Key Takeaways

• Priesthood ordination is usually done during Sunday Mass celebration, any holyday of obligation, or during the week due to pastoral reasons. The law requires ordination to be held in the cathedral church. However, ordination can be held in any other church or oratory due to pastoral reasons.
• The priesthood ordination audience should be as large as possible, with the ordination law requiring "members of the Christian faithful" and Clerics to be invited for the ordination. Only a consecrated bishop of that particular diocese can minister over the ordination of priests.
• Just like the ordination of a Catholic priest, the consecration of a bishop is supposed to take place in the diocese cathedral and during the Holy Mass. However, it can be held in another church as decided by the existing church leadership. For example, the consecration of Bishop-elect Earl Fernandes was moved from Cincinnati, OH to Columbus, OH, due to the anticipated congregation numbers.
• Unlike the ordination of priests and consecration of bishops, ordination into the cardinalate takes place during a meeting of existing cardinals, also called a consistory, at the Vatican. While the names of the newly-appointed cardinals have been announced, they are officially named by the Pope during the consistory.

Introduction

Priesthood Ordination

• The Roman Catholic Church has The Canon Law to organize the church and govern how it conducts itself. The Canon Law has some chapters that guide the church leadership on how rites of ordination should be carried out.
• The Catholic Church has three degrees of Orders, namely, the Diaconate (the Order of Deacons), the Presbyterate (the Order of Priests), and the Episcopate (the Order of Bishops).
• According to Canon Law, the degree of orders are conferred to sacred ministers with indelible character "by the imposition of hands and the consecratory prayer," as recommended by the liturgical books for each order.
• Priesthood ordination is usually done during Sunday Mass celebration, any holyday of obligation, or during the week due to pastoral reasons.
• The law requires ordination to be held in the cathedral church. However, ordination can be held in any other church or oratory due to pastoral reasons.
• The ordination audience should be as large as possible, with the ordination law requiring "members of the Christian faithful" and Clerics to be invited for the ordination. Only a consecrated bishop of that particular diocese can minister over the ordination of priests.

The Ordination Rites Process

• According to a commentary by Father John Kartje of the Mundelein Seminary at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, the rite of ordination into the Presbyterate during the ordination Mass follows the steps below:
•  Election of the ordinandi (ordination candidates): after the gospel is proclaimed, the ordinandi are requested to present themselves before the bishop, who then asks the priest in charge if the ordinandi have been approved by the church to be ordained as priests.
• The Promise of the elect: the bishop asks the ordinandi to make promises to faithfully perform their responsibilities as priests.
•  Litany of supplication: the ordinandi prostrate themselves before the bishop as the choir leads the congregation in singing the litany of supplication/the litany of saints.
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•  Laying on of hands and the prayer of ordination: Each ordination candidate kneels before the bishop, the bishop silently lays his hands on the ordinandi, and the priests in attendance follow suit by laying their hands on the ordination candidates. The bishop then recites the prayer of ordination.
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• Priests are vested with stole and chasuble by their priests of choice, their hands are anointed by the bishop, and bread and wine are brought to the altar by pre-selected members of the congregation to be offered to the newly-appointed priests.
•  The fraternal kiss of peace: each newly-ordained priest receives a fraternal kiss of peace from the bishop, which they in turn share with the priests in attendance.
•  The final blessing: the bishop kneels in front of the newly-ordained priests to ask for their blessings.
• We could not find evidence of food and drinks during ordination rites for the priesthood, except for the ceremonial bread and wine brought before the bishop by pre-selected members of the congregation.

Priesthood Ordination Key Participants

• Below are the key participants of the ordination rites to the priesthood:
• The ordinandi/ordination candidates.
•  The diocese bishop. 
• The priest-in-charge/director of the seminary.
•  Other ordained priests in attendance.
•  Deacon(s). 
•  Pre-selected members of the congregation.

Priestly Ordination Music

• The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops provides the chants and music to be used in the ordination of deacons, priests, and bishops. Priestly ordination songs are categorized depending on the stage of the ordination they are sung in i.e:
• Invitation before the litany: music for the ordination of several priests and music for the ordination of one priest.
•  Litany of supplication.
• Prayer after the litany: music for the ordination of several priests and music for the ordination of one priest.
• Prayer of ordination: music during the ordination of several priests and music to be sung during the ordination of one priest. 
• Music to be sung when the priest is being vested with the stole and chasuble (priestly garment/liturgical vestment) and the anointing of hands.
• Music to be sung during the fraternal kiss: "I call you servants no longer," or Lent variant, or "You are my friends" with Psalm 100.

Links to Priesthood Ordination Rites

•  Here's a link to a video published by the University of Saint Mary of the Lake depicting the priesthood ordination service.

Ordination of Bishops

• The process of appointing new bishops to the episcopal order is very confidential and begins at the diocese level and runs through a series of consultations before finally reaching the Pope for approval.
• Just like the ordination of a Catholic priest, the consecration of a bishop is supposed to take place in the diocese cathedral and during the Holy Mass. However, it can be held in another church as decided by the existing church leadership. For example, the consecration of bishop-elect Earl Fernandes was moved from Cincinnati, OH to Columbus, OH due to the anticipated congregation numbers.
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•  Three bishops are required to conduct the consecration of a new bishop. While tradition dictates that three bishops be present when a bishop is being consecrated, only one is required for the consecration to be valid, and mostly this is the archbishop of the province who serves as the principal consecrator.
• The bishop-elect then chooses two bishops to be co-consecrators, "usually the new bishop’s immediate predecessor and the bishop of his home diocese or other bishop friends." In the case of bishop-elect Earl Fernandes, the consecration was conducted by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio (the Pope's representative in the US); Bishop Robert Brennan, the former bishop of Columbus; and Archbishop Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnati.
• According to Simply Catholic, bishops-to-be chooses the vestments to wear at their ordination, including a miter (bishop’s hat).

Music for the Ordination of Bishops

• Below are songs sung during the ordination of bishops, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
•  Veni, Creator Spiritus. 
• Invitation before the litany: music for the ordination of several bishops and music for the ordination of one bishop.
•  Litany of supplication.
• Prayer after the litany: music for the ordination of several bishops and music for the ordination of one bishop.
• Prayer of ordination: music during the ordination of several bishops and music to be sung during the ordination of one bishop.
• Music to be sung during the fraternal kiss or its Lent variant (if the ordination takes place during Lent.)
•  Te Deum.

Links to Bishop Ordination Rites

• Below are some links to videos depicting the ordination of bishops:
• The ordination of Neil Scantlebury as the Bishop of Bridgetown, the first Barbadian in the history of the Catholic Church to receive ordination as Bishop.
• The ordination of Bishops by Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan, the Archbishop of New York.

Ordination of Cardinals

• Unlike the ordination of priests and consecration of bishops, ordination into the cardinalate takes place during a meeting of existing cardinals, also called a consistory, at the Vatican. While the names of the newly-appointed cardinals have been announced, they are officially named by the Pope during the consistory.
• Newly-appointed cardinals do not have to be physically present during the consistory, as witnessed in November 2020 when newly-appointed cardinals from the Philippines and Brunei could not attend the session due to COVID-19 restrictions.
• During a consistory convened by the Pope to create new cardinals, the "other members of the College of Cardinals are invited, alongside the clergy, Catholics, and members of the public."
• There is limited information in the public domain on what priests or bishops appointed to the cardinalate wear during the official ordination or the type of music sung during the ceremony. However, according to the Catholic News Agency, the newly-appointed cardinals were supposed to be dressed in red robes during the consistory to join the College of Cardinals. The photo below shows cardinals-to-be gathered at the St. Peters Basilica in the Vatican dressed in red and white robes. 
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• After their appointment is formalized, they are given the following items:
• A biretta (a red ecclesial hat usually worn over the skullcap).
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• A gold Cardinalatian ring stamped with the Pope's coat of arms.
 
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•  The papal bull (official letter from the Pope).
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• We could not find any information on the food or drinks served during the consistory.
• Below are links to consistories to create new cardinals:
• "Pope Francis' Consistory for the creation of new Cardinals" in the Vatican, Rome on August 27, 2022.
• Pope Francis announced the creation of new cardinals in October 2020.

Research Strategy

To provide the requested details, we first searched through official sources within the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, starting with the official Vatican website. Through these websites, we found a number of resources containing the requested information, such as the Code of Canon Law. We also used other sources within the Catholic Church, such as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Johns, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and academic sources affiliated with the Catholic Church, such as the University of Saint Mary of the Lake.


To find specific examples of the ordination rites and corroborate our findings, we searched through news and media sources within the Catholic Church. These include Catholic Times Columbus and Catholic News Agency. After an extensive and exhaustive search through the public domain, we found such as the key participants and their roles, the location, audience members, and music, but other details such as clothing and food and drink are unavailable in the public domain for some or all the orders of the Catholic Church listed. In addition, there seems to be no information in the public domain on a particular time (or season) of the year when appointments are made.