As a general
rule, a priest cannot become a bishop short of twenty or twenty-five
years' service in lower or average grades; he must have remained in
each grade a longer or shorter period, in turn vicar, cur?, vicar-
general, canon, head of a seminary, sometimes coadjutor, and almost
always have distinguished himself in some office, either as preacher
or catechist, professor or administrator, canonist or theologian. His
full competence cannot be contested, and he enjoys a right to exact
full obedience; he has himself rendered it up to his consecration; "he
boasts of it," and the example he proposes to his priests is the one
he has himself given.[49] On the other hand, his moderate way of
living excites but little envy; it is about like that of a general of
division, or of a prefect, or of a high civil functionary who, lacking
personal fortune, has nothing but his salary to live on. He does not
display, as formerly, confessionals lined with satin, kitchen utensil
of massive silver, hunting accoutrements, a hierarchical staff of
major-domos, ushers, valets, and liveried lackeys, stables and
carriages, lay grand-seigniors, vassals of his suzerainty and figuring
at his consecration, a princely ceremonial of parade and homage, a
pompous show of receptions and of hospitalities.
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