The rule, an embodiment of St. Philip's mode of governing, was not drawn up till seventeen years after his death, and was finally approved by Paul V in 1612. To assist him in the government of the congregation four deputies are elected. All matters of grave importance are decided by the general congregation, only the decennial Fathers voting. The novitiate lasts three years, and was probably thus extended to test thoroughly the vocation to an institute not bound by vows. At the conclusion of the three years the novice if approved becomes a triennial Father and a member of the congregation, but he has no elective vote till his ten years are complete, when by election he becomes a decennial.
Expulsion is effected by a majority of two-thirds of the voters.
No member is allowed to take any ecclesiastical dignity. Regulations for the clothing, mode of life in the community, and for the refectory are also laid down. For this purpose one of the Fathers is to sit daily in the confessional, and all are to be present in their confessionals on the eve of feasts. The mode of direction as taught by St. Philip is to be gentle rather than severe, and abuses are to be attacked indirectly. Savonarola had already compared the inability of the preachers of his day to awaken dead souls with their subtle arguments and their rhetorical periods, to the impotent efforts of the flute-players to revivify by their mournful music the corpse of Jairus's daughter, and Bembo in St. Philip's day reiterated this reproach.