But if many pastors are preoccupied about the decrease of vocations, they are no less disturbed when it is a question of handling the young men who have already entered the seminary. We are aware, venerable brethren, how arduous this labor is and how many great difficulties it presents. But the carrying out of so serious a duty will give you the greatest consolation insofar as, as Our predecessor Leo XIII said: “From the cares and solicitude imposed by the training of priests, you will have results most ardently to be desired and you will experience that your episcopal office will be easier in its exercise and much more fruitful in its results”.72Litt. Enc. Quod Multum, ad Episcopos Hungarieae, dei 22 mensis Augusti a. 1886: Acta Leonis, vol VI, p. 158.
We deem it opportune, therefore, to give you some rules suggested by the necessity, greater today than ever, of training holy priests.