by Fr. A. Adaikkalarajan MSFS

In the first chapter, the author has tried to analyse the statement of St Francis de Sales, ‘Knowledge is the Eighth Sacrament for the priest’ as an edified minister of the church. Even though this statement is not institutionalised and embraced in the church as a necessary prerequisite for priesthood, yet we have taken it up to conscientize the priest, that knowledge is very necessary for the proper exercise of his priestly ministry and it is graced as a sacrament from the time of his ordination as a priest that he has been commanded for taking up the role of teaching, preaching and serving. In other words, to be an edified Prophet, King and priest among the nations. The priest receives this sacrament of knowledge from God the Father and shares it from Jesus the Son, and nourishes it by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Wisdom was with God from the time of Creation and personified in Jesus Christ and conferred on the priest for the salvation of the world. In order to share the priesthood of Christ in all its fullness sharing the mind of Christ also is very important.

The second chapter is more theoretical, it opens up the various dimensions of acquiring knowledge for the strong intellectual formation of the priest. It intends to show that acquiring knowledge is a necessity for the priest to be edified and one has to increase his knowledge by constant studies, updating and research work.

The third chapter is the actualization and appropriation of the Salesian virtues and spirituality. It proposes various virtues to be practised for the perfection of one’s knowledge that a priest has acquired and his life of holiness as the partaker of Christ's ministry. Once the priest is edified in the knowledge it is assumed that he will edify others and once he is sanctified, he will also sanctify others, for the priest who is renewed, truly, in turn, renews his whole community and his church.