TREATISE ON THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH

544. • The Church enjoys the faculty of establishing precepts obligating the faithful under grave sin. For Christ conferred legislative power upon her.

Many precepts of the Church exist, as is clear from Canon Law; but the principal ones, which regard all the faithful of whatever state or condition, are reduced to the six following, namely: 1° that the faithful honor the feasts instituted by the authority of the Church; - 2° that they assist at Mass at least on Sundays and feast-days; - 3° that they confess their sins at least once in each year; - 4° that at least at Easter time they approach the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist; - 5° that on certain days they abstain from flesh-meat; - 6° that they observe fasts at the appointed times.

545. • Holy Mother Church enjoys the power of instituting feasts and of prescribing their sanctification under grave sin to all the faithful, as one who received from Christ all power in order to the spiritual good of her children. No controversy concerning this is agitated among Catholics.

The precept of celebrating feasts, if you consider the obligation by which we are sometimes bound to venerate God by some worship, is certainly divine and natural; but as to the time and days to be consecrated to this worship, this in the old law is sanctioned by a ceremonial precept, in the new by an ecclesiastical precept.¹

The Pope alone can appoint feasts for the universal Church, because he alone enjoys jurisdiction over the universal Church. Bishops also can institute feast-days in their own diocese; for they have the faculty of making laws in their diocese. Yet, from the present discipline, lest feast-days be multiplied beyond measure by the excessive facility of Ordinaries, Bishops are forbidden to establish feasts when the Clergy and faithful are opposing them, or concerning some Blessed. - So commonly. L. II. Decr. Tit. IX. c. 5.¹ A vow of celebrating certain feasts of precept with vigil and procession, although confirmed by a Bishop, obligates only those willing.² Cf. n. 386, q. 3°.

Many feasts were formerly instituted which, in the course of times, because the fervor of the faithful grew cold or for the relief of the poor, have passed into desuetude, or have been abolished by the Ecclesiastical authority itself.

546. • The present discipline of this region, in most provinces, enjoins only nine feast-days per year to be observed from precept, namely: the Immaculate Conception of the B. M. V. (from Decree of Our Most Holy Lord Pope Pius IX, dated 24 Jan. 1868);³ the Nativity of the Lord; the Circumcision of the Lord; the Epiphany; the Annunciation of the B. M. V.; the Ascension of the Lord; Corpus Christi; the Assumption of the B. M. V. and of All Saints. In Louisiana and other southern States, and in certain western dioceses, only five feasts are celebrated, namely the Immaculate Conception of the B. M. V. (from the decree of Pius IX cited above); the Nativity of the Lord; the Ascension of the Lord; the Assumption of the B. M. V. and of All Saints.

547. • This precept is contained in Lateran Council IV, held under Innocent III in the year 1215, canon 21,¹ which reads thus: "Every faithful person of either sex, after he has arrived at the years of discretion, shall faithfully confess alone all his sins, at least once in the year, to his own priest," namely to the Pope, Bishop, Pastor, or a priest approved by the Bishop. - Benedict XIV.²

548. Questions. - Quaer. 1° When are children judged to have reached the years of discretion, so that they are bound by the precept of annual Confession?

Resp. When they are capable of mortal sin; and this is to be judged not from age alone, but chiefly from the degree of intelligence or of the discretion of good and evil. But sufficient discretion is judged to be present in those who already apprehend that lying, or disobedience, is evil, or who blush concerning certain impure actions, etc.

Hence pastors of souls are bound to prepare little children even of seven years for Confession little by little, and to absolve, at least within the year by force of the Lateran Council, those in whom they observe mortal sin, even doubtful.³ In doubt about discretion, let them be absolved conditionally.⁴

Therefore confessors err gravely, and cannot be excused, who never wish to absolve children committed to them before the age of first Communion.⁵

Quaer. 2° Is he who is not burdened with mortal sins bound, by reason of the precept of annual Confession, to confess venial sins?

Resp. In the negative, because the Church prescribes that confession only which is from Christ's institution. But Christ prescribed no other Confession except of mortal sins, as the Council of Trent explains.¹ - St. Alphonsus,² and others commonly.

Moreover, as to practice this question is of the least moment; for what faithful person, burdened only with venial sins, omits to confess at least once in the year, or is accustomed to approach the sacred Synaxis without having confessed from a year back?

Quaer. 3° Is one who for an entire year has not confessed bound to confess as soon as possible, or when an occasion occurs, if it is to be lacking to him through the remaining part of the year?

Resp. To each: in the affirmative. The reason as to the former is that the term of a year was not placed by the Church for ending the obligation, but only for urging it.³ The reason as to the latter is that inability cannot excuse one who places the voluntary cause of the same. Hence those who live in a place distant from the church and who are usually without every help of the sacred ministry ought to confess when a priest visits them, if they foresee that through the rest of the year there will be no supply of a confessor for them.

Quaer. 4° Must annual Confession, which is not made to the Pastor or to another with the Pastor's permission, be judged valid?

Resp. In the affirmative. - So commonly; and today, says St. Alphonsus, it is certain from universal custom. Compare what is to be said concerning the Sacrament of Penance.

See more concerning Confession in the Treatise on the Sacrament of Penance, nn. 1356, 1357.

549. • I. The precept of Easter Communion, no otherwise than the precept of annual Confession, is divine as to substance, but ecclesiastical as to the determination of time. This precept is clear from the perpetual practice of the Church, from innumerable Councils and Pontifical Constitutions, and especially from the Council of Trent:¹ "If anyone shall deny that all the faithful are bound in each year, at least at Easter, to communicate, according to the precept of Mother Church, let him be anathema." - Easter time, from the declaration of Eugene IV, begins from Palm Sunday and ends on Low Sunday. "But since the scarcity of priests and the distances of places have rendered it almost impossible that among us, in so brief a space of time, all can approach the Sacred Synaxis, the prelates in the first Provincial Council of Baltimore humbly asked the Holy See that ... faculty might be granted them of prolonging the time of Easter Communion from the first Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday inclusive; and the Roman Pontiff Pius VIII benignly assented to their prayers."² Yet some Bishops have circumscribed that time by narrower limits. Let each one consult the statutes of his own diocese. Therefore among us the year of obligation will be computed from the time at which the beginning of Easter time shall have been fixed by the Bishop. Cf. Ben. 14. S. d. 1. lz. c. 6 n. 10.

II. Easter Communion is to be received in one's own parish, as is openly gathered both from various Constitutions of the Supreme Pontiffs and also from the general practice of the Church.

Hence the precept of receiving the Eucharist is threefold: 1° it regards Communion itself, 2° the time, 3° the place; but where either the last or the second cannot be fulfilled, the two others, or certainly the first, are to be satisfied. Whether and to what extent these things pertain to us will have to be resolved according to what was said at n. 1138.

550. Questions. - Quaer. 1° Is he who has omitted Communion at the prescribed time bound to communicate as soon as he can?

Resp. In the affirmative. The reason is that the time has by no means been determined for ending the obligation, but for urging it. For from what has been said the precept of communicating is divine in itself; therefore when the Church commands that this precept be fulfilled at Easter time, she is not judged to dispense from it. It is clear also from the practice of the Church, which not rarely, after Easter time had elapsed, compelled the faithful by censures to satisfy the precept.¹

But before Easter time has begun, no one is bound to obey this precept, even if he foresees that afterward he will be impeded; but, once that time has begun, he is bound 1) to satisfy this obligation as soon as possible, if he foresees an impediment; 2) to remove impediments, even grave ones, since it is a divine and grave precept; 3) to communicate again, even if, on account of a future foreseen impediment, he has already anticipated Holy Communion.²

Quaer. 2° Does he sin gravely who defers Communion to the first or second day after Easter time has elapsed?

Resp. In the affirmative, of itself. The reason is that, although a delay of this kind can seem small in itself, nevertheless for Easter time it is sufficiently notable. Nor are those to be excused from mortal sin who from grave negligence approach indisposed on the last day of Easter time, so that they must be remitted by the confessor to another time. By accident those are excused who in good faith judge it sufficient if they then approach a confessor for the sake of beginning Confession.

Quaer. 3° Does the precept of communicating in the parish oblige under grave sin? See (B), p. 469.

551. Principles. - I. There exists an ecclesiastical precept, imposed upon all the faithful, of abstaining from flesh-meat on certain days. This is clear from various Constitutions of the Supreme Pontiffs, from Catechisms, from universal custom, and from the consensus of all theologians. Indeed the precept of abstinence is reputed Apostolic, no otherwise than the precept of fasting, from which in the first ages of the Church it was not separated.

II. This precept outside the time of fasting urges 1° on Friday of any week in the whole Christian world, unless the Nativity of the Lord falls on this day; 2° on Saturday. Yet abstinence on Saturday, from the indulgence of the Apostolic See, among us, formerly for twenty years, now when Bishops recur in particular, is relaxed.¹

III. The precept of abstinence obligates of itself under grave sin, because the matter is grave of itself; yet in it, according to the common sentence of theologians, smallness of matter is admitted.²

But as from other positive laws, so also from this obligation there are excusing causes, namely inability, both physical and moral, or a great difficulty which is found in the observation of the law. - So all theologians with St. Alphonsus.³

552. Questions. - Quaer. 1° Can flesh-meat be given to little children on those days on which it is prohibited?

Resp. In the affirmative, if they have not acquired the use of reason; otherwise, in the negative. - But if they possess the use of reason before the seventh year is completed, St. Alphonsus more probably denies.⁴ Yet the affirmative sentence does not seem improbable to him.⁵ But it is expedient that children of this kind, even before they are obligated, be accustomed to abstinence. - Recall what was said at n. 110.

Quaer. 2° What quantity of flesh-meat is required for grave sin?

Resp. It is very much disputed. All agree that the matter is grave which notably nourishes; but this can scarcely be determined. According to many, grave matter ought to exceed half an ounce; but St. Alphonsus rejects this sentence,¹ where he reports, and seems to approve, what the Salmanticenses say: that small matter is only the eighth part of an ounce.

Quaer. 3° What is to be said about the use of fat?

Resp. Unless there is a legitimate custom (which among us, according to Kenrick,² exists even in the little collation), or unless it is a question of those who earn so little that they cannot buy butter, it is not licit to season foods with it. An indult, if there is one, is to be understood of liquefied fat alone (before the cooking of the food, or in the cooking itself); and that, unless another also is granted, is to be understood as pork fat; and, unless the contrary is expressed, it is valid also for the little collation. It is not to be used as a relish. (y) p. 470.

553. • Quaer. 4° Who are judged to be excused from the law of abstinence?

Resp. 1° Poor beggars; for they can eat whatever they receive in place of alms, as theologians commonly hold.

2° Poor workers, who have nothing else except a little piece of grease or bacon for seasoning pottage or lettuces.³

3° The sick, for example those laboring under fever, etc.; also those who are so weak in stomach that they cannot digest licit foods; but hallucination is to be guarded against, and religious and timorous physicians are to be consulted, if it can easily be done.⁴ (v) p. 474.

4° Those who daily apply themselves to labors so arduous and fatiguing to the stomach that, like the sick, they do not experience hunger and reject foods; of this kind are those who pass their life in mines, or in glass and iron workshops. In the number of these also seem to be judged drivers who, over the space of several days, driving public coaches by day and night, can scarcely swallow one or another morsel of food; and this, in the same circumstances, will also be valid for those who drive cars on railroads (conductors, brakemen, etc.), but not for those who slowly drive carts, horses, or mules, and rest at inns by night.

5° Travelers who find nothing in inns except prohibited foods and cannot easily turn elsewhere. Yet they are bound seriously and insistently to ask for licit foods. For the mere reason of a journey in no way exempts from the law of abstinence, even if perhaps it dispenses from fasting because of excessive weariness. Hence travelers cannot be excused because of human fear, fear of displeasing companions, mockeries, and other difficulties of this kind; otherwise almost all who make journeys would be exempted from this law.

6° Finally soldiers are excepted who live in camps or barracks, and who are nourished in common at the expense of the Government. Moreover, "Pius IX granted, at the prayers of the Bishop of Buffalo, that American soldiers and sailors should be exempted universally from the law of abstinence, six days excepted, namely Ash Wednesday, the last three days of Holy Week, and the Vigils of the Assumption of the B. M. V. and of the Nativity of the Lord. This is to be understood of those who are actually serving in camps, ships, and garrisons, but not of those who are absent by leave. Families using common board with them enjoy that privilege; not likewise those which live far away."¹

554. • Ecclesiastical fasting is placed in abstinence from foods and from a certain quality of foods, and in these provinces is to be observed in the time of Lent, the Ember Days, and certain vigils, namely of Pentecost, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, All Saints, and the Nativity of Our Lord, and in most dioceses on the Fridays of Advent.¹ Coll. Lac. T. 3. p. 58. c. p. 61. 62. a-d.

We must treat 1° of the essence and obligation of fasting; 2° of causes excusing from fasting. (x) p. 475.