« MENTI NOSTRAE ». — Initial phrase of the exhortation addressed on 23 September 1950 by Pius XII to all the Catholic clergy, concerning priestly holiness (AAS, 42 [1950], pp. 657–702).
This substantial document develops, with warmth and attentiveness to the needs of the age, the theme of priestly perfection, demonstrating its intimate necessity, arising from the character that reproduces the features of Christ (part 1) and from the ministry that continues his redemptive work (part 2). Having indicated the practical norms (part 3), it presents the most vital problems imposed by the new times, which 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 renewing the appeal to all priests to glory in the humble privilege of evangelical renunciations, opens new paths, in perfect harmony with tradition but with a sense of sound modernity.