Question IV: Concerning the Restriction of Jurisdiction as to Reserved Sins

St. Thomas, q. 20, a. 2.

I. Reservation of cases is the calling of a case to the judgment of an ordinary superior, by which at the same time the power of inferiors is limited (can. 893), or the revocation of a case to the proper tribunal of the one reserving, so that no one can impart absolution except the one reserving, his successor or superior in office, or his delegate. From this it follows that not every limitation of power in a confessor is a reservation, nor is every sin whose absolution is taken away from a confessor reserved; but for this it is required that it be called to the judgment of a superior, and therefore that the power of absolving it be generally restricted among inferior confessors. Hence those who by ordinary law can concede jurisdiction for hearing confessions, or bring censures, can also reserve cases, unless otherwise established in law; e.g., the Supreme Pontiff for the whole Church, bishops for their dioceses, the superior general of an exempt religion or the abbot of a monastery sui iuris with respect to their own subjects (Council of Trent, sess. 14, c. 7 and can. 11).

Thus can. 893 establishes: "§ 1. Those who by ordinary law can concede the power of hearing confessions or bring censures, can also, excepting the capitular vicar, and the vicar general without a special mandate, call some cases to their own judgment, limiting the power of inferiors to absolve.

"§ 2. This calling is called reservation of cases.

"§ 3. As regards the reservation of censures, let the prescription of can. 2246 and 2247 be observed."

II. Reservation is twofold: one of sins, another of censures. - Reservation is customarily made in two ways: one is made by reason of a censure, insofar as "the reservation of a censure impeding reception of the sacraments imports the reservation of the sin to which the censure is annexed" (can. 2246, § 3), and then if the censure is not incurred or is not reserved or is removed, neither is the sin reserved: this is the reservation of censures; - the other is made by reason of itself or of the sin: this is reservation of cases or sins properly so called.

Moreover the end of reservation is twofold: one primary, disciplinary, namely the public good, for the good discipline of the Church demands that graver sins be reserved to those who, by doctrine, prudence, and experience, can judge better by what reason the evil is to be met; the other secondary, medicinal, namely the private good of the faithful, that thus they may be deterred more from those sins and amended more securely. Therefore the end of reservation is in no way penal; while on the contrary the end of the censure itself is essentially penal. Hence:

a) Reservation of sins, which according to its essence is the calling of a sin to the judgment of a superior so that it may be subjected to him, consequently imports a twofold effect: first, immediately and directly, it affects the confessor whose power as to this sin is limited so that he does not absolve from it validly; secondly, mediately and indirectly, it reaches the penitent, who must approach the tribunal of the superior in order to obtain absolution. - On the contrary, a censure immediately affects the penitent, and, if it is reserved, consequently the confessor, who, while the reservation stands, is deprived of the power of absolving from it.

b) Ignorance of reservation does not excuse from it,¹ which is now altogether certain in the new law, because reservation primarily is not a penalty of the delinquent, but a calling to the judgment of a superior and a restriction of jurisdiction in the confessor; but the ignorance of the delinquent does not give the confessor power which he does not have, nor does it impede the primary end of reservation. - On the contrary, ignorance of the censure excuses from it, and consequently also from the annexed reservation; nevertheless never affected ignorance, nor even gross ignorance if the delict does not require full knowledge or presumption (can. 2229).

¹ Unless accidentally, when a sin is reserved under the condition: if the reservation is known; and thus the one reserving excepts those who are ignorant.

In the present matter we speak only of the reservation of sins; concerning the reservation of censures, it is spoken of in Canon Law.²

² Concerning the manner in which the confessor must conduct himself in practice with the excommunicated, cf. our little work: De variis poenitentium categoriis, p. 177 and following.

III. "One sin reserved by reason of itself to the Holy See is false denunciation (by oneself or through another), by which an innocent priest is accused of the crime of solicitation before ecclesiastical judges." Thus from the new law, can. 894.

Besides, according to can. 2363, a specially reserved censure is incurred if the denunciation is made before any superiors whatsoever (concerning which see below, c. V, q. 2, n. VII). Whence simple denunciation made before a superior is specially reserved to the Holy See by reason of censure; if besides the denunciation is made judicially, namely formally before the bishop as judge, then by reason of itself the sin itself is reserved.

IV. Concerning the exercise of the power of Ordinaries of reserving sins, canons 895 and 896 are valid.

Canon 895: "Ordinaries of places are not to reserve sins unless, the matter having been discussed in diocesan Synod, or outside Synod the cathedral Chapter and some of the more prudent and approved curators of souls of their diocese having been heard, the true necessity or utility of the reservation has been proved."

Canon 896: "Among Superiors of an exempt clerical religion, only the Superior general, and in monasteries sui iuris the Abbot, with the proper Council of each (that is, this council having been heard), can reserve sins of subjects, as above, with the prescription of can. 518, par. 1 and 519 remaining firm."³

³ By special disposition of the Supreme Pontiff, by decree of the Sacred Penitentiary, absolution of those pertinaciously adhering to the action, as it is called, francaise (16 Nov. 1928) and of those reading the newspaper of this name (2 March 1929) is also reserved.

Here only the hearing of the Synod, Chapter, or also, as it seems, Council, is prescribed. Whence if, notwithstanding the vote of the group heard, the reservation is nevertheless brought, it still seems valid.

V. The qualities of sins to be reserved are indicated by can. 897 and 898.

Canon 897: "Cases to be reserved are to be altogether few, namely three, or at most four, from the graver and more atrocious external crimes, specifically determined; moreover the reservation itself is not to remain in force longer than is necessary for extirpating some public unusual vice or for restoring Christian discipline which perhaps has collapsed."

Canon 898: "Let all altogether abstain from reserving to themselves those sins which already are reserved to the Apostolic See, even by reason of censure, and regularly also those to which a censure, although reserved to no one, has been imposed by law."

Therefore a sin reserved by a bishop must be:

1. grave or mortal, both by reason of the object and by reason of the subject, that is, committed with perfect deliberation and full consent; for venial sins would be reserved in vain, since there is no obligation of confessing them, - and external, even if occult; not that internal sins cannot be reserved, but that the Church is not accustomed to act thus (lest she subject penitents to continual anxieties), so that the external act itself must be grave of itself, nor does it suffice that an action light in itself was a grave sin because of the internal intention, as, for example, a light striking of a cleric from the intention of striking gravely. Whence the sin must be mortal both internally and externally;

2. specifically determined, and not only generically: thus, for example, the whole genus of lust or any concubinage whatever cannot be reserved (since it contains several species), but the case must be circumscribed by those notes or circumstances which are the cause of reservation, e.g., sodomy, adulterous concubinage, if because of that circumstance it is to be reserved, - indeed complete in its species, or consummated in act, so that the words of the reservation are verified in the stricter sense; e.g., if incest or sodomy is reserved, there must be present perfect carnal intercourse (with emission of seed within the vessel) knowingly admitted with a consanguineous or affinal woman, or with a male; if homicide is reserved, death must have followed;

3. certain, by certainty excluding doubt of law and of fact, that is, certainly reserved, certainly committed, and certainly mortal. Hence if it is seriously doubted whether the reserving law extends itself to this case, or whether the sin was truly committed, or whether it is grave subjectively or objectively, the reservation is not incurred: for odious things are to be restricted, whence reservation always receives strict interpretation, and in doubt whether of law or of fact it does not urge (can. 19; 2246, § 2 and 2245, § 4).

Besides, that reservation be made conformably to the wishes of the Law, it is desired that the sin be:

a) not reserved to the Roman Pontiff, indeed also, at least regularly, with no censure affixed;

b) to be struck by reservation for extirpating a public vice or restoring Christian discipline: however, since, says Fr. Vermeersch, Summa Novi Iuris, n. 361, it cannot be hoped in every region that a vice can altogether be extirpated by reservation, if it impedes the propagation of the vice, we judge that this is already sufficient for the reservation to have the utility which is postulated by the wishes of the Holy See.

VI. Cessation of reservation. - Every reservation ceases in danger of death (can. 882); besides, according to can. 900, "Any reservation lacks force:⁴

⁴ Nevertheless by special disposition, priests who have absolved adherents of the "action francaise" and have been absolved when the reservation ceased, within a month from the day of obtained absolution or recovery must recur to the Sacred Penitentiary under penalty of excommunication specially reserved to the Supreme Pontiff.

"1) When confession is made either by sick persons who cannot leave home (which also profits sick religious or others who are in a house where confessors dwell, but not those who cannot go out yet are not truly sick, such as the incarcerated or women in childbirth), or by betrothed persons for the sake of entering marriage;

"2) As often as either the legitimate Superior has denied the faculty of absolving requested for some determinate case, or, in the prudent judgment of the confessor, the faculty of absolving cannot be requested from the legitimate Superior without grave inconvenience of the penitent or without danger of violation of the sacramental seal (such as grave difficulty of returning to the confessor, danger of grave scandal, e.g., difficulty of abstaining from communion without some mark or suspicion);

"3) Outside the territory of the one reserving, even if the penitent departed from it only to obtain absolution" (namely, in fraud of the law).

Therefore there are five cases: a sick person unable to go out; - a betrothed person about to enter marriage; - faculty denied in a determinate case; - grave inconvenience of the penitent; - departure from the territory of the one reserving.

VII. The efficacy of reservation is sufficiently obtained and yet at the same time circumscribed by the admonition of can. 899:

"1) Once reservations have been established which they have judged truly necessary or useful, let Ordinaries of places take care that these be brought to the knowledge of subjects in the way which seems better to them, nor let them impart faculty of absolving from reserved cases to anyone and indiscriminately" (but only to select confessors).

"2) But this faculty of absolving belongs by the law itself to the penitentiary canon according to the norm of can. 401, § 1, and habitually let it be imparted at least to vicars forane (that is, deans), with the faculty added, especially in places of the diocese more remote from the episcopal see, of subdelegating as often as confessors of their district recur to them, if and when for some more urgent determinate case they do so.

"3) By the law itself pastors or others who are regarded in law under the name of pastors⁵ can absolve from cases which Ordinaries in whatever way have reserved to themselves, during the whole time (even legitimately anticipated or extended) useful for fulfilling the Easter precept (even if the confession is not made for fulfilling the precept), - and individual missionaries during the time when missions (and perhaps spiritual exercises given collectively) happen to be held for the people" (not for a particular institute, or association, or group, e.g., of clergy).

⁵ See above, p. 20.

VIII. Practical observations. - 1. The foregoing instructions are general norms according to which bishops ought to act in their legislation, rather than laws which the Roman Pontiff himself directly imposes. And therefore if bishops have not changed diocesan laws, or establish new reserved cases beyond the norms indicated, these nevertheless must be stood by. But the dispensations indicated in can. 899 and 900 can be applied (cf. n. VI and VII).

2. Nevertheless today in Belgium there are no longer sins reserved by bishops; however, by the Council of Malines (in the Acts, n. 205) the case is foreseen that they could be introduced.

3. For pilgrims, vagi, and religious, who by force of jurisdiction received from the Ordinary of the place are absolved, there always and only exists the reservation in force in the place of confession. For they are absolved from the jurisdiction of the Ordinary of the place in which they confess (can. 874, 881); which jurisdiction is affected by the reservation in force there, since reservation directly restricts the power of the confessor (can. 893). - On the contrary, pastors outside the diocese can absolve their own subjects from cases reserved by another bishop; and perhaps from cases reserved to their proper Ordinary, since some do not hesitate to assert this.

4. When a penitent accuses a reserved sin, let the confessor immediately inquire whether or not all conditions necessary for incurring the reservation are present. If it is established that the sin is truly reserved, and at the same time the confessor lacks the due faculties, let him admonish the penitent either to approach the superior or a special confessor, or to return after a few days, namely when the necessary faculties have been obtained, which penitents generally prefer; - unless, however, it is a more urgent case, because then the reservation ceases according to can. 900.

But if the penitent has been ignorant of the reservation, he is to be taught concerning it, so that he may conceive horror of sin.

5. Absolution from reserved cases can be given directly or indirectly: directly, when the reserved sin is expressly declared before a confessor who has the faculty of absolving from reserved cases; as is also a simple confessor, in the case in which according to can. 900 the reservation ceases;

indirectly, when, without sacrilege, it either is not declared, or is declared before a simple confessor who cannot absolve from reserved cases: then it is remitted indirectly, if at the same time other sins are declared from which the penitent is directly absolved.

Hence a confessor, lacking special faculty, who knowingly, without a case of necessity, absolves from reserved cases, sins gravely by violating the laws of the Church in a grave matter, indeed he incurs suspension according to can. 2366; nevertheless the absolution is valid, if along with reserved sins another sin has been declared: for when a non-reserved sin is directly absolved, the others are indirectly remitted.

But such a simple confessor who acts thus, as also he who absolves from a reserved case by inadvertence, must correct this error according to his powers. Therefore he must admonish the penitent concerning the reservation, if he can easily do so, so that the error may be repaired and the sin again declared to the superior or his delegate in order to obtain its direct remission; otherwise let him leave him in good faith, since in the next confession he can be absolved indirectly from this sin and obtain its remission together with that of the other sins, or indeed he has already obtained it.

6. A penitent, from inculpable forgetfulness, omitting a reserved sin in confession made before a privileged confessor, is validly absolved. Nevertheless he is afterward held to manifest the omitted sin in confession, but this probably is now not reserved. The reason is that a privileged confessor is judged, as far as he can, to absolve a duly disposed penitent. Therefore he is judged to absolve him indirectly from the reservation, because he has this power.

The matter holds somewhat otherwise if the penitent has confessed invalidly or sacrilegiously. It is certain, if he has kept silent about the reserved sin, that it has not been remitted. But if the reserved sin was manifested, and the nullity or sacrilege occurred for another cause, the reservation itself seems to have been removed, since one having the faculty of absolving has judged rightly concerning it and has imposed congruent satisfaction, which in the case is always to be fulfilled. Therefore in the following confession the penitent must repeat the whole accusation and confess the sacrilege committed, but he can now be absolved by a simple confessor.

An exception is made if, at the time of Jubilee, he confessed sacrilegiously a reserved sin to a simple confessor; for in the time of Jubilee only those penitents enjoy the privilege of receiving absolution from any confessor whatever who wish to fulfill all things which are prescribed for gaining the Jubilee. But first of all a good confession is prescribed.