination - 4

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Final Blessing

Comments on Ordination

by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Concelebration

After the Offertory, the newly-ordained priests begin to celebrate Mass with the Bishop saying the prayers aloud with them. They even say the words of consecration with him. The meaning of the ceremony is that as the Apostles learned to celebrate Mass from Our Blessed Lord at the Last Supper; so too, in concelebrating with the bishop, the new priests learn a ritual from a successor of the Apostles. As the newly-ordained priests concelebrate with the bishop, so too, they receive communion, drinking from the same chalice, and consuming a host that was consecrated at the Mass.

The Commission to Absolve

Before the Communion prayer is read, the Mass is interrupted a second time to give the priests a new function in the Mystical Body of Christ. After the profession of faith, the bishop sits down and lays both hands on the head of each one kneeling before him, and says: "Receive the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained."

The bishop does not wear gloves for this second imposition, but he does for the first. The Mass is interrupted here, for the second time, to give the power to forgive sins, because this power was given by Our Lord at a time distinct from that of the authority to offer the Mass. The night of the Last Supper Our Lord ordained His priests, after having offered the sacrifice of bread and wine, saying: "Do this in commemoration of Me." But it was after His Resurrection that He gave them priestly power to forgive sins and the power of binding and loosing. This corresponds also to the double ceremony of the chasuble: first, the putting it on as folded for the pre-Resurrection power; and secondly, the unfolding, to indicate the giving of additional priestly powers of forgiveness. When the chasuble is unfolded, the bishop prays: "May the Lord clothe you with the robe of innocence."

The Promise of Obedience

The newly-ordained priests now come up for what is called the "stipulatio." There is not a clasping of hands here, for that would signify equality. The hands, being the instruments of action and service, are put inside the bishop's hands to signify his will to be put at the service of the bishop. It is a commitment of the young priest to his father in Christ.