The Author of this study presents the office of the provincial. As a starting point he took the issue of the ordinariate and the higher superior of a religious order to be discussed. He characterized the office of the provincial on the basis of the law of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). Among the topics covered were: the relationship of the provincial to the ordinary of the place, authority in the Dominican Order, the basic powers of the office of the provincial, the requirements for a candidate for provincial, and the functioning of the provincial during the provincial chapter.