Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/356

326 With regard to the election of the prior of the church, the statutes are thus drawn up:—“The more closely a dignity approaches to spiritual matters, with the more care and consideration should the selection of its holder be made. Bearing this in mind, we decree that whenever the priory of our church becomes vacant, the Grand-Master and the ordinary council shall assemble and proceed to a new election with calm and serious deliberation. Having with this object carefully examined into the manners, life, doctrine, and qualifications of our chaplains in every langue, they shall elect and nominate as prior a chaplain of upright life and of approved conduct, learned and well-versed in the practice of things ecclesiastical. It is essential that after this election he should reside continuously at the convent, and if on account of any urgent necessity he should ever be sent therefrom, the Grand-Master and ordinary council must fix a definite period for his return.”

In addition to the conventual chaplains thus appointed, the Order received into the second or ecclesiastical division of its fraternity another class termed priests of obedience, who were not called upon to reside at the chef-lieu, but performed the duties of their office in the various continental grand-priories and commanderies. These priests received the emoluments of their several benefices like other clergy, and where such revenues were too small for their due and honourable maintenance, they were entitled to a further provision from the local treasury. They were ineligible for either of the great offices which were appropriated to the conventual chaplains, and they were never appointed to the position of commander, as the latter were. They were usually natives of the province in which they performed their duties, and to the langue of which they were attached. After the Order had become settled in the island of Malta, its conventual chaplains were mainly recruited from the inhabitants of that island, and the posts of bishop and prior, both of which ranked with the conventual bailiffs, were constantly held by Maltese. This, however, was not the case at Rhodes. There the natives, belonging almost all to the Greek Church, were unable to enter the ranks of the fraternity, and although there was much toleration and even cordiality between the members