Case 7. A Spaniard with His Bulla Cruciatae

Francis, a Spanish merchant staying at Liverpool in order to conduct various business affairs, must remain there for several months, afterward to return to Spain. Meanwhile, he makes his confession to a diocesan priest. He admits that he has eaten meat, as well as eggs and lacticinia, on days of abstinence and fasting, for he possesses the Bulla Cruciatae and is merely a peregrinus. In addition, he accuses himself both of sins reserved to the diocesan bishop and of those reserved to the Supreme Pontiff. Since the confessor does not know the force of the Bulla Cruciatae, he trusts the penitent when the latter asserts that he has the privilege of obtaining absolution, and absolves him. It is asked:

1. What is the Bulla Cruciatae, and what are its privileges?

2. Are these personal?

3. Is the Bulla Cruciatae in force outside Spain?

4. What is to be said concerning the case?

1. What is the Bulla Cruciatae, and what privileges does it confer?

The Bulla Cruciatae, or Bull of the Crusade, was a papal Bull which originally granted indulgences in favor of those who took part in the wars against the Moors in Spain. Those who could not fight against the infidel could help in the good work by contributing money, and those who did this were admitted to a share in the privileges granted by the Bull. The Bull continued to be granted after the crusades ceased, and the proceeds derived therefrom were devoted to the building of churches and other pious objects. Leo XIII granted a Bulla Cruciatae to Alphonsus XIII, in the year 1902, to be in force for twelve years. Besides plenary and other indulgences, this Bull grants to the faithful laity who live in the Spanish dominions, or who come thither from elsewhere, the faculty of eating meat on fasting-days, but this faculty can only be used within the Spanish dominions. The faithful are also empowered once during life, and once again at the hour of death, to choose a confessor who receives authority to absolve them from all reserved sins and censures except manifest heresy. The Archbishop of Toledo, as Commissary-General, is granted certain faculties for dispensing from ecclesiastical law and granting compositions to debtors who owe money to creditors whom they can not discover.¹

1 Acta S. S., vol. xxxv, p. 562.

2. Are these privileges personal ?

Yes, in general; but that which grants permission to eat meat on fasting-days can only be used within the Spanish dominions, and so this privilege is local as well as personal.

3. Is the Bulla Cruciatae granted for other countries besides Spain?

Yes, it is granted to the old kingdom of Naples, or the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, as it is sometimes called, to Portugal, and to Spanish America, which formerly were subject to the rule of Spain.

4. The case. Francis, a Spanish merchant staying for some months at Liverpool, goes to confession to one of the priests of the diocese. He says that he has eaten meat, eggs, and lacticinia on days of fasting and abstinence, for he has his Bulla Cruciatae. In doing this he did wrong, for the Bull expressly limits the use of this dispensation to the Spanish dominions.

Francis also accuses himself of sins reserved both to the bishop of the diocese and to the Holy See.

As Francis is a peregrinus, it is probable that he does not incur cases reserved to the Bishop of Liverpool, but, putting that question aside, he can be absolved once by virtue of the Bull from all cases reserved to any Ordinary, or to the Holy See, except from manifest heresy. This faculty is not restricted to any particular place, so that Francis can be absolved by the Liverpool priest unless he has already made use of the faculty.