DIMISSIONE. - A term used in various senses in ecclesiastical juridical terminology.
The principal meanings currently in use are the following: a) in matters concerning ecclesiastical offices, the act by which the holder of an office relinquishes it is called resignation (cf. CIC, cann. 1484-85); such resignation is also called renunciation (can. 2148, etc.); b) dismissal is likewise spoken of in every case of expulsion from a community of someone belonging to it: in this sense the CIC speaks of dismissal from a seminary (cann. 1363 § 3; 1371), from a religious order (cann. 571, 575 § 1, 646-72, 1363 § 3), from an association of persons living in common without vows (can. 681), or from a pious association (can. 696).
Some writers also call dismissal the deprivation (v.) or removal from an ecclesiastical office, especially if it is removable (v. AMOVIBILITÀ).
The illegitimate abandonment of ecclesiastical or religious dress by a cleric or religious is likewise usually called dismissal. Pio Ciprotti