Chapter — 1917 Code of Canon Law
Chapter III: Of Documents to Be Inserted in the Process
Superseded as law in 1983 — read why this Code still matters. Each canon links to its 1983 counterpart.
§ 1. The documents upon which the postulator relies must be exhibited entire to the tribunal.
§ 2. But the tribunal can also demand from the postulator other documents which seem to the same tribunal to contribute to uncovering the truth.
§ 1. Documenta, quibus postulator innititur, integra exhibenda sunt tribunali.
§ 2. Sed alia quoque documenta poterit a postulatore tribunal exigere, quae ad veritatem detegendam conferre eidem tribunali videantur.
§ 1. Extrajudicial testimonies consigned in writing, whether by those whom the postulator has caused to be interrogated in the process concerning the virtues and martyrdom of the Servant of God, or by others whom the postulator has proposed to be interrogated, even if they are brought forward in the processes, nevertheless cannot be counted among the documents which have probative force in the judgment concerning the sanctity or martyrdom of the Servant of God.
§ 2. Nor do funeral praises and necrologies written or published in print immediately after the death of the Servant of God constitute legitimate proof.
§ 3. Much less do testimonies of men, however illustrious, concerning the virtues and works of the Servant of God, handed down in writing while he was still living, not spontaneously but at the prayers of friends.
§ 1. Testimonia extraiudicialia scripto consignata sive ab iis quos postulator in processu interrogari curaverit circa virtutes et martyrium Servi Dei, sive ab aliis quos postulator interrogandos proposuerit, etsi in processibus afferantur, recenseri tamen nequeunt inter documenta quae in iudicio de Servi Dei sanctitate vel martyrio vim probativam habent.
§ 2. Nec elogia funebria et necrologia illico post mortem Servi Dei exarata vel typis edita legitimam probationem constituunt.
§ 3. Multoque minus testimonia virorum quamvis illustrium circa virtutes et opera Servi Dei non sponte, sed amicorum precibus, eo adhuc vivente, scripto tradita.
Those who exhibit documents must declare their origin and authenticity.
Qui documenta exhibent, debent declarare eorum originem et authenticitatem.
§ 1. Histories do not have the force of documents unless they rest upon documents exhibited in the process.
§ 2. If men of great authority have used these documents and approved them, their testimony must be brought forward only to confirm the authenticity and authority of the documents.
§ 1. Historiae non habent vim documentorum, nisi documentis innixae in processu exhibitis.
§ 2. Si qui magnae auctoritatis viri his documentis usi sint eaque probaverint, eorum testimonium afferri debet tantum ad confirmandam documentorum authenticitatem et auctoritatem.
§ 1. Historical documents, whether handwritten or printed in type, by which the postulator intends to prove the virtues of the Servant of God or the antiquity of the cult offered to the same and its uninterrupted continuation, are to be inserted in the process and transmitted with it to the Sacred Congregation and examined by expert men.
§ 2. But if any of these is kept in a library or archive, from which it cannot be brought out, a written or photographically reproduced copy of it is to be exhibited with a testimony rendered in writing by the notary of the tribunal concerning its authenticity.
§ 3. If not even this can be done, the matter is to be referred to the Sacred Congregation, which is to designate experts so that they may inspect those things where they are preserved.
§ 1. Documenta historica sive manu scripta, sive typis impressa, quibus postulator Servi Dei virtutes aut cultus eidem praestiti antiquitatem eiusque non interruptam continuationem probare intendit, inserantur in processum et cum ipso transmittantur ad Sacram Congregationem et a viris peritis examinentur.
§ 2. At si quod ex his in bibliotheca vel tabulario asservetur, unde deduci nequeat, eius exemplar scriptum vel photographice redditum exhibeatur cum testificatione scripto reddita a notario tribunalis de eius authenticitate.
§ 3. Si ne id quidem fieri possit, res deferatur ad Sacram Congregationem, quae peritos designet ut ea recognoscant ubi asservantur.