I think you all are forgetting Saint Francis of Assisi, who founded the famous order of friars and never wanted to be ordained a priest because he never felt to be called to such honor, he was ordained a permanent deacon and was allowed to preach at mass.
Actually, this has been rejected by the four obediences of the Franciscan Order: Friars Minor, Poor Clares, Secular Franciscans and Third Order Regular.
None of the early historians and early biographers mention Francis being a permanent deacon. They mention him preaching at mass and proclaiming the Gospel. But in the history of the Francisan Order, that privilege has been granted to Franciscan men from Pope Innocent III in the 13th century to Pope Leo in the 19th century.
It is believed that Francis was not really a deacon, but performed those two functions of a deacon. There are no historical records of him baptizing anyone. The baptismal records in Assisi predate Francis. It is not for lack of good record keeping. We can even see Francis baptismal record date: 1182 under the name of John Baptist Bernadone. There are not records of anyone being Baptized by John Baptist Bernadone. If Francis had performed a Baptism, he would have had to record it using his legal name. There are no records. His legal name was never Francis. It was not even his religious name. Francesco was a nickname.
There are no records with the name Francesco Bernadone either.
One would think that an itinerant preacher would run into people needing baptisms, especially children given the mortality rate at the time.
We do not have any records of him witnessing marriages or burrying the dead either.
The policy in the Franciscan family is that no friar may be ordained to the clerical state without the permission of his brothers. Once the brothers give the permission, the major superior must confirm or veto it.
There is a strict control over ordiantions in the Franciscan family. The four obediences, have priests, but they have to keep the numbers under control or they run the risk of losing their status as a lay order and becoming a clerical order.
In clerical orders lay brothers cannot be superiors, theologians, vote in elections, be elected superior general, run parishes, be chaplains, teach in seminaries, be novice masters, etc. Their function is to take care of the house and serve the material needs of the ordained members. This has never been the Franciscan tradition.
This was tried in the 1800s and it failed. The order almost lost all of its lay brothers. Many men who wanted to become Franciscans, but not priests, did not enter the order. They entered the Secular Franciscan Order instead.
Since 1968 the four obediences have agreed to keep the number of clerics under control. If a man comes to a friary and says that he wants to join because he wants to be a deacon or a priest, he is referred to the diocesan seminary.
You enter a friary to become a Franciscan Brother. If you are approved for the priesthood, you move straight through. There are very rare exceptions for permanent deacons. The General Constitutions do not allow it unless there is grave reason.
Even the Secular Franciscans must keep a lower number of deacons, priests and bishops in the order to retain the lay status in canon law.
Right now the General Ministers in Rome are struggling with the American laity just because of the use of the title Father. Around the world the Franciscans are called Brother or Friar. But in the USA the priests are called Father and every document or article that comes from abroad and is translated changes the title to Father. The Generals do not know how to impress upon the American laity not to do this. They want to status to be non-clerical.
I hope this clarifies some questions.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
