THE ORDER OF MELCHISEDECH A Defence of ... - Rore Sanctifica

Chapter I
The Catholic Priesthood
A characteristic of the heresies which have plagued the Church of Christ since her foundation is that
they are frequently exaggerations of true doctrine. Thus, an exaggerated insistence upon the
Divinity of Christ has led to a denial of His humanity and vice versa. A danger for those who
uphold truth in the face of heresy is to react so strongly against a particular error that they minimize
the valid aspect of Catholicism which the heretics had exaggerated, and thus risk falling into error
themselves. Protestants laid such stress upon the universal priesthood of the faithful that they ended
up by denying that there is any distinction in essence between a layman and an ordained priest.
Today this error has been widely embraced by Catholic Modernists and it is hardly surprising that
some traditionalists tend to react suspiciously whenever the priesthood of the laity is mentioned. As
is almost invariably the case, the Catechism of the Council of Trent can be referred to for a
balanced exposition of the Catholic position. The teaching of this Council is explained in its
Catechism as follows:
As Sacred Scripture describes a two-fold priesthood, one internal and the other external, it will be
necessary to have a distinct idea of each to enable pastors to explain the nature of the priesthood
now under discussion.
Regarding the internal priesthood (interius sacerdotium), all the faithful are said to be priests, once
they have been washed in the saving waters of Baptism. Especially is this name given to the just
who have the Spirit of God, and who, by the help of Divine grace, have been made living members
of the great High Priest, Jesus Christ: for, enlightened by faith which is enflamed by charity, they
offer up spiritual sacrifices to God on the altar of their hearts. Among such sacrifices must be
reckoned every good and virtuous action done for the glory of God. 1
It is also perfectly correct to state that during the Mass the faithful join with the ordained priest at
the altar in offering the Divine Victim. In his sublime encyclical Mediator Dei, Pope Pius XII
wrote:
The fact is clear enough from the statements of some of our Predecessors and of some Doctors of
the Church . . . The rites and prayers of the Mass show no less clearly that the offering of the Victim
is made by the priest together with the people . . . Moreover the prayers by which the Divine Victim
is offered to God are said for the most part in the plural, and they more than once indicate that the
people have a part in this sacrifice as being offerers of it . . . And there is no wonder that the faithful
are accorded this privilege; by reason of their Baptism Christians are in the Mystical Body and
become by a common title members of Christ the Priest: by the "character" that is graven upon their
souls they are appointed to the worship of God, and therefore, according to their condition, they
share in the priesthood of Christ Himself.
But not only do the faithful join with the priest at the altar in offering Christ. Pope Pius XII explains
that:
if the oblation whereby the faithful in this Sacrifice offer the Divine Victim to the heavenly Father
is to produce its full effect, they must do something further: they must also offer themselves as
victim. 2
After explaining the universal priesthood of all the faithful, the Catechism of the Council of Trent
deals with the external priesthood-----sometimes termed the visible or ministerial priesthood.
The external priesthood, on the contrary, does not pertain to the faithful at large, but only to certain
men who have been ordained and consecrated to God by the lawful imposition of hands and by the
solemn ceremonies of holy Church, and who are thereby devoted to a particular sacred ministry.
This distinction of the priesthood can be seen even in the Old Law (the Mosaic priesthood) . . . Now