“A priest's office is to regulate the moral life of his subjects, to drive off their errors, to solve their doubts and answer their questions, and to preach elegantly well-constructed and moral sermons.” These words of the anonymous Hereford preacher emphasize that within the range of pastoral duties that sermons ad clerum praise and whose neglect they sharply criticize, preaching takes a very important place. Whereas we had occasion to observe that in Church legislation and official registers, administering the sacraments seems to push preaching somewhat to the side, the situation in actual sermons is quite the reverse. Virtually all collections here surveyed contain observations about preaching and preachers. Some may only have a passing remark, usually in their protheme, where a preacher is frequently identified with a term from the sermon's thema: he is God's mouth, Moses, the sower, light and a lamp, the wielder of a sword, and so forth. But others go beyond such similes and speak at greater length about the office of preaching, the qualities of a good preacher, and a preacher's failings. Some do so in their protheme, others throughout the entire development.

Where this occurs, preaching is held to be a major part of a priest's duties.