Article Fourth. On Composition

520. Declaration. Composition with the supreme pontiff also excuses from restitution. Composition is the remission of a debt made by authority of the supreme pontiff. By composition sometimes the remission of the whole debt is conceded, and sometimes, with the greater part of it remitted, a small part must be expended for pious causes. A twofold and diverse composition must be distinguished: a. for uncertain goods; b. for ecclesiastical goods.

521. Composition for uncertain goods (debts). 1. Since these goods cannot licitly be retained unless by prescription they have become the debtor's own, either restitution of them must be made (n. 503) or their condonation must be sought from the supreme pontiff.

2. The supreme pontiff is accustomed to make this condonation so that he decrees that some part of the debt be applied to pious causes, remits the remaining part, and finally supplies from the treasury of the Church the spiritual fruit which is withdrawn from the unknown owner by this condonation.¹

a. The just cause of the condonation is this: because through it provision is made for the conscience of the debtor, who, if restitution were omitted, would easily have remained in bad faith; and because through it at least part of the debt is acquired for pious causes, which perhaps would have received nothing.

b. By this condonation the obligation of restoring is considered altogether extinguished, so that the debtor is not bound to restore anything to the owner if by chance he appears afterward.²

3. To obtain composition recourse must be had to the Sacred Penitentiary; but where the bull of the Crusade is in force, whose last part is the bull of Composition, he who obtains the aforesaid bull for himself can obtain composition.

¹ Cf. Lugo, disp. 6, n. 150.

² Cf. Lehmkuhl I, n. 1024.

522. Composition for ecclesiastical goods. 1. That the supreme pontiff can make condonation where there is question of goods taken away from the Church and to be restored to it is easily conceded, since he himself is the supreme administrator of all ecclesiastical goods. This condonation is conceded both to governments and to private persons, not only for immovable goods but also for movable goods taken away from the Church.

2. Governments which occupied ecclesiastical goods have almost everywhere obtained condonation from the supreme pontiff, so that both governments and private persons who had received goods of this kind from the government possess them legitimately.

In recent time several compositions of this kind have been conceded to Catholic governments, and indeed so that ecclesiastical goods can be retained as one's own without the obligation of fulfilling any burden, and freely alienated.

a. For France, by the convention entered between Pius VII and Napoleon, July 15, 1801, condonation was made as to ecclesiastical goods which up to that time had been occupied and alienated by the government; afterward the condonation was extended to all goods occupied by the government up to that time, even if they had not yet been alienated.¹

b. For the kingdom of the Two Sicilies condonation was made March 17, 1819, as to ecclesiastical goods alienated before the year 1818.

c. For all Sardinia condonation was made May 14, 1828, as to all ecclesiastical goods occupied and alienated by the government up to that time.

d. For Belgium condonation was made Sept. 16, 1833, as to all ecclesiastical goods occupied by the government.

e. For Spain condonation was made through the concordat of 1851 and 1859, so that all who bought ecclesiastical goods usurped by the government can possess them safely in conscience without any obligation of prior burdens.

f. For the Archdiocese of Cologne and for the dioceses of Trier and Munster, condonation was made Nov. 27, 1891, as to occupations continued by the French government up to the end of the year 1814 on the left bank of the Rhine.

This condonation was extended on Feb. 7, 1894, to ecclesiastical goods which in the whole kingdom of Prussia were secularized up to the end of the year 1824 and at present are possessed by private persons as their own or will be possessed in the future.

3. To private persons who either themselves occupied ecclesiastical goods or bought them from a usurping government to which condonation has not been made, universal condonation has never been conceded; wherefore, in order that they may possess them legitimately, in individual cases they must have recourse to the Holy See for composition, unless the goods have already been prescribed.

Prescription of these goods seems to have to be admitted, provided the conditions required for this by canon law are present (n. 406). Yet because as to immovable ecclesiastical goods the existence of those conditions, and especially the good faith of possessors, can rarely be established, recourse to composition with the Holy See is to be advised.

4. As to movable goods, the Holy See establishes these things:² a. On those who acquired movable ecclesiastical goods which cannot be preserved, some alms must be imposed in favor of the pious places to which those goods belonged, insofar as they bought them at a price which, in the judgment of the ordinary or confessor, was less than just. b. If there is question of goods which can be preserved (sacred vessels, furnishings), there should be imposed on the penitents the obligation of having recourse as soon as possible to the ordinary, who will provide according to the faculty granted to him.

¹ Sacred Penitentiary, March 20, 1818. Brief of Pius VII, Oct. 20, 1821.

² Sacred Penitentiary, June 1, 1869.