EXAMINATIONS (from Latin Examen, Gr. Ἐξάγω, Exigo). - In its most common meaning it indicates the test to which a candidate is subjected in order to ascertain his culture or his suitability for a determined purpose. It is the means used by public authority to document the degree of instruction, general or special, of determined subjects, or to check their suitability for an office, or to qualify them for the exercise of a profession.
The Church is the oldest institution that has for centuries had its own system of examinations. The Council of Trent extended their scope and perfected the system. In the current discipline of the CIC a substantial complex of examinations is provided, through which the Church carries out a rigorous control especially with regard to the subjects called to be its ministers, or to occupy public offices, or to exercise public functions. Various categories of examinations can be distinguished.
I. SCHOLASTIC AND ACADEMIC EXAMS
Those that come into consideration for advancement to the ecclesiastical state are the examinations relating to classical, philosophical and theological maturity. Provided for in the CIC, in the canons relating to intellectual formation in seminaries (cann. 1364-68), they are governed by various laws, instructions and provisions of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities of Studies, notably by the ordinance of 26 April 1920 (regulation of seminaries) and by the normae of 25 March 1936 concerning regional seminaries.
The higher examinations for the attainment of academic degrees are governed by the apostolic constitution Deus scientiarum Dominus, 24 May 1931, by the ordinaciones of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities of Studies, 12 June 1931, and by the particular statutes of the individual faculties and universities.
II. EXAMINATIONS OF SUITABILITY FOR A STATE OF LIFE
A pre-eminent place is occupied, in the first instance, by the examinations for sacred ordinations, for fitness for the clerical state. Every candidate, before being promoted to an individual order, is required to undergo a prior diligent examination concerning the order itself to which he aspires. For candidates for the major orders the examination further comprises a determined number of theological treatises according to the programs fixed by the bishop, to whom it also falls to establish the method of examination and the examining commission (can. 996). The examination for clerics, whether secular or religious, is conducted by the local Ordinary, to whom the ordination belongs by his own right. The bishop who ordains a subject of another may, if he sees fit, require from him a new examination, even if he has already been examined and duly furnished with dimissorial letters, and may also reject him if he should not prove fit (can. 997). All this was already provided for and imposed by the Council of Trent (sess. XXIII, cc. 3, 7 de ref.).
A peculiarity entirely proper to the ecclesiastical order, particularly expressive of that indefatigable zeal with which the Church attends to the fitness of her ministers, are the triennial examinations after ordination, having the purpose of checking the theological, juridical and pastoral culture of individual subjects already in contact with the first experiences of the ministry. Every year, for at least a three-year period, all newly ordained priests, even if already holders of a parochial benefice or canonry, are required to undergo an examination on determined subjects of the theological course previously programmed, according to the procedures prescribed by the Ordinary. The successful outcome of such an examination constitutes a title of preference in the conferral of offices and benefices (can. 130). Against those who refuse, sanctions are provided at the discretion of the Ordinary (can. 2176). The same examination is obligatory for religious priests for at least five years after completing the course of studies (can. 590).
In parallel with the examinations for fitness for the clerical state, the legislator provides distinct examinations for fitness for the married state, which those about to marry are required to give before the parish priest (can. 1020 § 2), and for the religious state, the latter examination being reserved for himself by the local Ordinary or his delegate for religious women (can. 552). No examination is instead explicitly prescribed for religious men, although it was so in the law prior to the CIC: it is nevertheless implicit in the canons relating to the requirements for the admission of the novice (cann. 542-46) and is generally imposed in the various particular legislations.
III. QUALIFYING EXAMINATIONS
A very important category is constituted by the e. of qualification for ecclesiastical offices and the various professions. Can. 149 establishes, as a general principle, that the Ordinary, to whom the provision of the office belongs, for the purpose of ascertaining the suitability of the candidate, may always require a special e. whenever he deems it opportune, even for those offices for which such an e. is not specifically prescribed by law.
Great importance is attached in ecclesiastical discipline to the e. of candidates for parochial benefices, that is, of those who are called to be pastors of souls. Such an e., for which grave responsibility is laid upon the conscience of bishops, must be held before a commission of synodal examiners presided over by the bishop or his delegate, and it shall bear upon the theological culture of the candidate, who may not obtain a dispensation from it, unless it be a question of a priest whose theological competence is already known and documented on other grounds (can. 459 § 2 nn. 3, 4).
Distinct and rigorous e. are moreover specifically prescribed for the offices of preacher and confessor (cann. 1346, 877). Where a well-founded doubt should arise concerning the doctrine of those approved, the bishop may oblige them to a new e., under penalty of the revocation of their faculties. Also subject to e. are candidates for the offices of canon theologian and canon penitentiary in cathedral chapters, in those regions in which the law of competition for the relative prebends was in force (can. 399 § 2).
For qualifications to teach the sacred disciplines, the e. for the respective academic degrees of licentiate and doctorate are presupposed, which in turn are sometimes strictly required or constitute a title of preference for admission to certain offices and professions (cann. 331 § 1 n. 5, 367 § 1, 396 § 3, 399 § 1, 404 § 2, 434 § 2, 1573 § 4, 1598, etc.).
For the profession of advocate before the S. R. Rota and before the S. Congregation of Rites, as well as for access to the various offices of the Roman Curia and of the episcopal curias, the obligation of a special e. is in force by virtue of particular law.
BBL.: No specific unified bibliography exists. The various treatises on canon law should be consulted at the relevant places.
Zaccaria da San Mauro