Part Third. On the Precepts of the Church

¹ That the Church has power to make laws obliging in conscience is established from the nature of the Church, from certain sayings of Christ the Lord, and finally from the practice and doctrine of the Church.² Therefore the precepts of the Church also must be observed, so that we may be able to attain the end of eternal life. Some precepts of the Church are universal, which oblige all the faithful; others are particular, which refer to particular states of the faithful. The universal precepts, concerning which we must treat here, are listed by different authors in different ways as to number and order. Since the observance of feasts was treated above, where there was discussion of the third precept of the Decalogue, it remains to speak: a. of abstinence and fasting; b. of annual confession and Paschal communion; c. of the prohibition of books; to which, because of the peculiar circumstances of this time, must be added d. the support of pastors; e. the prohibition of cremating corpses.

¹ St. Alphonsus, l. 3, n. 1004-1050; Tamburini, In quinque ecclesiae praecepta (posthumous work); St. Fagundez, Quaestiones in quinque ecclesiae praecepta; M. Struggl, Theologia moralis, tract. VIII, De praeceptis ecclesiae; Ballerini-Palmieri, Opus theolog. morale, 3rd ed., II, n. 1103-1225; Lehmkuhl, Theologia moralis, 10th ed., I, 1201-1222; Genicot, Theologiae moralis instit., 8th ed., I, n. 434-460.

² Dogmatic theologians and canonists demonstrate this truth expressly. Palmieri, De romano pontifice (Rome: Typograph. S. C. de prop. fide, 1877), p. 126 ss.; Wernz, Ius decretalium (Rome: Typograph. S. C. de prop. fide, 1898), I, n. 90 ss.; Aichner, Compendium iuris ecclesiastici, 10th ed. (Brixen: Weger, 1900), section 23, 3.

The Commandments of the Church

Within this part

Book First. On Abstinence and Fastingnn. 673–691
- Question First. On the Precept of Abstinencenn. 673–678
  - Article First. On Abstinence from Flesh Meatnn. 674–676
  - Article Second. On Other Prohibited Foodsnn. 677–678
- Question Second. On the Precept of Fastingnn. 679–691
  - Article First. On the Precept of Fasting Itselfnn. 679–681
  - Article Second. On the One Mealnn. 682–686
  - Article Third. On Causes Excusing from Fastingn. 687
  - Article Fourth. On Dispensation from Abstinence and Fastingnn. 688–691
Book Second. On Annual Confession and Paschal Communionnn. 692–697
- Question First. On Annual Confessionnn. 692–693
- Question Second. On Paschal Communionnn. 694–697
Book Third. On the Prohibition of Booksnn. 698–714
- Question First. On the Prohibition of Books in Generalnn. 699–707
- Question Third. On the Censorship of Booksnn. 708–714
Book Fourth. On the Support of Pastors and Cremation of Corpsesnn. 715–717
- Question First. On the Precept of Supporting Pastorsn. 715
- Question Second. On the Prohibition of Cremating Corpsesnn. 716–717