Becoming a Priest focuses on the period between the establishment of the Church by Christ and
the middle of the 12th century when the ecclesiastical discipline necessary to preserve the
original meaning purpose and duties of sacred ministers was stablished. The belief that the
Holy Order is received as a gift obliges the Church to respect and protect the integrity of the
ministry. Sources show how the non-obligatory nature and the high moral requirements of the
priesthood guaranteed ever more seriously a person's suitability to every degree of the Holy
Order. Gratian's Decretum (12th c.) already gives a well balanced and thought-out explication
of the qualities of the applicants for the formation of and the degrees of the sacred
ministry including the roles of bishops and priests to recognize select and train those who
feel themselves called to the priesthood and have been be found suitable by the Church
authorities. The Decretum Gratiani summarizes the essential basisfor determining who is worthy
to receive the ministry of Christ and has been held as the authority in this regard for
subsequent centuries.
