« AD CATHOLICI SACERDOTII ». — The opening words of the encyclical with which Pius XI (20 Dec. 1935: AAS, 28 [1936], pp. 5–53), on the occasion of his priestly jubilee, intended to fittingly celebrate the dignity and character of the Catholic priest.
The latter, in fact, is by vocation and divine mandate “the minister of Christ and steward of the mysteries of God” (I Cor. 4:1); he offers God upon the altar the pure oblation foretold by Malachi (Mal. 1:11), performing that sacrificial action which has real efficacy for reconciling sinners with the divine Majesty; he remits sins in the name of God; he accompanies man throughout the whole course of life, administering to him the appropriate sacraments; he blesses Christian marriage and defends its prerogatives; he is the foremost apostle of the education of youth; he mitigates social conflicts by preaching Christian brotherhood, justice, and evangelical charity; he has the inalienable right and the imprescriptible duty to teach and instruct (Mt. 28:19–20).
Hence there arises for him an urgent series of duties, so that his ministry may attain the end indicated by Christ and he may not stray, still less cause the little sheep entrusted to his care to stray: holiness of life, inner spiritual formation, assiduous prayer, detachment from earthly goods, renunciation, through celibacy, of the joys and consolations that he might honestly enjoy in another way of life; sound knowledge and doctrine; zeal that faces every hardship and even death in defense of the truth. Hence also the bishops’ vigilant care in the selection and spiritual and cultural formation of candidates for the priesthood.
To show how the doctrine set forth in the encyclical had not remained a dead letter, Pius XI recalls the particular care devoted from the beginning of his pontificate to the formation of clerics, through the Apostolic Letter Officiorum omnium of 1 Aug. 1922 (AAS, 14 [1922], p. 449 ff.), through the Apostolic Constitution Deus scientiorum Dominus of 24 May 1931 (AAS, 29 [1931], p. 241 ff.), and through seminaries either established where none yet existed, or provided with new, more spacious and dignified premises, or better supplied with resources and personnel.