Introduction.

I have thought that the treatise on ecclesiastical penalties, which pertain to the proper object of canon law, should be added to moral theology, because in some schools the professor of moral theology also treats ecclesiastical penalties.

1. a. The power which Christ conferred upon His Church, that through it the faithful might be directed to the supernatural end of eternal life, is twofold: the power of order, which is an aptitude acquired by sacramental ordination for performing certain sacred actions, but especially the offering of the eucharistic sacrifice and the administration of the sacraments and sacramentals; and the power of jurisdiction, which is the power of ruling the faithful in order to eternal salvation.

The power of jurisdiction is again twofold: the power of teaching, or the power of ruling the faithful with respect to the intellect through precepts of faith; and the power of government, which is the power of ruling the faithful with respect to the will through precepts of morals.

b. That Christ instituted His Church as a true, visible, and perfect society, to which He conferred every power which is necessary for directing the faithful to the end of eternal salvation, is shown both by dogmatic theologians in fundamental theology and by canonists in public law. But in particular the same authors show that the power of jurisdiction with which Christ willed the Church to be furnished is not only the power of making laws, but also of exercising coercive force and of restraining transgressors of both divine and ecclesiastical laws by penalties. Now, therefore, after laws have been treated, the sanction of laws, or ecclesiastical penalties, must also be treated.

c. Namely, law needs a sanction, by which a reward is decreed for those observing it, but a penalty for those violating it. The sanction of the Christian law is twofold: one of the future life, another of the present life. The sanction of this life consists chiefly in ecclesiastical penalties, by which the Church strives to deter the faithful at least from violation of the graver laws and to compel them to fulfill their duties.

¹ Thesaurus-Giraldi, De poenis ecclesiasticis. J. Hollweck, Die kirchlichen Strafgesetze (Mainz: Kirchheim, 1899). Ballerini-Palmieri, Opus theol. morale^3 (Prati: Giachetti, 1901) VII, De poenis ecclesiasticis. Lehmkuhl, Theologia moralis^10 (Freiburg: Herder, 1902) II, 860-1030.