Sole Doubt: Which works are forbidden on a feast by canon law

Many works which are not servile, indeed very many works of the soul, otherwise licit, are forbidden by this law.

Of the former kind, two such works there are: markets and the forum, cap. 1. et ultimo de feriis, as Suarez notes cap. 29. Fagundez cap. 12. sic et in the Council of Macon II cap. 1. judicial actions are forbidden; and in the Council of Tours cap. 40. markets and pleadings are interdicted.

This prohibition accords with the old civil law, for leg. ult. ff. de feriis, it is said that festivals are to grant vacations from forensic business. So they are forbidden also by the newer law, Cod. de feriis, leg. 1. 2. 3. et ult.

The reason is, that on account of quarrels and contentions men are distracted from the service of God, and because those clamors draw to sin, as Suarez noted cap. 29. with the Panormitan cap. ult. de feriis.

The first forbidden work, therefore, is the market, and by this name the law understands contracts of purchases, leases, etc. which are indeed valid, but illicit on a feast; judicial acts, however, are both illicit and invalid, if done on a feast.

Yet custom now renders these contracts licit; not so judicial acts. So Suarez cap. 30. Fagundez cap. 12. num. 1. and others among them.

¶ First, therefore, public fairs are forbidden, which are celebrated once or twice a year: yet custom renders them licit, as Navarr. man. Lat. cap. 13. art. 4. Fagundez lib. I. cap. 12. num. 4. and others with Bassaeus num. 15. teach. For custom can abrogate things which are of human law, as the Doctors commonly teach.

Yet custom cannot, while the feast remains, remove the obligation of Mass, as Fagundez notes num. 6. Suarez cap. 29. Navarrus, Toletus above, and others.

There are also other markets, often celebrated, and they are illicit by law; yet they can be removed by reasonable custom. Bassaeus, however, warns that custom be not extended to these, urged by private authority.

To the third kind of market belong daily contracts, with shops open, which are interdicted by Canon law, which is in vigorous observance. So Navarr. loco cit. Fagundez 8. Sylvester, see Dominica. Others, however, do not condemn rustic contracts on a feast day, with whom Diana subscribes, p. p. Tract. 15. resol. 34. Bass. loco cit. if they can hardly be done on other days.

Yet it was never, nor is it, forbidden to buy necessaries for the sustenance of that day. So Caietanus art. 4. Suarez loc. cit. Fagundez num. 8. with St. Bonaventure, serm. 4. in Decal. Bassaeus num. 15. Indeed they say that not even to sell shoes is a sin. So Suarez and Fagundez. Yet in all other things the holy Doctor warns, in the Speculum animae, cap. 2., that it must be observed whether by universal custom each of them is permitted by the Church.

The other kind of works forbidden on a feast is the work of pleading, or the forensic judgment. For in canon law all actions constituting a forensic judgment are signified by the name of a work of pleading, as Suarez notes cap. 19. Fagundez num. 9. For strictly, placitum signifies an election of the will. Hence also the object applied to the will is called placitum, Genes. 24. A Domino egressus est sermo : Non possumus extra placitum eius quidquam aliud loqui. ("A word came forth from the Lord: we cannot speak anything else besides His decree.") It also signifies a decree of the mind. Thus the opinions of Philosophers and Physicians are called Placita. And in this way things decreed by God or the Prince are called Placita, Prou. 10. Labia iusta considerant placita. ("The lips of the just consider pleasing things.") And Ioan. 8. Quae placita sunt ei facio, ("I do the things that are pleasing to him,") as the holy Doctor observes there. Also a term appointed for defining is called a Placitum, 2. Reg. 10. Moratus est extra placitum, quod ei constituerat Rex. ("He delayed beyond the term which the king had appointed him.") Since, therefore, in a forensic judgment, according to the will and arbitration of the judge regulated by the laws, either a term for appearing is appointed, or decrees and sentences are pronounced, therefore the whole cognizance of a forensic cause is called a pleading, cap. 1. de feriis, 15. quaest. 4. et cap. ultimo.

In a judgment many persons intervene, who are bound to keep the feasts with respect to forensic actions.

The parts of a judgment are: the inception of the cause, which begins with the citation, the formation of the process, and the term of the judgment, or the pronouncing of the sentence. And all these are void of themselves on feast days, cap. ultimo de feriis. So the Doctors commonly teach, Suarez cap. 30. Fagundez cap. 12. num. 12. and others among them.

Yet judicial acts done with the consent of the parties are valid on rural holidays introduced for the gathering of the fruits, as Suarez, Fagundez loc. cit. and Maranta note part. 4. ord. iud. dist. 16. num. 83.; but not on the feasts of festival days in honor of God.

Yet if judicial acts are done for the public peace, for piety, for urgent necessity, they are valid even on God's holidays. See Fagundez num. 12. Bassaeus num. 16. where he allows that in wills it is licit, where otherwise they would not be fitting.

Acts of voluntary jurisdiction are also valid: to emancipate, to adopt, to free slaves, to establish tutors, to make wills, and instruments of manumission. So Sylvest. see Dominica. Maranta 6. part. ord. iud. and others, cited by Fagundez num. 14. Bassaeus num. 14.

First, therefore, invalid is a citation made on a holiday in honor of God, indeed even, according to some, if they are cited for a feast day: yet others say they are bound to appear on the following day. See Fagundez cap. 13.

Second, neither can suits be promoted, witnesses examined, etc. And indeed it is certain that on a feast day a juridical oath cannot be exacted. But whether witnesses can be examined on a feast day, provided they have sworn on a non-festal day, the negative part seems more certain. See Fagundez cap. 13. Suarez cap. 30. Bassaeus num. 20. Some limit this in a spiritual cause, such as matrimony. So Caietanus, citing D. Thomas 2. 2. quaest. 89. art. 10.

Others likewise limit, that this prohibition does not proceed to the presentation of a libellus against a party already cited. So Maranta part. 6. titulo isto. But Baldus and many Canonists hold the opposite, cited by Fagundez num. 20. who nevertheless inclines to the former opinion.

Third, a sentence passed on a feast day is illicit and invalid, cap. ultimo de feriis, where we read: Nec processus habitus teneat, nec sententia ; ("Nor shall the process had hold, nor the sentence;") and it is confirmed by l. ult. C. de feriis.

Similarly execution is forbidden on a feast day, as Felin. teaches in cap. ultimo de Iud. Suarez cap. 30. The reason is, for by cap. 1. de feriis, et l. ult. C. de feriis, cited, all things pertaining to the contentious forum are forbidden. Fagundez approves cap. 13. num. 23.

Yet an appeal can be intimated. So it is to be held without doubt, says Fagundez num. 24. citing very many. Indeed Bassaeus num. 18. says it is absolutely licit, by the more common opinion.

A grave doubt is: whether the sentence of an arbitrator is valid on a feast day.

Arbiter and Arbitrator differ, for the latter is a friendly composer, compromiser, and mediator of peace, as Suarez says cap. 30. and he can decide on a feast day. But the Arbiter is he who, by the consent of the parties, is chosen as judge, so that, with the order of law preserved and the process made, he may pronounce sentence, and to whom the parties are bound under a stipulated penalty, as Fagundez notes num. 26. cum Maranata 4. parte, tit. Iudicium arbitrarium, and Suarez loc. cit. and he is bound to preserve the order of a judgment, and therefore, although a compromissum can be made on a feast day, because it is a contract, nevertheless he cannot pronounce sentence on a feast day.

There is also another Judge, who is called Arbiter iuris, who is chosen by necessity of law, e.g. when a judge is alleged to be suspect, and he is bound to provide, with the order of law preserved, and he cannot pronounce sentence on a feast day.

Inquisitors of the faith can pronounce sentence against heretics on a feast day, justly and validly. So Fagundez num. 28. citing others.

I conclude with D. Bonaventure in speculo animae, cap. 2. that in all the things said above universal custom and the permission of the Church must be attended to; for it hangs on the mind of the Legislator. But if the Church still gravely forbids, then one must abstain, he concludes, from vacations, markets, etc. Add: from annual reckonings without necessity. See Bassaeus num. 23. Pasqualigo decis. 150. but Sylvester, Tabiena, Medina, and others approve.