Appendix III: On Censures Latae Sententiae in Particular.¹

It befits the moderation of the Apostolic See to retain in such a way those things which have been salutarily established by the authority of the ancient Canons, that, if the change of times and things should suggest that something must be tempered by prudent dispensation, the same Apostolic See may bestow a fitting remedy and providence of its supreme power. Wherefore, since in Our mind We had long been revolving that the ecclesiastical censures which, by way of latae sententiae and to be incurred by the very fact, have been holily appointed and promulgated through individual ages for guarding the safety and discipline of the Church herself, and for restraining and correcting the unbridled license of the wicked, had gradually grown to a great number; and that some also, with times and customs changed, had fallen away from the end and causes because of which they had been imposed, or from their former utility and opportuneness; and that on this account doubts, anxieties, and anguish of conscience not infrequently arise, whether in those to whom the care of souls has been committed or in the faithful themselves; We, wishing to meet inconveniences of this kind, ordered that a full review of the same be made and proposed to Us, so that, diligent consideration having been applied, We might establish which of them it would be fitting to preserve and retain, and which truly to moderate or abrogate. Therefore, that review having been completed, and Our Venerable Brothers, the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church deputed as General Inquisitors in matters of Faith throughout the whole Christian Republic, having been called into counsel, and the matter having been long and maturely weighed, by Our own motion, certain knowledge, mature deliberation, and from the fullness of Our Apostolic power, by this Constitution to remain in force perpetually, We decree that from whatever censures, whether of excommunication, or suspension, or interdict, which by way of latae sententiae and to be incurred by the very fact have hitherto been imposed, only those which We insert in this Constitution itself, and in the manner in which We insert them, shall have force henceforth; at the same time declaring that the same must receive their force altogether, not only from the authority of the ancient Canons, insofar as they agree with this Our Constitution, but also from this very Constitution of Ours, no otherwise than if they had first been issued by it.

1700. Questions. - Query 1° What has the Constitution Apostolicae Sedis established as regards censures and ecclesiastical penalties?

Resp. Besides those things which I noted concerning minor excommunication and those to be avoided in nn. 1673. 1674:

1° Through this Constitution nothing has been innovated, nothing changed as regards censures ferendae sententiae; and therefore as regards these one must proceed according to the ancient Canons.

2° Censures which in this Constitution are not first brought are to be understood according to the old tradition of the same censures, yet so that they remain tempered, according as they have been tempered by this Constitution. But if the sense of the ancient Canons does not seem to agree with the sense of this Constitution, the sense of the Constitution is to be preferred, no otherwise than if those Canons had first been issued by it. But if it does not sufficiently appear whether they disagree or not, one ought to remember that later laws regularly pertain to earlier ones.

3° Nothing has been changed as regards other canonical penalties; and therefore they have remained in their force, just as they were before this Constitution. - Nevertheless, if those things which by the old law are punished with other penalties are now coerced by excommunication, the other penalties seem to cease, because it is very harsh and alien to law for someone to be made guilty under several laws and penalties because of the same crime.

Query 2° What censures latae sententiae remained after the Constitution?

Resp. Besides those expressly noted in the Constitution, there remained: 1) those directly inflicted by Trent; 2) those brought for the election of the Roman Pontiff, insofar as hitherto they have persisted in their force; 3) all other particular censures which each particular Religious Order, or Institute, or Society, or Pious Place, or College, and a particular place of whatever kind, previously had for internal rule, and insofar as likewise hitherto they have persisted in their force.

I said: a) directly inflicted by Trent; for censures only renewed by the Council, and not directly inflicted, are altogether abrogated. This is gathered from the scope of the Constitution, which is that a certain and determinate number of censures might be had for avoiding many inconveniences: and from its words: "Besides those hitherto reviewed, those also whom the Sacred Council of Trent ... excommunicated, We likewise declare to be thus excommunicated" ... and it does not say "renewed." Thus Avanzini against others.¹ - But neither do all censures which the Council of Trent brought have force today, or everywhere; for those must be excepted which, with times changed, have become obsolete, examples of which you have Sess. 25 de Ref. Reg. c. 5, and Sess. 24, de Ref. Matr. c. 9; and those places are to be excepted where Trent was not received.²

I said: b) all other particular; for universal ones seem to have been abrogated by this very fact, that the Constitution expressly confirms universal ones which pertain to internal rule, as, for example, censures concerning enclosure, which would be useless if sanctions of this kind were already ratified from the general rule.³ The Commentaries contradict.⁴

Query 3° How can it be known which censures were only indirectly inflicted by the Council of Trent, i.e., renewed?

Resp. Censures which the Council of Trent indirectly inflicted are those which are indicated either by general words, as, for example, "And those who do otherwise ... incur by the very fact the penalties inflicted by law," or by these words: "renewing upon these things the penalties of the ancient Canons," or by special allegations, as, for example, "according to the Constitution of Clement V issued in the Council of Vienne," etc.; or "According to the Constitution of the General Council of Lyons," etc.

Query 4° What is the sense of certain terms occurring here and there in the Constitution?

Resp. a) Those commanding, i.e., those who ask in their own name, or order that something be done.

b) Those counseling, who persuade and impel another to do something. They persuade: therefore they are not held by a censure brought against counselors who offer doctrinal counsel; they impel: therefore neither are those held who urge another to do that which was already certain for him to admit.¹

c) Defenders are those who protect someone, so that he can do something safely and freely. A mode of defense is to receive someone: whence

d) Receivers or harborers, namely those who furnish refuge for the sake of hiding someone in their own or another's place; nor does it matter who receives, whether some private person, or a magistrate, or a prince.

e) To furnish aid is to bring help for perpetrating a delict.

f) To favor is to furnish any assistance whatever to someone, whether by doing (as, for instance, by commendations, money, counsel), or by omitting what was to be done from office.²

g) He is said to adhere who, no pact having been entered into with someone, follows his party.

Note. - 1° Those enumerated under a) and b) act upon the mind or internal act; the rest upon the work or external act.

2° Those recounted under c), d), e), f) do not differ in species, but as more and less; for all furnish one thing, namely, help. - They are not held by censure unless they bring help in the aforesaid modes in such a way: 1) that another can perpetrate the delict, not that he can evade the penalty of a delict already perpetrated [unless the delict has successive extension (n. 1662. 5°)], and 2) formally, namely, it is necessary that he who, for example, favors a heretic, favor him because he is a heretic.³

3° Whether he to whom counsel, aid, etc., is furnished is in good faith or in bad faith does not matter. - Thus concerning this whole question, the Commentaries.¹

Query 5° Whether the Constitution took away from the ecclesiastical law itself, from which it removed a censure, its old force of obliging, or gave new force to that to which it affixed a censure or left one affixed?

Resp. Negatively as to the first. The reason is that the Constitution derogates from the old law only as regards censures. - Affirmatively as to the second, because the Constitution derogates from any legitimate customs whatever which formerly exempted from the law, not only as regards censures, but also as regards the laws themselves which are sanctioned by censures, as seems to follow from the Response of the S. R. U. Inq., Feria IV, December 22, 1880 (Past. Bl. fuer N. Amer. 1881. p. 105 sq.).

Note. - To the words by which individual censures are enunciated by the Supreme Pontiff, we always immediately subjoin the places of the old law where the same or a similar censure is found, so that he who desires more may be able to recur there according to the rule handed down above, q. 1°. R. 2°.

Of these some are reserved to the Roman Pontiff in a special manner, others simply, others to Bishops, others to no one.