MENTI NOSTRAE. - Opening phrase of the exhortation addressed on 23 Sept. 1950 by Pius XII to all the Catholic clergy, on priestly holiness (AAS, 42 [1950], pp. 657-702).

The substantial document develops, with warmth and adherence to the needs of the age, the theme of priestly perfection, showing its intimate demand, emerging from the character, which reproduces the likeness of Christ (part 1) and from the ministry, which continues his redeeming work (part 2). Having set out the practical norms (part 3), it envisages the most vital problems that the new times impose and that the priest must resolve (part 4).

This exhortation, which forms a precious triptych with Pius X's Haerent animo and Pius XI's Ad catholici sacerdotii, while it is a renewed appeal to all priests to glory in the humble privilege of the evangelical renunciations, opens new paths, in perfect harmony with tradition, yet with a sense of sound modernity.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: La santità della vita sacerdotale. Città del Vaticano 1950 (ed. it. with introduction and analytical index); F. M. Catherine, Le devoir primordial du prêtre d'aujourd'hui d'après l'exhortation, in L'ami du Clergé, 61 (1951), pp. 77-79; U. Gamba, Esortazione al clero del b. Pio X integrata con le encieli, di Pio XI « Ad catholici sacerdotii » e di Pio XII « Menti Nostrae », Padova 1951.

Antonio Piolanti

@incollection{ec8_menti_nostrae, author = {Piolanti, Antonio}, title = {Menti Nostrae}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {700}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/menti-nostrae} }

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