Cure of Souls

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

(Latincura animarum), technically, the exercise of aclerical office involving the instruction, by sermons and admonitions, and the sanctification, through thesacraments, of the faithful in a determined district, by aperson legitimately a ppointed for the purpose. Those specially having cure of souls are thepope for the entireChurch thebishops in theirdioceses, and theparishpriests in their respectiveparishes. Others may likewise have part in the cure of souls in subordination to these. Thus in missionary countries where espiscopal sees have not yet been erected, those who labour for thesalvation ofsouls are in a special manner sharers of the particular responsibility of the Vicar of Christ for those regions. In like manner, aparishpriest may havecurates who attend to the wants of a particular portion of theparish, subordinate to himself. The object of the cure of souls is thesalvation of men, and hence it is a continuation ofChrist's mission on earth. As the Redeemer established a church which was to govern, teach, and sanctify the world, it necessarily follows that those who are to assist in the work of theChurch must obtain their mission from her alone. "How shall they preach, unless they be sent?" (Romans 10:15).

The canonical mission of apriest is derived from theApostolic succession in theChurch. This succession is twofold:Holy orders and authority. The first is perpetuated by means ofbishops; the latter by the living magistracy of theChurch, of which the head is thepope, who is the source ofjurisdiction. Both elements enter into the mission of him who has cure of souls:Holy orders, that he may offer sacrifice and administer thesacraments, which are the ordinary channels of sanctification employed by the Holy Ghost; andjurisdiction, that he may teach correctdoctrine, free his subjects fromsins and censures, and govern them in accordance with the canons of theChurch. The power ofHoly orders is radically common to allpriests by virtue of the valid ordination, but thepower of jurisdiction is ordinary only inpope,bishops, andparishpriests, and extraordinary or delegated in others. It is plain, then, that while valid orders may exist outside theCatholicChurch,jurisdiction cannot, as its source is the Vicar of Christ and it is possessed only so far as he confers it or does not limit it. Theduties of those who have cure of souls are all carefully defined in thesacred canons. (see Pope; Bishop; Parish Priest.)

We have here touched only upon what is common to theidea of apastor of thefaithful. It is plain that the closer the bond existing between the subordinate members of thehierarchy and their superiors, and betweenpastors and their people, the more effective will be the work done for thesalvation ofsouls. If thepastor be earnest in preaching and admonishing, unremitting in the tribunal of penance and visitation of the sick, charitable to thepoor, kind yet firm in his dealings with all the members of his flock, observant of the regulations of theChurch as to his office and particularly that of dwelling among his people (see Residence, Ecclesiastical), that he mayknow them and bring them succour at all times; and if, on the other hand, the people be truly desirous for their ownsalvation, obedient towards theirpastor,zealous to obtain and employ the means of sanctification, and mindful of theirobligations as members of aparish to enable theirpastor to institute and improve theparochial institutionsnecessary for the proper furtherance of the object of theChurch, we shall have thetrueidea of the cure of souls as intended byChrist and as legislated for in the canons of HisChurch.

CONTACT US |ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT