Appendix: On Irregularities and Other Impediments

S. Th., Suppl., q. 39.

One to be ordained must be immune from all censures, irregularities, and other impediments whatsoever. We spoke of censures above. But there is a difference between irregularity and a simple impediment, because an irregularity is of itself perpetual and perpetually impedes the reception of order, unless it is removed by dispensation; on the contrary, a simple impediment of itself is not perpetual and ceases in certain circumstances. Concerning these we shall speak briefly; more can be seen among the commentators on the Code, such as Blat, Vermeersch-Creusen, Claeys Bouaert-Simenon.

742. Irregularity (onbevoegdheid) etymologically is a departure from rule; hence, since in the present matter it is a question of sacred orders and the clerical state, he is called irregular who exists outside the category of those who are capable of being assumed to the clerical state, or, as the Council of Nicaea I speaks, alien from the rule or canon, i.e., from the register of the Church to which a cleric is ascribed through ordination. Hence irregularity is defined: an impediment, of itself perpetual, expressed in canon law, by which a baptized male is prohibited primarily from the licit reception of orders and secondarily from the exercise of orders received (can. 968 and 983).

Irregularity 1) is an impediment, whence it does not necessarily suppose fault, nor properly have the character of a vindictive penalty, but is an inability which is directly established on account of the dignity and decency of the sacred ministry as an end; - 2) perpetual, and thus it is distinguished from a simple impediment, which of itself can cease, while irregularity is not removed except by dispensation; - 3) expressed in canon law (can. 983), because ecclesiastical law has juridical origin, and thus it is distinguished from incapacities arising from divine law, which render ordination not only illicit but also invalid (n. 737); for which reason the Supreme Pontiff cannot incur irregularity; - 4) prohibiting from sacred ordination, under which name first tonsure also comes, to be received licitly, or, once received, to be exercised; so that it has a twofold effect and renders both the reception of orders and the exercise of orders received illicit (can. 968).

Therefore it is an impediment, not invalidating or diriment, but merely impeding from the reception of Orders or from the exercise of orders received, not however from acts of jurisdiction alone.

Hence both the one ordaining who promotes an irregular man and the irregular man who receives or exercises an order sin gravely, unless smallness of matter or grave inconvenience excuses.

In doubt concerning irregularity, if it is a doubt of law, irregularity is not contracted; in doubt of fact, the Ordinary can dispense in irregularities in which the Supreme Pontiff is accustomed to dispense (can. 15).

Irregularity arises proximately and by the fact itself, some from defect, some from personal delict; but on the part of the effect, it is total, which impedes the reception of every order or the use of every order received, as homicide does, or partial, which impedes only ascent to a superior order or only the exercise of some order: thus a priest deprived of a thumb without fault is prohibited only from celebration of Mass, but not from other acts, for example, the hearing of confession.

Since irregularities and other impediments are incapacities, from which no ignorance excuses unless it is expressly said (can. 16), hence:

1. "Ignorance of irregularities, whether from delict or from defect, and of impediments does not excuse from them" (can. 988).

2. Irregularities and impediments are multiplied like incapacities, when their causes are multiplied, unless provision is otherwise made; hence: "Irregularities and impediments are multiplied from diverse causes of the same, but not from the repetition of the same cause, unless it is a question of irregularity from voluntary homicide" (can. 989); therefore not from abortion, unless in a case in which it is certainly homicide.

3. All irregularities and impediments can be removed by dispensation, regularly to be conceded by the Holy See; nevertheless:

a) "It is licit for Ordinaries, by themselves or through another, to dispense their own subjects from all irregularities arising from occult delict, except that which is incurred from voluntary homicide or from abortion, or another deduced to the judicial forum" (can. 990, § 1); indeed the same privilege seems always to exist among regular confessors.

b) "The same faculty (with the same exceptions) belongs to any confessor in more urgent occult cases in which the Ordinary cannot be approached and danger of grave harm or infamy threatens, but only for this, that the penitent may licitly exercise orders already received" (can. 990, § 2).

c) Exceptionally Ordinaries, but not confessors, can also dispense from public irregularities, "if recourse to the Holy See is difficult and at the same time there is danger of grave harm in delay, and it is a question of a dispensation which the Apostolic See is accustomed to concede" (can. 81); indeed, as was said, in doubt of fact they can dispense from all irregularities in which the Supreme Pontiff is accustomed to dispense (can. 15).

Let it be noted from can. 991: § 1. In petitions for dispensation from irregularities and impediments, all irregularities and impediments are to be indicated; otherwise a general dispensation will indeed be valid also for those withheld in good faith, except an irregularity which arises from voluntary homicide or abortion, or another deduced to the judicial forum, but not for those withheld in bad faith.

§ 2. If it is a question of irregularity from voluntary homicide, even the number of delicts must be expressed under penalty of nullity of the dispensation to be conceded.

§ 3. A general dispensation for orders is valid also for major orders; and one dispensed can obtain non-consistorial benefices, even with care of souls, but cannot be named Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, bishop, abbot or prelate nullius, or major superior in an exempt clerical religion.

§ 4. A dispensation conceded in the non-sacramental internal forum is to be committed to writing; and it must be recorded in the secret book of the Curia.

743. Irregular from defect are, according to can. 984:

1. From defect of birth, "the illegitimate, whether the illegitimacy is public or occult, unless they have been legitimated or have professed solemn vows."

Illegitimacy is not presumed, but must be proved; civil legitimation does not suffice, but ecclesiastical is required.

The irregularity does not affect those legitimated or solemnly professed; from others it is to be removed by dispensation: nevertheless all these are excluded from the dignity of Cardinal, bishop, abbot or prelate nullius, and major superior in religion (can. 991, § 3; 232, § 2; 331, § 1; 320, § 2; 504).

Let it be noted that illegitimate persons cannot be admitted into the Seminary (can. 1363, § 1).

2. From defect of body, "those vitiated in body who cannot safely, because of weakness, or decently, because of deformity, discharge the ministry of the altar. Nevertheless, to impede the exercise of an order legitimately received, a graver defect is required, nor because of this defect are acts prohibited which can be duly placed."

Thus, for example, the blind, or those so dim-sighted that they cannot read the missal; the altogether deaf, the mute, or those stammering to such an extent that they cannot pronounce words or provoke laughter; those lacking a foot, arm, hand, or necessary fingers, namely, the right thumb or index finger, or two others with half the palm; those notably deformed, such as pygmies, lepers, those enormously hunchbacked, those bearing a greatly blemished face, or having nose or lips cut off, those notably limping; those paralytic in the arms or hand so that they cannot elevate and break the host, those trembling in the hands so that they cannot celebrate without danger of spilling the blood, those dizzy who suffer danger of fainting or of notably erring, abstainers who cannot taste even a little wine without danger of vomiting, or those suffering an uncontrollable cough.

In doubt, the judgment belongs to the Ordinary; but the bishop who confers orders is not bound to stand by this judgment. After orders have been received, a priest can easily obtain dispensation if he has an artificial member, well fitted, even an arm or hand, or if he becomes blind and knows by memory the Mass of B. V. and of the dead, and is able to celebrate with the assistance of another priest.

3. From defect of mind, "those who are epileptic or insane or possessed by a demon, or have been such; but if after orders have been received they have become such and it is certainly established that they are now free, the Ordinary can permit his subjects again to exercise the orders received."

Epileptics are those who, stricken by the falling sickness, are accustomed to fall to the ground; the insane are understood as those who, from a permanent and habitual cause, truly are or have been such, but not if accidentally, for example, by force of fever or a wound.

4. From defect of sacrament, "bigamists, namely, those who have successively contracted two or more valid marriages."

Thus conformably to I Tim. III, 2, 12; Tit. I, 6. The reason is both because a bigamist, who has divided his flesh among several wives, can no longer perfectly represent the union of Christ and the Church, and therefore there is a defect in the signification of the sacrament; and because by presumption he bears before himself a stain of incontinence. It is incurred also if before Baptism someone had validly married several wives, or if one before and another after Baptism.

5. From defect of reputation, "those who are marked by infamy of law."

Infamous by the fact itself are: a) one who has given his name to or publicly adhered to a non-Catholic sect (can. 2314, § 1, 3); by the name of a non-Catholic sect there also comes an atheistic sect (c. int., July 30, 1934).

b) one who has thrown away consecrated species or taken them away or retained them for an evil end (can. 2320);

c) one who has violated the corpses or sepulchers of the dead for theft or another evil end (can. 2328);

d) one who has laid violent hands upon the person of the Roman Pontiff, or of a Cardinal or legate of the Supreme Pontiff (can. 267 and 2343);

e) duellists and their seconds (can. 2351);

f) one who, an existing matrimonial bond notwithstanding, has attempted another marriage, even civil (can. 2356);

g) laymen legitimately condemned for delicts committed against the sixth commandment with minors below the age of sixteen years, or for rape, sodomy, incest, or procuring (can. 2357, § 1).

By sentence of a judge the following are to be declared infamous: a) all apostates from the Christian faith and all and individual heretics and schismatics, if, having been warned, they have not come to their senses (can. 2314, § 1, 2); b) clerics in sacred orders, whether secular or religious, who have admitted a delict against the sixth commandment with minors below the age of sixteen years, or are guilty of adultery, rape, bestiality, sodomy, procuring, or incest with blood-relatives or affines in the first degree (can. 2359, § 2).

6. From defect of Christian mildness, "a judge who has pronounced a sentence of death; those who have taken up the office of executioner and their voluntary and immediate ministers in the execution of a capital sentence."

They do not incur irregularity: jurors, because they do not pronounce sentence; judges who did not efficaciously influence the sentence; compelled soldiers who kill the guilty man, because they did not take up the office, nor their leader, because he does not pronounce the sentence; nor those who erect the scaffold, because they are not immediate bodily executors; one who before Baptism pronounced or executed the sentence, because he could not violate Christian mildness.

744. Irregular from delict are, according to can. 985, provided the delict was grave, - external, whether public or occult, - and perpetrated after Baptism, or the very illegitimate reception of Baptism from non-Catholics (can. 986):

1. From delict against the faith and unity of the Church, "apostates from the faith, heretics, schismatics."

Those who in good faith are enrolled in heresy or schism are not irregular; nevertheless in the external forum they are presumed such, and therefore dispensation is to be sought for caution.

2. From abuse of Baptism, "those who, except in a case of extreme necessity, have allowed Baptism to be conferred upon themselves by non-Catholics in any manner."

Non-Catholics in this case are to be understood in the strict sense, namely, heretics and schismatics, but probably not unbelievers, who besides do not have Baptism; but it suffices in whatever way Baptism is received, whether with the rites of the sect employed, or with the Catholic rite, or with no special rite, whether from free request or from free permission, or from opposition not having been made.

3. From attempted Marriage, "those who have dared to attempt marriage, or to place only the civil act, either being themselves bound by a matrimonial bond, or by sacred order, or by religious vows even simple and temporary, or with a woman bound by the same vows or joined by a valid marriage."

It makes no difference whether the impediment exists on the part of the man or of the woman; but full knowledge and deliberation are required, as the words "have dared" indicate; nevertheless ignorance of irregularity does not excuse.

4. From voluntary homicide or abortion, "those who have perpetrated voluntary homicide or have procured the abortion of a human fetus with the effect following, and all cooperating."

Homicide is committed when, apart from the case of legitimate defense, death is inflicted on another by an action directly voluntary either in itself, as if death itself is intended, or in the cause, as if from gravely culpable negligence it is the cause of death inflicted; but not if it follows casually from light negligence or from mere omission. It is required for homicide, as for abortion, that it happen with the effect following; but irregularity is contracted even if someone repents before the effect follows. Cooperators are understood as those who positively, whether physically or morally, influence efficaciously, as in a capital trial those who unjustly testify against the guilty man, or condemn him, and in an unjust war all who fight; - but not negative cooperators, who do not impede, although they should have.

Let it be noted: a) In the old law irregularity from defect of mildness arose in those who in war were the cause of killing or themselves cooperated; hence the S. C. Consist., Oct. 25, 1918, conceded to Ordinaries the faculty of "dispensing, at least for caution, with their subjects returning from war whenever priests, clerics, and students of Seminaries have incurred it not from their own act, but from necessity, namely, compelled to take up arms and perhaps to inflict death or mutilation." Moreover it says: "but whenever it is a question of clerics in sacred orders who, not compelled by necessity of laws, have spontaneously offered themselves to take up arms, or have taken them up, recourse must be had to the Holy See for dispensation," which it said must also be understood of those who, from another service, for example, of the sick, spontaneously passed over to fighting service, even if they have inflicted death or mutilation on no one (March 28, 1919).

b) Likewise from the old law, when a priest certain of homicide doubted whether the homicide was caused by his own action or by the action of another, it was declared that in this doubt of fact he contracted irregularity in relation to the celebration of Mass. But now it is generally declared that in doubt of fact the Ordinary can dispense, provided that in a similar case the Supreme Pontiff is accustomed to dispense (can. 15). Therefore in the case a dispensation will regularly have to be awaited; but we doubt whether the Ordinary himself or rather the Holy See must be approached, since the case of homicide perhaps is not among those in which the Supreme Pontiff easily dispenses or is accustomed to dispense.

5. From mutilation or attempted suicide, "those who have mutilated themselves or others or have attempted to take their own life."

Attempted suicide and mutilation must be voluntary and gravely culpable; but mutilation is here understood in the restricted sense, as the cutting off of a member or part of the body which has its own office distinct from the others, such as a hand, arm, foot, eye, tongue, testicle, female breast, etc.; but not a tooth, hair, finger, nor a part of a member such as the ear; nor is it present if a member is injured or deformed or weakened, even if from this it should become useless. If twin members are truly distinct, the cutting off of one suffices; but not if they are united, as the nostrils.

6. From the illegitimate exercise of the medical art, "clerics exercising the medical or surgical art forbidden to them, if death follows from this."

In order that someone incur irregularity, he must be a cleric, must sin gravely against the law which forbids exercising medicine without apostolic indult, and death must follow from this as from a cause, even if the death is not gravely imputable to him: for in this case irregularity from the delict of homicide would be added.

7. From abuse of Order, "those who place an act of Order reserved to clerics constituted in sacred Order, while lacking that Order, or while prohibited from its exercise by a canonical penalty, whether personal, medicinal or vindictive, or local."

It is required a) that a layman or inferior cleric who does not have the Order, or one who has the Order but is canonically prohibited from its exercise by penalty, whether medicinal or censure, or vindictive, b) exercise an Order, not an act of mere jurisdiction, c) not a minor but a sacred Order, d) and indeed one reserved either by reason of itself, namely, which can in no way be exercised by those lacking that Order, or by reason of solemnity, which in that manner cannot be exercised except by those having the Order.

In particular the following become irregular: a priest exercising an act of order reserved to the bishop, such as to confirm, ordain, consecrate a church or chalice; a deacon who sacramentally absolves or celebrates Mass; a subdeacon who solemnly baptizes or, vested with a stole, performs the office of deacon in Mass and solemnly chants the Gospel; a cleric who with maniple performs the office of subdeacon in solemn Mass and thus chants the Epistle; a priest who, suspended or in an interdicted place, rashly celebrates; a cleric in sacred orders who, bound by censure, chants the Epistle with maniple in solemn Mass, or the Gospel with stole; - but not a priest who absolves without jurisdiction; nor a deacon who solemnly baptizes without commission; nor a cleric or layman exercising the office of subdeacon in Mass without maniple, or chanting the Gospel without stole; or blessing fruits or breads or uttering an exorcism; nor one who exercises an order while censured but requested by another or to avoid grave inconvenience, or prohibited from order but not by canonical penalty.

Let it be noted that from a reasonable cause it is permitted that a cleric at least marked with tonsure be substituted for a subdeacon, who serves at solemn Mass, but vested without maniple: thus S. C. R., March 14, 1906.

745. From receiving and exercising order the following are simply impeded, from can. 987:

1. "Sons of non-Catholics, as long as the parents remain in their error"; namely, descendants in the first degree (comm. int., July 14, 1922), from non-Catholic parents, namely, heretics or schismatics, even if only one is non-Catholic and although the marriage was contracted with dispensation (comm. int., Oct. 16, 1919). They dispute whether after the death of the non-Catholic parent the impediment remains.

2. "Men having a wife," although separated from her.

3. "Those who hold an office or administration forbidden to clerics (from can. 139) for which they must render accounts, until, the office and administration having been laid down and the accounts rendered, they have become free."

4. "Slaves by servitude properly so called, before accepted liberty."

5. "Those who by civil law are bound to ordinary military service, before they have completed it."

Ordinary military service probably is not that special service to which clerics are sometimes bound exclusively for caring for the sick and wounded, but military service in the proper sense of armed service: not indeed that which is required extraordinarily, perhaps when war has arisen, but that which those first called to military service must render for one or more years, although perhaps they will be called to it but in fact have not yet been called, either because they are unequal in age, or because, after an examination rightly completed, they have been declared temporarily unfit (comm. int., June 2, 1918).

6. "Neophytes until, in the judgment of the Ordinary, they have been sufficiently tested," as the Apostle already warns, I Tim. III, 6: neophytes are those who, converted to the faith in adult age, have recently received Baptism.

7. "Those who labor under infamy of fact, while it endures, in the judgment of the Ordinary," although they are innocent.