Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/555

 them from meeting for such discussions, it would be well to have those who cannot attend the conferences treat in writing the questions proposed and submit them to the bishop at the appointed time.

How much the Church thinks of seminaries for the young men who are educated with a view to the priest- hood, is clear from the decree of the Council of Trent, by which they were first instituted. The bishops should therefore make the m^ost diligent effort to have one in each diocese, in which young candidates for the sacred warfare may be received and trained for a holy living and in the lower and higher sciences. It is advisable that the boys who are studying literature should occupy their own building, and the young men who, after finishing the humanities, are devoted to philosophy and theology should dwell in another. In both departments the students should remain until, if deserving, they shall have been ordained priests, and never be permitted, except for grave reasons, to return to their homes. The bishop -wiW en- trust the administration of the seminary to one of the clergy, whether secular or religious, who is distinguished for his prudence and experience in governing and for holiness of life. The rules laid down by Us and Our predecessors show very clearly in what way the studies are to be regulated in seminaries. Where there is no seminary the bishop will have candidates educated in one of the seminaries of the neighboring diocese. On no account should the bishops admit to these seminaries any but the young men who are likely to give themselves to God in Holy Orders. Those who wish to study for the civil professions should have other schools, if it be pos- sible, known as episcopal institutions or colleges. Above all things the bishop, following the precept of the Apostle, is not lightly to lay hands on any one ; but to raise to Or- ders and to employ in sacred things only those who when well tried and duly advanced in science and virtue can be of credit and of service to a diocese. They are not to