On Ecclesiastical Censures

1137. In order that laws may be observed more efficaciously, they must be fortified by some sanction; for this reason the Church is accustomed to sanction principal delicts with certain penalties. Now an ecclesiastical penalty is "the privation of some good, inflicted by legitimate authority, for the correction of the delinquent and the punishment of the delict."¹⁶

¹⁶ Code, c. 2215.

There are three kinds of penalties: 1. medicinal penalties or censures, which directly tend to the amendment of the delinquent; 2. vindicative penalties,¹⁷ which directly tend to the expiation and avoidance of the delict, for example, local interdict, infamy of law, deposition, degradation; 3. penal remedies,¹⁸ such as admonition, correction, precept, vigilance; and also penances,¹⁹ which are imposed so that the delinquent may either avoid a penalty, or receive absolution or dispensation from a contracted penalty, for example, spiritual exercises, recitation of determinate prayers.

¹⁷ Code, c. 2286.

¹⁸ Code, c. 2306.

¹⁹ Code, c. 2312.

Here, however, it must be noted that these penalties do not obtain their full effect in the external forum except after a declaratory sentence, as is established from can. 2232: "A penalty latae sententiae, whether medicinal or vindicative, binds the delinquent who is conscious of his delict ipso facto in both forums; nevertheless, before a declaratory sentence, the delinquent is excused from observing the penalty as often as he cannot observe it without infamy, and in the external forum no one can exact from him the observance of the same penalty..."

Here we shall treat especially of censures, leaving the other things to be explained by Canonists.

There will be three articles: in the first, we shall hand down general principles concerning censures; in the second, we shall treat censures in species, namely excommunication, suspension, and interdict; in the third, censures latae sententiae in the individual.

1138. 1. Definition of censure. Censure is defined: a spiritual and medicinal penalty, by which a baptized man, delinquent and contumacious, is deprived of certain spiritual goods, or goods annexed to spiritual things, until, withdrawing from contumacy, he is absolved.¹

¹ Code, c. 2241.

It is said: a) penalty, or something bringing trouble; and thus it is distinguished from irregularity, which is an inability for receiving or exercising orders, and from reservation, by which the jurisdiction of the confessor is limited without a penalty properly being inflicted on the penitent. b) This penalty consists in privation of certain spiritual goods, such as the sacraments, or of goods annexed to spiritual things, such as ecclesiastical benefices. c) Hence the penalty is spiritual. d) It is moreover medicinal, or tending to the amendment of the delinquent: whence it is imposed only until the guilty person, withdrawing from contumacy, receives absolution.²

² Code, c. 2248.

1139. 2. Division of censures. a) By reason of the manner in which they are established, censures are a jure, if the determined penalty is established in the law itself; ab homine, if it is brought by way of a particular precept, or by a judicial condemnatory or declaratory sentence, even if established in law.³ b) By reason of the manner in which they are incurred, censures are latae or ferendae sententiae, according as they are incurred by the fact itself before any condemnatory sentence, or only after such a sentence. c) By reason of the manner in which they are absolved, censures are reserved, or reserved to no one, according as absolution is reserved to Ordinaries, or even to the Roman Pontiff, or can be given by all confessors. d) By reason of divulgation, censures are notorious when either by the sentence of a judge, or by the confession of the delinquent made in judgment, or by the perpetration of the delict in a public place, it is so known that someone has incurred a censure that this cannot be concealed; otherwise, they are called occult.⁴ e) By reason of the effects, that is, of the goods of which the censured person is deprived, three censures are enumerated, namely: excommunication, suspension, and interdict. We shall speak of each species in the following article.

³ Code, c. 2217.

⁴ Cod. jur. can., 2197.

3. Concerning the author of censures.

1140. A) He who enjoys the power of making law or imposing precepts⁵ can bring censures. - A vicar general without special mandate does not have this power.⁶

⁵ Ibid., 2220.

⁶ Ibid.

a) Therefore the power of bringing censures is had by: 1) the Roman Pontiff and the ecumenical Council for the universal Church; 2) apostolic legates, for the territory assigned to them; 3) the provincial Council, for its province; 4) bishops,⁷ upon their diocesans while they are staying in the diocese; also upon diocesans staying outside the diocese when they violate not the law but a precept of the bishop (more probably), or after they have committed a delict in their own diocese, indeed outside the diocese; upon pilgrims who, while they are traveling in some diocese, there commit a delict; upon exempt persons in cases determined by law; 5) superiors of religious, according to the statutes of their order, upon their subjects existing in any place whatever, since their jurisdiction is personal rather than territorial.⁸

⁷ Say the same, when the see is vacant, of the capitular vicar, or of the Chapter itself before the deputation of the capitular vicar. Abbots having quasi-episcopal jurisdiction are also assimilated to bishops in this respect.

⁸ Pastors cannot bring censures, because they never had true jurisdiction in the external forum.

b) All and only clerics to whom this has been committed by those having ordinary power have delegated power of bringing censures. But delegates cannot subdelegate unless this is expressly conceded to them, or they have been delegated by the Roman Pontiff, or for the universality of causes.

1141. B) Concerning the solemnities to be observed in bringing censures.

a) If there is question of censures ferendae sententiae and ab homine, a threefold warning, or at least one equivalent to three, which is called peremptory, must be sent beforehand;⁹ for censures can be brought only upon the contumacious (n. 1144). But the sentence must be delivered in writing, for liceity indeed, but not for validity.¹⁰

⁹ Cod. jur. can., 2233, 2242.

¹⁰ Cf. Code, c. 1877 and c. 2239, § 2.

b) But if there is question of censures latae sententiae or even of a censure ferendae sententiae but a jure, no special warning is required, since the law itself or the precept continually warns.¹¹

¹¹ Code, c. 2232, 2242, § 2.

1142. 4. Concerning the subject of censures.

From the definition itself of censure, it is required that the one to be censured be a man, baptized, delinquent, and contumacious.

A) A man,¹² wayfaring and capable of guile, that is, of sin, since censure supposes a delict.

¹² Excommunication against harmful animals, which was long in use, is not properly excommunication, but a suppliant prayer that God drive them away. Against demons, the Church uses exorcisms, not censures.

"Those who have not reached puberty are excused from penalties latae sententiae, and should be corrected by educative punishments rather than by censures or other more grave vindicative penalties; but those who have reached puberty, who have induced them to violate the law or have concurred with them in the delict, themselves indeed incur the penalty established by law."¹³

¹³ Code, 2230.

B) Baptized. For the Church does not judge those who are outside.¹⁴

¹⁴ 1 Cor. 5:12; Trent, sess. XIV, De Paenit., c. 2.

1143. C) Delinquent. Now the delict must be external, mortal, and consummated.

a) External: for the Church does not judge concerning internal things. We do not say public; for even an occult sin can be external, for example, heresy pronounced by mouth, even without any witness.

b) Mortal: otherwise there would not be proportion between the delict and the penalty, since censure is a most grave ecclesiastical penalty.

Therefore whatever excuses from mortal sin also excuses from censure.¹⁵ Hence if in fact the one against whom a censure has been brought has not committed a subjectively mortal sin, although in the external forum he must be held and conduct himself as censured in order to avoid scandal, nevertheless he is not truly censured before God, nor therefore deprived of those spiritual goods of which censure deprives.

¹⁵ "Not only the things which excuse from all imputability, but also those which excuse from grave imputability, likewise excuse from any penalty, whether latae or ferendae sententiae, even in the external forum, if the excuse is proved for the external forum." Code, 2218.

Moreover, the delict must be mortal insofar as it is external, so that, if the sin is mortal but not insofar as it is external, censure is not incurred: for example, a very slight striking of a cleric from a gravely evil intention.

c) Consummated: that is, it is required that precisely that delict which the legislator intends to prohibit under penalty be perfectly completed; for penal laws are of strict interpretation.¹⁶ Yet if the attempt of a delict is punished in law by a peculiar penalty, it constitutes a true delict and suffices for incurring censure.¹⁷

¹⁶ Cf. Cod. jur. can., 2219, 2228.

¹⁷ Code, c. 2212.

1144. D) Contumacious. For contumacy it is required that the delinquent know, at least habitually, even if he does not actually think about the prohibition and penalty, that something is prohibited by ecclesiastical law and under censure, and nevertheless freely act against the ecclesiastical prohibition.

But the following excuse from contumacy: a) grave fear, indeed even light fear when the censure is brought against those presuming, acting with rash daring, doing something spontaneously or knowingly or deliberately; b) ignorance of the law or penalty which is not affected, crass, or supine.¹⁸

¹⁸ Yet when a censure is brought against those who sin "rashly," "with rash daring," "knowingly," "deliberately," etc., even crass or supine ignorance excuses, but not affected ignorance. Cod. jur. can., 2229. - If there is question of a penalty ferendae sententiae, he is called contumacious who, having been canonically warned, perseveres in the delict (can. 2233, § 2).

1145. Various things to be noted. a) "Unless they are expressly named, Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church are not comprehended under a penal law, nor Bishops under penalties latae sententiae of suspension and interdict."¹⁹ Moreover those who hold the supreme principate of peoples, and their sons and daughters, or those who have the right of immediately succeeding to the principate, incur only penalties inflicted or declared by the Roman Pontiff.²⁰

¹⁹ Code, c. 2227, § 2.

²⁰ Code, c. 2227 and 1557.

b) In censures, the more benign interpretation is to be made.²¹ Hence censures brought upon the people do not bind the clergy; those brought upon the clergy do not bind the people, nor regulars who emit solemn vows, but more probably they bind religious of simple vows.

²¹ Code, c. 19, 20, 2219.

c) Someone can be simultaneously liable to several censures of different species (excommunication, suspension), or to several of the same species (for example, several excommunications): either because by the same or distinct action he has committed different delicts, each of which has a censure annexed; or because the same delict is punished by different censures by distinct Superiors; or because the delict punished by censure is repeated several times. - Censure ab homine is multiplied if several precepts or several sentences are violated.²²

²² Ibid., 2244.

d) In doubt whether a censure has been contracted or not, the censure does not bind,²³ unless there is doubt whether the penalty, inflicted by a competent Superior, is just.²⁴

²³ Can. 2233.

²⁴ Can. 2219.

1146. 5. Concerning absolution from censures.

Censure properly so called, once it has been contracted, is not removed by the death either of the censured person or of the one censuring; nor by the cessation of the law or precept; nor by the amendment of the guilty person, but only by absolution given by a competent superior.²⁵

²⁵ Can. 2248.

A) No one can absolve from censures brought ab homine, except the one who brought the censure, or his successor, or superior (provided he has jurisdiction over the censured person), or their delegate. In danger of death, every reservation ceases.

1147. B) Censures brought by common law are either reserved to no one, or reserved to the Roman Pontiff or to the Ordinary.

a) From censures reserved to no one, any confessor validly and licitly absolves in the sacramental forum; outside the sacramental forum, anyone who has jurisdiction over the guilty person in the external forum.²⁶

²⁶ Code, c. 2253.

b) From censures reserved to the Roman Pontiff, the following can absolve: the Roman Pontiff himself and the Major Penitentiary; bishops; delegated priests; indeed sometimes any priest, under conditions and with limitations to be explained in the Treatise on Penance.

c) In occult cases, the Ordinary can, by himself or through another, remit penalties latae sententiae established by common law, except censures reserved to the Holy See in a most special or special manner.²⁷

²⁷ Code, c. 2232, § 2.

1148. d) But from censures reserved to the Ordinary, the Roman Pontiff, the Bishop, the capitular Vicar, the vicar general, the regular Prelate (his own subjects), the Archbishop in the case of visitation or appeal, and their delegate absolve;²⁸ indeed sometimes any priest, as is explained in the Treatise on Penance.

²⁸ He who has delegated power of absolving from censures reserved to the Roman Pontiff is not for this reason able to absolve from censures reserved to the Ordinary. But he who has a special faculty of absolving from censures even reserved to the Roman Pontiff can absolve from censures (of common law) reserved to the Ordinary.

1149. C) From censures brought by particular law and not reserved, any confessor can absolve validly and licitly in the sacramental forum; outside the sacramental forum, anyone who has jurisdiction over the guilty person in the external forum.²⁹ - But if they are reserved, no one can absolve from them, except the one to whom they are reserved, or his superior, or successor, or delegate; yet in an urgent case, and in danger of death, any priest can absolve, under certain conditions, as is explained in the Treatise on Penance.

²⁹ Code, c. 2253, 1.

1150. Things to be noted concerning absolution from censures. A) For absolving from censures, jurisdiction over the one to be absolved is required in the one absolving, but not necessarily sacramental jurisdiction; for absolution from censures can be given by a Superior, or his delegate, even one who is not a priest.

B) Absolution from censures can be separated from absolution from sins.

Hence if sacramental confession cannot be had immediately, and on the other hand reasons are present that the guilty person be absolved immediately from censures, he can be absolved from censures, although not from sins: for example, if a priest having power of absolving from reserved censures does not have time to hear an integral confession, or if the guilty person is not prepared to make it, the priest can hear only the cases which have a censure annexed, and absolve from censures, and send the penitent to another who, after hearing the confession, would absolve from sins.³⁰

³⁰ Gury-Ballerini, n. 954.

"But if there is question of a censure which does not impede the reception of the Sacraments, the censured person, rightly disposed and withdrawing from contumacy, can be absolved from sins, with the censure remaining firm" (can. 2250).

If, from a rescript, absolution from censures cannot be given unless sacramental confession has first been heard, care must be taken that the penitent be disposed for the absolution of sins. But the absolution from censures would be valid provided the sacramental accusation of sins had preceded.³¹

³¹ S. Penit., January 4, 1839.

C) No special formula is required for imparting absolution from censures in the sacramental forum, unless otherwise prescribed in the rescript. The confessor absolves by the very formula of absolution. Yet for absolution from excommunication in the non-sacramental forum, it is regularly fitting to use the form handed down in the ritual books.³²

³² Can. 2250.

D) Absolution from censures can be given to one absent, indeed even unwilling. But absolution given to one unwilling does not have its effect as to a censure which is annexed to a sin still enduring, for example, adherence to a Masonic sect.

E) He who is bound by several censures can be absolved from one, without being absolved from the others. Hence "one seeking absolution must indicate all cases; otherwise the absolution is valid only for the expressed case; but if the absolution, although a particular petition was made, was general, it is valid also for things concealed in good faith, excepting a censure reserved to the Apostolic See in a most special manner."³³

³³ Can. 2249.

We shall declare its nature and effects.

1151. I. Nature. Excommunication is a censure by which someone is separated from the communion of the faithful.

Among the excommunicated, some are tolerated, others are to be avoided, according as it is lawful or not to communicate with them.

Formerly, all who were struck by major excommunication had to be avoided by the faithful. Now, no one is to be avoided unless he has been excommunicated by name by the Apostolic See, the excommunication has been publicly denounced, and in the decree or sentence it is expressly said that he must be avoided.¹

¹ Can. 2258.

1152. II. The effects are expressed by canonists in these little verses:

Sacred things, rites, communion, crypt, power,
Sacred estates, forum, civil rights are forbidden.

1. Sacred things. By these words there is interdicted to the excommunicated person both the reception and the administration of the sacraments.

A) As to the reception of the sacraments, the excommunicated person is prohibited under grave sin from receiving the sacraments,² unless grave necessity excuses, for example, fear of death, danger of grave infamy, etc.³ Yet an excommunicated person validly receives any sacraments, even penance itself, at least if he approaches it in good faith. But the excommunicated person is bound to dispose himself for absolution, so that he may satisfy the precept concerning paschal Communion.

² Code, c. 2260. Cf. can. 855, § 1.

³ Thus D'Annibale (I, n. 360) judges that an excommunicated person, even one to be avoided, is not kept from Penance if he is in lethal sin and would long be deprived of a confessor. For then grave necessity presses.

B) As to the administration of the sacraments: a) the excommunicated person is prohibited from licitly confecting and administering Sacraments and Sacramentals, with the exceptions which follow preserved:

a) The faithful can for any just cause seek Sacraments and Sacramentals from an excommunicated person, especially if other ministers are lacking; and then the excommunicated person who is requested can minister the same and is held by no obligation of questioning the one requesting about the cause; b) but from excommunicated persons to be avoided, and also from other excommunicated persons after a condemnatory or declaratory sentence has intervened, the faithful can, in danger of death alone, seek both sacramental absolution and also, if other ministers are lacking, the other Sacraments and Sacramentals.⁴ - Any excommunicated person is also prohibited from the right of electing, presenting, and nominating.⁵

⁴ Code, c. 2265.

⁵ Code, c. 2261.

1153. 2. Rites. Any excommunicated person lacks the right of assisting at divine offices, but not at the preaching of the word of God. If a tolerated person assists passively, it is not necessary that he be expelled; if one to be avoided does so, he must be expelled, or, if he cannot be expelled, the office must cease, provided this can be done without grave inconvenience; but from active assistance, which carries with it some participation in celebrating divine offices, not only one to be avoided is to be repelled, but also anyone who, after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence or otherwise, is notoriously excommunicated.⁶

⁶ Code, c. 2259.

3. Communion. By this word is indicated privation of common suffrages, that is, spiritual helps which are accustomed to come to the faithful from good works done in the name of the Church, or from the treasury of the Church. Of this kind are the fruits of Mass and the Breviary, insofar as they are performed in the name of the Church, indulgences, sacramentals, etc. - Excommunicated persons, even those to be avoided, are not deprived of private suffrages which, from good works done in a private name, are applied by private intention. - Indeed priests privately and with scandal removed can apply Mass for an excommunicated person; but if he is to be avoided, only for his conversion.⁷

⁷ Code, c. 2262.

1154. 4. Crypt, that is, ecclesiastical burial, must be denied: A) To excommunicated persons after a condemnatory or declaratory sentence.⁸ If, without signs of penance, an excommunicated person dies after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence, the cemetery is violated by his burial;⁹ but if he dies penitent, he must be absolved (cf. Rit. Rom., tit. 3, c. 4), and buried in a sacred place. B) But as to tolerated persons, although they have no right to ecclesiastical burial, this nevertheless can be conceded to them. Yet often it will have to be denied to them for another reason, namely if they are public sinners, or notorious heretics (or apostates).

⁸ Code, c. 2260.

⁹ Code, c. 1207, 1172.

To this pertain, for example, the responses of the Sacred Penitentiary concerning deputies or senators who in France approved laws against religion by their vote. They must be held as excommunicated; they are to be deprived of ecclesiastical burial if it is notoriously established that they died in their sin; but if they died penitent, they are not to be deprived of the customary honors. In doubt, let them be buried without solemnities, for example, let only a low Mass be conceded, with a simple absolution of the corpse.¹⁰

¹⁰ S. Penit., May 20, 1908; cf. Canoniste, XXXI, p. 558.

5. Power, that is, jurisdiction, is taken away from an excommunicated person if a condemnatory or declaratory sentence has been brought against him, so that he exercises it illicitly and invalidly, whether in the external forum or in the internal forum, except the case of necessity in danger of death. But a tolerated person, even a notorious one, is not deprived of jurisdiction, and exercises it licitly if he has been asked by the faithful.¹¹

¹¹ Code, c. 2261, 2264.

6. Sacred estates, or benefices, cannot validly be conferred upon an excommunicated person,¹² even a tolerated one. But an excommunicated person retains benefices previously possessed, and makes their fruits his own, provided a condemnatory or declaratory sentence has not intervened.¹³ But any excommunicated person is prohibited from performing ecclesiastical offices or functions and from enjoying privileges previously conceded by the Church.¹⁴ But one to be avoided remains at once deprived of dignity itself, office, or benefice.¹⁵

¹² Code, c. 2265.

¹³ Code, c. 2266.

¹⁴ Code, c. 2263.

¹⁵ Code, c. 2266.

By the new law, graces of every kind conceded by the Holy See, even to those entangled in censure, are ratified and legitimate, unless there is question of those who are excommunicated persons to be avoided, or excommunicated persons by declaratory or condemnatory sentence. The same things have been sanctioned as to the suspended and interdicted.¹⁶

¹⁶ Code, c. 2265, § 2; c. 2283; c. 2275.

7. Forum: namely every communication in the forum (formerly even in the civil forum) with the faithful is interdicted to the excommunicated person.¹⁷ And so: a) he cannot be judge, arbiter, advocate, procurator, notary, witness, etc. But if he is cited as accused, he can do all things which are required for his defense, unless he is one to be avoided or has undergone a declaratory or condemnatory sentence.¹⁸ b) But a tolerated person is excluded from no function by the law itself,¹⁹ but can be repelled by the judge, by the plaintiff, or by the accused.

¹⁷ Code, c. 2263: "An excommunicated person is removed from legitimate ecclesiastical acts."

¹⁸ Code, c. 1654.

¹⁹ Ibid.

1155. 8. Civil rights. "The faithful must avoid communion in profane matters with an excommunicated person to be avoided, unless there is question of spouse, parents, children, servants, subjects, and generally unless a reasonable cause excuses."²⁰

²⁰ Code, c. 2267.

Formerly communication in civil matters, even with tolerated persons, was prohibited. But Martin V (Const. Ad evitanda) benignly granted to the faithful that, scandal or danger of one's own perversion being excluded, no one was bound to abstain from communion with a tolerated person.

A) The acts prohibited with one to be avoided are expressed by this little verse:

Mouth, prayer, greeting, communion, table are denied.

Hence it is not lawful (unless in excepted cases) to write to one to be avoided, to give a kiss or some sign of special benevolence (mouth); nor to pray with him, even privately, at least under venial sin, unless a state of subjection excuses (prayer); nor to greet him for the sake of exhibiting honor, unless civility requires (greeting); nor to enter into society with him (communion), or to feast as a table-companion (table).

B) Excepted cases. Communication in civil matters with one to be avoided is lawful when necessity or utility excuses, whether spiritual or temporal, either of the excommunicated person himself, or of the faithful person communicating with one to be avoided, or of some third person.

C) Penalties against those communicating. That prohibition of communicating with one to be avoided, although in itself it does not oblige under mortal sin unless the communication is in divine matters, still subsists,²¹ and those violating it sometimes undergo certain penalties.

²¹ Holy Office, August 2, 1893, A. S. S., XXXI, 401.

We shall weigh its nature and effects.

1156. I. Nature. 1. Notion. Suspension is "a censure by which a cleric is prohibited from office or benefice or both." Hence: a) it touches only clerics, because only they can enjoy office or benefice and be deprived of it; b) suspension does not deprive one of ecclesiastical power itself, but only removes the right of using that power:²² and thus it differs from deposition,²³ which deprives the cleric of office itself.

²² Can. 2279, § 1.

²³ Can. 2303.

2. Species. a) Suspension ab homine can be brought in a threefold way: as a precaution, for removing scandals, against a cleric suspected of crime:²⁴ this suspension is not a penalty, but a simple prohibition; or by way of vindicative penalty, whether for a time or perpetually, in punishment of some delict; or by way of medicinal penalty, until the delinquent comes to his senses, and this is properly a censure. b) Suspension can be total or partial, according as it deprives a cleric wholly or partly of the use of ecclesiastical power.²⁵

²⁴ Code, c. 2222.

²⁵ Code, c. 2278.

1157. II. Effects. 1. He against whom total suspension is brought is suspended from office and from benefice, that is, from the exercise of a spiritual function (office), and from the right of using the temporal goods annexed to this function (benefice); but not from the right of administering benefice goods, unless the decree or sentence of suspension expressly takes away from the suspended person the very power of administering and attributes it to another.¹ - But the suspension which is brought absolutely without any determination is judged total.²

¹ Code, c. 2280.

² Code, c. 2278.

2. Partial suspension can be either from office or from benefice.

A) Office comprehends two things: the power of order and the power of jurisdiction.

a) Suspension from office simply, with no limitation added, forbids every act both of the power of order and of jurisdiction, and also of mere administration competent from office, with the administration of the goods of one's own benefice excepted.³

³ Code, c. 2279, § 1.

b) Suspension from divine things forbids every act of the power of order which one obtains either through sacred ordination or through privilege.⁴

⁴ Ibid., § 2.

c) Suspension from orders forbids every act of the power of order received through ordination; suspension from exercising a certain and definite order forbids every act of the designated order, the conferring of the same order, and the receiving of a higher one, and the exercise, after suspension, of one received; suspension from conferring a certain and definite order forbids the conferring of that order itself, but not an inferior or a higher one.⁵ - One suspended from an order, if he solemnly exercises an act of the sacred order from which he is suspended, becomes irregular.⁶

⁵ Ibid., § 2.

⁶ Code, c. 985.

d) Suspension from jurisdiction generally forbids every act of the power of jurisdiction for both forums, ordinary as well as delegated. Indeed a suspended person exercises jurisdiction invalidly if he is one to be avoided or under a declaratory or condemnatory sentence,⁷ and on the other hand jurisdiction is necessary for the validity of the act; but he does not become irregular. Someone can also be suspended from determinate acts of jurisdiction: in which case he can exercise other acts validly and licitly.

⁷ Code, c. 2265, 2283.

1158. B) Suspension from benefice deprives one of the fruits of the benefice, with habitation in the benefice buildings excepted, but not of the right of administering the benefice goods, unless this is expressly declared. - If, although the censure stands in the way, the beneficiary receives the fruits, he must restore the fruits, and can be compelled to this restitution even by canonical sanctions, if need be.⁸

⁸ Code, c. 2280.

If a community or college of clerics has committed a delict, suspension can be brought either upon the individual delinquent persons, or upon the community as such, or upon the delinquent persons and the community. 1) If the first, let the rules explained above be observed. 2) If the second, the community is prohibited from the exercise of spiritual rights which belong to it as a community. 3) If the third, the effects are combined.⁹

⁹ Code, c. 2285.

A suspended cleric can be absolved from sins by a simple confessor before he is absolved from a reserved suspension by a superior. For suspension does not deprive one of the reception of sacraments, excepting however order.¹⁰

¹⁰ Code, c. 2250.

1159. I. Notion. Interdict is a censure by which the faithful, while remaining in the communion of the Church, are prohibited from the sacred things indicated below.

It differs from excommunication and suspension. For excommunication "can affect only physical persons, and therefore, if at any time it is brought upon a moral body, it is understood to affect the individuals who have concurred in the delict; interdict and suspension can also affect a community as a moral person; excommunication and interdict can affect even laymen; suspension, only clerics; interdict can also affect a place; excommunication is always a censure; interdict and suspension can be either censures or vindicative penalties, but in doubt are presumed to be censures."¹¹

¹¹ Code, c. 2255, § 2.

1160. II. Species and effects. One must distinguish between personal interdict and local interdict.

1. Personal interdict is that which immediately and directly affects persons and adheres to them, so that they are subject to it everywhere.

Those personally interdicted: a) cannot celebrate divine offices or assist at them, except the preaching of the word of God; those passively assisting need not be expelled; but from active assistance, which carries with it some participation in celebrating divine offices, the interdicted must be repelled after a condemnatory or declaratory sentence has been brought, or when otherwise notoriously interdicted; b) they are prohibited from receiving the sacraments, and indeed, after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence, also sacramentals; they are also prohibited from confecting and administering Sacraments and Sacramentals; yet the faithful can seek sacraments and sacramentals for any cause from one simply interdicted, but from one to be avoided only in the necessity of danger of death; c) they are prohibited from the right of electing, presenting, nominating, obtaining dignities and offices in the Church, and receiving orders, and after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence they cannot validly obtain any pontifical grace; d) they lack ecclesiastical burial after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence.¹²

¹² Code, c. 2275.

1161. 2. Local interdict is that which directly affects places and not persons, so that persons in another place are not kept from divine things.

A) If it immediately touches some territory, for example, a kingdom, city, village, there is a general local interdict.

If nothing else has been expressed by the decree of interdict: a) clerics not personally interdicted are permitted to perform all divine offices and sacred rites privately, with doors closed; b) but in the cathedral church, in parish churches, or in a church which is the only one in a town, and in these alone, there are permitted the celebration of one Mass, reservation of the Most Holy Sacrament, administration of baptism, Eucharist, penance, assistance at marriages, with nuptial blessing excluded, funerals of the dead, preaching, etc., but without solemnity.¹³

¹³ Code, c. 2271.

B) If the interdict immediately touches certain sacred places, for example, this oratory, this church, or all churches of this place, there is a particular local interdict.

In this case, "if an altar or chapel of some church has been interdicted, no sacred office or sacred rite is to be celebrated in them. If a cemetery has been interdicted, the bodies of the faithful can indeed be buried there, but without any ecclesiastical rite."¹⁴ If capitular churches (the chapter not being interdicted) or parish churches have been interdicted, sacred rites without solemnity are permitted, unless the decree of interdict disposes otherwise.¹⁵

¹⁴ Code, c. 2272, § 1-2.

¹⁵ Ibid., § 3.

He who is subject to a local interdict or to an interdict upon a community or college, without having given cause for it, can receive the sacraments without absolution from the interdict or other satisfaction.¹⁶

¹⁶ Code, c. 2276.

N. B. "On the day of the Nativity of the Lord, Easter, Pentecost, the Most Holy Body of Christ, and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, a local interdict is suspended, and only the conferral of orders and solemn blessing of nuptials is prohibited."¹⁷

¹⁷ Code, c. 2270, § 2.

1162. Scholium. Akin to interdict properly so called is interdict from the entrance of the church and cessation from divine things.

"Interdict from the entrance of the church carries with it the prohibition that someone celebrate divine offices in a church or assist at them, or have ecclesiastical burial; but if he assists, it is not necessary that he be expelled, nor, if he is buried, is it necessary that the corpse be removed."¹⁸

¹⁸ Code, c. 2277.

1163. Preliminary remarks. - A) Censures latae sententiae in force today are found in the Code of Canon Law (c. 2314-2414),¹⁹ mixed with other penalties; we have thought it opportune to separate them.

¹⁹ For in canon 6, 5, it is read: "As for penalties of which no mention is made in the Code, whether spiritual or temporal, medicinal or, as they call them, vindicative, latae or ferendae sententiae, let them be considered as abrogated."

But it must be kept before the eyes that by these censures the principal accomplices of delinquents also are bound, as is established from can. 2231 and 2209: "If several have concurred in perpetrating a delict, although only one is named in the law, those also of whom in can. 2209, § 1-3, are held, unless the law has expressly provided otherwise, by the same penalty..." Moreover can. 2209 has itself thus: "§ 1. Those who by common counsel of delinquency physically concur together in a delict are all held guilty in the same manner, unless the circumstances increase or diminish the culpability of someone. § 2. In a delict which by its nature requires an accomplice, each party is culpable in the same manner, unless from the circumstances something else appears. § 3. Not only the one commanding, who is the principal author of the delict, but also those who induce to the consummation of the delict or in any way concur in this, contract, other things being equal, no lesser imputability than the executor of the delict himself, if the delict would not have been committed without their work."

They are of a threefold kind: excommunications, suspensions, and interdicts.

1164. Among excommunications, some are reserved to the Supreme Pontiff, others to Bishops, and others finally to no one. Again, from the new law, some are reserved to the Supreme Pontiff in a most special manner, others in a special manner, and others simply.

Now for absolving from a censure reserved to the Apostolic See, delegated power is required by anyone besides the Roman Pontiff, whether general, if the censure is simply reserved, or special, if reserved in a special manner, or most special, if reserved in a most special manner,¹ with the exception, however, of more urgent cases, concerning which the treatment is given in the Treatise on Penance.

¹ Code, c. 2253. - We treat absolution from censures in the Treatise on Penance; meanwhile let canons of the Code 2247-2254 be read.

Four are numbered in the Code:

1165. I. "He who has cast away the consecrated species, or has carried them away or retained them for an evil end, is suspect of heresy; he incurs excommunication latae sententiae reserved in a most special manner to the Apostolic See; he is infamous by the fact itself, and a cleric besides is to be deposed."²

² Code, c. 2300.

From this canon it is established that he who in the designated ways has violated the Venerable Sacrament of the Altar, besides suspicion of heresy (and the sanctions following from this suspicion, can. 2315), infamy contracted by the fact itself with its consequences (can. 2294), and deposition ferendae sententiae (can. 2303), incurs moreover by the fact itself excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See in a most special manner, with the consequences of such reservation indicated in canons 2247, § 3, 2249, § 2; 2252, 2253, 2254.

1166. II. "He who has laid violent hands on the person of the Roman Pontiff contracts excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Apostolic See in a most special manner; and is by the fact itself to be avoided."³

³ Code, c. 2343.

1167. III. "One absolving, or pretending to absolve, an accomplice in a base sin incurs by the fact itself excommunication reserved in a most special manner to the Apostolic See; and this even in the article of death, if another priest, even one not approved for confessions, can receive the confession of the dying person without some grave infamy and scandal about to arise, except the case in which the dying person refuses to confess to another.

"The same excommunication is not escaped by one absolving, or pretending to absolve, an accomplice who indeed does not confess the sin of complicity, from which he has not yet been absolved, but conducts himself thus because he has been induced to this by the accomplice-confessor either directly or indirectly."⁴

⁴ Code, c. 2367.

1168. IV. "A confessor who has presumed directly to violate the Sacramental seal."⁵

⁵ Code, c. 2369.

The sacramental seal is directly violated when that which is matter of the seal is expressly revealed, and at the same time the person who did it is designated.

N. B. Here it can be added that an excommunication ab homine, which the Supreme Pontiff sometimes brings, is reserved to him in a most special manner.

Eleven are enumerated in the Code:

1169. I. "All apostates from the Christian faith, and all and individual heretics or schismatics."⁶

⁶ Code, c. 2314, § 1.

Moreover, "if they have given their name to, or publicly adhered to, a non-Catholic sect, they are by the fact itself infamous; and... clerics, after a warning has been sent in vain, are to be degraded."⁷

⁷ Ibid.

But those favoring heresy are not excommunicated by the fact itself, but are suspect of heresy: "He who in any way voluntarily and knowingly helps the propagation of heresy, or who communicates in divine things with heretics... is suspect of heresy."⁸

⁸ Code, c. 2316. Can. 2315 establishes by what penalties one suspect of heresy can be struck, and adds: "If within six months... he has not amended himself, let him be held as a heretic, liable to the penalties of heretics."

The one suspect of heresy does not fall under excommunication unless he is obstinate, below, n. [source gives no number after "n."]

1170. As to the absolution of this censure, let these things be noted:

If the delict of apostasy, heresy, or schism has been brought in any way to the external forum of the local Ordinary, even through voluntary confession, the same Ordinary, but not the vicar general without special mandate, can by his ordinary authority in the external forum absolve the one repenting, after abjuration has first been juridically performed and the other things to be observed by law have been observed; but one thus absolved can then be absolved from sin by any confessor in the forum of conscience. Abjuration, moreover, is held juridically performed when it is done before the local Ordinary himself or his delegate and at least two witnesses.⁹

⁹ Code, c. 2314, § 2.

But by delegated authority, by force of quinquennial Indult n. 3, bishops could absolve from the sin of heresy even when not brought to the external forum, under certain conditions; but, from the decree of the S. C. Consistorial, April 25, 1918, faculties of this kind have now ceased; therefore unless special Indults are obtained, recourse must be had to the Holy See for individual cases.

In the conversion of heretics, the Instruction of the Holy Office, July 20, 1859 (Collect., 2nd ed., n. 1178), must be kept before the eyes. First inquiry must be made concerning the validity of baptism received in heresy: (a) If it is judged certainly invalid, they must be baptized absolutely: then no abjuration nor absolution will be required; (b) If it was doubtfully valid, 1) let them emit an abjuration or profession of faith; 2) afterward let them be baptized again under condition; 3) finally let them make a sacramental confession, and be absolved conditionally; (c) if certainly valid, only the abjuration or profession of faith is received, which absolution from censures (and from sins) follows. Yet if the newly converted person greatly desires that the rites formerly omitted in his baptism be supplied on this occasion, it is lawful for the priest to satisfy this wish.¹⁰

¹⁰ Cf. other practical questions in Gennari, Cons. Moral., 122.

1171. II. "When a work has been made public, the publishers of books of apostates, heretics, and schismatics which defend apostasy, heresy, or schism, and likewise those defending the same books or other books prohibited by name through apostolic letters, or knowingly reading or retaining them without due license."¹¹

¹¹ Code, c. 2318.

Here by the name of books are not understood manuscripts, newspapers, journals, periodical publications taken individually, books written by heretics of the first centuries...; true books of apostates and heretics are understood, not indeed if they merely contain heresy, but if they defend heresy; and books written by any author whatever, but condemned by name, with the title of the book expressed, under penalty of excommunication reserved to the Roman Pontiff, through letters given by the Roman Pontiff himself or in his name. - Those, however, are struck by excommunication who knowingly read, understanding what is written, or retain or publish or defend in any way these books. But those defend books who praise or protect their authors or doctrines precisely insofar as they defend or contain heresy or schism.

Bishops formerly, by force of Indult, had delegated power "of absolving from censures incurred on account of the retention and reading of prohibited books: with a suitable salutary penance imposed; and with the obligation remaining firm of handing over, according to law, either by oneself or through another, without any delay, and, insofar as it can be done, before absolution, the prohibited books which the penitent retains in his power." (Indult. S. Penit., n. 5). Today recourse should be had to the Holy See.

1172. III. "All and individual persons of whatever state, grade, or condition, even if royal, episcopal, or cardinalitial, appealing from laws, decrees, or mandates of the Roman Pontiff existing at the time to a universal Council, are suspect of heresy and by the fact itself contract excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See."¹²

¹² Code, c. 2332.

By this excommunication are struck those appealing from any ordinance whatever of the Roman Pontiff as such to a Council, even one present and legitimately gathered, but not to a future Pope; yet in this latter case those appealing with difficulty escape the excommunication brought against heretics and schismatics. - Moreover those appealing are suspect of heresy, and therefore liable to the penalties enumerated in canon 2315.

1173. IV. "Those laying violent hands on the person of a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church or of a Legate of the Roman Pontiff, or of a Patriarch, Archbishop, Bishop, even titular only."¹³

¹³ Code, c. 2343.

1174. V. "Those who publish laws, mandates, or decrees against the freedom or rights of the Church; those who directly or indirectly impede the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, whether of the internal or external forum, having recourse for this to any lay power whatever."¹⁴

¹⁴ Code, c. 2334. - In the old text it read "and having recourse for this"; but in the Code "and" is omitted, and therefore only those are excommunicated who in fact impede the exercise of jurisdiction.

This penalty is incurred: 1. by those publishing laws...

a) Those publishing, namely those who participate in some legislative power, or must concur so that some law may obtain the force of law.

b) Those publishing laws properly so called, or mandates or decrees brought for the completion of law or for its practical execution, but not judicial sentences; yet stable ordinances brought by provincial or municipal magistrates, which are equivalent to laws for a province or city, are included.

c) Against the freedom or rights of the Church. By these words is designated not only the exercise of ecclesiastical power, but any right belonging to the Church, such as the right of teaching, the right of conferring benefices, the right of carrying out public supplications, the right of acquiring and possessing, etc.¹⁵

¹⁵ It must be noted that this excommunication, brought against those who published laws or decrees opposed to the freedom or rights of the Church, already flourished from the constitution Apostolicae Sedis. Hence the Deputies and Senators who gave their vote for the French laws against religious associations (July 1, 1901) and concerning the Separation of Church and State (December 9, 1905), even if they gave their vote after the necessary number of voters had been completed, were and remain liable to an excommunication of this kind until absolution; likewise the President of the Republic who promulgated them; the Ministers who published decrees for their execution.

1175. 2. Those impeding the exercise of properly ecclesiastical jurisdiction, by which the faithful are governed unto eternal life:

Namely, those who unjustly, by some coercion, physical or moral, effectively place an obstacle lest someone exercise an act of jurisdiction which he has ready at hand; this indeed is done by those having recourse for this to any lay power, whether supreme, intermediate, or lowest, such as the power of a municipal magistrate; for example, those who oppose the ordinances and decrees of bishops concerning neutral and impious schools, by recurring to any lay authority.

1176. VI. "He who has dared to drag before a lay judge any of the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church or Legates of the Apostolic See, or major Officials of the Roman Curia concerning business pertaining to their office, or his own Ordinary."¹⁶

¹⁶ Code, c. 2341.

This censure is incurred not only by legislators and other authorities, but also by private persons who summon the aforesaid ecclesiastical persons to the tribunal of laymen and compel them to be present there.

1177. VII. "Those having recourse to the lay power in order to impede any letters or acts whatever proceeding from the Apostolic See, or from its Legates, and directly or indirectly prohibiting their promulgation or execution, or on account of them striking or terrifying either those to whom the letters or acts pertain, or others."¹

¹ Code, c. 2333.

Here there is question of any acts whatever, whether of the Roman Pontiff, or of the Sacred Congregations, or of the Legates, Nuncios, or Delegates of the Apostolic See, provided that they have already proceeded.

This excommunication is incurred: 1. by those who effectively have recourse to the lay power in order to impede those acts; 2. by those who directly by edict, or indirectly by deeds, prohibit their promulgation or their execution, even if, notwithstanding the edict, the promulgation is afterward made or the act is put into execution; 3. by those who, on account of them, that is, in order to impede the promulgation or execution of the acts, strike, or terrify by grave threats, either the parties themselves or others joined with the parties.

1178. VIII. "All fabricators or falsifiers of letters, decrees, or rescripts of the Apostolic See, or those knowingly using the same letters, decrees, or rescripts."²

² Code, c. 2360.

Here there is question of official letters, not private ones, not only of the Roman Pontiff, but also of the Roman Congregations. Moreover, these are excommunicated: (a) fabricators, namely those who fashion these documents wholly from the beginning; (b) falsifiers, that is, those who in the same documents change, add, or take away something, so that the sense is changed; but not those who correct errors or mistakes; (c) those using the same letters, and indeed knowingly, that is, with full advertence and liberty, for extorting certain advantages either for themselves or for others.

1179. IX. "Those usurping or detaining by themselves or through others goods or rights pertaining to the Roman Church."³

³ Code, c. 2345.

1180. X. "One not promoted to the priestly order, if he has simulated the celebration of Mass or has heard sacramental confession."⁴

⁴ Code, c. 2322. - Besides, if the one thus acting is a cleric, let him be deposed; if a layman, let him be deprived of pension or office, if he has any in the Church, and let him be punished with other penalties.

This excommunication is established by new law.

1181. XI. "If anyone, by himself or through others, has falsely denounced a confessor before Superiors for the crime of solicitation, he incurs by the fact itself excommunication reserved in a special manner to the Apostolic See, from which he can in no case be absolved unless he has formally retracted the false denunciation, and has repaired, according to his powers, the damages, if any have followed therefrom, with a grave and lasting penance imposed besides."⁵

⁵ Code, c. 2363.

Moreover, a sin of this kind of calumnious denunciation is, by reason of itself, reserved to the Holy See,⁶ when the denunciation is made or renewed before an ecclesiastical judge.

⁶ Code, c. 894.

Let it be noted: (a) that these are suspect of heresy: 1. those who are united in marriage with an explicit or implicit pact that all or some offspring be educated outside the Catholic Church (can. 2319); 2. parents, or those taking the place of parents, who knowingly hand over children to be educated or instructed in a non-Catholic religion (can. 2319); 3. one who has cast away the consecrated species, or has carried them away or retained them for an evil end (can. 2320); 4. one who, with hardened soul, has remained for a year in the censure of excommunication (can. 2340); 5. those who through simony have knowingly promoted to orders, or have been promoted, or have administered or received other sacraments (can. 2371); 6. "one who in any way voluntarily and knowingly helps the propagation of heresy, or who communicates in divine things with heretics..." (can. 2316);

(b) that these sanctions are decreed against one suspect of heresy: "One suspect of heresy who, after warning, does not remove the cause of suspicion, is to be prohibited from legitimate acts, and a cleric besides, after warning has been repeated in vain, is to be suspended from divine things; but if within six months completed from the contracted penalty one suspect of heresy has not amended himself, let him be held as a heretic, liable to the penalties of heretics." From these last words it appears sufficiently that one suspect of heresy who is so obstinate immediately incurs the excommunication specially reserved to the Holy See. This is confirmed from the analytical-alphabetical Index appended to the Code, under the word Excommunication.

Only eleven are recounted in the Code, of which two are new, namely IX and XI.

1182. I. "Those perpetrating a duel, or simply provoking another to it, or accepting it, or furnishing any assistance or favor whatever, as also those deliberately watching it and those permitting it, or, as far as lies in them, not prohibiting it, of whatever dignity they may be."⁷

⁷ Code, c. 2351.

1. By what excommunication are they punished:

A) The duelers themselves, that is, those who perpetrate a duel; indeed also he who provokes another to a duel, or who accepts, even if in reality the duel does not follow;

B) Those furnishing any assistance or favor whatever, that is: (a) all and individual persons cooperating in any way in a duel;

Thus: seconds, unless they accept this office with the intention and hope of wholly impeding the duel; those ordering that the duel take place; those persuading, or advising, if the counsel or reason was of itself efficacious and the duel follows; the physician who, asked by the duelers, assists at the duel; the physician and confessor who, by agreement with the duelers, station themselves in a neighboring house or in a nearby place.

(b) Those deliberately watching, even from mere curiosity, but not those who see it by chance as passers-by, or in secret, nor those who go to the place of combat in order wholly to impede the duel;

(c) Those positively permitting the duel, and indeed those who, possessing authority, do not prohibit it, as far as lies in them, when they ought and are able to prohibit it.

1183. 2. By delegated law, bishops formerly absolved "from censures established against duelers, in cases only not brought to the forum of the Ordinary: with a grave salutary penance imposed, and with other things imposed which by law were to be imposed."⁸ Today the Holy See is to be approached.

⁸ Indult of the Sacred Penitentiary, n. 2.

1184. II. "Those giving their name to a Masonic sect or to other associations of the same kind which plot against the Church or legitimate civil powers."⁹

⁹ Code, c. 2335.

1. There is question of societies whose members, under the same leaders, tend to the same end, namely the end recounted in the canon, whether secrecy is required or not.

With prohibited associations are assimilated societies of nihilists and others similar to them, as also cremation societies if they are affiliated with Masonic sects.

In the Code, indeed, the obligation of denouncing the leaders and chief men of Masonic sects is passed over in silence; but, from can. 2336, § 2, "clerics and religious giving their name to a Masonic sect and other similar associations must be denounced to the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office."

2. Formerly, by force of an Indult,¹⁰ Bishops could absolve from this excommunication those who had given their name to forbidden sects under certain conditions; but since today this Indult has ceased, recourse must be had to the Holy See.

¹⁰ Indult of the Sacred Penitentiary, n. 7.

1185. III. "1. Those violating the enclosure of nuns, of whatever kind or condition or sex they may be, by entering their monasteries without legitimate permission, and likewise those introducing or admitting them;¹¹ 2. women violating the enclosure of male regulars, and superiors and others, whoever they may be, introducing or admitting them, of whatever age they may be...; 3. nuns illegitimately departing from the enclosure against the prescription of can. 601."

¹¹ "If they are clerics, besides let them be suspended for a time to be defined by the Ordinary according to the gravity of the fault" (Code, c. 2341, 1).

1. Therefore by force of this canon these are excommunicated: (a) those violating the enclosure of nuns,¹² even women, unless they have permission to enter the monastery legitimately given by the competent superior in a case of necessity; besides, those introducing or admitting those who violate the enclosure; (b) women violating the enclosure of male regulars, but not men; and besides, whoever they may be (superiors or others) who are of the house and belong to the house (but not externs), who receive women into the enclosure or retain them in it, or do not prohibit their admission, when they can and by office ought to prohibit it.

¹² Here there is question of nuns as they are described in the Code itself, c. 488: "By the name of nuns come religious women of solemn vows, or, unless from the nature of the matter or from the context of the speech another thing is established, religious women whose vows from the institute are solemn, but for some places by prescription of the Apostolic See are simple."

(c) Nuns illegitimately going out against can. 601, which reads thus: "It is lawful for no nun after profession to go out of the monastery, even for a short time, under any pretext, without a special indult of the Holy See, except in the case of imminent danger of death or of another most grave evil. This danger, if time allows, must be recognized in writing by the Ordinary."

1186. 2. By delegated law, today suppressed, bishops could absolve "from censures on account of violation of the enclosure of Regulars of either sex, provided that it had not been committed with intention toward an evil end,¹³ even if the effect did not follow, nor the cases had been brought to the forum of the Ordinary, with a fitting salutary penance; and, besides, absolve women only from censures and ecclesiastical penalties incurred on account of violation, for an evil end, of the enclosure of male religious, provided, however, that the cases remain occult: with a grave salutary penance imposed, with the prohibition of approaching the church, or convent, or monastery of the said religious, while the occasion of sinning lasts."¹⁴ Today the Holy See is to be approached.

¹³ By an evil end is understood the intention of sinning against chastity.

¹⁴ Indult of the Sacred Penitentiary, n. 4.

1187. IV. "Those perpetrating the delict of simony in any ecclesiastical offices, benefices, or dignities whatever."¹⁵

¹⁵ Code, c. 2392.

What the delict of simony is we have already explained, n. 935.

1188. V. "Those making gain from indulgences."¹⁶

¹⁶ Code, c. 2327.

That is, those receiving money or something estimable by price for the concession or publication of indulgences.

1189. VI. "Those presuming to absolve, without due faculty, from an excommunication latae sententiae reserved in a most special or special manner to the Apostolic See."¹⁷

¹⁷ Code, c. 2338, § 1.

This indeed must be understood of cases in which there is not danger of death or urgent necessity.

1190. VII. "Those furnishing any help or favor whatever to an excommunicated person to be avoided in the delict on account of which he was excommunicated; likewise clerics knowingly and spontaneously communicating with the same in divine things and receiving him in divine offices."¹⁸

¹⁸ Code, c. 2338, § 2.

The second part touches only clerics who, with full advertence and liberty, communicate in divine things with an excommunicated person to be avoided, that is, either in liturgical offices they authoritatively admit him, so that he may perform sacred functions, or they receive him in divine offices so that he may assist at them or receive sacred things.

1191. VIII. "If anyone has presumed, by himself or through others, to convert and usurp ecclesiastical goods of any kind, whether movable or immovable, whether corporeal or incorporeal, to his own uses, or to impede the fruits or revenues of the same from being perceived by those to whom they belong by law, let him be subject to excommunication until he has restored the goods themselves integrally, removed the aforesaid impediment, and thereafter obtained absolution from the Apostolic See."¹⁹

¹⁹ Code, c. 2346.

1. The goods of which there is question are not only those which pertain to the Church collectively, but also those which pertain to private ecclesiastical persons by reason of their churches or benefices: of this kind are the goods of seminaries, monasteries, dioceses, hospitals, montes pietatis, and other pious places erected by ecclesiastical authority and administered by the Church.

2. All are touched who knowingly convert to their own uses goods of this kind which have been usurped, or authoritatively impede them from being perceived by those to whom they belong by law. Hence not only the first usurpers are excommunicated, but all successive possessors, indeed also those receiving the same goods in lease.²⁰ But those who buy the natural fruits of these goods, although of themselves they do not escape excommunication, can be absolved, with alms imposed in favor of the legitimate owner, if they bought below the just price.²¹

²⁰ Sacred Penitentiary, August 5, 1907, Canoniste, 1908, p. 684.

²¹ Ibid., to the 3rd.

3. City councilors, and their Mayor (le Maire), do not incur the excommunication when they acquire an ecclesiastical good not for their own uses but for the common uses of the city;²² nor one who even freely accepted the office of administering goods taken from churches or monasteries (liquidateur, sequestre); nor, a fortiori, those who cooperate less principally, e.g., notaries and clerks.²³ For the excommunication touches the usurpers and possessors themselves, not their accomplices, unless you except a cleric who has consented in this delict.

²² Sacred Penitentiary, January 3, 1906, A. S. S., vol. XL, p. 249.

²³ Sacred Penitentiary, September 17, 1906, Canoniste, 1907, p. 194.

1192. 4. Absolution from this censure must not be given except after restitution of goods unjustly detained. In France, however, bishops have been endowed with special faculties, so that they may be able to admit possessors of ecclesiastical goods of this kind to composition and to impart absolution to them; in many cases they can also give permission to buy or lease.²⁴ Similar faculties had previously been granted to the bishops of Italy.

²⁴ Secretariat of State, September 24, 1907, A. S. S., vol. XLI, pp. 202-209. Cf. above, n. 492, with note.

1193. IX. "If anyone, against the prescription of can. 120, has dared to drag before a lay judge... another Bishop (namely not his own Ordinary), even merely titular, or an Abbot or Prelate nullius, or one from among the major Superiors of religions of pontifical right, he contracts excommunication latae sententiae, simply reserved to the Apostolic See."¹

¹ Code, Can., 2341. - This censure is new, contained only implicitly in n. VII of the Bull Apostolicae Sedis.

1194. X. "Clerics constituted in sacred orders, or regulars or nuns after a solemn vow of chastity, and likewise all those presuming to contract marriage, even only civilly, with any one of the aforesaid persons, incur excommunication latae sententiae simply reserved to the Apostolic See..."²

² Code, c. 2388.

1195. XI. "A capitular vicar or any others, both of the Chapter and externs, who by themselves or through another have removed, destroyed, concealed, or substantially changed any document whatever pertaining to the episcopal Curia, incur by the fact itself excommunication simply reserved to the Apostolic See."³

³ Code, c. 2405.

Here it must also be noted that the censures which are incurred by revelation of the secret of the Holy Office are reserved to the Supreme Pontiff, can. 239, § 1.

Six are numbered in the Code:

1196. I. "Those procuring abortion, the mother not excepted, when the effect has followed."⁴

⁴ Code, c. 2350.

Thus the opinion hitherto probable, which excepted the mother from excommunication, is rejected.

Moreover, in order to incur this censure, it is required that the abortion have been procured, that is, sought deliberately and directly willed, and that it truly follow. Properly so called accomplices likewise incur it, from what has been said, n. 1163.

1197. II. "Catholics who enter marriage before a non-Catholic minister against the prescription of c. 1063; who are united in marriage with an explicit or implicit pact that all or some offspring be educated outside the Catholic Church; who knowingly presume to offer their children to non-Catholic ministers to be baptized; parents or those holding the place of parents who knowingly hand over children to be educated or instructed in a non-Catholic religion."⁵

⁵ Code, c. 2319.

All these things will be explained in the Treatise on Marriage. Let it only be noted that excommunication is incurred by those who, either by themselves or through a procurator, enter marriage before a non-Catholic minister against can. 1063.

1198. III. "Those who make false relics, or knowingly sell, distribute, or expose them publicly to the veneration of the faithful."⁶

⁶ Code, c. 2326.

1199. IV. Those who lay violent hands on the person of other clerics (i.e., below bishops), or of religious of either sex.⁷

⁷ Code, c. 2343, § 4.

1200. V. Those professed of perpetual simple vows, both in Orders and in religious Congregations, and likewise all those presuming to contract marriage, even only civilly, with any one of the aforesaid persons.⁸

⁸ Code, c. 2388.

1201. VI. "A religious apostate from religion incurs by the law itself excommunication reserved to his own major Superior, or, if the religion is lay or not exempt, to the Ordinary of the place in which he is dwelling."⁹

⁹ Code, c. 2385.

1202. Scholion. Here we have judged it opportune to observe that Superiors having coercive power, in applying penalties ferendae sententiae, must attend to can. 2223:

"§ 1. In applying penalties the judge cannot increase a determined penalty, unless extraordinary aggravating circumstances demand it.

"§ 2. If the law, in establishing a penalty ferendae sententiae, uses facultative words (e.g., let him punish according to his prudent judgment), it is committed to the prudence and conscience of the judge to inflict it, or, if the penalty has been determined, to temper it.

"§ 3. But if the law uses preceptive words (e.g., let him be suspended, let him be declared incapable, etc.), ordinarily the penalty must be inflicted; but it is committed to the conscience and prudence of the judge or Superior: 1. to defer the application of the penalty to a more opportune time, if greater evils are foreseen as about to arise from a too hasty punishment of the accused; 2. to abstain from inflicting the penalty, if the accused has been perfectly amended and has repaired the scandal, or has been sufficiently punished or is foreseen to be punished sufficiently by penalties sanctioned by civil authority; 3. to temper a determined penalty, or to apply some penal remedy in place of it, or to impose some penance, if there is a circumstance notably diminishing imputability, or if indeed amendment of the accused is had or punishment inflicted by civil authority, but the judge or Superior judges some milder punishment to be opportune besides.

"§ 4. To declare a penalty latae sententiae is generally committed to the prudence of the Superior; but whether at the instance of the party whose interest is involved, or when the common good so demands, a declaratory sentence must be given."

Five are recounted by the new law:

1203. I. "Those who shall have dared to command or compel infidels, apostates from the faith, or heretics, schismatics, or others either excommunicated or interdicted against the prescription of can. 1240, § 1," that is, those excommunicated or interdicted after a condemnatory or declaratory sentence, "to be handed over to ecclesiastical burial."¹⁰

¹⁰ Code, c. 2339.

This censure does not punish those burying, nor those admitting to burial, but only those commanding (authoritatively) and compelling (physically or morally) one of the aforesaid to be buried in a sacred place (deputed for burial by the authority of the bishop, and duly blessed), or with a Catholic rite.

1204. II. "If the apostolic good pleasure (required from can. 534 and 1532 for alienating ecclesiastical goods whose value exceeds thirty thousand francs) has knowingly been omitted, there remains for all guilty in any way, whether by giving, or by receiving, or by furnishing consent, excommunication latae sententiae reserved to no one."¹¹

¹¹ Code, c. 2347, 3.

This excommunication is incurred also when, without apostolic good pleasure, debts and obligations are contracted beyond the aforesaid sum, as is established from can. 534. Besides, such contracts are invalid by ecclesiastical law.

1205. III. "A faithful person who has knowingly omitted to denounce within a month him by whom he had been solicited, against the prescription of can. 904."¹²

¹² Code, c. 2368.

This will be explained in the Treatise on Penance.

1206. IV. "All, shining with any dignity whatever, who in any way compel either a man to embrace the clerical state, or a man or woman to enter religion or to emit religious profession, whether solemn or simple, whether perpetual or temporary."¹³

¹³ Code, c. 2352.

1207. V. "Authors and publishers who, without due license, take care that books of Sacred Scripture, or annotations or commentaries on them, be printed."¹⁴

¹⁴ Code, c. 2318, § 2.

1208. To these excommunications can be added those by which, in the Constitution of Pope Pius X, Vacante Sede Apostolica, these are struck: those guilty of the crime of simony in the election of the Roman Pontiff; those who, while the Roman Pontiff is living and without consulting him, presume, even if they shine with the honor of the Cardinalate, to treat of the election of his successor, or to promise some vote, or, with private little meetings made for this cause, to deliberate and decide something; Cardinals or any others having a part in the Conclave who receive from any civil power the charge of proposing a veto or Exclusive.¹⁵

¹⁵ Constitution of Pope Pius X, Vacante Sede Apostolica, December 25, 1904, nn. 79-81, at the end of the Code.

Six are computed in the Code:

1209. I. "Chapters, convents, and all others to whom it pertains, admitting those elected, presented, or nominated to an ecclesiastical benefice or dignity before the presentation of the letters, remain by the fact itself suspended from the right of electing, nominating, or presenting, at the good pleasure of the Apostolic See."¹⁶

¹⁶ Code, c. 2394, 3.

Let it be noted that this suspension cannot be absolved except by the Holy See or by its delegate, on account of the words: at the good pleasure.

1210. II. "Into suspension for a year from the conferral of Orders, reserved to the Apostolic See, these incur by the fact itself: 1. those who have ordained another's subject without dimissorial letters of the proper Ordinary (against the prescription of can. 955); 2. those who have ordained their own subject who has resided elsewhere for so long a time that he could have contracted there a canonical impediment (against the prescription of can. 993, 994); 3. those who have promoted someone to major orders without a canonical title (against the prescription of can. 974, § 1, n. 7); 4. saving legitimate privilege, those who have promoted a religious belonging to a family which is outside the territory of the one ordaining, even with dimissorial letters of his own Superior, unless it has been legitimately proved that some one of the cases occurs of which there is question in can. 966," that is, unless it has been established that the diocesan Bishop is either consenting, or of a different rite, or absent, or will not have an ordination at the next legitimate time.¹⁷

¹⁷ Code, c. 2373.

1211. III. "They contract by the fact itself suspension from divine things, reserved to the Apostolic See, who presume to receive orders from one excommunicated, or suspended, or interdicted after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence, or from a notorious apostate, heretic, or schismatic; but one who in good faith has been ordained by any of them lacks the exercise of the order so received until he is dispensed."¹⁸

¹⁸ Code, c. 2372.

1212. IV. "A Bishop consecrating someone as Bishop, the Bishops, or, in place of Bishops, the priests assisting, and he who receives consecration without apostolic mandate against the prescription of can. 953, are suspended by the law itself, until the Apostolic See has dispensed them."¹⁹

¹⁹ Code, c. 2370.

1213. V. "All, even those endowed with episcopal dignity, who knowingly have promoted to orders through simony, or have been promoted, or have administered or received other Sacraments, are suspect of heresy; clerics besides incur suspension reserved to the Apostolic See."²⁰

²⁰ Code, c. 2371.

1214. VI. "A religious cleric whose profession has been declared null on account of deceit admitted by him, if he is constituted in minor orders, is to be cast out of the clerical state; if in major orders, he remains by the fact itself suspended, until the Apostolic See has judged otherwise."²¹

²¹ Code, c. 2387.

Nine are recounted in the Code:

1215. I. A cleric who, without having obtained permission from the Ordinary of the place, has dared to drag before a lay judge a person enjoying the privilege of the forum, by the fact itself incurs suspension from office reserved to the Ordinary.²² - See above, n. 1176, 1193.

²² Code, c. 2341.

1216. II. "A fugitive religious by the fact itself incurs privation of office, if he has any in religion, and suspension reserved to his own major Superior if he is in sacred orders."²³

²³ Code, c. 2386.

1217. III-IV. "A priest who, without the necessary jurisdiction, has presumed to hear sacramental confessions is by the fact itself suspended from divine things; but one who has presumed to absolve from reserved sins is by the fact itself suspended from hearing confessions."²⁴

²⁴ Code, c. 2366.

1218. V. "One who with no letters, or with false dimissorial letters, or before canonical age, or by leap, has maliciously approached orders, is by the fact itself suspended from the order received."²⁵

²⁵ Code, c. 2374.

1219. VI. "A cleric who has presumed to resign an ecclesiastical office, benefice, or dignity into the hands of laymen, incurs by the fact itself suspension from divine things."²⁶

²⁶ Code, c. 2400.

1220. VII. "An Abbot or Prelate nullius who has not received the blessing is by the fact itself suspended from jurisdiction."²⁷

²⁷ Code, c. 2402.

1221. VIII. "A capitular vicar granting dimissorial letters for ordination against the prescription of can. 958, § 1, n. 3, by the fact itself is subject to suspension from divine things."²⁸

²⁸ Code, c. 2409.

1222. IX. "Religious Superiors who, against the prescription of can. 965-967, have presumed to send their subjects to another Bishop to be ordained, are by the fact itself suspended for a month from the celebration of Mass."¹

¹ Code, c. 2410.

1223. Besides, "one who obtains an office, benefice, or dignity with the burden of residence, if he is illegitimately absent, is by the fact itself deprived of all the fruits of his benefice or office in proportion to the illegitimate absence, and must hand them over to the Ordinary, who is to distribute them to the church or to some pious place or to the poor."²

² Code, c. 2381.

Four are numbered in the Code:

1224. I. Universities, Colleges, Chapters, or other moral persons, by whatever name they may be called, appealing from laws, decrees, or mandates of the Roman Pontiff existing at the time to a Universal Council, incur an interdict reserved in a special manner to the Apostolic See.³

³ Code, c. 2332.

1225. II. "Those knowingly celebrating, or causing divine things to be celebrated, in interdicted places, or admitting to the celebration of divine offices forbidden by censure clerics excommunicated, interdicted, or suspended after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence, contract by the law itself an interdict from entrance into a church, until, at the judgment of him whose sentence they have contemned, they have fittingly made satisfaction."⁴

⁴ Code, c. 2338, § 3.

1226. III. "Those who gave cause for a local interdict, or for an interdict against a community or college, are by the fact itself personally interdicted."⁵

⁵ Ibid., § 4.

1227. IV. Those spontaneously giving ecclesiastical burial to infidels, apostates from the faith, or heretics, schismatics, or others either excommunicated or interdicted after a declaratory or condemnatory sentence, contract an interdict from entrance into a church, reserved to the Ordinary.⁶

⁶ Code, c. 2339.

1228. It will not be beside the matter to enumerate the principal other penalties recounted in the Code:

1229. 1. By the law itself these are infamous: (a) those who have given their name to a non-Catholic sect or publicly adhered to it;⁷ (b) those who have cast away the consecrated species, or have carried them away or retained them for an evil end;⁸ (c) those who have violated the corpses or tombs of the dead for theft or another evil end;⁹ (d) those who have laid violent hands on the person of the Roman Pontiff, a Cardinal, or a Legate of the Roman Pontiff;¹⁰ (e) duelers and those who are called their seconds;¹¹ (f) bigamists, i.e., those who, despite the conjugal bond, have attempted another marriage, even only civil, as they say;¹² (g) laymen legitimately condemned on account of graver delicts against the sixth;¹³ (h) besides, clerics constituted in minor orders, guilty of some delict against the sixth, are to be punished according to the gravity of the fault, even by dismissal from the clerical state, if the circumstances of the delict advise this.

⁷ Code, c. 2314.

⁸ Code, c. 2320.

⁹ Code, c. 2328.

¹⁰ Code, c. 2343.

¹¹ Code, c. 2351.

¹² Code, c. 2356.

¹³ Code, c. 2357.

Now, "he who labors under infamy of law is not only irregular according to the norm of can. 984, n. 5, but besides is incapable of obtaining ecclesiastical benefices, pensions, offices, and dignities, of performing legitimate ecclesiastical acts, of exercising an ecclesiastical right or office, and finally must be kept from exercising ministry in sacred functions."¹⁴

¹⁴ Code, c. 2294, § 1. - From can. 2293, "infamy of law is that which is established in cases expressed by common law."

Moreover, he labors under infamy of fact who, "on account of a perpetrated delict or on account of depraved morals, has lost good esteem among upright and grave faithful; judgment concerning this belongs to the Ordinary."¹⁵

¹⁵ Code, c. 2293, § 3.

1230. 2. By the law itself these are held excluded from legitimate ecclesiastical acts: (a) ravishers of women (can. 2353); (b) laymen legitimately condemned because of certain more atrocious crimes (can. 2354); (c) Catholics who have dared to enter a mixed marriage, even valid, without dispensation of the Church (can. 2375); (d) religious who are apostates from religion (can. 2385).

Moreover, by a sentence ferendae sententiae, these must be excluded from legitimate acts: (a) those who incur infamy of fact (c. 2294, § 2); (b) one suspect of heresy who, after warning, does not remove the cause of suspicion (c. 2315); (c) those attempting suicide (c. 2350, § 2); (d) those legitimately condemned because of delicts against the sixth, public adulterers and concubinarians (can. 2357).

1231. "Moreover by the name of legitimate ecclesiastical acts are signified: to exercise the office of administrator of ecclesiastical goods; to act as judge, auditor and relator, defender of the bond, promoter of justice and of the faith, notary and chancellor, summoner and apparitor, advocate and procurator in ecclesiastical cases; to act as sponsor in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation; to cast a vote in ecclesiastical elections; to exercise the right of patronage."¹⁶

¹⁶ Code, c. 2256, 2.