On Laws

"To establish as the supreme law the will of the people, manifested by what they call public opinion or in some other manner, released from every divine and human law; and, in the political order, to hold that accomplished facts, by the very fact that they have been accomplished, have the force of law." Proposition condemned by Pius IX, Encyclical Quanta cura.

"56. Moral laws do not require a divine sanction, and there is no need whatever that human laws be conformed to the law of nature or receive their binding force from God. - 57. The science of philosophical and moral matters, and likewise civil laws, can and ought to depart from divine and ecclesiastical authority. - 58. No other forces are to be acknowledged except those which are placed in matter, and every discipline and uprightness of morals ought to be placed in accumulating and increasing riches by every means and in satisfying pleasures. - 60. Authority is nothing other than the sum of number and material forces." Propositions condemned by Pius IX, Syllabus.

"28. It is not lawful for Bishops, without the permission of the government, to promulgate even Apostolic Letters themselves." Proposition condemned by Pius IX, Syllabus.

"11. The proposition asserting that, according to the ancient institution of our forefathers, derived from Apostolic times and preserved through the better ages of the Church, it was received that decrees, definitions, or sentences even of the greater Sees were not accepted unless they had been examined and approved by a diocesan Synod: false, rash, derogatory in its generality from the obedience due to Apostolic Constitutions and also to sentences emanating from a legitimate superior hierarchical power, fostering schism and heresy." Proposition of the Synod of Pistoia condemned by Pius VI.

"28. The people do not sin even if, without any cause, they do not receive a law promulgated by the prince." Proposition condemned by Alexander VII.

Cf. n. 180, paragraph Legislative Power of the Church; n. 184.

"38. The decretal epistles are apocryphal and lead away from the faith of Christ; and the clerics who study them are foolish." Proposition of John Wycliffe condemned by the Council of Constance.

"1. Some commandments of God are impossible to just men willing and striving according to the present powers which they have; the grace by which they might become possible is also lacking to them. Declared and condemned as rash, impious, blasphemous, deserving condemnation by anathema, and heretical." Proposition of Cornelius Jansen condemned by Innocent X.

"19. Likewise, the things which it adds, that man under the law, since he was powerless to observe it, became a transgressor, not indeed through the fault of the law, which was most holy, but through the fault of man, who under the law without grace became more and more a transgressor; and it further adds that the law, if it did not heal the heart of man, caused him to know his own evils and, convicted of infirmity, to desire the grace of the Mediator: in this part it generally insinuates that man became a transgressor through the non-observance of a law which he was powerless to observe, as though He who is just could have commanded something impossible, or He who is merciful were to condemn man for that which he could not avoid; ... false, scandalous, impious, condemned in Baius." Proposition of the Synod of Pistoia condemned by Pius VI.

"54. This definitive sentence, that God commanded man nothing impossible, is falsely attributed to Augustine, since it is Pelagius's." Proposition of Michael Baius condemned by St. Pius V. Cf. nn. 180, 183.

"Whether decrees issued by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and whatever responses formally issued in writing by it to proposed doubts, have the same authority as if they proceeded immediately from the Supreme Pontiff himself, although no report concerning them was made to His Holiness? - Resp. In the affirmative." S. R. C., 23 May 1846, n. 2916. - Decrees subscribed by the Prefect and Secretary of the S. R. C. and furnished with its seal are to be held as formally issued in writing; nor is it required that they be promulgated either at Rome or by Bishops in their dioceses. Decrees inserted in the Authentic Collection are to be held as formally issued. - S. R. C., 8 April 1854, n. 3023.

"6. The difference between the Jewish and Christian covenants is that, in the former, God demands flight from sin and fulfillment of the law from the sinner, leaving him in his powerlessness; but in the latter God gives the sinner that which He commands, by purifying him with His grace. - 7. What advantage was there for man in the old covenant, in which God left him to his own infirmity, imposing His law upon him? But what happiness is it not to be admitted to a covenant in which God gives us that which He asks of us? - 8. We do not belong to the new covenant except insofar as we are sharers in that new grace which works in us that which God commands us. - 63. One baptized is still under the law like a Jew if he does not fulfill the law, or fulfills it from fear alone." Propositions of Pasquier Quesnel condemned by Clement XI.

"The legal observances of the Old Testament, or the ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments of the Mosaic law, ceased when the Lord Jesus Christ came, and after the promulgation of the Gospel cannot be observed without sin." Profession of Faith for the Orientals prescribed by Urban VIII and Benedict XIV, Constitution Nuper ad nos.

"The sacrosanct Roman Church, founded by the voice of our Lord and Savior.... Firmly believes, professes, and teaches that the legal observances of the Old Testament, or of the Mosaic law, which are divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments, because they were instituted for the sake of signifying something future, although they were suitable for divine worship in that age, ceased when the Lord Jesus Christ, who was signified through them, came, and the sacraments of the New Testament began. It teaches that anyone who, even after the Passion, places hope in the legal observances and subjects himself to them as necessary for salvation, as though faith in Christ could not save without them, has sinned mortally. It does not, however, deny that from the Passion of Christ until the promulgation of the Gospel they could have been observed, provided that they were in no way believed necessary for salvation; but after the promulgation of the Gospel it asserts that they cannot be observed without the loss of salvation. Therefore, after that time, it declares all observers of circumcision, the Sabbath, and the other legal observances alien from the faith of Christ and wholly unable to be participants in eternal salvation unless at some time they recover from those errors. Therefore it commands absolutely all who glory in the Christian name, at whatever time, whether before or after Baptism, to cease from circumcision, because, whether one places hope in it or not, it cannot be observed at all without the loss of eternal salvation....

"It firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that every creature of God is good and nothing is to be rejected which is received with thanksgiving, because, according to the word of the Lord, not that which enters into the mouth defiles a man; and it asserts that the distinction of the Mosaic law between clean and unclean foods belongs to the ceremonial observances, which passed away when the Gospel arose and ceased to be efficacious. It also says that the Apostles' prohibition from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from that which was strangled was suitable to that time, when one Church was arising from Jews and Gentiles who previously lived by diverse ceremonies and customs, so that the Gentiles also might observe something in common with the Jews, and that an occasion might be offered for coming together in the one worship and faith of God, and the material of dissension might be removed: for, because of ancient custom, blood and that which was strangled seemed abominable to the Jews, and from the eating of things sacrificed to idols the Gentiles could be thought likely to return to idolatry. But when the Christian religion had been propagated to such a point that no Jew appeared in it, but all who passed over to the Church came together in the same rites and ceremonies of the Gospel, believing all things clean to the clean, then, when the cause of that Apostolic prohibition ceased, its effect also ceased. It therefore declares that no nature of food which human society admits is to be condemned; nor is any distinction to be made among animals by anyone, whether man or woman, and by whatever manner of death they perish; although for the health of the body, for the exercise of virtue, and for regular and ecclesiastical discipline many things not forbidden can and ought to be set aside, because, according to the Apostle, all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient." Decree for the Jacobites, or of Eugene IV, Cantate Domino.

"20. If anyone shall say that a justified man, however perfect, is not bound to the observance of the commandments of God and of the Church, but only to believe, as though the Gospel were a bare and absolute promise of eternal life without the condition of observing the commandments: let him be anathema. - 21. If anyone shall say that Christ Jesus was given by God to men as a Redeemer in whom they are to trust, but not also as a Legislator whom they are to obey: let him be anathema. - 7. If anyone shall say that by Baptism itself the baptized are made debtors only of faith alone, but not of the entire law of Christ to be observed: let him be anathema. - 8. If anyone shall say that the baptized are free from all the precepts of holy Church which are either written or handed down, so that they are not bound to observe them unless they should wish of their own accord to submit themselves to them: let him be anathema." Council of Trent, sess. 6, canons; sess. 7, canons on Baptism. Cf. n. 74.

"4. The proposition asserting that it would be an abuse of the authority of the Church to transfer it beyond the limits of doctrine and morals, and to extend it to exterior things, and to exact by force that which depends upon persuasion and the heart; and also, much less, that it pertains to her to exact by exterior force subjection to her decrees: insofar as, by those indeterminate words extending it to exterior things, it brands as an abuse of the authority of the Church the use of that power received from God which the Apostles themselves used in establishing and sanctioning exterior discipline: heretical. - 5. In the part in which it insinuates that the Church does not have authority to exact subjection to her decrees otherwise than by means which depend upon persuasion; insofar as it intends that the Church does not have a power conferred upon her by God not only of directing by counsels and persuasions, but also of commanding by laws, and of restraining and compelling the wayward and contumacious by exterior judgment and salutary penalties; from the Brief Ad assiduas of Benedict XIV, in the year 1755, to the Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Kingdom of Poland: introducing into a system a doctrine otherwise condemned as heretical." Propositions of the Synod of Pistoia condemned by Pius VI.

"15. Ecclesiastical obedience is obedience according to the invention of the priests of the Church apart from the express authority of Scripture." Proposition of John Hus condemned by the Council of Constance.

"The laws of the Church do not bind in conscience unless they are promulgated by the civil power; - The acts and decrees of the Roman Pontiffs concerning religion and the Church require the sanction and approval, or at least the assent, of the civil power; - Apostolic Constitutions by which secret societies are condemned, whether an oath concerning the keeping of secrecy is or is not required in them, and their followers and supporters are punished with anathema, have no force in those regions of the world where associations of this kind are tolerated by the civil government; - The excommunication imposed by the Council of Trent and the Roman Pontiffs upon those who invade and usurp the rights and possessions of the Church rests upon a confusion of the spiritual order with the civil and political order, solely for the pursuit of worldly good; - The Church ought to decree nothing which can bind the consciences of the faithful in relation to the use of temporal things; - The Church has no right to restrain violators of her laws by temporal penalties; it is conformable to the principles of sacred Theology and public law for the civil government to assert and claim ownership of goods possessed by Churches, religious families, and other pious places. - Assent and obedience can be refused without sin and without any loss of Catholic profession to those judgments and decrees of the Apostolic See whose object is declared to pertain to the general good of the Church and to her rights and discipline, provided that it does not touch dogmas of faith and morals." Propositions condemned by Pius IX, Encyclical Quanta cura.

"That those who are in the aforesaid degree of perfection and spirit of liberty (namely, because they cannot sin or grow further in perfection) are not subject to human obedience, nor are bound to any precepts of the Church; because, as they assert, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Condemned as error, Clementine Ad nostrum, 3, De Haereticis.

"14. The Doctors who maintain that anyone who is to be corrected by ecclesiastical censure, if he should refuse to be corrected, is to be handed over to the secular judgment, certainly follow in this the Pontiffs, Scribes, and Pharisees, who handed Christ over to the secular judgment when He would not obey them in all things, saying: It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death; and such men are more grievous murderers than Pilate." Article of John Hus condemned by the Council of Constance.

"24. The Church does not have the power of employing force, nor any temporal power, direct or indirect." Proposition condemned by Pius IX, Syllabus.

Cf. the preceding paragraph, The Legislative Power of the Church.

"8. If the Pope is foreknown as reprobate and evil, and consequently a member of the devil, he does not have power over the faithful given to him by anyone, unless perhaps by Caesar. - 9. After Urban VI no one is to be received as Pope, but one must live in the manner of the Greeks under one's own laws. - 37. The Roman Church is the synagogue of Satan, and the Pope is not the proximate and immediate Vicar of Christ and the Apostles." Propositions of John Wycliffe condemned in the Council of Constance. Cf. also articles 24 and 25, concerning which those suspected of the errors of Wycliffe and Hus are to be questioned by mandate of Martin V, Bull Inter cunctas; propositions 9-13, 20, 22-24, 26-29 of John Hus condemned by the Council of Constance.

"27. It is certain that it is entirely outside the power of the Church or the Pope to establish articles of faith, indeed even laws of morals or of good works." Proposition of Martin Luther condemned by Leo X, Bull Exsurge Domine, 16 May 1520.

Cf. the following paragraph, The Power of Bishops.

"... All the more deplorable is the headlong and blind temerity of the man who, in his ill-fated little book, endeavored to restore errors condemned by so many decrees; who said and everywhere insinuated through many circumlocutions: that every Bishop called by God to the government of the Church is no less than the Pope and is endowed with no lesser power; that Christ of Himself gave the same power to all the Apostles; that whatever some believe can be obtained and conceded by the Pontiff alone can equally be obtained by any Bishop, whether it depends upon consecration or upon ecclesiastical jurisdiction; that Christ willed the Church to be administered in the manner of a republic; that this government indeed requires a president for the good of unity, but one who may not dare to involve himself in the affairs of others who govern together with him; nevertheless, that he has the privilege of exhorting the negligent to fulfill their duties; that the force of the primacy is contained in this one prerogative of supplying for the negligence of others and providing for the preservation of unity by exhortations and example; that the Pontiffs can do nothing in another's diocese except in an extraordinary case; that the Pontiff is the head who receives his force and firmness from the Church; that the Pontiffs made it lawful for themselves to violate the rights of Bishops and to reserve to themselves absolutions, dispensations, decisions, appeals, collations of benefices, and, in a word, all other offices, which he enumerates individually and denounces as undue reservations injurious to Bishops." Pius VI, Brief Super soliditate, 28 Nov. 1786, by which Eybel's book What Is the Pope? is condemned.

"6. The doctrine of the Synod, by which it professes itself persuaded that a Bishop has received from Christ all the rights necessary for the good government of his diocese, just as if superior ordinances pertaining either to faith and morals or to general discipline, the right of which belongs to the Supreme Pontiffs and General Councils for the universal Church, were not necessary for the good government of each diocese: schismatic, at least erroneous. - 7. Likewise, in that it exhorts the Bishop to pursue vigorously the more perfect constitution of ecclesiastical discipline, and this against all contrary customs, exemptions, and reservations which are opposed to the good order of the diocese, the greater glory of God, and the greater edification of the faithful: by that which it supposes, that it is lawful for a Bishop by his own judgment and will to establish and decree against customs, exemptions, and reservations, whether those which have place in the universal Church or even in any province, without the permission and intervention of the superior hierarchical power by which they were introduced or approved and have the force of law: leading into schism and the subversion of hierarchical government, erroneous. - 8. Likewise, in that it also says that it is persuaded that the rights of a Bishop received from Jesus Christ for governing the Church can neither be altered nor impeded, and, when it has happened that the exercise of these rights has been interrupted for any cause, the Bishop can and ought always to return to his original rights whenever the greater good of his Church requires it: insofar as it insinuates that the exercise of episcopal rights can be hindered or restrained by no superior power whenever a Bishop by his own judgment shall have deemed this less expedient for the greater good of his Church: leading into schism and the subversion of hierarchical government, erroneous." Propositions of the Synod of Pistoia condemned by Pius VI.

"1. Whether Bishops lawfully assembled in either a Plenary or a Provincial Council are to be considered to possess true legislative power? - 2. Whether decrees of either Plenary or Provincial Councils, confirmed, approved, or at least reviewed by the Holy See in either common or specific form, lack every force unless they have already been incorporated into diocesan statutes; and indeed have force only insofar as they have thus been incorporated? - Resp. To the 1st, in the affirmative. To the 2nd, in the negative, and according to the mind." Holy Office, 10 Sept. 1896.

"9. The doctrine which establishes that the reformation of abuses concerning ecclesiastical discipline ought in diocesan Synods to depend equally upon and be established by the Bishop and the parish priests, and that without freedom of decision there would be undue subjection to the suggestions and commands of the Bishops: false, rash, injurious to episcopal authority, subversive of hierarchical government, favoring the Arian heresy renewed by Calvin. - 10. Likewise, the doctrine by which parish priests or other priests assembled in a Synod are declared together with the Bishop to be judges of faith, and at the same time it is insinuated that judgment in causes of faith belongs to them by their own right, and indeed even by reason of ordination received: false, rash, subversive of the hierarchical order, derogatory from the firmness of the definitions or dogmatic judgments of the Church, at least erroneous." Propositions of the Synod of Pistoia condemned by Pius VI.

Cf. also proposition 11 reported above at n. 168.

"That Christians are bound to the observance of civil laws, even if these have been enacted by unbelieving princes, provided that they are not opposed to the Christian religion and to the moral doctrine of the Gospel, there is no room for doubt; nor does the Apostle leave any room for doubt, who, making no distinction among higher powers, says: Let every soul be subject to higher powers: for there is no power except from God.... Therefore he who resists the power resists the ordinance of God; but those who resist acquire damnation for themselves.... Therefore be subject of necessity, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience. Rom. 13, v. 1 ff.

"From this most clear testimony it is manifest that those who rule supreme in civil government can enact laws for their subjects which bind them even in conscience; and this is also urged by the reason of the public good, namely, of warding off from civil societies the monster of anarchy, worse than dog and serpent; and it is commended by the illustrious examples of the first Christian faithful, who obeyed the civil laws of gentile princes as long as they could do this without loss to faith and good morals.

"Although these things are most true, nevertheless, with regard to the law forbidding the trade in opium, many doubts can arise because of the various opinions of theologians concerning the obligation of civil laws; and since the solution of these is not very easy, in particular cases they can trouble not a little the mind of missionaries and confessors. The Sacred Congregation has learned from their letters that this has happened several times.

"For there are very many theologians, and these also of the highest name, who judge that there are civil laws whose transgression indeed has a penalty annexed, but by no means also theological guilt, and which therefore they call purely penal. These do not deny what is clear from the cited testimony of St. Paul, that supreme rulers can enact laws which bind subjects in conscience, that is, not only to the penalty but also to theological guilt; but they contend that they do not always will this by their laws, and that those laws are purely penal. According to this doctrine, which seems to be more common among theologians, it can be doubted whether the civil law forbidding in your regions the trade in opium is a law having theological guilt annexed, or rather is a merely penal law, excluding all theological guilt. It could seem that this latter ought rather to be judged, from the fact that that law was enacted by an unbelieving prince, who, since he can rightly be thought to make no account of that which Christians call obligation in conscience and theological guilt, seems to have wished to compel his subjects to the observance of that law by the penalty indeed and by its severity, but by no means by fear of wounding conscience and of theological guilt.

"Nor does the most grave penalty of death against transgressors of that law seem a sufficient reason to show that it binds also to guilt, and not merely to penalty, because, as Roncaglia says, it is many times expedient for the common good that those also be punished with most grave penalties who violate some law without theological guilt. Thus theologians commonly admit that a defendant can, without theological guilt, break out of prison in order to avoid, for example, death; yet the civil laws punish this most gravely. Hence from such penalties the intention of the legislator to bind to theological guilt is not sufficiently gathered. Tract. 3, On Laws, q. 2, c. 2, resp. 2, ad 9. 2.

"But even if it be supposed that the aforesaid law enacted against the trade in opium binds also in conscience, nevertheless it would not follow from this that its violation in all circumstances brings theological guilt with it; for human laws, ordinarily speaking, do not oblige with grave harm to oneself to their observance. This has place in the divine laws themselves. Thus the observance of the Sabbath in the Old Law, and abstinence from blood, did not oblige with danger to life (St. Thomas, I-II, q. 100, a. 8; Suarez, bk. 3, On Laws), and in the New Law the law concerning the integrity of confession, concerning the reception of the sacraments, etc., does not oblige with the same danger.

"Since these things are so, the mind of the Sacred Congregation is not to define those controversies of theologians concerning a merely penal law, nor, on the supposition of the existence of laws of this kind, whether the law about which there is here discussion is to be counted among their number. Likewise, considering that a human law, although ordinarily speaking it does not oblige with grave harm, can nevertheless oblige with grave harm when a great public good requires it, which is the supreme law; and likewise considering that this necessity of the public good depends on circumstances which accompany the particular cases that can occur, all of which it is impossible to foresee; therefore it comprises this Instruction in two admonitions to be given to the missionaries and confessors of your Vicariate: namely, it teaches and wills that, in the resolution of the various cases which can happen, they ought not to disregard, but ought to take great account of, the civil law forbidding the trade in opium; secondly, it wills that great account also be taken of the most grave evils which are accustomed to flow from the abuse of opium in the regions of your Vicariate.

"As regards the first of these, it is an established matter that public order is guarded by civil laws, that the public good depends very greatly on the observance of the same laws, and that everything is overturned in that society whose citizens do not obey its laws. This reason is very weighty in the regions of your Vicariate, where violations of civil laws on the part of Christians could bring the greatest scandal and stir up hatred in the civil government against Christians and their religion, as though they were taught by the religion which they profess to disturb public order by the violation of civil laws, and at the same time to violate the rights of sovereignty.

"But as regards the second, this ought to be very well known in relation to Christians, whose religion is founded wholly on charity, not only toward God but also toward neighbor. For this teaches that each person is bound to ward off evils from his neighbor, whom he is bound by divine law to love as himself. This law of charity toward neighbor indeed has its limits, but those limits are the broader in proportion as the evils to be removed from him are more numerous and more grave. But there are very many and very grave evils, both temporal and spiritual, which flow from the abuse of opium in the regions of your Vicariate, and which can be removed by the observance of the law prohibiting the trade in opium.

"If, therefore, the missionaries and confessors of your Vicariate have these two things before their eyes, as the Sacred Congregation wills them to have them before their eyes, it will not be very difficult for them to know what they ought to answer and do in particular cases which can happen to them in relation to the observance or violation of the aforesaid law, and to find the way by which they can extricate themselves from perplexities and avoid anxieties of mind." Instruction of the S. C. de P. F., 23 June 1830.

"That the best constitution of public society and civil progress altogether require that human society be constituted and governed with no regard for religion, as though it did not exist, or at least with no distinction made between true and false religions. - That the best condition of society is that in which the government does not acknowledge the duty of restraining violators of the Catholic religion by enacted penalties, except insofar as public peace demands. - That liberty of conscience and of worship is a right proper to every man, which ought to be proclaimed and asserted by law in every rightly constituted society, and that there inheres in citizens a right to complete liberty, to be restricted by no ecclesiastical or civil authority, by which they may be able to manifest and declare whatever concepts they have. - That ecclesiastical power is not distinct and independent from civil power by divine right, nor can distinction and independence of this kind be preserved without the Church invading and usurping the essential rights of the civil power." Propositions condemned by Pius IX, Encyclical Quanta cura.

"19. The Church is not a true and perfect society entirely free, nor does she possess her own proper and constant rights conferred upon her by her divine Founder; rather, it belongs to the civil power to define what the rights of the Church are and the limits within which she may exercise those rights. - 20. The ecclesiastical power ought not exercise its authority without the permission and assent of the civil government. - 49. The civil authority can prevent sacred prelates and faithful peoples from communicating freely and mutually with the Roman Pontiff. - 54. Kings and princes are not only exempt from the jurisdiction of the Church, but in deciding questions of jurisdiction are also superior to the Church." Propositions condemned by Pius IX in the Syllabus; Latin American Council, title 1, chapters 10, 11.

"... Therefore we have judged it good by the present Constitution, in order that abuses may be met, to declare what and of what sort a legitimate custom according to the canons ought to be, by which episcopal and ecclesiastical courts can have the right of taking cognizance of and judging the criminal causes of lay defendants. Therefore we order that not every custom for this purpose, but only that custom, have force which is both forty years old and perpetually constant, not indeed contradicted or interrupted. Moreover, we will that it be constituted by a multiplicity and frequency of acts, not slight but grave, which are known to have been performed with the intention of acquiring a prescriptive right against secular jurisdiction, not tolerated from favor or connivance; nor such acts as perhaps could have taken place apart from the certain and precise knowledge either of Us and of Our Successors for the time being, or at least of the supreme magistrates of this Our City, whom we are accustomed especially to set over the prosecution of the public vindication of crimes. We command that absolutely no account be taken, in a matter so grave, of the knowledge and patience of local rectors and of other inferior secular magistrates, to whom, when they are sometimes either negligent, or conniving and tolerating out of a certain reverential fear, we establish that it is not lawful, and has not been lawful, by their favor, acquiescence, and patience, to make legitimate a custom by which the jurisdiction entrusted to them is diminished, with the order of both powers disturbed. If, therefore, a custom such as we have now established is brought forward, we will that it be kept and observed; but a custom introduced otherwise we reprove, and by this Our Constitution we decree it to be of no force...." Clement XIII, Constitution Praestat Romanum.

"Children after the seventh year are bound to observe the quality of foods prescribed by the Church." S. Poenit., 15 March 1837.

"16. That obedience to the law which is done without charity is not true obedience." Proposition of Michael Baius condemned by St. Pius V.

"47. Obedience to the law ought to flow from a fountain, and this fountain is charity. When the love of God is its interior principle and the glory of God its end, then that which appears exteriorly is pure; otherwise it is nothing but hypocrisy or false justice." Proposition of Pasquier Quesnel condemned by Clement XI.

"72. Absolutely all the afflictions of the just are punishments for their sins; hence both Job and the martyrs suffered what they suffered because of their sins." Proposition of Baius condemned by St. Pius V.

"70. God never afflicts the innocent, and afflictions always serve either to punish sin or to purify the sinner." Proposition of Quesnel condemned by Clement XI. Cf. St. Thomas, II-II, q. 108, a. 4.

Cf. n. 183.

"77. For his own preservation, man can dispense himself from that law which God established for his benefit." Proposition of Pasquier Quesnel condemned by Clement XI.

"8. The Pope cannot dispense in the statutes of the universal Church." Proposition of the Masters of Oxford condemned by Sixtus IV.

By a decree of the Sacred Roman and Universal Inquisition of 24 Nov. 1897 it is established that "all special faculties habitually granted by the Holy See to Bishops and other Ordinaries of places are not suspended or terminated by their death or cessation from office, but pass to the succeeding Ordinaries according to the form and within the terms of the decree issued by this Sacred Congregation on 20 Feb. 1888 concerning matrimonial dispensations." Cf. On Matrimony, n. 1044.

"1. Whether under those words all special faculties habitually granted by the Holy See to Bishops and other Ordinaries of places are comprehended all special faculties granted by the Holy See to Ordinaries, which they use as often as they wish, although for a predetermined time, such as are the faculties called of the Penitentiary, for the reduction of Masses, etc. - 2. Whether the faculty of blessing and of delegating the blessing of sacred vestments, which has been granted to Bishops, passes also, upon their death or cessation from office, to the succeeding Vicar Capitular, although not distinguished with episcopal dignity. - 3. Whether under the same words all special faculties habitually granted by the Holy See to Bishops ... are also comprehended faculties which they are able to use only for a determined number of cases, such as the faculties of dispensing from the title for sacred ordination for a defined number of ordinands. - 4. And insofar as the answer to any of these is negative, what is the interpretation of the adverb habitually?"

"Resp. To 1, 2, and 3, in the affirmative. To 4, provided for in the preceding answers." Holy Office, 3 May 1899.

Faculties granted by name even to a Bishop, whether before or after the decree of the Holy Office of 20 April 1898, are understood to have been granted to the Ordinary. Holy Office, 23 June 1898; 5 Sept. 1900; Acta S. Sed., vol. 33, p. 225.

The preceding decree of 3 May 1899, by which it was declared that "all special faculties habitually granted by the Holy See to Bishops and other Ordinaries of places, although for a predetermined time, pass upon their death or cessation from office to their Successors," was afterwards extended to the Superiors General of Religious Orders. Holy Office, 20 Dec. 1899.

"Whether a diocesan Bishop can subdelegate, without special concession, to his Vicars General or to other ecclesiastical men, in a general manner or at least for a particular case, faculties delegated to him for a time by the Apostolic See?

"Resp. In the affirmative, provided that this is not prohibited in the faculties, nor the right of subdelegating restricted to only certain persons; for in this case the form of the rescript must be observed exactly." Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, 14 Dec. 1898.

"30. The immunity of the Church and of ecclesiastical persons had its origin from civil law. - 31. The ecclesiastical forum for the temporal causes of clerics, whether civil or criminal, is to be abolished entirely, even without consultation of and against the protest of the Apostolic See. - 32. Without any violation of natural right and equity, the personal immunity by which clerics are exempted from the burden of undertaking and performing military service can be abrogated; indeed, civil progress demands this abrogation, especially in a society constituted according to the form of a freer government." Propositions condemned by Pius IX in the Syllabus.

"A cleric who has not yet received major orders, whether married or not, when he has not diligently observed the things which the Sacred Council of Trent, sess. 23, c. 6, De Ref., disposed, loses the privilege of the forum and is to be held as stripped, and by the law itself and the fact itself to be stripped, of all clerical privileges, so that he ought to be held and treated as a truly lay person, even in criminal causes and for penal effects, without a threefold admonition or a special declaration of incurrence into this penalty being necessary now and hereafter." Sacred Congregation of Immunity, 20 Sept. 1860.

"The Sacred Congregation declares that it will never admit the recourse or appeal of priests who have dared to bring before lay judges either a cleric without the permission of the Ordinary, or a Bishop without the permission of the Apostolic See, whether in an ecclesiastical cause or not, unless they first abandon the recourse lodged before the civil tribunal.

"Bishops, however, according to the declaration of the chapter Cogentes issued by the Sacred Congregation of the Council on 23 Jan. 1886, can proceed against the aforesaid cleric with penalties and censures ferendae sententiae, especially suspension a divinis, the things to be observed being observed, and according to the gravity of the cause, if they judge this expedient in the Lord. But if permission to summon a cleric before a lay forum is sought from Ordinaries, they will never deny it, especially when they themselves have vainly devoted effort to reconciling the disputes between the parties." Sacred Congregation de P. F., 17 May 1860.

"Insofar as an ecclesiastic wishes to cede his own rights to a layman in some question against a priest, he must seek permission from the Bishop; and from the Holy See if the suit is against a Bishop. If he does not do and obtain this, he is subject to the dispositions issued against priests who have recourse to lay judges, and is held as acting in fraud of the law." Sacred Congregation de P. F., 6 Sept. 1886.

"Odoardus the cleric set forth that, when P. the cleric, C. the layman, and certain others had sued him before the official of the Archdeacon of Reims concerning certain debts, that official promulgated a sentence of excommunication against him when he acknowledged debts of this kind but was unable to pay them because of want of means:

"We command that, if it is established that the aforesaid Odoardus is unable to pay the aforesaid debts wholly or in part, you relax that sentence without any difficulty, first receiving from him suitable security that, if he should come into a richer fortune, he will pay the aforesaid debts."

"1. Whether Greek priests, especially Catholics, enjoy the privileges which Latins enjoy, and especially that of the canon Si quis suadente diabolo, etc. - 2. Whether Latins who strike them or summon them to trial before Turkish tribunals are to be avoided as excommunicated. - 3. How missionaries ought to conduct themselves with Greek priests who have become irregular by reason of a delict, and especially by reason of voluntary homicide, and with those who have procured an abortion to avoid infamy.

"Resp. To the 1st: as regards the privilege of the canon, in the affirmative. The same concerning similar privileges, but they can be excused on some ground, e.g., ignorance. - To the 2nd: as regards the first, in the affirmative, speaking of those who are notorious assailants or who have been denounced. - To the 3rd: those who are irregular are to be dealt with as irregular Latins, namely, by dispensing if there is faculty and cause, or by referring them to one who has the faculty." Holy Office, 3 Aug. 1639.

"All Bishops, whether diocesan or titular, are adorned with the same privilege which the Cardinal Fathers enjoy, namely, that not only may they themselves celebrate Mass in the oratory of their own residence, or upon a portable altar, wherever they may reside, and permit another Mass for their own convenience, but also that all the faithful hearing either one of these Masses, whenever there is need, fulfill the precept of the Church." Decree of the S. R. C., 8 June 1896.

"Whether Vicars Apostolic enjoy the privilege of granting the faculty of celebrating twice on the same day, which is attributed to Bishops from the Constitution Declarasti of Benedict XIV? - Resp. In the affirmative, the matter having been referred to His Holiness. His Holiness approved." Holy Office, 22 Feb. 1888; Acta S. Sed., vol. 25, p. 442.

"It is just that those who have spent their lives for the flock of the Lord should be aided after death in a singular manner by the suffrages of the Church. Therefore, after mature consideration of the matter, the Sacred Congregation of Rites has determined that it should be decreed:

"That, while the body of a deceased diocesan Bishop, clothed in sacred vestments, lies publicly and solemnly exposed in the principal hall of his own residence, Masses may be celebrated throughout the morning for the repose of his soul, all those things being observed which are prescribed in book II, chapter XXXIII, of the Ceremonial of Bishops concerning the exposition of the body of a deceased Bishop and the offering of suffrages. The same privilege granted to Bishops in their own dioceses is to be understood as extended in like manner to Apostolic Vicars in their Vicariates, and also to Abbots and other Prelates Nullius Dioeceseos who, when they departed this life, enjoyed ordinary jurisdiction over a people, but within their own territory. Finally, by special favor, the Sacred Congregation of Rites grants that deceased titular Bishops may also enjoy the same privilege, provided that their bodies are exposed in a suitable hall and, if outside the City, are clothed in pontifical ornaments, but without the pastoral staff; if in the City, only in prelatial habit. - Any contrary things whatever notwithstanding.

"On 3 April 1894, His Holiness ratified and approved in all things the decision of the Sacred Congregation." Decree n. 3822.

"To you, Venerable Father in Christ N. N., We communicate the faculties written below, to endure for five years, which, notwithstanding the Constitution Apostolicae Sedis, you may use for the forum of conscience, either personally or through your Vicar General in spiritual matters, provided that he is constituted in the sacred order of the priesthood, even outside sacramental confession, only for the flock committed to you and within the boundaries of your diocese, and by the authority of the Apostolic See specially delegated to you and to be expressed in each case; and which you may impart to the Canon Penitentiary and also to Vicars Forane, likewise for the forum of conscience and only in the act of sacramental confession, even habitually if it pleases you; but to other confessors, when in particular cases of penitents they have had recourse to you or to the aforesaid Vicar General, you may impart them for the case set forth, unless for peculiar causes you should judge that they are to be communicated, for a time to be established at your discretion, to certain confessors specially subdelegated by you.

"I. Of absolving from excommunication simply reserved to the Roman Pontiff on account of violent hands laid upon either clerics or regulars, provided that death, mutilation, a lethal wound, or fracture of bones did not follow; and provided that the cases have not been brought to the forum of the Ordinary; those things which are to be enjoined by law being enjoined, and especially that competent satisfaction be made to the injured party.

"II. Of absolving from the censures established against duelists, only in cases not brought to the forum of the Ordinary; a grave salutary penance being enjoined, together with the other things which are to be enjoined by law.

"III. Of absolving any penitents whatever, with the exception of public heretics or those publicly teaching heresy, from any sentences, censures, and ecclesiastical penalties incurred on account of heresies manifested both with no one hearing or noticing and before others; on account of infidelity and abjuration of the Catholic faith privately committed; heretical sacrileges and malefices perpetrated even with accomplices; and also on account of an invocation of the demon with a pact of giving the soul, idolatry shown to him, and heretical superstitions practiced; and finally on account of any false dogmas insinuated: after, however, the penitent has denounced any accomplices he may have, as required by law; and insofar as for just causes he cannot denounce them before absolution, after the penitent has made a serious promise of performing the denunciation as soon as and in the best manner in which it can be done; and after in each case he has secretly abjured the heresies before the one absolving and has expressly revoked the pact entered into with the accursed demon; any written instrument perhaps drawn up, and other superstitious means, having been handed over to the one absolving, for all of them to be burned or destroyed; a grave salutary penance being enjoined according to the measure of the excesses, together with frequent reception of the sacraments and the obligation of retracting himself before the persons in whose presence he manifested the heresies and of repairing the scandals given.

"IV. Of absolving from censures incurred on account of violation of the enclosure of regulars of either sex, provided that it was not committed with intention toward an evil end, even if the effect did not follow, and that the cases have not been brought to the forum of the Ordinary; with a fitting salutary penance. And, moreover, of absolving women alone from censures and ecclesiastical penalties incurred on account of violation, for an evil end, of the enclosure of male religious, provided, however, that the cases remain occult; a grave salutary penance being enjoined, together with the prohibition of approaching the church, convent, or monastery of the said religious while the occasion of sin endures.

"V. Of absolving from censures incurred on account of the retention and reading of prohibited books; a fitting salutary penance being enjoined, and also the firm obligation of handing over, as required by law, either personally or through another, without any delay and, insofar as it can be done, before absolution, any prohibited books which the penitent retains in his possession.

"VI. Of absolving from the case reserved to the Apostolic See on account of gifts received from regulars of either sex; a salutary penance being enjoined; and when the matter concerns gifts which do not exceed the value of ten scudi, some alms being imposed, to be determined at the judgment of the one absolving and prudently expended as soon as possible for the benefit of the religious institute or convent to which restitution would have to be made, provided, however, that it is not established that those gifts were from goods proper to the religious institute. But insofar as the gifts received either exceeded the value of ten scudi or are established to have been from goods proper to the religious institute, restitution having first been made; and if the penitent cannot fulfill it at present, after he has made a serious promise of restoring within a term to be determined at the discretion of the one absolving; otherwise under pain of falling again into the censure.

"VII. Of absolving from censures and ecclesiastical penalties those who have enrolled in forbidden Masonic or Carbonari sects, or in other sects of the same kind, or have rendered them any favor whatever; yet in such a manner that they separate themselves entirely from the respective sect and abjure it, and hand over into the hands of the one absolving any books, manuscripts, and signs pertaining to the sect which they retain, to be prudently transmitted as soon as possible to the Ordinary, or at least, if just and grave causes demand it, to be burned; a grave salutary penance being enjoined according to the measure of the faults, together with frequent sacramental confession and the other things to be enjoined by law; and also of absolving those who culpably neglected to denounce the hidden leaders and ringleaders of sects of this kind; a salutary penance likewise being enjoined, and the firm obligation, under pain of falling again into the censure, of denouncing them to you or to others whom it concerns, as required by law.

"VIII. Of absolving religious of any Order whatever, including nuns, but through confessors approved or specially deputed by you for them, not only from the foregoing but also from cases and censures reserved in their own religious institute, provided that the religious have legitimate permission to make sacramental confession to the subdelegated confessor.

"IX. Of dispensing, for the petition of the conjugal debt, with one who has transgressed a privately emitted vow of chastity and has contracted matrimony with the said vow; admonishing a penitent of this kind that he is bound to observe the same vow both outside the lawful use of matrimony and if he should survive his or her spouse, respectively.

"X. Of dispensing with an incestuous man or woman for the petition of the conjugal debt, the right to which he or she lost by reason of a subsequently arising occult affinity through carnal intercourse had with a female or male blood relative, either in the first, or in the first and second, or in the second degree, of his wife or, respectively, her husband; the occasion of sin being removed, and a grave salutary penance and sacramental confession each month being enjoined for a time to be established at the discretion of the one dispensing.

"XI. Of dispensing over the occult impediment of affinity in the first degree, and also in the first and second, or in the second degree only, arising from illicit carnal intercourse, when the matter concerns a marriage already contracted with the said impediment; and insofar as the matter concerns intercourse with the mother of his putative wife, provided that it occurred after the birth of the same putative wife, and not otherwise; the penitent being admonished concerning the necessary secret renewal of consent with his putative wife or her putative husband, after the latter has been informed of the nullity of the prior consent, but so prudently that the delict of the penitent is nowhere disclosed; and insofar as this information cannot be given without grave danger, consent being renewed according to the rules handed down by approved authors; the occasion of sin being removed, and a grave salutary penance and sacramental confession once a month being enjoined for a time to be established at the discretion of the one dispensing.

"Likewise, by special and express Apostolic authority, We grant you the faculty of dispensing over the said occult impediment, or impediments, of affinity from illicit intercourse, even in marriages to be contracted, and of subdelegating the faculty of dispensing, even habitually, to the parish priests of your diocese, when, however, all things have been prepared for the nuptials and the marriage cannot be deferred until a dispensation can be obtained from the Apostolic See without danger of grave scandal; the occasion of sin always being removed, and the condition remaining firm that the intercourse had with the mother of the woman did not precede the birth of the latter; a salutary penance being enjoined in each case.

"XII. Of dispensing over the occult impediment of crime, provided that it is without any machination and that the matter concerns a marriage already contracted; the putative spouses being admonished concerning the necessary secret renewal of consent.

"Likewise, by the same special and express Apostolic authority, We also grant the faculty of dispensing over the same occult impediment, provided that it is without any machination, even in marriages to be contracted, but in more urgent cases in which time does not permit recourse to the Holy See; a grave salutary penance and sacramental confession once each month being enjoined in either case, for a time to be established at the discretion of the one dispensing.

"N.B. Our mind is: 1. that, if perhaps through forgetfulness or inadvertence it should happen that you use these faculties beyond the aforesaid term, the absolutions or dispensations imparted therefrom are ratified and valid; 2. that the injunction of sacramental confession of which under nn. X, XI, and XII is not invalidating but only preceptive; 3. that you may use these faculties not only singly but also cumulatively in one and the same case."

"Among the faculties granted by letters of the Sacred Penitentiary for the internal forum for five years, there is also under n. XI that of habitually subdelegating to parish priests the faculty of dispensing over the occult impediment of affinity from illicit intercourse in marriages to be contracted, when, however, all things have been prepared for the nuptials. But a doubt arises concerning the interpretation of this word parish priests. For besides parish priests canonically instituted, there are other priests, so-called rectors, who preside over separate territories and there have the care of souls and exercise quasi-parochial rights, without, however, being able to be called parish priests in the proper sense.

"1. Whether under the name of parish priests in the cited letters of the Sacred Penitentiary there come the so-called rectors who exercise the care of souls in some district, without being able to be called parish priests in the proper sense. - 2. Whether under the same name there are comprehended also those priests who, during a vacancy of the parish, or on the occasion of the illness or absence of the parish priest, are deputed as administrators of the parish.

"Resp. In the affirmative to both." Sacred Penitentiary, 17 July 1901.

"36. Regulars can use in the forum of conscience their privileges which were expressly revoked by the Council of Trent. - 37. Indulgences granted to regulars and revoked by Paul V have today been revalidated." Propositions condemned by Alexander VII.

"... As regards the exemption of regulars, the prescriptions of canonical law are certain and known. Namely, although in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which is constituted by divine ordination, presbyters and ministers are inferior to Bishops and are ruled by their authority,¹ nevertheless, so that in religious Orders all things might better be fitted and connected among themselves, and individual members might enjoy a peaceful and even course of life, and finally that provision might be made for the increase and perfection of religious life,² not without reason did the Roman Pontiffs, whose office it is to delimit dioceses and to assign to each his subjects to be ruled by sacred power, establish that the regular clergy was exempt from the jurisdiction of Bishops. The cause of this was not that it pleased them that religious societies should enjoy a more favorable condition than the secular clergy, but that their houses were held by a fiction of law as certain territories torn away from the dioceses themselves. From this it came about that religious families, which by common law ought immediately to be subject both to Bishops on account of hierarchical principate and to the Supreme Pontiff on account of pontifical primacy,³ continued to be in his power, and by privilege went out from the power of Bishops.

1. Council of Trent, sess. 23, De sacramento ordinis, can. 7.

2. St. Gregory the Great, Epistle III, bk. IX. - Benedict XIV, Decretal Epistle Apostolicae servitutis, the day before the Ides of March 1742.

3. Vatican Council, Constitution Pastor aeternus, chap. 3. "But since in reality they pass their lives within the boundaries of dioceses, the force of this privilege is so tempered that diocesan discipline is kept whole and intact, and thus that the regular clergy in many things must be subject to episcopal power, whether ordinary or delegated.... Moreover, by common law¹ it has been established that houses which do not contain at least six religious members must altogether be in the power of Bishops.... When a doubt had long ago been proposed to Clement VIII, whether religious men sent to the Indies for the cultivation of souls were to be considered as though living outside the enclosures of the monastery, and therefore were ordered by the Tridentine law to be subject to Bishops, that Pontiff, through the Constitution Religiosorum quorumcumque, 6 Ides of November 1601, had decreed that they were 'to be reputed as religious living inside the cloisters; wherefore in those things concerning the care of souls they are subject to the Ordinary of the place; but in the rest they remain subject not to the Ordinary of the place, but to their own Superiors.' Nor did Benedict XIV think and judge otherwise in his Constitutions Quamvis, 5 Kalends of March 1746; Cum nuper, 6 Ides of November 1751; and Cum alias, 5 Ides of June 1753. From all these things it is clear that even hospices and houses, however sparsely occupied because of the fewness of their inhabitants, are comprehended by the right of this privilege of which there is question, and this not only in places where Apostolic Vicars preside, but also where Bishops preside; for in the Constitutions which We have recalled, Bishops were being treated." Leo XIII, Constitution Romanos Pontifices, 8 Ides of May 1881.

1. Innocent X, Constitution Instaurandae, 15 Oct. 1652; Constitution Ut in parvis, 10 Feb. 1654.

"Let there be promised to the Ordinary of the place only that submission which is conformable to the character of each Institute. Consequently, without speaking of purely diocesan Congregations, which depend completely upon the Bishops, let Congregations approved by the Holy See and contemplated by the Apostolic Constitution Conditae a Christo, published by Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIII on 8 December 1900, promise submission to the Bishops within the terms of that same Constitution; as regards Regular Orders, let them promise submission to the Bishops within the terms of common law. Now, according to this common law, as you know very well, Regulars depend upon the Bishops for the erection of a new house in the diocese; for public schools, asylums, hospitals, and other establishments of this kind; for the promotion of their subjects to Orders; for the administration of the Sacraments to the faithful; for preaching; for the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament; for the consecration of churches; for the publication of indulgences; for the erection of a Confraternity or pious Congregation; and for permission to publish books. Finally, Regulars depend upon the Bishops in that which regards the care of souls in places where they are invested with this ministry." Letter of the S. C. EE. et RR., 10 July 1901.

"The Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide recalls to the memory of the local Ordinaries dependent upon it the judgment which the Constitution Romanos Pontifices of Leo XIII hands down as common today and as favored everywhere by the authority of decided cases, namely, that it is not lawful for Regulars, either within or outside Italy, to found new monasteries, convents, or colleges by the permission of the Bishop alone, but that a faculty granted by the Apostolic See is also required. Therefore, in future let all Ordinaries subject to the Sacred Congregation diligently abstain from giving permission to religious Institutes to open a house in the territory of their own jurisdiction without permission first having been obtained from the aforesaid Sacred Congregation." S. C. de P. F., 7 Dec. 1901.

S. C. de P. F., 18 Jan. 1886, Leo XIII approving on the 19th of the same month.

"Concerning the dependence of Missionaries of the Society of Jesus on the Regular Superior and on the Apostolic Vicar: Insofar as they are religious, they are subject to Regular Superiors by force of the vow according to the Constitutions of the Society; but in cases expressly named by law, and generally in those things which regard the care of souls and the administration of the Sacraments, they are subject to the Apostolic Vicar by canonical obedience, as Clement VIII already sanctioned, that religious sent to India in things concerning the care of souls are subject to the Ordinary of the place, but in the rest remain subject not to the Ordinary of the place, but to their own Superiors. Clement VIII, Bull, 6 Ides of Nov. 1601, Religiosorum quorumcumque.

"Concerning the right of assigning the same Missionaries to various offices: Both for the ministry of Missionaries concerning the care of souls, and for caring for pious Institutes which are in the power of the Apostolic Vicar, such as Seminaries, Catechumenates, Hospitals, popular Schools, and things similar to these, the designation of persons whom the regular Superior presents and the conferral of jurisdiction pertain to the Apostolic Vicar. Therefore also the removal and transfer of these persons pertain to the Apostolic Vicar and to the regular Superior according to the norms established by Benedict XIV in the Bull Firmandis, that is: 'But if the case should happen in which either the Bishop or the regular Superior judges that some one of the aforesaid Parish Priests is to be removed from the exercise of the care of souls and deprived of the same, since it is by no means lawful for Parish Priests of this kind to accede to the care of souls without the prior approval of the Bishop, although deputed by their own Superiors, and the same are removable at will; therefore it was doubted whether the Bishop could proceed to removals of this kind without the consent of the regular Superior, and whether he ought to bring forward the causes of removal to the same and verify them; and also whether the regular Superior, coming by his own right to a similar removal and privation, was bound to seek the consent of the Bishop and to make known and approved to him his reasons for acting. Concerning this matter the aforesaid Congregation of the Council decreed that Parish Priests of this kind can be removed from the care of souls both by the Bishop and by the regular Superior, with equal right, the consent of the other not being required; nor is one bound to disclose to the other the causes of his judgment, much less to prove and verify them. This We approve and confirm in all things.'

"Concerning Colleges in the Missions of the Society of Jesus: As regards Colleges, and the Schools and Boarding Houses of Colleges, in which religious men, according to the prescriptions of their Order, are accustomed to devote their labor to the instruction of youth, right reason demands and the Holy See wills that the privileges granted to Regulars remain firm and entire. Therefore both the governance of those Institutes and the designation of persons in them pertain to regular Superiors according to the Constitutions of the Society.

"Concerning the administration of temporal goods in the same Missions: As regards the administration of revenues arising from the works of religious, it is established: 1. The administration of revenues of Colleges and Boarding Houses, and likewise of recompenses which come to individuals, with Apostolic dispensation, from stipends of Masses and stole fees, or from personal industry, pertain to regular Superiors. 2. It is permitted to the Apostolic Vicar to establish a cathedraticum to be paid to himself, to be approved beforehand by the Sacred Congregation. But from the pensions of military Chaplaincies, what remains beyond the honorable support of their holders is to be handed over entirely by regular Superiors to the Apostolic Vicar. 3. The proceeds of which it has been spoken are to be expended not outside the Mission but in the works of the Mission; for this end the regular Superior is bound every three years to render account concerning them to the Sacred Congregation.

"Moreover, the Most Eminent Fathers judged that the Most Holy Lord should be supplicated that he deign to extend to India the Apostolic Constitution Romanos Pontifices, given by him in the year 1881 for England and Scotland and afterwards extended to other regions. And the Supreme Pontiff, approving this also, granted the requested extension.

"These decisions, which also regard the regular Superior and religious Missionaries, are nothing other than an application or explanation of common law, or of decisions already given at other times for places of Missions." Cf. Brief of Innocent XII Alias a particulari, 5 Oct. 1696; Brief of Alexander VII Alias emanavit, 22 Nov. 1660; Brief of Clement IX Speculatores domus, 13 Sept. 1669; C. nn. 417, 418, 420, 425.

"Decree.... Our Most Holy Lord Leo XIII, Pope, by reason of that wisdom and the greatest solicitude which he shows for all the Churches, especially the Eastern Churches, by letters given motu proprio on 19 March 1896, as though adding certain chapters of prescriptions and exhortations to his Constitution Orientalium, ordered that certain things be established by a proper decree through the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Christian Name, by which some matters concerning the order of law hitherto received regarding the relation of offices between Apostolic Delegates and those who preside over Missions throughout the Eastern regions might be changed according to the mind of His Holiness.

"The Sacred Congregation, willingly obeying these commands, has judged that the following things are to be declared and decreed:

"1. Apostolic Prefectures of Missions among the Eastern Churches, established within the boundaries of another Mission or diocese, which therefore do not have a separate territory, are abrogated, the already founded Missions nevertheless remaining in full right; and Superiors of Missions shall be substituted in place of the Prefects.

"2. The Superior General of a religious Order to which some Apostolic Mission has been entrusted shall propose to this Sacred Congregation some member of the same Order outstanding in Apostolic virtues and learning, whom the same Sacred Congregation, if it so judges in the Lord, may safely place over that Mission with the office and name of Superior.

"3. The patent letters or diplomas of the Sacred Congregation for the Superior of a Mission thus designated and promoted, together with the Apostolic faculties which the same Sacred Congregation shall have judged should be granted to him, shall be handed over through the Apostolic Delegate within whose legation the Mission itself is established.

"4. Besides the Superior of the Mission, a regular Superior shall be named by the supreme head of the religious Order, whose burden and office it shall be to preserve and promote by assiduous, diligent vigilance and care the regular discipline of the Missionaries of his own Order; and likewise to entrust the affairs of the Mission to each one according to the powers of his mind and body; yet he shall not transact these affairs unless counsels have been exchanged with the Superior of the Mission, so that together they may come to that provision which they judge will contribute more to the advantage of the Catholic cause.

"5. If it shall seem to the Superior General of the religious Order, in certain circumstances of times, places, and persons, more useful to unite the office of Superior of the Mission with the office of regular Superior, he may accomplish this, but not without the authority and permission of the Sacred Congregation.

"6. To the Superior of Missions shall belong the ordinary administration of Christian Communities which by the Apostolic labors of Missionaries have either first come or returned to the true faith from unbelief, from heresy, or from schism; until, however, they can be remitted to Bishops or Ordinaries of their own rite. He shall also have the right to found new Mission stations, counsels nevertheless first having been exchanged with the Apostolic Delegate. Finally, it shall be the office of the same Superior to establish and accomplish whatever he prudently judges will profit the better government of the Missions.

"7. The principal office of the Apostolic Delegate shall be to watch that the Missionaries are never idle in the work begun, but assiduously and rightly discharge their office: namely, that in Apostolic manner they continually visit the villages subject to their Mission, strengthen the infirm in faith, and call back the fallen and wandering to the way of salvation; and thus at length labor for the fruitfulness of the Lord's field, that they may gain all for Christ, who will one day render the crown of justice to his soldiers. Moreover, let the Delegate take care that the Missionaries most diligently and faithfully observe and fulfill the mandates and institutions of the Holy See.

"8. Likewise, the Apostolic Delegate shall employ every effort that he and the Superior of the Mission agree fully in judgments and in the things to be done which pertain to the administration and progress of the Mission. And when it happens that they think differently in the graver affairs of the Mission, the judgment of the Apostolic Delegate shall prevail, while the faculty of the Superior of the Mission to approach the Sacred Congregation by petition remains intact, so that it may decree what it judges should be done as more conducive to the good of the Mission....

"Given at Rome, from the offices of the same Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, 12 Sept. 1896."

"Missionaries belonging to the secular clergy, who are destined for the Missions by authentic letters given by the Apostolic See, all and each are subject to the complete jurisdiction, visitation, and correction of the Apostolic Vicars. But Regulars who enjoy the privilege of exemption must be altogether subject to the same Apostolic Vicars generally in those things which pertain to the care of souls and to the administration of the Sacraments, and in the other cases expressly named by law." S. C. de P. F., C. G., 6 Feb. 1882; C. nn. 417, 418, 420, 425.

"Whether the law by which, according to the Sacred Council of Trent, the Ordinary is bound to visit the Communities and monasteries of his diocese extends also to Communities and monasteries which are governed by a Superior General or a Superioress General. - Resp. As regards exempt Regulars, in the negative, except in cases expressed by law. But as regards Brothers and Sisters of pious Congregations of simple vows which are not exempt, in the affirmative, the Statutes and Constitutions approved by the Apostolic See being preserved." S. C. EE. et RR., 27 Feb. 1863. Cf. On the Obligations of Particular States of Life, n. 248; Constitution Conditae.

"Whether and how Apostolic Vicars, or Ordinaries of places, can visit the parishes of regular Apostolic Missionaries existing within their territories? - Resp. In the affirmative in all things according to the Constitution Firmandis of Benedict XIV, 1744." S. C. de P. F., 21 Sept. 1840.

By force of the Constitution Etsi mendicantium of St. Pius V, all religious can, both on Sundays or feast days and at other times throughout the year, ring bells whenever it pleases them and celebrate Masses, even at the time when the Ordinaries celebrate. - By force of the cited Constitution of St. Pius V, they can celebrate Masses and perform the Divine Offices whenever it seems good to them, even on Sundays or feast days, and even before the rector of the parish church has celebrated. Acta S. Sed., vol. 24, p. 565.

"Local Ordinaries, by the disposition of the Sacred Council of Trent, cannot prohibit visiting Regulars from celebrating Masses in the churches of their Orders without their permission." S. C. C., 27 July 1626.

"After mature discussion, the Sacred Congregation of the Council judged that Regulars having Apostolic privileges cannot be prohibited from administering Communion to secular persons in their churches from Palm Sunday to Low Sunday inclusive. Yet they can be prohibited from administering it to secular persons on Easter Sunday, even if the said secular persons have satisfied the Easter precept." 11 June 1650; Scavini, bk. 3, n. 245.

"Whether and to whom belongs, in the case, the right of funerals as regards religious dispersed by force of the present circumstances? - Resp. In the affirmative in favor of Regulars, as often as religious live together under a legitimate Superior at least in the number of three and others living outside depend upon the same; otherwise in favor of parish priests." S. C. EE. et RR., 11 March 1881.

"Common law grants to Third Orders proceeding corporately, in their own habit, and under a cross precedence always and everywhere over any Confraternities whatever, according also to the more recent decrees: Dubii, 28 May 1866; Lucerina, 4 July 1887; Monopolitana, 27 March 1893; Nucerina Paganorum, 1 March 1894; and Baren., 27 March and 30 Nov. 1897; and just as, in a Monopolitana of 23 March 1619, the same Sacred Congregation, Cardinal Bellarmine reporting, sanctioned the precedence of monks over mendicants." S. R. C., 18 Feb. 1899.

"Tertiaries of St. Francis, and likewise of other Orders, have the right of precedence in Processions only when they proceed corporately under their own Cross and clothed in a uniform garment, commonly called the sacco." S. C. EE. et RR., 5 April 1900.

"... The privileges which are enumerated below We grant, from the plenitude of Apostolic power, by these very Letters to all and each of the dioceses and territories of Latin America for the next period of thirty years. Wherefore ... We command and decree:

"I. That Bishops-elect residing in the territories of Latin America, after they have received the Apostolic Letters of promotion, unless it is otherwise prescribed in the aforesaid Letters, may receive the office of consecration from whichever Catholic Prelate they prefer who has the favor and communion of the Apostolic See, two or three priests constituted in ecclesiastical dignity or Canons of a cathedral church having been summoned and assisting, if other assisting Bishops cannot be found without grave inconvenience.

"II. That the celebration of a Provincial Council may be deferred for twelve years, the right of the Metropolitan to celebrate it more frequently, as necessity shall demand, being reserved, unless it shall afterwards have been otherwise ordained by the Apostolic See.

"III. That Bishops may confect sacred chrism, which can be made even with Indian balsam, provided, however, that it is true liquid balsam, and the holy oils, with those priests assisting who can be present, and, when necessity urges, outside the day of the Lord's Supper.

"IV. That even old holy oils may be used, but not beyond four years, provided that they are not corrupted and that, after all diligence has been employed, new or more recent holy oils cannot be had.

"V. That, for all and only those regions or places in which, because of great distances or some other grave impediment, it is very difficult for parish priests or Missionaries, for the conferral of Baptism, to draw and carry with them the water blessed on Holy Saturday and Pentecost from the baptismal fonts where it is preserved, the Ordinaries may, in the name of this Holy See, grant to the aforesaid parish priests and Missionaries the faculty of blessing baptismal water with that shorter formula which the Supreme Pontiff Paul III granted Missionaries in Peru among the Indians to use, and which is read in the appendix to the Roman Ritual.

"VI. That, if because of lack of time, excessive fatigue, or other grave causes, it is very difficult to employ all the ceremonies prescribed for the Baptism of adults, parish priests and Missionaries, with the prior consent of the Ordinary, may use only the rites which are designated in the Constitution Altitudo of Paul III, 1 June 1537. Moreover, that in the same circumstances the Ordinaries may, in the name of the Holy See, grant to parish priests and Missionaries the use of the order of Baptism of infants, the conscience of the same Ordinaries being burdened in the use of a faculty of this kind concerning the existence of grave necessity.

"VII. That in all and each of the territories of Latin America, none excepted, all priests, both secular and regular, for as long as they remain in the aforesaid territories, and not otherwise, may and can each year on the second day of November, or on the following day according to the rubrics of the Roman Missal, on which namely the commemoration of all the faithful departed is observed by the universal Church, each celebrate three Masses; yet in such a manner that they receive only one alms, namely for the first Mass alone, and only in that amount which is regularly determined by the Synodal Constitutions or by the custom of the place; but that they apply the intermediate fruit of the second and third Masses, not indeed for a particular deceased person, but wholly for the repose of all the faithful departed, according to the norm of the Constitution Quod expensis of Benedict XIV, 26 Aug. 1748.

"VIII. That all the faithful may satisfy the precept of annual confession and Communion from Septuagesima Sunday through the octave day of the solemnity of Corpus Christi inclusive.

"IX. That all the faithful may gain indulgences and jubilees which require confession, Communion, and fasting, provided that the fast is observed and, if they dwell in a place where it is altogether impossible or very difficult to have an abundance of confessors, they are at least contrite in heart with the firm purpose of confessing their sins as soon as they can, or at least within one month.

"X. That Indians and Negroes may contract marriages within the third and fourth degrees both of consanguinity and of affinity.

"XI. That Indians and Negroes may receive the nuptial blessing at any time of the year, provided that during those times in which nuptials are prohibited by the Church they do not employ the apparatus of pomp.

"XII. That Indians and Negroes are not bound to fast except on the Fridays of Lent, on Holy Saturday, and on the vigil of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

"XIII. That, moreover, Indians and Negroes may use, without any burden or payment of alms, the indult which is called the Lenten indult and with which the faithful of the respective diocese or region are endowed by the Apostolic See; and therefore that they may eat meat, eggs, and milk products on all days forbidden by the Church, except, as regards meat, on the days noted in the preceding paragraph XII.

"XI. [sic] That whenever in criminal causes, as well as in any other causes concerning the ecclesiastical forum, it should happen that an appeal is made from sentences issued for the time being, if the first sentence was issued by the Bishop, appeal is to be made to the Metropolitan; but if the first sentence was issued by the Metropolitan himself, appeal is to be made to the nearest Ordinary without another rescript of the Apostolic See. And if the second sentence is conformable to the first, it shall obtain the force of a matter adjudged and shall be committed for execution by him who issued it, any appeal notwithstanding. But if those two sentences, whether issued by the Ordinary and Metropolitan or by the Metropolitan and nearest Ordinary, are not conformable, then appeal is to be made to another Metropolitan or Bishop of the same province nearest to him by whom the sentence was first issued; and he who judged in the last place shall execute two conformable sentences from among those three, which We will to have the force of a matter adjudged, any appeal notwithstanding. But since recourse to the Apostolic See, even with the intermediate grade omitted, whether before or after the sentence of inferior judges, ought always to remain unimpaired according to the norm of law, in the use of this privilege the following conditions are altogether to be observed: 1. That in individual causes the faculty of having recourse to this Apostolic See even after the first sentence remain safe for each litigant; 2. that in individual acts express mention be made of the Apostolic delegation; 3. that major causes be reserved to the same Apostolic See according to the norm of the Sacred Council of Trent; 4. and, as regards matrimonial causes, that those things be observed which were established beforehand in the Constitution Dei miseratione of Benedict XIV.

"All and each of the privileges of the Western regions previously granted by this Holy See under whatever name or form being abrogated and abolished by Our Apostolic authority.

"Any contrary things whatever, even those worthy of special and individual mention, notwithstanding." Leo XIII, Constitution Trans Oceanum, 18 April 1897.

"In the aforesaid Apostolic Letters Trans Oceanum, the names Indians and Negroes are taken in the same signification as in the other preceding Pontifical Constitutions treating this matter, especially in the Constitutions Animarum saluti of Alexander VIII, dated 30 March 1690, and Cum Venerabilis of Benedict XIV, dated 27 January 1757, namely:

"I. Under the name of Indians and Negroes, besides Indians and Negroes themselves, there are also comprehended those who are begotten of an Indian or Negro man and a European woman, or a woman of European blood, and likewise those who are begotten of a European man and an Indian or Negro woman, and therefore are called Mixed, Mestizos, or Mulattoes and have exactly one half European blood. But there are not comprehended those who derive their origin from Indians or Negroes only through a grandfather or grandmother and who are called Quarterons, as having only one fourth Indian or Negro blood; and much less those who derive their origin from Indians or Negroes only through a great-grandfather or great-grandmother and are commonly called Puchueles or Pucuelles.

"II. Moreover, under the name of Indians and Negroes there are also understood Africans, Asians, and Oceanians, provided that they are not of European blood and reside in Latin America, although they were not born there." Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, 24 May 1898.

"The aforesaid Apostolic Letters Trans Oceanum have force in all the Antilles and the other islands of the Caribbean Sea, to whatever civil dominion they may be subject. And His Holiness thus commanded them to be published and observed, nothing contrary being of any effect." Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, 16 Aug. 1898.

"In view of the inconveniences which have occurred, and which can easily be renewed in receiving petitions for favors by means of telegrams, the Holy Father has prescribed that from now on, as an ordinary rule, all Sacred Congregations and other Roman ecclesiastical dicasteries are not to admit petitions of this kind by the indicated means. The same reasons also having force for episcopal curias, His Holiness wills that the pastors of dioceses also conform themselves to this prescription." Circular to the Bishops, Secretariat of State, 10 Dec. 1891.

"Whether a matrimonial dispensation executed by the Ordinary upon telegraphic notice, before he has received the authentic document of the favor granted, is valid. - Resp. In the negative, unless the telegraphic notice was transmitted officially by authority of the Holy See. His Holiness approved." Holy Office, 14 Aug. 1892.

"It is known that by disposition of law (chapter 12, De Appellationibus; Council of Trent, sess. 22, c. 5, De Ref.) the diocesan Ordinary has no jurisdiction to execute Apostolic Briefs of matrimonial dispensation before the original document has been presented to him. This having been established: - 1. Does this canonical disposition apply also to those matrimonial dispensations of which, immediately after they have been granted, the Ordinary's own Apostolic agent residing in Rome gives him notice? - 2. What is to be done if the present Bishop discovers that certain marriages, for most urgent causes, were contracted after notice from the agent and before the curia had the original Brief, while the parties are in good faith? - Resp. To the 1st, in the affirmative. - To the 2nd, a new execution of the dispensations is necessary." Sacred Penitentiary, 15 Jan. 1894.