The Rite of Ordination is what makes one a priest, having already been a deacon and with the minister of Holy Orders being a validly ordained bishop.

The Rite of Ordination occurs within the context of Holy Mass. After being called forward and presented to the assembly, the candidates are interrogated. Each promises to diligently perform the duties of the Priesthood and to respect and obey his ordinary (bishop or religious superior). Then the candidates lie prostrate before the altar, while the assembled faithful kneel and pray for the help of all the saints in the singing of the Litany of the Saints. The essential part of the rite is when the bishop silently lays his hands upon each candidate (followed by all priests present), before offering the consecratory prayer, addressed to God the Father, invoking the power of the Holy Spirit upon those being ordained.

After the consecratory prayer, the newly ordained is vested with the stole and chasuble of those belonging to the Ministerial Priesthood and then the bishop anoints his hands with chrism before presenting him with the chalice and paten which he will use when presiding at the Eucharist.

Consecrated means “set apart.” Those called to consecrated life are “set apart” by God for this particular way of life which “expresses the deepest nature of the Christian vocation and the yearning of the Church as the Bride for union with her sole Spouse.”  In this “we see the hand of God who, in his Spirit, calls certain individuals to follow Christ more closely, to translate the Gospel into a particular way of life, to read the signs for the times with the eyes of faith and to respond creatively to the needs of the Church” (Pope Francis, Letter to all Consecrated People).

Like all vocations, consecrated life is not an end in itself but it serves to sanctify the individual and to build of the body of Christ.