ARTICLE I: ON IRREGULARITIES FROM DEFECT

Eight species of these are enumerated, namely from defect: 1° of mind; 2° of body; 3° of birth; 4° of age; 5° of liberty; 6° of Sacrament; 7° of lenity; 8° of reputation.

These defects, or rather the qualities opposed to them, are expressed by these verses:

Birth, mind, liberty, body and age,
Let him not be twice-married, let him be lenient, nor let evil fame mark him.

1758. - A threefold defect of mind is assigned, namely of reason, of knowledge, and of confirmed Faith.

1° Of reason. Hence the perpetually insane, lunatics, the furious, epileptics, and the possessed are irregular, even if they have lucid intervals. Nevertheless the exercise of Orders already received is permitted to them less with difficulty than the reception of new ones. This irregularity by law remains even when the illness has ceased and must be removed by dispensation of the Pontiff, unless the insanity, etc. came from a rather accidental cause, e.g., fever. S. C. C.¹ also defined that a Cleric who was once affected by mild epilepsy and then for many years gave no signs any more of the said illness is not irregular and can be promoted. But the exercise of Orders already received can be permitted by a Superior, if either sufficient time has already elapsed, so that the cessation of the illness can prudently be presumed (which we think must especially be decided from the judgment of a religious and pious physician), or the illness rushes in rarely and less violently. Hence they say that to an epileptic, who e.g. falls only once in a month without cry and foam, the celebration of Mass can be permitted, privately however and with a fasting priest joined to him, who, when the illness comes on, may complete the Mass.²

2° Of knowledge. Those are irregular who do not have the knowledge necessary for the individual Orders, whether in fact they do not know, or are incapable of learning. See n. 1523. q. 1°.

3° Of confirmed Faith. Neophytes baptized recently in adult age are irregular until they are judged worthy by the Bishop.³

1759. - This irregularity is incurred under a twofold head: 1° if someone is unfit for the exercise of the Order; 2° if he brings notable horror to others, or presents indecency. These things in doubt will have to be determined by the prudent estimation of the Bishop.⁴ - But S. C. C. shows itself more difficult in granting dispensations of this kind with an orator to be promoted to Orders than with one already promoted.¹

Hence the following are held as irregular:

1° The mutilated, those carrying a wooden leg, those lacking a hand, the three rear fingers, a thumb or index finger, or part of the thumb or index finger, or having these so weak that they cannot elevate or break the Host. Cf. however n. 1293. q. 1°.

2° The blind, or those so failing in sight that they cannot read in the Missal. Those already marked with the priesthood are dispensed by the Pontiff, under precautions.²

3° The deaf, who hear nothing, so that they cannot at all hear the voice of the responding minister, but not the hard of hearing. Deafness supervening on a priest does not impede celebration, since a defect is more easily tolerated in one promoted than in one to be promoted.³

4° The mute or stammering, who cannot pronounce whole words, or cannot except with great difficulty, so that they move the laughter or contempt of those standing by.

5° The lame, who cannot be supported at the altar without a staff.⁴ Cf. n. 1333. q. 2°.

6° Those lacking a nose, or having one enormously distorted, lowered, or prolonged.

7° The monstrous, e.g., those having an enormous hump, which induces great deformity, etc.

8° Black persons, "not however among their own, but among strangers," i.e., among men of white color, "where the disparity is a mockery," as Busembaum says in St. Alph., although, as the same Holy Doctor adds, others deny this. "But a swarthy" color (mulattoes), he says, "or red" (copper-colored, Indians) "does not injure the altar."⁵ (P) p. 412.

1760. Questions. - Quaer. 1° Whether one who lacks one eye is irregular?

Resp. 1° No, if he lacks only the right eye, because it is less necessary for the celebration of Mass, provided notable deformity does not arise from this.

Resp. 2° Yes, if he lacks the left eye, which is called the Eye of the Canon, because it is necessary for reading the Canon of the Mass. Except unless he can read the Canon with the right eye without deformity. But this must be subjected to the judgment of the Bishop.⁶

Quaer. 2° Whether he who, already promoted to the Priesthood, has an impeded thumb or index finger can celebrate and administer the Eucharist?

Resp. 1° No, as regards the celebration of Mass, according to the common opinion.¹

Resp. 2° No also of itself as regards the administration of the Eucharist, except in cases of gravest necessity, in which he can use other fingers. See n. 1293. q. 1°.

1761. - Defect of birth induces irregularity. It is established from Canon Law.² Hence:

1° Illegitimate persons, even occult ones, or all those who have been born from fornication, adultery, or incest, are irregular.

2° Those who have been born from a Matrimony which, the proclamations having been omitted without dispensation, was celebrated with a diriment impediment, even though unknown to the spouses.³

3° But the following are not irregular:

a) Those illegitimate at the time of their conception whose parents at that time (or, according to the opinion very probable to St. Alphonsus,⁴ only at the time of birth) were capable of contracting Matrimony, and afterward contracted, because by subsequent Matrimony they have been legitimated.⁵

b) Those illegitimately born from a public Matrimony, but one invalid because of an occult impediment unknown to at least one.⁶

c) Children born from infidels, whose Matrimony was valid according to nature (and, in the more common opinion, of which at n. 1574. q. 1°, according to their civil laws), although invalid according to Canon Law.

d) Foundlings, concerning whose parents there is no certainty.⁷

Quaer. How is irregularity from defect of birth removed?

Resp. It is removed: 1° by the legitimate subsequent Matrimony of the parents, as was just said; 2° by religious Profession for the effect declared at n. 1757. q. 5°. R. 4°; 3° by legitimate dispensation either of the Holy See, or, for the effects designated at n. 1144. I. 8°, of the Bishop.

1762. - 1° Those who have not reached the canonical age are held irregular.

2° Those who knowingly receive Orders before the canonical age sin gravely.

What age is required for the individual Orders, see n. 1523. q. 2°.

1763. - Defect of liberty arises from a threefold bond, namely from the bond of servitude, of Matrimony, and of office. Hence the following are irregular:

1° All slaves properly so called, until they obtain full liberty.

2° Married men, who cannot receive Orders except with the consent of the wife vowing chastity and entering Religion, at least if she is young, or unless, on account of the wife's adultery, a juridically made divorce has taken place. See n. 1521. 10°.

3° Those who from stipend or oath are implicated in secular affairs, as judges, magistrates, etc., as long as their office lasts, unless they have a special dispensation of the Pope,¹ or unless custom permits it.²

1764. - By defect of Sacrament in the present case is understood the Sacrament of Matrimony received more than once, or bigamy. It is clear from Canon Law that bigamists are irregular.³ But the reason of fittingness is that in bigamy the perfect signification of the union of Christ with the Church is lacking, which union is altogether simple and not multiple. But that was inferred from the Apostle:⁴ It behooves ... a Bishop ... to be the husband of one wife.

Bigamy by Canon Law is of three kinds, namely true, interpretative, and similitudinary bigamy.

1° True is had when someone validly marries several wives successively, and consummates Matrimony with each in the manner which was stated at n. 1589. 114.

2° Interpretative is that by which someone from the interpretation of law is held as a bigamist, although he has married only one wife. Such is: 1) one who married, even invalidly, and knew a widow who had been known by her prior husband; 2) one who married (according to St. Alph., even invalidly) and knew any woman corrupted by another, even if in good faith he thought her a virgin; 3) one who knows his own wife after adultery committed by her, even if unknown to him (as the common and truer opinion teaches), or even occult (according to the opinion which is more pleasing to St. Alph.¹); 4) one who contracts and consummates two Matrimonies, one valid, and the other invalid, although in good faith. Indeed, even if both Matrimonies were invalid, he who consummated both would become irregular. It is proved from various places of Canon Law.

3° Similitudinary, when someone attempts and consummates Matrimony after the solemn vow of Religion, or after Sacred Order received, although the Matrimony is null. The reason is that he is deservedly judged to have contracted two Matrimonies, the first spiritual with Christ, the second carnal with a woman.

1765. - All those contract irregularity from defect of lenity who voluntarily, actively, efficaciously (i.e., the effect having followed), and proximately concur in the death or mutilation of someone, although justly, through an action ordered by its nature to this.²

Resolves. - 1° Executioners, judges, and all who cooperate in a judgment of this kind either juridically, or (in which case irregularity from delict is incurred) unjustly and with sin, are irregular. Except: 1° coerced witnesses and, as indeed seems to me because of the same reason of coercion, jurors (n. 1056); 2° accusers asking compensation for their damages. - Therefore Clerics who assist at capital punishment without a sufficient cause, e.g., from curiosity, do not become irregular, provided they do not efficaciously influence the penalty; nevertheless, those constituted in Major Orders sin venially.

2° Physicians and surgeons are not irregular, even though they cut off members or hasten death by remedies given in good faith, unless grave negligence intervenes, in which case irregularity from delict arises.

3° Nor Clerics exercising medicine or surgery short of cutting and burning. Indeed, not even if in a case of necessity they employ cutting or burning; for necessity is governed by no law. Indeed, not even outside necessity, if the Clerics are not constituted in Sacred Orders, provided death or mutilation does not follow from grave fault.

4° Those who kill an aggressor in just defense are not irregular, because it is not judged a defect of lenity to defend one's own life, the moderation of blameless defense being observed, even with the death of an unjust aggressor.

5° Soldiers do not become irregular in a just defensive war, nor in a just offensive war, unless by their own hand they have killed or mutilated; but in an unjust war the whole army becomes irregular, even if only one man perishes.¹

1766. - Infamy is: 1° of fact, which is contracted before every sentence from an enormous and notorious crime, or one which is so evident to the greater part of the neighborhood or college (where there are at least ten), that it cannot be hidden by any tergiversation; 2° of law, which is contracted a) from the juridical confession of a crime infaming by force of ecclesiastical law or even civil law (which nevertheless can be admitted by the Church); b) from a judge's sentence declaratory of an infaming crime, or condemning to an infaming penalty.

1767. Questions. - Quaer. 1° What are the principal crimes to which infamy is annexed by law?

Resp. They are the following (provided they are notorious by fact or by law): homicide, perjury made in judgment, simony, sodomy, lenocinium, betrayal, adultery, exercise of usuries, invasion of Cardinals or Bishops, abduction of women, duel, preparation of arms against parents, etc.² Who are infamous from the crime of parents, see St. Alph.³

Quaer. 2° Whether the innocent are irregular who were condemned from false testimonies to infaming penalties?

Resp. Yes, until the sentence has been revoked, or they have obtained legitimate dispensation; the reason is that in fact they are infamous.

Irregularity from infamy of fact ceases both through Baptism and through notorious amendment persevering at least for three years, without dispensation; otherwise if there is question of infamy of law. The Salmanticenses, however, think it not improbable that this also is removed through Baptism.⁴