Article — Noldin, Summa of Moral Theology
Article II. On Jurisdiction.
337. Definition. Division. 1. Jurisdiction, as it is taken here, is the power of remitting or retaining sins for subjects in the sacrament of penance.
a. The conferral of jurisdiction is an act of the will by which moral power over a subject is conferred. To him to whom jurisdiction is conferred, by that very fact there are at the same time determined the subjects over whom he can exercise jurisdiction.
b. Ordinaries and religious superiors are warned not to grant jurisdiction except to those who have been found suitable through an examination, or whose doctrine they have ascertained from elsewhere. But if they later doubt about this matter, they can require a new examination.1
c. Suitability for hearing confessions embraces two things, namely doctrine with prudence, and holiness of morals, such as is required in the vicar of Christ administering this sacrament.
- Jurisdiction is either ordinary or delegated: a. ordinary is called that which by the law itself is attached to an office; delegated is called that which has been committed to a person.2
b. Ordinary and delegated jurisdiction differ in this, that ordinary jurisdiction can be exercised everywhere even over one's own subjects outside the territory; but delegated jurisdiction cannot be exercised outside the territory.3
Hence bishops and pastors, who have ordinary jurisdiction, validly absolve the faithful committed to them outside the diocese, without needing the jurisdiction of the bishop of that place where they hear confessions; but chaplains and others having delegated jurisdiction need the jurisdiction of the bishop of the place in which they hear confessions in order validly to absolve the faithful of their own diocese outside the diocese.
1 Cn. 877.
2 Cn. 197.
3 Cn. 881, 2.
338. On the Manner of Delegating Jurisdiction. 1. Jurisdiction can be delegated: a. expressly, when the superior manifests the grant by some sensible sign; and tacitly, when the superior knows jurisdiction is being exercised and does not contradict it, although easily, if he wished, he could impede its exercise.
b. Directly, when the power of absolving is immediately committed to the priest himself; and indirectly, when the penitent is granted the faculty of choosing a priest for himself as confessor; to the priest elected in this way the superior confers jurisdiction in the election itself.
Jurisdiction is said to be delegated directly in a twofold manner: a. by man, when one having ordinary jurisdiction commits jurisdiction to someone by word or writing or another sign manifesting consent; b. by law, when through a constitution of the supreme pontiff the power of absolving is granted to certain persons.
Jurisdiction is said likewise to be delegated indirectly in a twofold manner: a. by man, if from a special grant of the supreme pontiff or bishop the faculty of choosing a confessor is granted, as is customary during the time of jubilee, when this faculty is granted to all; b. by law, if through a pontifical disposition the faculty of choosing a confessor for oneself is granted, as belongs to cardinals, bishops, and exempt prelates.
Cardinals can choose for themselves and their households a confessor who, if he lacks jurisdiction, obtains it by the law itself, even with respect to reserved sins and censures, excepting those reserved in a most special manner and those attached to the revelation of the secret of the Holy Office.1
Bishops are granted the same privilege, also with respect to cases reserved to the ordinary of the place.2
1 Cn. 239, 2.
2 Cn. 349, 1.
339. Assertions. 1. Jurisdiction, since it is a power over a subject, cannot be exercised except over a subject;1 but now, if we set aside the supreme pontiff, whose subject one becomes by entering the Church of Christ, someone can become the proper and ordinary subject of some ecclesiastical superior in only two ways: by domicile and by cooptation.
a. Domicile or quasi-domicile within the limits of the territory in which the ecclesiastical superior exercises jurisdiction is the chief manner by which almost all those who are subject to one having ordinary jurisdiction (pastor, bishop) are subjected.
b. By cooptation into a certain family, regulars, religious novices, boarder pupils, and domestic servants of monasteries are subjected to religious superiors.
Note. With respect to the exercise of sacramental jurisdiction, according to the new law all penitents are considered and treated as inhabitants of the place in which they make confession, and therefore by the very act of confession they are subjected to the confessor and become his subjects.
- For validly hearing confessions there is required ordinary or delegated jurisdiction, and that granted expressly by writing or by words.2
a. Therefore tacit conferral of jurisdiction does not suffice, nor does presumed jurisdiction suffice, even if it is foreseen that it certainly would be granted if it were sought: for it must be granted expressly. Moreover it is not lawful to presume a condition on which the validity of an act depends.
b. Therefore also for absolving from venial sins and from mortal sins already remitted, jurisdiction is required, since the remission of venial sins also in the sacrament of penance is made in the manner of a judgment. Moreover no jurisdiction is granted in ordination itself, but only outside ordination through an act of the will of the ecclesiastical superior.
- He who has jurisdiction, whether ordinary or delegated, can in that territory absolve all who approach, whether seculars or religious, whether pilgrims or wanderers, or the faithful of Oriental rites.3
1 Cn. 201, 1.
2 Cn. 879.
3 Cn. 881.
340. To Whom Ordinary Jurisdiction Belongs. The following have ordinary jurisdiction for absolving:
a. The supreme pontiff for the universal Church, who receives the fullness of jurisdiction immediately from Christ the Lord.
b. Cardinals for the universal Church by the disposition of the new law.
c. The ordinary of the place for his own territory, and his vicar general.
Under the name of ordinary of the place there come, each for his own territory, the residential bishop, the Abbot or Prelate nullius and their vicar general, the Administrator, Vicar, and Prefect Apostolic, and likewise those who, when the aforesaid are lacking, meanwhile succeed in governance.1
d. The pastor and those who are in the place of the pastor and act in his stead, likewise for their own territory.
a. In themselves, indeed, pastors by force of their office are approved and furnished with ordinary jurisdiction only for their own parish. But to avoid difficulties it is customary that pastors, indeed also chaplains, receive delegated jurisdiction for the whole diocese, unless the contrary is expressly established somewhere.
b. In the place of a pastor are: a. the vicar oeconomus (Pfarrverweser), whom the ordinary establishes to govern a vacant parish; b. the substituted vicar, who holds the place of an absent pastor, provided he has been lawfully substituted; g. the assistant vicar, who supplies the office of a pastor who, because of a permanent cause (old age, defect of mind, lack of skill, etc.), is unequal to performing his functions.
e. The canon penitentiary of both cathedral and collegiate church.
He can absolve also from sins and censures reserved to the bishop, from these both strangers within the diocese and diocesans outside the diocese.2
f. Superiors of an exempt religion over their subjects according to the norm of the constitutions.
1 Cn. 198.
2 Cn. 401, 1.
341. On Delegated Jurisdiction. 1. He who has ordinary jurisdiction can delegate it to others, unless this is expressly prohibited by law.1
Cardinals,2 pastors,3 and penitentiaries4 of cathedral or collegiate church cannot delegate jurisdiction, although they enjoy ordinary jurisdiction.
Delegated jurisdiction is territorial, i.e., outside the territory for which it has been granted it cannot be exercised validly.
Delegated jurisdiction for absolving, in relation to all penitents, both seculars and religious, is conferred upon all priests, both secular and religious, even exempt, by the Ordinary of the place in which confessions are heard.5
a. Therefore by the new law delegated jurisdiction for absolving in relation to all penitents in any diocese descends at least cumulatively from the ordinary of the place. At least cumulatively: because the superior of exempt religious also can grant jurisdiction for absolving exempt religious.
b. Religious priests are warned not to use the jurisdiction granted to them by bishops without at least the presumed permission of their superior,6 except in the case in which a religious would wish to make his confession for the peace of his conscience. Nevertheless absolution granted without the permission of the superior would not be invalid.
c. It is enjoined upon ordinaries of places not to grant jurisdiction for absolving habitually to religious who are not presented by their own superior; but they should not deny it without grave cause to those who are presented, with the right preserved of subjecting them to an examination by which they may be proved suitable.7
Delegated jurisdiction, or the permission of the superior, can be granted circumscribed by certain limits. Nevertheless ordinaries or superiors are warned not to restrict it too much without a reasonable cause.8
It is enjoined upon ordinaries and religious superiors not to revoke or suspend jurisdiction or permission except for a grave cause.9
It is not lawful for a bishop, without consulting the holy see, to take away jurisdiction all at once from all the confessors of some formed religious house.10
1 Cn. 199, 1.
2 Cn. 874, 1.
3 Cn. 874, 1. The Commission for the Interpretation of the Code declared on 16 Oct. 1919 that a pastor cannot delegate jurisdiction to priests, nor extend it, when already approved, beyond the limits of place and persons within which it had been circumscribed.
4 Cn. 401.
5 Cn. 874, 1.
6 Cn. 874, 1.
7 Cn. 874, 2.
8 Cn. 878, 2.
9 Cn. 880, 1.
10 Cn. 880, 3.
342. On the Cessation of Jurisdiction. 1. Ordinary jurisdiction ceases: a. by loss of office, whether by resignation or privation or removal or transfer or lapse of the predefined time; b. after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence of excommunication, suspension from office, or interdict.1
- Delegated jurisdiction ceases: a. by revocation, and that directly intimated to the delegate; b. by the lapse of the time or by exhaustion of the number of cases for which it had been granted; c. by change of territory; d. by lapse of the mandate.2
a. An absolution which has been conferred inadvertently after the time has elapsed or the number of cases has been exhausted is valid.3
b. Jurisdiction does not cease when the office ceases through the removal or death of the one delegating, if it had been granted without limitation; but it does cease if it had been granted for some particular person4 and confession has not yet been begun, or with the clause at our good pleasure.5
1 Cn. 873, 3 coll. cn. 183.
2 Cn. 207.
3 Cn. 207, 2.
4 Cn. 61.
5 Cn. 73.
343. On Jurisdiction over Those Sailing at Sea these things hold. 1. Any priests whatever making a sea journey, through the whole time of navigation, can hear the confessions both of all who are sailing and also of the faithful not sailing who, during the journey, if the ship stops, board the ship, and can absolve them even from cases reserved to their bishops, even if the ship passes or, during the journey, remains for some time in places subject to the jurisdiction of different ordinaries, provided the priests have received the faculty of absolving either from their own ordinary, or from the ordinary of the port in which they board the ship, or from the ordinary of the port through which they pass in the journey.
- If during the journey they go down to land for a time, they can hear the confessions both of those sailing and also of those not sailing who request it, and can absolve them validly and licitly even from cases reserved to the ordinary of the place.1
1 S. Officium, 4 April 1900; 23 Aug. 1905; 12 Dec. 1906. Cn. 883.