CLERGY, CLERICS. — By divine right the members of the Church are divided into two categories: clerics and laity. The former category includes (whether by divine right or not, depending on the rank they hold) all those who have received the first tonsure or at least one order; the latter includes all others (can. 107).
The word clergy (and hence also cleric) derives from the Greek κληρος, which originally means “lot,” and hence also a portion obtained by lot, an inheritance share. At the beginning of Christianity, this term referred to the entire Christian people, considered as the chosen people (1 Pt. 5:3); but already in the 3rd century the word was used to denote those who are dedicated to the service of worship (cf. Tertullian, *De monogam.*, 12; Origen, *Hom. in Ieremiam*, 11.3). The reason for this usage is explained by St Jerome (*Ep. ad Nepotianum*) as follows: “Clerics are so called because they are the Lord’s portion, or because the Lord constitutes their portion”; St Augustine, however, justifies the term on the grounds that the apostle Matthias was chosen by lot (In Ps. 47:19). The explanation of St Jerome prevailed in the following centuries and was also adopted in Gratian’s Decree (capp. 5,7, C. XII, q. 1).
The following are clerics and belong to the clergy: simple tonsured, ostiarii, lectors, exorcists, acolytes, subdeacons, deacons, priests or presbyters, and bishops. Those belonging to the first five categories are called minor clerics, the others major clerics (v. ORDER).
For the question whether deaconesses belong to the clergy or not, V. DEACONESSES.
Membership in the category of clerics entails modifications in capacity, rights, and duties. Without considering here the capacities deriving from the power of order, it should be noted 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 cura animarum, the quality of priest (or bishop) is required. Conversely, major clerics are incapable, under the canon law of the Latin Church and also in some Eastern rites, of contracting marriage (can. 132 § 2 and 1072; and V. ORDER, IMPEDIMENT TO).
Among the prerogatives proper to clerics, particular interest attaches to those commonly known as “clerical privileges,” which consist in a complex of favours intended to safeguard the dignity of the ecclesiastical state and the free exercise of the Church’s powers.
a) particular holiness and exemplary life (can. 124);
b) celibacy (v.), which is an obligation for major clerics and a condition for minor clerics who do not wish to forfeit their clerical state; from this obligation follows also that of taking particular care to avoid the company of women (v. COHABITATION), both to avoid scandal and to keep at a distance from the danger of failing in chastity (cann. 132–33, 1072, 2171–81, 2358–59, 2388);
c) the recitation of the canonical hours (v. DIVINE OFFICE), an obligation imposed only on major clerics and those who hold a benefice (cann. 135, 1475 § 2);
d) frequent confession and other pious practices (can. 125);
e) making the spiritual exercises at least every three years (can. 126);
f) respect and obedience to one’s Ordinary (cann. 127, 128, 2331);
g) continuation of sacred studies (cann. 129–131, 976, 2376–77; and V. *congrua*);
h) life in common, insofar as possible (can. 134, and V. CANONICAL LIFE);
i) the wearing of ecclesiastical dress and, according to local custom, the tonsure (cann. 136 §§ 1 and 3, and 2379; and V. ECCLESIASTICAL DRESS; TONSURE).
There are also certain negative duties to be recalled:
— not to wear rings except by privilege (cann. 136 § 2, 325, 811 § 2, 1378);
— not to stand surety without the permission of the Ordinary (can. 137);
— to abstain from anything unbecoming to one who belongs to the clergy (cann. 138 and 140, and V. INDECOROUS CLOTHING), or that is too alien to ecclesiastical life (can. 139);
— not to enlist voluntarily except to free oneself first, with the consent of the Ordinary, from compulsory 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 a source of an intense bond of hierarchical subordination from which a series of duties in turn 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). The juridical condition of the cleric, however, as well as the other juridical effects of Orders, can be changed for various causes, among which the reduction to the lay state is the one that most alters it: by this means the cleric is placed in a juridical condition identical or nearly identical to that of the laity (v. REDUCTION TO THE LAY STATE).
For the juridical condition of clerics in Italian legislation, V. PRIVILEGES OF CLERICS.