Our Lord Jesus Christ "whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world" (S. John 10:6) has made his whole Mystical Body sharers in his royal priesthood. As members of his Body, all the faithful offer spiritual sacrifices to God and mediate God to the world through their proclamation of the Gospel and their lives of service to mankind.

However, the Lord also appointed certain men as ministers in order that they might be united in one body in which "all members have not the same function" (Romans 12:4) . These men were to hold in the community of faith, the grace and sacred power of Order: that of offering sacrifice, forgiving sins, and blessing. Thus Christ sent these apostles, as He Himself had been sent by His Father. And through the ministry of bishops, the successors of these apostles, the community of faith is built up and God is glorified.

The apostolic ministry of bishops is shared with priests and deacons, who are co-workers with the episcopal Order for the proper fulfillment of the apostolic mission entrusted to all bishops by Christ. By virtue of their ordination, priests are given grace by God to be ministers of Jesus Christ, to proclaim the Gospel and offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to forgive sins through the sacrament of penance, and to pronounce God's blessing. Through the ministry of priests, the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful is completed in union with Christ, the great High Priest, when the Eucharist is offered through the priest's hands in the name of the whole Church. Therefore the goal toward which priests must strive through their lives and ministries is nothing less than proclaiming the glory of God the Father through Jesus Christ.

Mindful of their vocation, the Companions of the Holy Savior, all of them being bishops, priests, deacons or candidates for Holy Orders, and desiring to witness to the celibate life, have associated themselves together in a Congregation: first, for the strengthening and development of their spiritual and sacerdotal life; secondly, for advancing themselves in the knowledge of Holy Scripture and the teaching of the Church; and, thirdly, for increasing the knowledge of the Catholic faith, and encouraging more devout participation in the sacraments, of which they are by virtue of their ordinations, the appointed stewards and teachers.

And, in order that they may fulfill this calling, they have pledged themselves to the observance of the following Rule:

Preamble to THE RULE AND CONSTITUTIONS