CLERGY, CLERICS. - By divine right the members of the Church are divided into the two categories of clerics and laity. To the former belong (whether by divine right or not, according to the rank they hold) all those who have received the first tonsure, or at least one degree of Orders; to the latter all the rest (can. 107).
The word clergy (and therefore also cleric) derives from the Greek κλῆρος, which means in the first place "lot," and hence also a part obtained by lot, a portion of an inheritance. At the beginning of Christianity, this term indicated the whole Christian people, considered as the chosen people (1 Pt. 5:3); but already in the 3rd century the word is used to indicate those who are assigned to the service of worship (cf. Tertullian, De monogam., 12; Origen, Hom. in Ieremiam, 11, 3). The reason for this usage is explained thus by St. Jerome (Ep. ad Nepotianum): "Clerics are so called, because they are the portion of the Lord, or because the Lord constitutes their portion"; St. Augustine, on the other hand, justifies the use of the word by the fact that the apostle Matthias was chosen by lot (In Ps. 47, 19): St. Jerome's explanation prevailed in the following centuries and was also accepted in Gratian's Decree (capp. 5, 7, C. XII, q. 1).
Those who are clerics and form part of the clergy are: simple tonsured men, porters, lectors, exorcists, acolytes, subdeacons, deacons, priests or presbyters, bishops: those belonging to the first five categories are called minor clerics, the others major clerics (v. ORDINE).
On the question whether deaconesses are or are not part of the clergy, v. DIACONESSE.
Belonging to the category of clerics brings about modifications in capacity, rights and duties. Leaving aside here the capacities deriving from the power of order, let it be remembered that only clerics have the capacity to receive the power of jurisdiction, and to be appointed to an ecclesiastical office (can. 118). Indeed, for most offices, including all those whose holder has the care of souls, the quality of priest (presbyter or bishop) is required. Conversely, major clerics are incapable, in the canon law of the Latin Church and also in some Eastern rites, of marriage (cann. 132 § 2 and 1072; and v. ORDINE, IMPEDIMENTO dell').
Among the prerogatives proper to clerics, particular interest attaches to those that commonly go under the name of "privileges of clerics," and which consist in a body of favors directed at protecting the decorum of the ecclesiastical state and the free exercise of the powers of the Church.
Among the positive duties of clerics the most important are: a) particular holiness and exemplariness of life (can. 124); b) celibacy (v.), which is an obligation for major clerics and a condition for minor clerics who do not wish to fall from the state of clerics; from this obligation there also follows that of using particular precautions in avoiding the company of women (v. COABITAZIONE), both so as not to give scandal and to keep away from the danger of failing in chastity (cann. 132-33, 1072, 2171-81, 2358-59, 2388); c) the daily recitation of the canonical hours (v. DIVINE OFFICE), an obligation imposed only on major clerics and on those who hold a benefice (cann. 135, 1475 § 2); d) frequent confession and other practices of piety (can. 125); e) completion, at least every three years, of the spiritual exercises (can. 126); f) respect and obedience toward one's own Ordinary (cann. 127, 128, 2331); g) continuation of sacred studies (cann. 129-131, 976, 2376-77; and v. CONFERENCES); h) common life, insofar as possible (can. 134, and v. CANONICAL LIFE); i) use of ecclesiastical dress and, according to local customs, of the tonsure (cann. 136 §§ 1 and 3, and 2379; and v. ECCLESIASTICAL DRESS; TONSURE).
Then some negative duties are to be remembered: not to wear rings except by privilege (cann. 136 § 2, 325, 811 § 2, 1378); not to act as guarantor without the permission of the Ordinary (can. 137); to abstain from everything that can be unbecoming for one who is part of the clergy (cann. 138 and 140, and v. UNDIGNIFIED ARTS), or that is too foreign to ecclesiastical life (can. 139); not to enlist voluntarily except in order to be released earlier, with the consent of the Ordinary, from obligatory military service (can. 141); not to engage in commerce or speculation (cann. 142 and 2380); not to leave the diocese without the authorization of the Ordinary (cann. 143-44, 542 n. 2).
An obligation, and at the same time the source of an intense bond of hierarchical subordination from which in turn a series of obligations derives, is incardination.
The power of Order is never lost for any cause, even when its exercise is forbidden, and therefore illicit (v. SACRAMENTAL CHARACTER; ORDER). On the other hand, the juridical condition of the cleric, as well as the other juridical effects of Order, can change for various causes, among which there should be remembered, as the one that changes it most, reduction to the lay state: by it indeed the cleric is placed in a juridical condition identical or nearly identical to that of a layperson (v. REDUCTION TO THE LAY STATE).
For the juridical condition of clerics in Italian legislation, v. PRIVILEGES OF CLERICS.
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