What the Local Priest Should Be Like
18. If he visits the sick, if he reconciles them, if he anoints them with oil as the
Apostle commands, if he gives them communion with his own hand and not through some layman.
27. If he arises every night to recite Matins and Lauds.
32. If he proclaims the word of the Lord to the people.
33. If he celebrates mass at the prescribed time, that is, around the third hour of the
day, and afterwards fasts until midday so that, if need be, he can sing mass for strangers
and those on a journey.
34. If he takes care of the poor and pilgrims and orphans, and invites them to his table
insofar as he is able.
35. If every Sunday before mass he puts blessed water into a clean and conveniently
placed vessel, from which the people entering the church and standing in church can be
sprinkled.
56. If he announces the Lenten fasting requirements in their entirety to the people.
58. If he admonishes all the faithful to come to the communion of the Lord's body
and blood three times a year, that is, at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost.
70. If he admonishes the people that there is to be no singing at the church door,
and no dancing of women, but that they should enter the church and hear the word of
God in silence.
82. If he understands adequately the prayers of the mass, the preface to the Canon and
the Canon itself, and is capable of reciting them distinctly and from memory.
Regino of Prüm, De Ecclesiasticis disciplinis, I, in PL,
XXXII.