What Is Apostolic Succession, and Why Does It Matter?
Short Answer
Apostolic succession is the divinely established continuity by which the authority, ministry and sacramental priesthood entrusted by Jesus Christ to the Apostles continue in the Catholic Church through their legitimate successors, the bishops.
The Apostles did not establish communities that were to govern themselves after their deaths. They appointed ministers, ordained successors, and required those successors in turn to entrust the apostolic ministry to other faithful men.
Sacred Scripture already shows this principle. Judas's apostolic office did not simply disappear when he died: another was chosen to take his place — “his bishopric let another take” — and Matthias was numbered with the eleven Apostles.
St Paul appointed ministers in local churches, instructed Titus to “ordain priests in every city,” reminded Timothy of the grace given through the imposition of hands, and commanded him to transmit what he had received to “faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also.”
See Acts 1:20–26, Titus 1:5, 2 Timothy 1:6 and 2 Timothy 2:1–2.
But Catholic apostolic succession means more than possessing a historical chain of men who laid hands upon one another.
Sacramental succession,
apostolic doctrine and
lawful ecclesiastical mission
must be distinguished but not separated.
A bishop may possess valid episcopal consecration and therefore the sacramental power of Holy Orders while lacking lawful jurisdiction or canonical mission. Conversely, no person can simply appoint himself a bishop or pastor and claim apostolic authority.
This matters because Christ intended His Church to remain visibly apostolic until the end of the world. Without bishops there can be no ordinary continuation of the sacramental hierarchy; without the priesthood there can be no Catholic Eucharistic Sacrifice or sacramental absolution; and without continuity in the apostolic Faith and lawful mission, a mere physical chain of ordinations is not sufficient to establish that a religious body is the Catholic Church.
Why This Question Matters
Apostolic succession concerns the very structure of the Church founded by Jesus Christ. Christianity is not merely a collection of individuals reading Scripture and attempting to reproduce the religion of the Apostles.
Christ established a visible teaching, governing and sanctifying Church.
He chose Apostles, gave them authority, sent them as He Himself had been sent, and promised His assistance until the end of the world.
The question therefore affects several fundamental matters:
Who has authority to teach in Christ's name?
Who may ordain priests and bishops?
Where does the Catholic priesthood come from?
Who may offer the Sacrifice of the Mass?
Who can absolve sins sacramentally?
What makes a bishop a legitimate Catholic bishop rather than merely a man possessing episcopal orders?
Can a church remain apostolic while abandoning the doctrine of the Apostles?
Is a historical chain of ordinations sufficient by itself?
What is the difference between valid sacramental orders and lawful ecclesiastical authority?
The last distinction is especially important.
A man may validly possess Holy Orders without possessing authority to govern a Catholic diocese. Pope Pius XII expressly taught this when dealing with bishops consecrated without authorization in Communist China. Such men could perform acts depending purely upon the power of Holy Orders if their consecrations were valid, but they possessed no lawful episcopal jurisdiction merely because they had been consecrated. Pius XII, Ad Apostolorum Principis (1958), §§38–42.
Thus the Catholic idea of apostolic succession is richer than the simple proposition:
“Someone who was a bishop laid hands on this man.”
The real question is whether the apostolic ministry continues sacramentally, doctrinally and lawfully.
What the Catholic Church Teaches
Sacred Scripture
The basic pattern appears already in the New Testament. When Judas fell from the apostolic ministry, St Peter cited the prophecy:
“And his bishopric let another take.”
The Apostles then selected Matthias
“to take the place of this ministry and apostleship,” and he
“was numbered with the eleven apostles.” Acts 1:15–26
The significance is straightforward:
the apostolic office survives the individual officeholder.
Judas died, but the office did not die with him. Later, St Paul and St Barnabas established local ministers:
“They had ordained to them priests in every church.” Acts 14:22–23
St Paul likewise instructed Titus:
“I left thee in Crete... that thou shouldest ordain priests in every city.” Titus 1:5
The Ephesian clergy are told that the Holy Ghost had placed them as overseers of the flock:
“The Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the church of God.” Acts 20:17–28
The sacramental transmission of ministry appears particularly clearly in St Paul's letters to Timothy:
“Stir up the grace of God which is in thee, by the imposition of my hands.” 2 Timothy 1:6
Likewise:
“Neglect not the grace that is in thee... with imposition of the hands of the priesthood.” 1 Timothy 4:14
Perhaps the clearest Scriptural description of continuing transmission is:
“The same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:1–2
Four stages can be seen:
Christ's apostolic revelation → Paul → Timothy → faithful men → others.
This is not a self-created ministry. It is something received and transmitted.
The Early Church Fathers
The historical evidence becomes remarkably explicit almost immediately after the age of the Apostles.
St Clement of Rome
St Clement of Rome (d. c. AD 99) wrote his First Epistle to the Corinthians around AD 96, while men who had personally known the Apostles were still living.
In chapters 42 and 44 he explains that Christ was sent by God, the Apostles by Christ, and that the Apostles then appointed bishops and deacons. More importantly, he states that the Apostles made provision so that after those ministers died:
“other approved men should succeed them in their ministry.”
See St Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians (c. AD 96), 42, 44: online text.
This is one of the earliest surviving Christian descriptions of apostolic succession, written barely a generation after the Apostles themselves.
St Ignatius of Antioch
St Ignatius of Antioch (c. AD 35–107), a bishop who lived during the apostolic age and was martyred early in the second century, repeatedly describes a visible threefold ecclesiastical hierarchy:
bishop, presbyters and deacons.
In his Letter to the Smyrnaeans (c. AD 107), chapter 8, he tells Christians to follow the bishop, presbytery and deacons and insists that ecclesiastical acts are not to be performed independently of the bishop. See St Ignatius, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8.
Likewise, in the Letter to the Philadelphians, he associates unity of Eucharist, altar, bishop, presbytery and deacons. St Ignatius, Letter to the Philadelphians, 3–4.
This evidence is historically important. Even though New Testament terminology such as presbyteros and episkopos was not always used with the later technical precision of ecclesiastical vocabulary, by the opening years of the second century the distinction between bishop, presbyters and deacons is unmistakable.
St Irenaeus of Lyons
St Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 130–202) provides even more explicit testimony.
Writing against the Gnostics around AD 180, he argues that Christians can identify authentic apostolic doctrine by examining the churches founded by the Apostles and:
“the succession of these men to our own times.”
He then gives the succession of bishops of Rome from the Apostles through Linus, Anacletus, Clement and their successors, concluding that through this succession the apostolic tradition and preaching of truth had come down to his own day.
See St Irenaeus, Against Heresies (c. AD 180), III.3.1–3: online text.
Notice what Irenaeus is proving by succession. He is not merely interested in a physical genealogy of consecrators. Episcopal succession is evidence of the public transmission of the apostolic Faith.
A bishop who could trace a line of ordination while teaching the Gnostic doctrines condemned by Irenaeus would therefore miss the entire point of his argument.
Tertullian
Tertullian (c. AD 155–220), an important early Christian writer, makes essentially the same argument in The Prescription Against Heretics (c. AD 200), chapter 32.
He challenges heretical sects to:
“unfold the roll of their bishops”
and demonstrate an orderly succession going back to an Apostle or an apostolic man. See Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, 32.
Again the purpose of succession is doctrinal: the genuine apostolic churches possess both an historical succession and the Faith transmitted by the Apostles.
St Cyprian of Carthage
St Cyprian of Carthage (c. AD 200–258) speaks of the Church continuing through the succession of her bishops and describes ecclesiastical rulers as succeeding the Apostles through ordination.
In one letter he writes that through the course of time and succession “the ordering of bishops and the plan of the Church flow onwards.” St Cyprian, Epistle 26 in the ANF numbering.
Elsewhere he speaks expressly of the rulers who “by vicarious ordination succeed to the apostles.” St Cyprian, Epistle 68.
St Augustine of Hippo
St Augustine of Hippo (AD 354–430) likewise regarded visible succession as an identifying characteristic of the Catholic Church. In Against the Fundamental Epistle of Manichaeus (AD 397), chapter 4, section 5, he gives several reasons why he remains Catholic, including:
“The succession of priests keeps me.”
He then identifies that succession as proceeding from the See of St Peter down to the episcopate of his own time. See St Augustine, Against the Fundamental Epistle of Manichaeus, 4–5.
The cumulative evidence is therefore very early. Clement, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Cyprian and Augustine do not describe Christianity as an invisible collection of independent believers. They describe a visible Church possessing ordained rulers whose ministry continues from the Apostles.
The Council of Trent
The Council of Trent (1545–1563) solemnly defined Catholic doctrine concerning Holy Orders in Session XXIII, celebrated on 15 July 1563. Trent teaches that Christ instituted:
a visible and external priesthood;
the Sacrament of Holy Orders;
an ecclesiastical hierarchy;
bishops who succeed to the place of the Apostles;
priests subordinate to bishops;
the power of bishops to ordain;
an indelible sacramental character received through ordination.
Chapter IV teaches that bishops:
“have succeeded to the place of the apostles”
and are superior to priests, possess the power of ordaining, and exercise functions unavailable to inferior orders.
Canon VI condemns the proposition that there is no divinely instituted hierarchy consisting of bishops, priests and ministers. Canon VII condemns the denial that bishops are superior to priests or possess the power of ordination. See Council of Trent, Session XXIII, Chapters I–IV and Canons I–VIII.
Trent therefore establishes several points with the highest authority.
First, Holy Orders is not merely an administrative appointment.
Second, the Catholic priesthood is not simply the common priesthood of all baptized Christians.
Third, ordination confers a permanent sacramental character.
Fourth, bishops occupy a divinely constituted position superior to priests and possess the power to ordain the Church's ministers.
The Roman Catechism
The Roman Catechism, promulgated under Pope St Pius V after the Council of Trent, explains that the priesthood is a sacramental power and that bishops govern both the faithful and the ministers of the Church.
It also teaches that the conferral of Orders belongs to the bishop and appeals to Scripture, tradition, the Fathers, councils and the universal practice of the Church.
See Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part II, “The Sacrament of Orders”: online transcription and 1829 Internet Archive scan.
Historical and Theological Evidence
Christ Intended the Apostolic Mission to Continue
Apostolic succession follows necessarily from the duration of the Church's mission. Christ commanded the Apostles to teach all nations and promised:
“Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.”
The original Apostles obviously did not live until the end of the world. Therefore the mission given to them had to continue through successors.
Pope Leo XIII drew precisely this conclusion in Satis Cognitum (29 June 1896). He taught that:
“the Apostolic mission was not destined to die with the Apostles themselves”
and explained that Christ's Magisterium had therefore to be perpetuated. The Apostles consecrated bishops, who in turn appointed successors. See Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (1896), §8: official Vatican text.
Leo later states:
“the bishops succeed the Apostles”
and teaches that the episcopal order belongs necessarily to the constitution of the Church. Satis Cognitum, §14.
Bishops Are the Successors of the Apostles
Pope Pius XII reaffirmed the same doctrine in Mystici Corporis Christi (29 June 1943). He describes diocesan bishops as true shepherds who rule the flocks entrusted to them in Christ's name, while remaining subordinate to the Roman Pontiff, and concludes:
“Bishops should be revered by the faithful as divinely appointed successors of the Apostles.”
See Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi (1943), §42: official Vatican text.
This does not mean that each modern bishop inherits every extraordinary privilege possessed personally by an Apostle. The Apostles were uniquely chosen eyewitnesses of the Resurrection, recipients of divine revelation, founders of churches and possessors of extraordinary authority connected with Christianity's foundation.
Their successors inherit the ordinary and permanent apostolic offices necessary for the Church's continuation — especially teaching, sanctifying and governing — rather than every extraordinary apostolic prerogative.
Nor need each individual bishop correspond to one particular Apostle. The episcopate succeeds the apostolic body as the permanent hierarchy of Christ's Church.
Priests Participate in the Apostolic Priesthood Under Bishops
The bishop does not carry out the Church's priestly ministry alone. Priests receive the Sacrament of Order and participate in Christ's ministerial priesthood under episcopal authority.
Pope Pius XI explains in Ad Catholici Sacerdotii (20 December 1935) that Christ made the Apostles priests of the New Covenant and commanded them and:
“their successors in the priesthood”
to continue the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
He further teaches that Holy Orders gives a permanent sacramental character which cannot simply disappear if a priest ceases to exercise his ministry. See Pope Pius XI, Ad Catholici Sacerdotii (1935), §§13–22: official Vatican text.
Pope Pius XII likewise states in Mediator Dei (20 November 1947):
“Only to the apostles, and thenceforth to those on whom their successors have imposed hands, is granted the power of the priesthood.”
See Mediator Dei, §§39–40: official Vatican text.
Holy Orders Is Sacramental, Not Merely Organizational
This distinguishes the Catholic priesthood sharply from a ministry created solely by election, academic qualification or congregational appointment. The Sacrament of Order objectively confers spiritual power.
Pope Pius XII's Apostolic Constitution Sacramentum Ordinis (30 November 1947) specifies the essential matter and form for the sacred Orders of diaconate, priesthood and episcopacy, identifying the imposition of hands as the matter and the corresponding consecratory words as the form. See Pius XII, Sacramentum Ordinis (1947).
The Catholic ministry is therefore transmitted sacramentally through ordination, not acquired merely by claiming to preach apostolic doctrine.
Apostolic Succession Has More Than One Dimension
A useful way to understand the doctrine is to distinguish three interconnected elements:
| Element | What It Means | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Apostolic doctrine | The Faith taught is substantially the same Faith received from the Apostles. | A succession teaching a different religion cannot appeal to physical lineage alone. |
| Sacramental succession | Valid episcopal consecration transmits the power of Holy Orders; bishops ordain priests and consecrate bishops. | Without valid Orders there is no Catholic sacramental priesthood. |
| Apostolic mission and jurisdiction | A bishop must be lawfully sent and possess authority to govern within the Catholic Church. | Valid consecration by itself does not give a man authority to seize a diocese or establish an independent church. |
All three are important.
This is why the Baltimore Catechism describes the Church as apostolic both because she is governed by the lawful successors of the Apostles and because she has never ceased to teach their doctrine.
See Baltimore Catechism No. 3, Q. 567: Project Gutenberg text.
Valid Orders Are Not the Same as Lawful Jurisdiction
This distinction is essential. Suppose a validly consecrated Catholic bishop consecrates another man without authorization. If the necessary sacramental conditions are present, the second man may truly receive episcopal consecration. But this does not automatically make him the lawful bishop of a diocese.
Pius XII confronted precisely such a situation in Ad Apostolorum Principis (29 June 1958). Concerning bishops consecrated without authorization from the Apostolic See, he distinguished two questions.
First, jurisdiction:
Such bishops possessed no lawful power of teaching or governing merely through their unauthorized consecration.
Second, sacramental Orders:
Pius XII stated that acts depending on Holy Orders could nevertheless be valid where the episcopal consecration itself had been valid, although their exercise was gravely illicit.
Pius XII, Ad Apostolorum Principis, §§38–42.
This proves that episcopal consecration and ecclesiastical jurisdiction are not identical.
A man may possess one without lawfully possessing the other.
Apostolic Succession Is Also Succession in the Apostolic Faith
The testimony of St Irenaeus is particularly important here. He appealed to episcopal succession precisely because the public churches founded by the Apostles had preserved their doctrine. Physical succession detached from doctrinal succession would have defeated his argument.
Pope Leo XIII teaches the same principle in Satis Cognitum: the perpetual apostolic ministry exists precisely so that Christ's teaching will remain perpetually and immutably taught.
Thus apostolicity cannot reasonably mean:
“Our bishops were ordained by bishops who were ordained by earlier bishops, therefore whatever we now teach must be apostolic.”
The direction of reasoning is the reverse. The genuine apostolic Church must possess both the historical ministry descending from the Apostles and the Faith entrusted to those Apostles.
Cardinal James Gibbons summarized the traditional apologetic principle well in The Faith of Our Fathers: apostolicity requires both the doctrine delivered by the Apostles and ministers deriving their powers through uninterrupted succession.
See James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, Chapter V, “Apostolicity”: Project Gutenberg text.
Why a Mere Historical Chain Is Not Enough
Three examples make the distinction clear.
A Validly Ordained Bishop Who Acts Without Mission
As Pius XII taught in 1958, a bishop might possess valid consecration while acting without lawful jurisdiction. His episcopal character does not give him permission to seize authority over a Catholic flock.
A Body That Changes the Sacrament of Order
Even the claim of historical continuity becomes insufficient if the sacramental rite ceases validly to confer Holy Orders.
Pope Leo XIII's Apostolicae Curae (13 September 1896) examined Anglican ordinations and concluded that the Edwardine rite suffered from defects affecting sacramental form and intention. He therefore declared ordinations performed according to that rite:
“absolutely null and utterly void.”
See Leo XIII, Apostolicae Curae (1896); English translation: New Advent text.
Historical institutional continuity alone therefore does not guarantee sacramental continuity.
A Bishop Who Possesses Orders but Separates From Catholic Unity
Pope Leo XIII teaches in Satis Cognitum that bishops must remain united with the successor of St Peter. He states that bishops who deliberately sever that bond lose the right and power of ruling as Catholic pastors. See Satis Cognitum, §§14–15. official Vatican text.
Again, sacramental character and lawful Catholic government must not be confused.
The Main Objection
“If a Bishop Has Valid Apostolic Succession, Isn't He Automatically a Legitimate Successor of the Apostles?”
No. This confuses valid episcopal Orders with the complete ecclesiastical position of a lawful Catholic bishop. A validly consecrated bishop possesses episcopal sacramental power. That character is real and permanent. But a legitimate Catholic bishop must also possess a lawful ecclesiastical mission.
The Council of Trent itself distinguishes these matters. Session XXIII, Canon VII rejects the proposition that persons who have not been rightly ordained and sent by ecclesiastical and canonical authority are nevertheless lawful ministers.
Pius XII makes the distinction even more explicit in Ad Apostolorum Principis. Unauthorized bishops might possess valid consecration while lacking lawful teaching and governing jurisdiction.
Therefore:
valid episcopal consecration ≠ automatic canonical mission.
Likewise:
historical lineage ≠ automatic doctrinal fidelity.
True Catholic apostolicity requires continuity with the Apostles in the full ecclesial sense.
Common Objections
“The New Testament Uses ‘Bishop’ and ‘Priest’ Interchangeably. Doesn't That Disprove the Catholic Hierarchy?”
No. The Greek terms episkopos — overseer — and presbyteros — elder — were not yet always employed with the rigid technical distinction they acquired later. Terminological development does not prove that the underlying ministry was invented later.
The New Testament already contains:
apostolic authority;
appointment to ecclesiastical office;
local ordained ministers;
laying on of hands;
authority to ordain further ministers;
transmission of doctrine and ministry.
And by approximately AD 107 — only a few years after the death of the last Apostle — St Ignatius of Antioch repeatedly and unmistakably distinguishes one bishop, a body of presbyters and deacons.
It is historically difficult to explain such a universal-looking structure at the opening of the second century as though Christianity had begun with congregational independence and suddenly acquired episcopacy almost immediately after the Apostles disappeared.
“Does a Sinful Bishop Lose His Apostolic Succession?”
Not merely because he sins. Holy Orders imprints an indelible character. The Council of Trent solemnly condemned the proposition that a man once ordained can simply become a layman again in the sacramental sense. Session XXIII, Canon IV.
A wicked priest remains sacramentally a priest.
A wicked bishop remains sacramentally consecrated.
But sacramental character must again be distinguished from membership, office and jurisdiction.
Heresy, schism, canonical penalties, loss of office and jurisdiction involve additional theological and canonical questions. They do not erase the sacramental character of Holy Orders itself.
This distinction becomes particularly important when considering controversies concerning public heresy and ecclesiastical office.
“Can Someone Preserve the Faith Without Apostolic Succession?”
An individual layman can certainly believe true Catholic doctrine. But believing Catholic doctrine does not make him a bishop, priest or ecclesiastical ruler. A group of laymen cannot create the Sacrament of Holy Orders for themselves.
Likewise, a gifted preacher cannot confer priestly authority upon himself merely because his sermons are orthodox. Christ established not simply a body of teachings but a visible Church with sacramental and governing authority.
Apostolic doctrine and apostolic ministry belong together.
What We Can and Cannot Conclude
Established Catholic doctrine:
Holy Orders is a true sacrament instituted by Christ.
The Catholic Church possesses a divinely instituted hierarchy consisting of bishops, priests and ministers.
Bishops succeed to the place of the Apostles in the permanent hierarchy of the Church.
Bishops are superior to priests and possess the power to ordain the Church's ministers.
Sacred ordination imprints a permanent sacramental character.
These propositions are taught explicitly by the Council of Trent.
Authoritative pre–Vatican II teaching:
The apostolic mission was intended to continue after the deaths of the Apostles.
Bishops are the divinely appointed successors of the Apostles.
The episcopate belongs to the essential constitution of the Church.
A lawful Catholic episcopate must remain united with the successor of St Peter.
Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius XII repeatedly teach these principles.
Certain traditional theological principle:
Valid sacramental Orders and lawful ecclesiastical jurisdiction are distinct.
A validly consecrated bishop may possess the sacramental power of Orders without possessing lawful jurisdiction over a Catholic diocese.
Pius XII explicitly applies this distinction in Ad Apostolorum Principis.
Strong theological conclusion:
Apostolic succession cannot adequately be reduced to a physical chain of laying-on-of-hands ceremonies.
The Catholic mark of apostolicity requires continuity in apostolic doctrine, sacramental ministry and lawful ecclesiastical mission.
This conclusion follows from Scripture, the Fathers, Trent and pre–Vatican II papal teaching.
Historical fact:
The principle of ministerial succession is not a medieval invention.
St Clement explicitly describes succession in ministry around AD 96; St Ignatius describes bishops, presbyters and deacons around AD 107; and St Irenaeus appeals to lists of episcopal succession around AD 180 as evidence against heresy.
Historical and theological nuance:
The exact technical terminology of bishop and presbyter developed during the apostolic and immediately post-apostolic period. This linguistic development should not be confused with an invention of the sacramental hierarchy itself.
Separate questions not established merely by this article:
This article does not by itself determine whether a particular modern bishop or priest has valid Orders. Nor does it determine the validity of every modern ordination rite.
Such questions require examination of the minister, matter, form and intention of the particular sacramental rite and the historical line through which it was transmitted.
Likewise, this article does not by itself resolve every disputed canonical question concerning precisely when a heretical cleric loses ecclesiastical office. The permanent sacramental character of Holy Orders and possession of ecclesiastical office are distinct questions.
Conclusion
Apostolic succession is one of the essential features of the Church founded by Jesus Christ. Christ commissioned the Apostles to teach, sanctify and govern. Their mission was not intended to disappear when they died. Scripture shows offices being filled, ministers being ordained through the laying on of hands, and authority being entrusted to men who were themselves commanded to transmit it to others.
The earliest Christian writers confirm exactly this pattern. St Clement, writing around AD 96, says explicitly that the Apostles made provision for successors. St Ignatius describes the bishop, priests and deacons at the beginning of the second century. St Irenaeus appeals to publicly traceable episcopal succession as evidence that the Catholic churches had preserved the apostolic Faith.
The Council of Trent later defined the sacramental and hierarchical reality underlying this history: Christ instituted Holy Orders; bishops succeed the Apostles; bishops are superior to priests and ordain the Church's ministers; and ordination imprints a permanent character.
But Catholic apostolic succession is not merely a chain of hands upon heads.
The successors of the Apostles must also preserve the Faith of the Apostles and possess a lawful mission within the Church the Apostles founded.
This is why apostolic succession matters when identifying the true Church. The genuine Church of Christ must be able to say not merely:
“Our ministers can trace their ordinations into antiquity.”
She must be able to say:
“We possess the ministry handed down from the Apostles, the sacraments entrusted to the Apostles, the authority continuing from the Apostles, and the same Faith which the Apostles received from Christ.”
That is what it means for the Church to be Apostolic.
Primary Sources
Sacred Scripture
Matthias succeeds to Judas's apostolic ministry. — Acts 1:15–26
Paul and Barnabas ordain priests in the churches. — Acts 14:22–23
The Holy Ghost places rulers over the flock. — Acts 20:17–28
Grace conferred with the imposition of hands. — 1 Timothy 4:14
Timothy's grace through St Paul's imposition of hands. — 2 Timothy 1:6
Transmission of teaching to men able to teach others. — 2 Timothy 2:1–2
Titus instructed to ordain priests. — Titus 1:5
St Clement of Rome (d. c. AD 99), First Epistle to the Corinthians (c. AD 96), 42, 44. Text
St Ignatius of Antioch (c. AD 35–107), Letter to the Smyrnaeans (c. AD 107), 8. Text
St Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians (c. AD 107), 3–4. Text
St Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 130–202), Against Heresies (c. AD 180), III.3.1–3. Text
Tertullian (c. AD 155–220), The Prescription Against Heretics (c. AD 200), 32. Text
St Cyprian of Carthage (c. AD 200–258), Epistles on episcopal succession and ecclesiastical authority. Epistle 26; Epistle 68.
St Augustine of Hippo (AD 354–430), Against the Fundamental Epistle of Manichaeus (AD 397), 4–5. Text
Council of Trent (1545–1563), Session XXIII (15 July 1563), Chapters I–IV; Canons I–VIII on the Sacrament of Order. Text
Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part II, “The Sacrament of Orders.” Internet Archive scan
Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, 29 June 1896, especially §§8, 14–15. Official Vatican text
Pope Leo XIII, Apostolicae Curae, 13 September 1896. Latin official Vatican text
Pope Pius XI, Ad Catholici Sacerdotii, 20 December 1935, especially §§13–22. Official Vatican text
Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi, 29 June 1943, especially §42. Official Vatican text
Pope Pius XII, Sacramentum Ordinis, 30 November 1947. Official Vatican text
Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 20 November 1947, especially §§39–40. Official Vatican text
Pope Pius XII, Ad Apostolorum Principis, 29 June 1958, §§38–42. Official Vatican text
Further Reading
Msgr Gerard Van Noort, Dogmatic Theology, Vol. II: Christ's Church (English edition, 1957), especially the treatment of apostolicity, succession and legitimate episcopal authority. This is an approved pre–Vatican II theological manual and is useful for distinguishing apostolicity of doctrine, government and succession. Google Books record
Rev. E. Sylvester Berry, The Church of Christ: An Apologetic and Dogmatic Treatise (B. Herder, 1927), especially the chapters on apostolicity and apostolic succession. Internet Archive scan
James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, Chapter V, “Apostolicity.” Project Gutenberg
Baltimore Catechism No. 3, especially Questions 506–507 and 567 on the successors of the Apostles and the apostolic character of the Church. Project Gutenberg text
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