Ordination

In ecclesiastical law, is the conferring holy orders, or initiating a person into the priesthood. In England, the first thing necessary, on application for holy orders, is the possession of a title; that is, a sort of assurance from a rector to the bishop, that, provided the latter finds the party fit to be ordained, the former will take him for his curate, with a stated salary. The candidate is then examined by the tificatca are necessary, particularly one signed by the clergyman of the parish in which he had resided during a given time. Subscription to the thirty-nine articles is required; and a clerk must have attained his twenty-third year before he can be ordained a deacon, and his twenty-fourth, to receive priest's orders. The ceremony of ordination is performed \tr the bishop, by the imposition of hands on the person to be ordained. In the English church, and in most Protestant countries where the church is connected with the state, ordination is a requisite to preaching; but in some sects ordination is not considered necessary for that purpose, although it is considered proper, previously to the administration of the sacraments.

Wharton.

See Ordain.

See Ordain.