Religious priest higher state than secular priests?

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Is the religious state higher than secular state? Then, if so a religious priest is a higher state than secular priests?
Sources please
 
In terms of holy orders, no. A religious priest and a secular priest are ontologically identical in this sense.
In terms of Christian perfection? Consecrated life is a more perfect state than secular life.
In terms of individual holiness? That depends on the individual priest, whether religious or secular ;).
 
@johnjacob2004 , I was once with a friend at a day of prayer .

She asked a priest whether he was secular or religious .

He said that he was secular , but that the religious make the vows and the secular keep them .
 
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Cute anecdote.
Just a small correction though, secular priests do not make “vows”, they make promises.
 
Rob2 said:
He said that he was secular , but that the religious make the vows and the secular keep them .
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Is this correct? Secular priests do not take a vow of obedience or a vow of poverty, but they certainly take a vow of celibacy (in the Latin Church).
 
Diocesan clergy (priest AND deacons) make promises: promise to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, promise to obey the bishop and his successors, and a promise of celibacy (unless the deacon is married).

Diocesan clerics do not make a promise of poverty, and many secular priests own property and so forth. Order priests do not usually own anything in their own right, it all becomes property of the Order they belong to.

Religious priests make vows: the vows differ slightly among the Order (monks make vows of stability, for example). Most religious make vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to their religious superiors.

Vows and promises are similar, but vows are more pronounced.

Celibacy is a promise not to marry, chastity is a vow of perfect continence.

By the way, when a religious priest is named a bishop, the Pope dissolves his vows, because they will now be replaced by promises. A bishop can’t continue to obey his (Jesuit, Franciscan, Benedictine) superior - he now obeys the Pope directly.

In the detailed analysis vows are more robust than promises.
 
Yes, I think I am wrong, they make a promise of celibacy, not a vow. Sorry
 
I was mistaken. While the promises hold almost identical weight canonically, they are termed as promises to differentiate between the diocesan and religious states of life. To break both are to incur mortal sin, but the mortal sin in the diocesan clergy’s case comes from the ontological change institued through the priesthood, not by virtue of the promise itself. I guess you can say that the religious Vow is the cause of the change in the religious and in the diocesan priest, the promise is the sign of their change. The priesthood itself is the actual change.

Sorry, I was confused and withdrew my post.
 
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