Why does the seminary require one to be at least 18 of age before you can enter.
Example, Padre Pio became part of O.F.M.C at the age of 15… (or joined the seminary to be more exact)
Why can’t we enter at a young age today?
First of all, you have to make a distinction between being a priest and being a friar.
Pio entered the Franciscans at age 15. He did not become a priest until he was of legal age.
Canon Law gives two distinct ages, one for religious profession and one for ordination. The laws that govern ordination usually come from the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy. The laws governing religious profession come from the Sacred Congregation for Consecrated Life. They each contribute to the Code of Canon Law, which the pope ratifies. They don’t always agree as they do not speak to each other. At the Holy See, the government of religious and the government of the clergy have nothing do to with each other.
When Pio entered, the Code of Canon Law allowed a man to become a religious at age 15 and to make vows at age 16. He became a friar at age 15. Three years later, he made profession of simple vows and three years after that he made profession of solemn vow. After completing his formation as a religious, then he began to form for the priesthood.
In those days, priests and religious were not required to have a university education. That was left up to the local authorities. The Capuchins required a basic college education for anyone becoming a religious, equivalent to a BA in the USA today. That’s what Pio had. Once he had that, he could make solemn vows. They had a requirement of two additional years of theology and Church law for ordination. Pio completed that. Afterward, it’s up to the brothers to vote. If they vote that Christ is calling the young religious to the priesthood, it passes on to the superior. The superior is the voice of Christ. Ultimately, only he can decide if you have a vocation to be a religious or a priest. In Pio’s case, the Christ spoke through the superior. However, Christ never speaks contrary to Church law or contrary to the laws of the five major rules in the Church: Benedictine, Carmelite, Augustinian, Franciscan and Basilian. If either the law or the rules have a specific age for either the profession of vows or ordination, Christ does not contradict them. Christ is not in the business of contradicting his Church.
In most countries, you do not reach the age of majority unitl your 16th birthday and 18 in some such as the USA. Canon Law says that you must have reached the age of majority to enter either the seminary or religious life.
Canon Law also says that if you are called to be both: a religious and a priest, you must first complete your formation as a religious, before you can be presented as a candidate for Holy Orders. The only exception is if you join the Jesuits. The Jesuits will often be ordained before they make solemn vows, because their religious formation is much much longer than their formation to the priesthood.
In addition, Canon Law requires that you must have at least a four-year Master’s Degree to be ordained either a deacon or a priest. You must complete your BA and then complete an additional 96 credits tor a Master’s degree. The law also says that if you are a religious, you may not make solemn vows before you 25 birthday, if you belong to an order. If you belong to a congregation, they don’t make solemn vows. They make simple vows. There is another law that says that you cannot make perpetual profession of simple vows before age 22.
In addition, if you are going to be both, a religious and a priest, religious formation cannot be less than six years and up to 10 years. Only after you have finished religious formation, can you request ordination.
If you enter a diocesan seminary, you are not required to have six years of religious formation. Diocesan seminarians do not study the spiritual life, spiritual theology, and many other courses in theology that religious men study.
However, they must complete a BA degree with a major in Philosophy or a double major. If they already have a BA or BS degree, they must still go back to college to complete the undergraduate philosophy and theology courses before going on to graduate school.
If they want to be religious, as I said, they must first complete 6 years of theological formation before they can make perpetual vows. Before perpetual vows, there can be no ordination. Some men go through both programs at the same time. This allows them to make perpetual profession and be ordained a few months later.
When you add the years of education and the fact that you have to be of legal age to enter either the secular seminary or the religious life, you are about 25 or 26 when you’re ordained.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
