Article Fourth. On the Requisites for Licit Administration

28. Required conditions. For licitly administering the sacraments, these four conditions especially are required in the minister:

1. That he be in the state of grace: for holy things must be treated holily; but among sacred things the sacraments hold the chief place, whose sanctity shines forth especially from the fact that they produce the divine gift of sanctifying grace, and therefore their minister immediately concurs in producing this divine gift. Moreover, the minister in conferring the sacraments bears the person of Christ, who is holy and the holy of holies. Finally, the special office of administering the sacraments has been entrusted to the priest, and that he may perform this office holily and worthily, he has been consecrated by a special sacrament and is aided by a special help of grace.¹ Therefore he who administers the sacraments in the state of sin, whether he is a priest or not, commits irreverence against the sacraments themselves and their author, and therefore sacrilege.

Wherefore if a priest or another about to administer a sacrament knows that he is in the state of mortal sin, he is bound first to elicit contrition; but he is not bound to confession, although it is to be recommended, unless he wishes to celebrate or unless he cannot elicit perfect contrition. For the Church does not prescribe that before the administration of the sacraments, excepting the eucharist, the state of grace must be recovered by sacramental absolution rather than by perfect contrition.² And in order that a sacrament can be licitly administered, contrition probably judged to exist suffices: for since the question is not of validity, but only of the honesty of the action, it is permitted to use probability concerning the honesty of the action.

¹ St. Thomas III, q. 64, a. 6.

² Cf. Rituale Romanum, tit. 1, n. 4.

29. 2. That he act according to the norm of the Roman Ritual, whose rubrics, however, are not all of the same value. Therefore outside a case of necessity it is not permitted to administer the sacraments with the solemnities and ceremonies prescribed in the Ritual omitted.

a. The Roman Ritual, edited by Paul V by the brief Apostolicae sedi (17 Jan. 1614), was approved and communicated to all the churches of the world. The Supreme Pontiff indeed greatly desires that all churches use the Roman Ritual in sacred functions; nevertheless, he does not oblige them to its use, but only exhorts them. Although there was no precept introducing the Roman Ritual, and at first several churches retained their own rituals, nevertheless by use the Roman Ritual was gradually received in most churches, so that now there are very few churches of the Roman rite which use their own ritual. But where once it has been received, the Roman Ritual cannot be changed into another. For this reason it can truly be affirmed that today the Roman Ritual morally constitutes the norm to be observed in the administration of the sacraments in the universal Church.

b. The rubrics of the Roman Ritual are not all of the same authority and value, and the same is to be said entirely of the Missal, Breviary, Pontifical, and other liturgical books.

alpha. The Ritual contains in its rubrics the rites to be observed in the administration of the sacraments. Some of these rites are called essential, others accidental. Essential rites concern matter and form; these were instituted by Christ Himself and therefore are required for valid administration. Accidental rites concern the worthy and fitting administration of the sacraments; these have been prescribed by the Church and therefore are required not for valid but for licit administration.

beta. Some rubrics of the Ritual are preceptive, which impose an obligation in conscience; others are only directive, which impose no obligation, but contain counsels and instructions. Of those which contain a precept, some oblige under grave sin, others under light sin.

gamma. For solving the rather difficult question which rubrics are preceptive and which directive, these criteria can serve as some rule: the words of the rubric, the matter of the rubric, a declaration of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and the consensus of authors.

c. The precept of observing the preceptive rubrics of the Ritual is of itself grave, because it pertains to the virtue of religion; but religion of itself obliges under grave sin. Therefore he who violates rubrics prescribed in the Ritual in a grave matter sins gravely. What matter is grave and what is light will be explained below in the individual sacraments.¹

¹ Cf. Pighi, Dell' autorita del rituale romano (Verona: Cinquetti, 1891).

30. 3. That he have license to administer the sacraments to others. This license belongs to priests alone, and not to all priests, but only to those to whom the care of souls (whether ordinary or auxiliary) has been entrusted. Therefore these licitly administer the sacraments to their subjects in the place in which they exercise the care of souls; but outside their own territory only when the permission of the proper pastor of that place has been received.

a. Hence a bishop sins who outside his own diocese confers orders or confirmation without the faculty of the proper bishop of that place; and a parish priest sins who outside his own parish administers sacraments without the faculty of the proper parish priest of that place.

b. Baptism in a case of necessity, if the priest of that place is not present, may be licitly administered by any other person, indeed by any man, yet with the order preserved which will be stated in its own place.

c. The last sacraments (penance, viaticum, and extreme unction) in a case of necessity, and with the proper pastor lacking, any priest licitly administers.

d. Any priest furnished with the necessary power can administer the sacrament of penance to the sick. Yet if there is need, the parish priest must be made more certain of the sacrament administered by testimony left among the sick.

31. 4. That he be immune from censures and from irregularity. a. If an excommunicated person administers a sacrament, the administration is valid but gravely illicit, except in the case in which the faithful by right seek sacraments from him. If an excommunicated person to be avoided, or an excommunicated person against whom a condemnatory or declaratory sentence has been issued, does this, the sacrament of penance is also invalid, unless the faithful seek the sacrament by right.¹ Cn. 2261, 2264. When the faithful can seek sacraments from an excommunicated person is stated in n. 43.

b. If an irregular person administers a sacrament, the sacrament likewise is valid, even penance, because an irregular person is not deprived of jurisdiction, but only of the license of exercising the order received; but the administration is gravely illicit unless the sacrament is sought by the faithful by right.²

¹ A condemnatory sentence is that by which excommunication is judicially inflicted on someone for a public delict; a declaratory sentence, when circumstances require, is added to a penalty latae sententiae contracted for a hidden delict. It effects this, that the penalty or censure must be publicly observed from the moment the delict was committed.

² In more urgent hidden cases, in which the Ordinary cannot be approached and danger of grave harm or infamy is imminent, any confessor can dispense from irregularities arising from a hidden delict, except homicide and procurement of abortion, to the end that the penitent may licitly exercise orders already received. Cn. 990.

32. How great a sin it is to administer a sacrament in the state of sin. A consecrated minister certainly commits a grave sin who solemnly confects a sacrament with the entire rite prescribed by the Church while in the state of mortal sin, except in the case in which the necessity of conferring the sacrament is urgent and there is morally lacking time to procure for himself the state of grace at least through contrition: for since the sacraments were instituted for men, they can be administered in the state of sin rather than that the salvation of a soul be endangered.

a. Therefore he commits grave sin: alpha. who celebrates in mortal sin; beta. who solemnly baptizes; gamma. who absolves; delta. who confers extreme unction; epsilon. a bishop who confirms in mortal sin; zeta. who confers sacred orders. And indeed he commits one sin in number who in one administration confers the same sacrament successively upon several persons; therefore he who absolves several, baptizes several at once, confirms several, or ordains several in the state of sin commits several sins.¹

b. He who celebrates in mortal sin, according to the mind of St. Alphonsus (n. 35), following Holzmann and Mazzotta, commits four sacrileges: alpha. because he unworthily confects the sacrament; beta. unworthily receives it; gamma. unworthily ministers it; delta. ministers it to himself as unworthy. Others, with de Lugo² and Ballerini,³ rightly teach that one celebrating unworthily commits two sacrileges, because he unworthily consecrates and unworthily receives the sacrament.

¹ Cf. De principiis^13, n. 304.

² Cf. Lugo, disp. 8, n. 161.

³ Cf. Ballerini-Palmieri IV, n. 680.

33. Corollaries. Since grave sin must not be established unless it is certainly evident, grave sin is not committed where one of the three conditions required above for grave sin is lacking; but all concede that a light irreverence is committed. Therefore they do not sin gravely:

a. A layman who, when necessity is urgent, baptizes in the state of mortal sin, because he is not ordained and does not solemnly confect the sacrament; contracting parties who contract matrimony in mortal sin, insofar as they themselves are the ministers; but insofar as they are receivers, they indeed sin gravely.

b. A priest who administers the sacrament of baptism not solemnly, but privately without ceremonies in a case of necessity: for although he is consecrated, he does not act as consecrated, or as a public minister of the Church, but only as a private person (n. 17).

c. A priest or deacon who administers the eucharist, or touches or carries it, in mortal sin; likewise a parish priest assisting at matrimony in mortal sin, because they do not confect the sacrament. St. Alphonsus (n. 35), as to the dispensing of the eucharist, whether it is done by a priest or by a deacon, follows the stricter opinion as true.

d. A priest who hears a confession but does not absolve, or who exercises other sacred functions besides the conferral of a sacrament; a deacon who assists at solemn high Mass, although he exercises his order; likewise a preacher who gives a sacred sermon in mortal sin.

e. A bishop who in mortal sin confects chrism, blesses a chalice, consecrates a church, confers first tonsure or minor orders, because he does not confect a sacrament, although he exercises an order.

f. Indeed, not even a priest who solemnly ministers in mortal sin, but when necessity is urgent, as if the sacraments had to be conferred immediately upon a dying man and he could not so quickly elicit perfect contrition.¹

g. Although he cannot be excused from light irreverence who performs the sacramentals of the Church in the state of mortal sin, because he has been ordained to perform them and through them communicates graces to the faithful; nevertheless he cannot in any way be accused of sin who recites the divine office in the state of sin, because by it he simply satisfies a burden which does not have an intrinsic connection with ordination.

Article Fifth. On the Obligation of Ministering the Sacraments

As to the sacraments to be ministered, one obligation belongs to pastors and another to those who are not pastors. For the former are bound to minister the sacraments by office, the latter only by charity; wherefore the obligation of the former and its extent are taken from justice and charity, but the obligation of the latter only from charity. But all those are bound to administer the sacraments by office to whom the care of souls has been entrusted as an office: bishops, parish priests, their coadjutors or vicars, and, as regards regulars, their superiors.

¹ Cf. Lugo, disp. 8, n. 151.

34. Obligations of pastors. 1. Pastors are bound per se under grave sin from justice to administer the sacraments to their subjects reasonably asking, if they can do so without grave inconvenience: for by undertaking the pastoral office they have bound themselves to this by a tacit contract. The gravity of the sin which the pastor commits in this case must be measured from the spiritual harm of the subjects.

a. Subjects are judged to ask reasonably not only when they ask for the sacraments because of necessity, but also when they ask because of spiritual utility, e.g., if someone asks because he is in temptation or otherwise must remain long in sin.

b. Hence he who denies the sacraments to one asking irrationally or at an importune time does not sin, as, for example, one who does not always hear scrupulous persons or devout women whenever they present themselves. He who once or twice denies the sacraments to one who is not in spiritual necessity sins only lightly, because the harm can easily be repaired.

c. He who frequently shows himself difficult and morose in administering the sacraments sins gravely, because by this manner of acting he deters the faithful from receiving the sacraments. He sins gravely who reluctantly, and only hesitatingly and slowly, goes to the sick who are in danger of life in order to administer the last sacraments to them, because from this manner of acting there arises danger of grave spiritual harm for the parishioners. Parish priests sin gravely who hear confessions only on fixed days, for example, once or twice each month, or only on Saturdays and Sundays, and refer all the faithful who desire to confess during the week to Saturday, unless the faithful can elsewhere without difficulty find an occasion of confessing. For a petition of this kind cannot be called irrational; indeed, grave spiritual harm arises for the faithful from this manner of acting: for besides the fact that frequency of the sacraments is impeded in this way, among those asking, some can be in the state of sin, others in grave temptation, and others perhaps desire to gain a particular indulgence.

2. They are bound to minister necessary sacraments not only with grave inconvenience to themselves, but even with danger to health or life, to subjects who are in extreme spiritual necessity, and indeed also to those who are in grave spiritual necessity.

a. The Sacred Congregation of the Council declared two things: alpha. that a parish priest is bound to minister to his parishioners suffering from plague only the two sacraments necessary unto salvation, namely baptism and penance; beta. that it is not permitted to a parish priest to depart from the parish in time of plague, even if he leaves a suitable vicar in his place; nevertheless it is permitted to him to reserve for himself the care of the healthy, if the vicar is prepared to undertake the care of the sick, lest, namely, the healthy dread him whom they see approaching the plague-stricken.¹

b. Extreme unction is also to be referred to the necessary sacraments for those who have been deprived of their senses before they could be absolved. Although pastors in time of contagious disease are bound to administer, with grave danger of life, only the necessary sacraments, nevertheless it is most fitting that they confer also the non-necessary sacraments on the dying, namely viaticum and extreme unction.

c. He is found in spiritual necessity who is in danger of losing salvation.

He is found in extreme spiritual necessity who cannot provide for himself, and therefore without the help of another is in danger either simply or certainly morally of losing salvation. In extreme necessity are infants dying without baptism; unbelievers and heretics in danger of death; dying sinners who do not know that contrition is necessary for them and therefore do not think about having it, or who do not know how it is to be elicited.

He is found in grave spiritual necessity who can provide for himself only with great difficulty, and therefore without the help of another is in probable danger of losing salvation, as dying sinners who, neglecting the care of salvation, have lived rather unchristianly.

He is found in common spiritual necessity who, by applying some effort, can provide for himself without difficulty. In this necessity dying Christians ordinarily are found who have lived rather piously and have diligently fulfilled Christian duties.

3. Nevertheless pastors themselves are not bound personally to minister the sacraments, but can satisfy this office through their vicars; but if they are required by name by penitents or the dying, they themselves must come personally, unless they are impeded by more serious affairs.

¹ S. C. C., decree of 12 Oct. 1576, approved by Gregory XIII, issued by S. C. C. on 6 Dec. 1576. Cf. Benedict XIV, De synodo, l. 13, c. 19, n. 2.

35. Obligations of those who are not pastors. 1. Those who are not pastors are ordinarily bound to administer sacraments only if they can do so conveniently, and they are not bound under grave sin except to one who is in grave necessity.

2. They are bound under grave sin and with great inconvenience, indeed even with grave danger of life, to administer sacraments only if others are lacking, and only to those who are in extreme necessity.

Note 1. In order that a grave obligation of administering the sacraments, and that with danger of life, can be established, whether the question concerns pastors or those who are not pastors, it is required: a. that from this obligation greater evils not follow, as if, with a priest lacking, the salvation of several others would be brought into danger; b. that the necessity of the neighbor be certain; c. that the hope of saving the neighbor be morally certain.

Note 2. A common grave necessity, or necessity of the community, is equated with extreme necessity, because among many dying persons there certainly are not lacking those who are in extreme necessity. Therefore, in a common spiritual necessity, even a priest who is not a pastor is bound, if others are lacking, to impart absolution to the dying with danger to his own life.