Holy Orders is conferred in three degrees — episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate — and the ritual book provides an order of celebration for each. Only a validly ordained bishop can ordain, and for the ordination of a bishop the tradition asks that three bishops take part; a papal mandate must be read before an episcopal ordination can proceed. Ordinations take place within Mass, ordinarily in the cathedral, on a Sunday or feast when the people can be present, since the whole local Church receives the new minister. The rite unfolds after the Gospel. The candidates are called by name and presented; the bishop asks whether they have been found worthy and, hearing the testimony, elects them, and the people give their assent. The homily follows, then the examination of the candidates concerning their intention and their willingness to fulfill the office, and the promise of obedience made with the candidate's hands in the hands of the bishop. All then pray the Litany of Supplication — the Litany of the Saints — while the candidates lie prostrate on the floor, a moment that expresses better than any words that the office is received and not achieved. The essential rite is brief and silent: the bishop lays his hands upon the head of each candidate, and then prays the Prayer of Ordination proper to the degree being conferred. In the ordination of priests all priests present also lay on hands, and in the ordination of a bishop all bishops present do so while the Book of the Gospels is held open above the head of the one being ordained. The sacrament confers an indelible character and cannot be repeated. Explanatory rites follow and make visible what has been given. A new deacon is vested with the stole worn across the chest and the dalmatic and receives the Book of the Gospels, with the charge to believe what he reads and teach what he believes. A new priest is vested with stole and chasuble, his palms are anointed with sacred chrism, and he receives the paten with the bread and the chalice with the wine for the offering of the people. A new bishop is anointed on the head with chrism and receives the Book of the Gospels, the ring, the mitre, and the pastoral staff, and is seated in the cathedra if it is his own diocese. Each ordination concludes with the fraternal kiss of the order into which the newly ordained has been received.

Ordination rite

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