Chapter III. On Ecclesiastical Law

An ecclesiastical law is said to be one which is made by ecclesiastical power for the right governance of the Church and the eternal salvation of souls. - But the collection of various ecclesiastical laws constitutes canon law.

The body of canon law consists of six parts, constituting three volumes. They are: the Decree of Gratian, the Decretals, the Sext, the Clementines, the Extravagants of John XXII, and the Common Extravagants. Therefore:

I. The first part contains the Decree of Gratian, so called from Gratian, a Benedictine monk, collected and published in the year 1151 under the title: The Concordance of Discordant Canons. The work is distributed into three other parts, of which the first treats of ecclesiastical persons, the second of actions or of the matter and form of judgments, and the third of sacred things. - The first of these three parts is divided into one hundred and one distinctions, which are subdivided into chapters or canons; thus they are usually indicated: cap. Jejunium 7, dist. 76; or also: dist. 76, cap. 7. - But the second part is divided into thirty-six causes; the causes are divided into questions, and the questions into chapters. It is cited in the following way: cap. Qui viderit 13, quaest. 5, causa 32; or, causa 32, q. 5, cap. 13. - The treatise de Paeniten., which is found toward the middle of cause 33 and has seven distinctions, is cited thus: cap. Mensuram 86, dist. 1, de Paenitentia; or, de Paenitentia, dist. 1, cap. 86. Finally, the third part consists of five distinctions, which are divided into various chapters. They are cited thus: cap. Est unitas 49, dist. 4, de Consecrat., or, de Consecrat. dist. 4, cap. 49. For this part treats of the consecration of churches, altars, etc.

II. The second part of the body of law contains the Decretals, omitted by Gratian or issued after him, collected by St. Raymond of Penafort, of the Order of Preachers, by command of Gregory IX, and published in the year 1230. It is divided into five books, which have titles and chapters; moreover, they are cited in this way: cap. Pervenit 28, de Appellationibus; or, Decretal. lib. 2, tit. 28, cap. 28. - A chapter indicated in this latter way is found much more easily.

III. The third part contains the Sext. - The Sext, or sixth book of the Decretals, is so called because it is added to the five books of the Decretals of Gregory IX, and contains the Decretals issued from Gregory IX up to Boniface VIII. It appeared in the year 1298 by the authority of Boniface VIII; it is divided into five books, which also have titles and chapters. It is cited in the same way, but there is added in Sexto, or apud Bonifacium.

IV. The fourth part contains the Clementines, so called from Clement V, who commanded them to be collected after the Council of Vienne, over which he presided in the year 1311, and which are nothing other than Constitutions issued by Clement himself or by the Council of Vienne. John XXII promulgated them in the year 1317 in five books, which, no otherwise than the Decretals and the Sext, consist of titles and chapters. They are likewise cited in the same way, but in Clementinis is added.

V. The fifth part contains the Extravagants of John XXII, or Constitutions which he himself issued in the prior years of his pontificate. They are so called because they wander outside the body of law collected up to this point. They are usually indicated thus: Extrav. Joannis XXII, tit. 4, cap. I.

VI. Finally, the sixth part contains the Common Extravagants, which are so called because they were issued by John XXII and by several other Pontiffs. These also are divided into five books, which have chapters with titles, but not numbered. They are ordinarily cited thus: cap. Vas electionis, de Haereticis, Extravag. communib., or Extrav. comm. lib. 5, de Haereticis, cap. 2.

Other Constitutions of the Councils of Constance and Trent, and of the Roman Pontiffs, were afterward issued, but they had not yet been collected into the body of law.

The New Code of Canon Law. Pius X, "as soon as he took up the Pontificate ... entered upon the plan of gathering into one, in lucid order, all the laws of the Church issued up to these times; removed from it those things which were already abrogated or obsolete; others, where there was need, more suitably accommodated to our present morals; others also, if sometimes it seemed necessary or expedient, newly constituted."

Thus speaks the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XV concerning his Predecessor, who took care that the new Code of Canon Law be made with great daring. The matter had already long been among common desires, very arduous, scarcely possible to be done. But that great Pius, having shrunk from nothing which would enlarge the glory of God, set his hand to the work; he consulted the sacred Prelates of the Catholic world; he constituted a Council or Pontifical Commission with which rested the care of the whole affair; over this council, consisting of some Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, the Pontiff himself presided constantly; the Cardinal Fathers chose some Consultors from men most expert in canon law and theology. Although very many theologians of the Church gave themselves wholly to this duty of codification, like a giant among all stood out Cardinal Peter Gasparri of the Holy Roman Church, a new star of ecclesiastical sciences, the eye of the council or commission and the heart of the whole work. When the codification was nearing its end, the volumes of the various books in which it was printed were transmitted to the Prelates, that they might make their observations known to the Apostolic See. Cardinal Gasparri expanded these and brought them to the Cardinals of the special Council, who were to examine what had to be changed in the canons.

But behold, fatal times entered the world; the Supreme Pontiff, mourning and to be mourned by the whole world, departed from life when the Code was almost complete. Benedict XV, gloriously reigning, was substituted for him; he left nothing undone that an end might be imposed upon the affair. At last, by his Constitution Providentissima Mater Ecclesia, on the feast day of Pentecost in the year 1917, he promulgated in these words the Code, arranged by command of Pius X and begun twelve years before: "Therefore, having invoked the aid of divine grace, relying on the authority of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, by Our own Motu proprio, from certain knowledge and from the fullness of Apostolic power with which We are endowed, by this Our Constitution, which We will to be valid perpetually, We promulgate the present Code as it has been arranged, and decree and command that henceforth it have the force of law for the universal Church."

Then he decreed that it would have the force of obliging from the nineteenth day of the month of May in the year one thousand nine hundred eighteen.

Secretariat of State. - Concerning the Prescripts of Some Canons of the Code. - Bishops or other local Ordinaries, quite numerous, humbly asked Our Most Holy Lord Pope Benedict XV that, with no delay interposed, the prescripts of the Code begin to have force, that is, those which follow:

1st. Of canon 859, § 2;

2nd. Of canon 1108, § 3;

3rd. Of canon 1247, § 1;

4th. Of canons 1250, 1251, 1252, 1253, 1254.

The Most Blessed Father, in the audience given on the 19th day of the month of August to the undersigned Cardinal, benignly receiving the related petitions, decreed that the prescripts of the canons of which above have force from this very day; and besides, by Motu proprio, he granted that the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church already now enjoy all and each of the privileges which are described in can. 239, § 1, 240, 600, n. 3, 1189, 1401 of the same Code. He commanded that all these things be promulgated, anything whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding. From the Vatican buildings, on the 20th day of the month of August in the year 1917. P. Card. Gasparri, from the Secretariate of State.

This first Code of ecclesiastical laws, arranged by command of the Supreme Pontiff Pius X and promulgated by the authority of Benedict XV, is divided into five books. The first book, embracing General Norms, contains six titles, and canons 1-86. The second book, On Persons, contains three parts: one On clerics both in general and in species; another On religious; the third On lay persons; the first part has two sections, eight titles, and canons 108-486; before this part are placed canons 87-107 concerning various questions pertaining to diverse kinds of persons. The second part of the second book, On religious, contains nine titles, and canons 487-681. The third part of the same book, On lay persons, contains two titles, and canons 682-725. The third book, On Things, contains six parts: the first, On the Sacraments; the second, On sacred places and times; the third, On divine worship; the fourth, On the ecclesiastical magisterium; the fifth, On benefices and other non-collegial ecclesiastical institutes; the sixth, On the temporal goods of the Church. The first part of the third book, On the Sacraments, contains eight titles, and canons 731-1153; before this part are placed five canons concerning simony, 726-730; the second part, On sacred places and times, contains two sections, six titles, and canons 1154-1254; the third part, On divine worship, has five titles, and canons 1255-1321; the fourth part, On the ecclesiastical magisterium, contains five titles, and canons 1322-1408; the fifth part, On benefices and other non-collegial ecclesiastical institutes, contains two titles, and canons 1409-1494; the sixth part, On the temporal goods of the Church, contains four titles, and canons 1495-1551. Book fourth, On Processes, contains three parts: one On trials; another On causes of beatification of the Servants of God and canonization of the Blessed; the third, On the mode of proceeding in certain affairs to be expedited or penal sanctions to be applied. The first part, On trials, contains two sections, twenty-one titles, and canons 1556-1998; before this part are placed the more universal canons 1552-1555 On trials; the second part, On causes of beatification, etc., contains five titles, and canons 1999-2141; the third part, On the mode of proceeding, etc., contains seven titles, and canons 2142-2194. Book fourth, On Delicts and Penalties, contains three parts: one On delicts; another On penalties; the third On penalties for individual delicts. The first part contains three titles, and canons 2195-2213; the second part contains two sections, seven titles, and canons 2214-2313; the third part contains nine titles, and canons 2314-2414.

For better understanding, interpreting, and applying this Code, the following canons or General Norms will be of service. Since these and the rest ordinarily are very perspicuous and brief, for the most part we shall cite them word for word, so that in any occurring question it may be clear to anyone what the law commands, and with what words it is expressed.

Although in the Code of Canon Law the discipline also of the Oriental Church is often referred to, nevertheless the Code itself regards only the Latin Church, and does not oblige the Oriental Church, unless it concerns those things which from the very nature of the matter also affect the Oriental Church (Can. 1).

The Code, for the most part, decrees nothing concerning the rites and ceremonies which the liturgical books, approved by the Latin Church, command to be observed in the celebration of the most holy sacrifice of the Mass, in the administration of the Sacraments and Sacramentals, and in the performance of other sacred things. Wherefore all liturgical laws retain their force, unless some one of them is expressly corrected in the Code (Can. 2).

The canons of the Code in no way abrogate agreements entered into by the Apostolic See with various Nations, nor do they obrogate anything from them; therefore these will continue to have force just as at present, the contrary prescripts of this Code in no way notwithstanding (Can. 3).

These agreements therefore remain in their full force. The question is of concordats, therefore not of this or that concession perhaps made to this or that nation. Concordats have force as if the Code did not exist.

Rights acquired by others, and likewise privileges and indults which, granted by the Apostolic See up to these times to persons whether physical or moral, are still in use and have not been revoked, remain entire, unless they are expressly revoked by the canons of this Code (Can. 4).¹

A person is either physical or moral. By baptism a man is constituted a person with all the rights and duties of Christians, unless, as regards rights, an obstacle stands in the way, impeding the bond of ecclesiastical communion, or a censure imposed by the Church; the Catholic Church and the Apostolic See have the character of a moral person from divine ordination itself; other inferior moral persons in the Church obtain it either from the very prescript of law or from a special concession of the competent ecclesiastical Superior, given by formal decree for a religious or charitable end.

Privileges, etc., granted by the Apostolic See to these two persons, which are still in use and have not been revoked, remain entire unless they are expressly revoked by the canons.

Customs presently in force against the statutes of these canons, whether universal or particular, if indeed they are expressly reprobated by the canons themselves, are to be corrected as corruptions of law, even if they are immemorial, and are not to be permitted to revive in the future; others, which indeed are centenary and immemorial, can be tolerated if the Ordinaries, according to the circumstances of places and persons, judge that they cannot prudently be removed; the rest are to be held suppressed, unless the Code expressly provides something else (Can. 5).

The Code for the most part retains the discipline in force up to this point, although it introduces opportune changes. Therefore:

1st. Any laws whatsoever, whether universal or particular, opposed to the prescripts of this Code, are abrogated, unless concerning particular laws something else is expressly provided;

2nd. Canons which refer the old law in its entirety are to be esteemed from the authority of the old law, and therefore from interpretations received among approved authors;

3rd. Canons which agree only in part with the old law, insofar as they agree, are to be esteemed from the ancient law; insofar as they differ, they are to be judged from their own sentence;

4th. In doubt whether some prescript of the canons differs from the old law, there is not to be a departure from the old law;

5th. As regards penalties of which no mention is made in the Code, whether they are spiritual or temporal, medicinal or, as they call them, vindicative, latae or ferendae sententiae, they are to be held as abrogated;

6th. If any of the other disciplinary laws which have been in force up to now is contained neither explicitly nor implicitly in the Code, it must be said to have lost all force, unless it is found in approved liturgical books, or the law is of divine right, whether positive or natural (Can. 6).

Under the name Apostolic See or Holy See in this Code come not only the Roman Pontiff, but also, unless from the nature of the matter or from the context of speech something else appears, the Congregations, Tribunals, and Offices through which the same Roman Pontiff is accustomed to expedite the affairs of the universal Church (Can. 7).

On the Roman Curia. The Roman Curia consists of Sacred Congregations, Tribunals, and Offices, as they are enumerated and described below (Can. 242).

§ 1. In the individual Congregations, Tribunals, and Offices, discipline is to be observed and affairs are to be handled according to the norms, both general and particular, which the Roman Pontiff has furnished to them.

§ 2. All who belong to the Congregations, Tribunals, and Offices of the Roman Curia are held to preserving secrecy within the limits and according to the mode determined from the discipline proper to each one (Can. 243).

§ 1. Nothing grave or extraordinary is to be done in these Congregations, Tribunals, and Offices unless it has previously been signified to the Roman Pontiff by their Moderators.

§ 2. Any graces and resolutions whatsoever need pontifical approval, excepting those for which special faculties have been bestowed upon the Moderators of those Offices, Tribunals, and Congregations, and excepting the sentences of the Tribunal of the Sacred Roman Rota and of the Apostolic Signatura (Can. 244).

A controversy, if any should arise, concerning competence among the Sacred Congregations, Tribunals, or Offices of the Roman Curia, is settled by a group of Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church whom the Roman Pontiff shall have designated on each occasion (Can. 245).

¹ Cf. Addenda, p. 1105, n. 47.