paragraph — Noldin, Summa of Moral Theology
§ 1. Defect of Body.
141. From defect of body those are irregular who, on account of some bodily fault, cannot perform the sacred rite either at all or becomingly.
a. Therefore this irregularity arises from a twofold head: from impotence for exercising an order, and from indecency in its exercise. He who labors under impotence for celebrating is not indeed properly irregular, because he is kept from the reception of orders not by ecclesiastical law but by natural law; nevertheless authors are accustomed to refer here also those who are unable to celebrate.
b. This irregularity absolutely prohibits the reception of orders: for even if the defect impeded the exercise of only one order, e.g. the priesthood, nevertheless no order, not even first tonsure, can licitly be received. But the exercise of orders already received is not prohibited absolutely: hence if the defect supervenes after the reception of orders, the ordained man is prohibited from exercising only those orders for the exercise of which he has been made unfit, or which he cannot exercise without offense and scandal. Therefore nothing prevents, for example, one who cannot celebrate publicly without scandal from celebrating privately.
142. Therefore from defect of body the following are irregular:
- The mutilated, who lack a foot, hand, or fingers, likewise those who lack the thumb or index finger either entirely or in part, so that they cannot break the host.1
a. He who lacks one of the three posterior fingers is not irregular; indeed, according to the opinion of some, neither is he irregular if two fingers are lacking. But if all three are lacking, he is irregular, not indeed on account of impotence, but on account of deformity. A priest, however, does not become irregular nor is he prohibited from celebrating, even if he has lost all three posterior fingers.2
b. He who lacks the index finger will more easily obtain a dispensation, because the middle finger can supply the place of the index finger in the sacred ministry. But a priest who has lost the index finger can use the middle finger in sacred functions, which, since the whole hand of the priest is consecrated, is consecrated equally with the index finger.3
c. Authors judge him to be irregular who has a wooden foot, because he cannot celebrate without great indecency; but since today artificial feet are constructed so aptly that he who is furnished with a foot of this kind can perform sacred functions without indecency, this irregularity, at least after orders have been received, no longer seems to have to be urged.
d. He was said to be irregular whose one eye was wholly taken away or torn out; yet because today a glass eye can be so aptly substituted that no deformity appears, he who is furnished with a glass eye does not seem to have to be called irregular.
1 C. Thomas 7 De corpore vitiatis (I. 20).
2 Cf. Ballerini-Palmieri VII. n. 478.
3 Cf. Ballerini-Palmieri l.c.
143. 2. The debilitated, who indeed have all their members, but for whom one or another member which is required for sacred ministry has become useless, as if someone's arm or hand has become stiff.
a. Therefore the mute are irregular; the blind, who are deprived of the power of seeing in both eyes, but not those with failing sight, provided they can read in the missal with the help of an ocular instrument; the deaf, who lack hearing in both ears, so that they cannot hear the server responding. But those who are hard of hearing are not irregular, nor those who lack hearing in only one ear;1 stutterers are not irregular, unless either they have a tongue that is very lisping or altogether stumbling, or they move others to laughter. Those who have hands so trembling that they cannot celebrate without danger of spilling the Blood are irregular.
b. He is not irregular who lacks the power of seeing in one eye only, whether it is the right or the left eye; for what is established by some authors, namely that he is absolutely irregular who lacks the canonical eye, i.e. the left, lacks foundation, since no text of law declares him irregular. Therefore this irregularity must be restricted to the case in which one who lacks the left eye cannot read the canon without indecency with the right eye.2
c. A priest who has become blind is not prohibited from hearing confessions; indeed, if it is established that he will not err, he can receive license from the supreme pontiff for celebrating, with another priest nevertheless assisting. A priest who has become deaf is not prohibited from celebrating, even if he does not hear the server responding.3
1 Cf. Acta s. sedis IV. p. 595.
2 Cf. S. C. C. Sept. 17, 1887. Acta s. sedis XX. p. 380 ss.
3 Cf. St. Alphonsus n. 405.
144. 3. The deformed, who have a deformity in some member which cannot easily be hidden, to such a degree that they cannot discharge the sacred ministry without indecency, or they excite horror in others or move them to laughter. Therefore the following are irregular:
a. Those whose noses or outer ears have been cut off, unless, by hair aptly grown out, the defect of the ears can be covered.
b. Those who have a notable spot on the face or in the eye.1
c. Pygmies, who are so small in stature that they cannot perform the sacred rite upon the altar; likewise giants.
d. The hunchbacked, who have so notable a hump on the back that they cannot raise the head.
e. The lame, who cannot approach the altar or stand at the altar without a staff; but the lame who do not need a staff are not irregular, unless the limping is enormous and notably deforming.
A priest who has become lame can celebrate privately, although he needs a staff.
It pertains to the bishop to judge whether the deformity is great or small, if the one to be ordained is a secular or a non-exempt regular; but if he is an exempt regular, the judgment pertains to the regular prelate. Nevertheless the bishop who confers orders is not bound to stand by the judgment of the prelate.
1 C. Quum 2 De corpore vitiatis (I. 20).
145. 4. Those laboring under a grave and incurable disease:
a. Paralytics, that is, the paralyzed and the gouty, if namely the paralysis is so great that they cannot hold the sacred vessels or break the sacred species. Those who, on account of stiffness of the elbow, cannot bend the arm are irregular.1
But if paralysis does not wholly impede the exercise of an order, a distinction must be made: if it supervenes upon ordination, it does not impede celebration; if it precedes ordination, it will belong to the bishop to declare whether the infirm man is irregular; for in law nothing has been established on this matter.
b. Epileptics, or those laboring under the falling sickness,2 as long as they are subject to the disease, cannot be ordained; but if it is established that they have been healed without probable danger of relapse, with the license of the bishop added, they can be ordained.
a. A priest who after ordination is seized by this disease is not prohibited from celebrating privately, if the disease returns rarely, i.e. once in a month or every fifteen days; if, however, he is not safe from an attack of the disease for this interval, a fasting priest must assist him, who, if the disease rushes upon him, may complete the Mass.
b. Epilepsy which began before puberty is not rarely healed completely; therefore he is not judged irregular who labored under this disease before puberty, but afterward, in the judgment of a physician, recovered entirely. But epilepsy which began after puberty, not from an accidental cause, e.g. from an inflicted wound, but from congenital disposition, according to the opinion of physicians is scarcely ever fully healed, i.e. without danger of relapse.
c. Those who abstain from wine, who cannot take even a little wine without danger of vomiting. It is clear that these cannot be dispensed even by the pope.
d. Lepers, because they bring in horror and scandal; but a priest who is infected with leprosy can celebrate in a private place.
1 It is established from the declaration of S. C. C., Jan. 26, 1867. Cf. Aichner l.c. p. 210.
2 Those who are seized are in reality epileptics; but by the ancients they are numbered among the demoniacs, because in antiquity they thought this disease to be caused by a demon.
146. On account of deformity the following are not irregular.
a. Those who have six fingers or some joined together, or who lack one finger, provided they can fittingly perform the sacred rite.
b. Those who have a spot on the face or in the eye that is not very deforming.
c. Those who lack the nail of the thumb, provided they can hold and break the host.
d. The one-eyed, or those looking obliquely, provided the deformity is not notable.
e. Those who lack testicles (eunuchs, the castrated, the cut), whether these have been cut by another, or lost by reason of disease or by accident.
Those are irregular who cut off their own testicles, or cause them to be cut off, in order to preserve a boyish voice (139).