Note: Candidates residing within the same country as their ordaining bishop are ordinarily expected to make reasonable provision to receive the minor orders personally according to the solemn rites of the Church, including reasonable domestic travel where necessary. The extraordinary faculty of written collation exists for cases of genuine necessity or substantial impediment and is not an alternative form of reception available merely by preference, convenience, or a desire to avoid reasonable travel or delay.
Since the care of souls and the good ordering of divine worship sometimes require provision in places where, by reason of some grave necessity and legitimate cause, the customary sacred rites cannot conveniently or safely be carried out, it belongs to the Holy Apostolic See, within those matters committed to the disposition of the Church, to provide extraordinary means whereby ecclesiastical offices and orders may lawfully be conferred.
The Church has received from Christ Our Lord the sacramental Orders of episcopate, priesthood, and diaconate, whose substance and essential rites are not subject to alteration by merely ecclesiastical authority. But the clerical state conferred by first tonsure, the minor orders of porter, lector, exorcist, and acolyte, and the order of subdeacon, insofar as these are constituted and regulated by ecclesiastical law and are not numbered among the sacramental Orders instituted by Christ, remain subject to the supreme authority of the Roman-Ruthenian Pontiff as regards their institution, discipline, manner of collation, rights, and obligations.
Therefore, after mature consideration, of Our own motion, with certain knowledge, and by the fullness of Our Apostolic authority, We decree and establish the following.
I. Extraordinary Mode of Collation
1. In cases of legitimate necessity, not simply inconvenience, where the customary ritual collation of first tonsure, the minor orders, or the subdiaconate cannot reasonably be performed, the Roman-Ruthenian Pontiff may confer the same directly by a written Apostolic Instrument.
2. The Roman-Ruthenian Pontiff may likewise grant, by special mandate, to a cardinal, bishop, priest, apostolic legate, superior, missionary, or other suitable ecclesiastic the faculty to confer one or more of the aforesaid grades by means of a written instrument drawn up according to the form approved by the Holy Apostolic See.
3. Such written collation shall possess the same canonical force and produce the same ecclesiastical effects as the customary rite of collation, provided that all conditions required by this Decretal and by the particular Apostolic mandate have been fulfilled.
II. The Constitutive Act
4. For validity, the written instrument must:
- identify by name the person receiving the clerical state or order;
- identify distinctly the grade or grades conferred;
- declare expressly that the instrument itself constitutes the act of collation;
- invoke the authority of the Roman-Ruthenian Pontiff, whether exercised immediately or by special delegation;
- contain words manifesting the present conferral of the grade, and not merely permission to receive it at some later time;
- bear the date of its juridical effect;
- be authenticated by the signature of the Roman-Ruthenian Pontiff or of the person specially delegated by him.
5. Words merely granting permission, nomination, appointment, deputation, or authorization to exercise a ministry shall not suffice unless the instrument expressly declares that the order itself is thereby conferred.
III. First Tonsure and Admission to the Clerical State
6. Where first tonsure is conferred according to this extraordinary manner, the person named in the instrument shall, from the moment specified therein, be admitted to the clerical state with all rights, duties, privileges, and disabilities which the law attaches to clerics of his condition.
7. In such a case, the physical cutting of the hair and the customary ceremonial prayers shall not be required for validity, having been supplied, by virtue of this Decretal, through the constitutive act of Apostolic authority.
IV. The Minor Orders
8. The orders of Porter, Lector, Exorcist, and Acolyte may, under the conditions established above, be conferred singly or successively by written Apostolic Instrument.
9. In such extraordinary collation, the traditional delivery of the keys, book, vessel, candlestick, cruets, or other instruments customarily employed in the Pontificale or Ordinale shall not be necessary for validity. Neither shall the laying on of hands be required.
10. Nevertheless, whenever circumstances later permit, the person so ordained may receive ceremonially the customary instruments and blessings, not as a new collation of the order, but as a solemn completion and visible manifestation of that which has already been validly conferred. Such is not considered an ordination sub conditione, and neither is it considered an ordination ex novo, for it is the solemination in person of the Holy Order already conferred.
V. The Subdiaconate
11. The order of Subdeacon may likewise be conferred by written Apostolic Instrument where grave necessity so requires.
12. Because the subdiaconate carries grave and permanent ecclesiastical obligations, no such collation shall take effect unless the candidate has previously and freely declared in writing:
- his intention to receive the subdiaconate;
- his acceptance of the obligations and law applicable to his state;
- his intention faithfully to discharge the liturgical and canonical duties proper to the subdiaconate.
13. The Apostolic Instrument shall either incorporate this declaration or expressly refer to it.
14. From the moment the instrument takes effect, the recipient shall possess the order of Subdeacon and shall be bound by all obligations which the Church attaches thereto, just as though he had received the order according to the customary rites of the Roman-Ruthenian Pontificale or Ordinale.
VI. Form of the Operative Clause
15. The following or substantially equivalent words shall be sufficient for the extraordinary collation of a grade:
By the authority of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter, Andrew, Stephen, and Mark, and by the Apostolic authority committed to Us, We receive and constitute N. in the clerical state and confer upon him the order of [Porter / Lector / Exorcist / Acolyte / Subdeacon], with all rights, faculties, duties, and obligations which by the law and custom of the Holy Roman-Ruthenian Church belong thereto; and We decree that this present Apostolic Instrument itself shall stand in place of the customary rite of collation.
16. Where several grades are conferred simultaneously, each shall be named distinctly.
VII. Successive Reception
17. Nothing in this Decretal shall be understood as abolishing the customary examinations, testimonials, spiritual preparation, or other requirements ordinarily demanded before advancement through the several grades.
18. Nevertheless, for legitimate cause, the Roman-Ruthenian Pontiff may dispense from such merely ecclesiastical intervals and may confer several of the aforesaid grades in one and the same instrument.
19. In no case shall such extraordinary collation be employed merely for convenience, haste, private preference, or avoidance of the solemn rites of the Church.
20. No cardinal, patriarch, primate, bishop, or other prelate of the Church, even pertaining to their own jurisdiction, shall confer the clerical state, the minor orders, or the subdiaconate by written decree only on their own authority, but must possess the aforementioned written authorization pro hac vice for each individual clerical candidate before in turn issuing their own decree.
VIII. Exclusion of Sacramental Orders
21. Nothing contained in this Decretal shall apply to the diaconate, priesthood, or episcopate.
22. No written decree, rescript, mandate, letter, nomination, or Apostolic Instrument, however solemnly worded, shall by itself confer any of those sacramental Orders.
23. The essential sacramental rite required for the valid reception of diaconate, priesthood, or episcopate must always be performed according to the law and doctrine of the Church.
IX. Proof and Registration
24. Every extraordinary collation made according to this Decretal shall be recorded in the registers of the Holy Apostolic See or of the competent ecclesiastical authority.
25. The recipient shall receive an authenticated copy of the constitutive instrument.
26. The original instrument or an authenticated copy shall constitute full canonical proof of the reception of the clerical state or order therein specified.
27. Where communications permit, notice of the collation shall be transmitted as soon as reasonably possible to the Ordinary of the recipient’s domicile or incardination.
X. Interpretation
28. Since the present extraordinary manner of collation concerns grades whose constitutive rites are subject to ecclesiastical determination, We expressly declare that the omission of the ceremonial actions prescribed in the Roman-Ruthenian Pontificale or Ordinale shall not affect validity whenever the conditions of this Decretal have been fulfilled.
29. The ancient rites themselves are nevertheless to be retained and reverently employed wherever reasonably possible, as worthy expressions of the tradition, doctrine, and hierarchical order of the Roman-Ruthenian Church.
30. The extraordinary written mode established herein is therefore supplementary and exceptional, and shall never be interpreted as derogating from the dignity or fittingness of the traditional rites.
We decree that these things shall be firm and valid now and in the future, notwithstanding anything whatsoever to the contrary, even if worthy of special and individual mention.
Given at Rome-Ruthenia, in the House of Sts. Peter, Andrew, Stephen, and Mark on this 26th Day of August in the year of Our Lord 2026, in the 16th year of Our Pontificate.
Model Individual Instrument of Collation
By Apostolic Authority
Let it be known to all whom it may concern that N., having been found suitable and having freely manifested his desire to serve Almighty God and His Church, is, by virtue of the special faculty granted under the Apostolic Decretal De collatione extraordinaria per instrumentum apostolicum, hereby:
received into the clerical state by first tonsure, and constituted successively in the Orders of Porter, Lector, Exorcist, Acolyte, and Subdeacon.
This preceding text is modified to specify the exact orders or state being conferred.
By the authority of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter, Andrew, Stephen, and Mark, and by the Apostolic authority granted to Us, We hereby confer upon the said candidate these orders presently and effectively, together with all rights, faculties, duties, burdens, and obligations which the law and immemorial custom of the Holy Roman-Ruthenian Church attach to them.
We declare that this Instrument itself constitutes the act of collation and, by Apostolic provision, stands in place of the ritual cutting of the hair, delivery of the instruments, and other ecclesiastically instituted ceremonies ordinarily prescribed for the aforesaid grades.
The following paragraph is added for subdeacons.
The aforesaid candidate, having freely accepted the obligations proper to the subdiaconate, is from the taking effect of this Instrument to be held and regarded in law as truly and canonically ordained Subdeacon.
This Instrument shall take effect upon its being signed and delivered to the recipient on the [day] of [month], in the year of Our Lord [year].