Chapter I. On the Person Dispensing

In order that someone legitimately dispense the Eucharist, the power of order and the power of jurisdiction are required.

I. The power of order. Considered with respect to the power of order:

1. Only a priest is the ordinary minister of the dispensation of the Holy Eucharist (canon 845, § 1), that is, by virtue of his ordination he is deputed to dispense it principally, not secondarily, as a deacon is. For: 1. to the one alone to whom it belongs to confect the Holy Eucharist, to him alone it belongs to dispense it principally; 2. Tradition is added, which the Council of Trent attests in these words: "It was always the custom in the Church of God that the laity receive Communion from priests; ... this custom, as descending from Apostolic Tradition, must with right and merit be retained"¹ (cf. St. Thomas, III, q. 82, a. 3).

2. A deacon is the extraordinary minister of the dispensation of the Holy Eucharist (canon 845, § 2), that is, by virtue of his ordination he is deputed to dispense it only secondarily, that is, dependently upon the permission of the local Ordinary or the pastor, which cannot be granted except for a grave cause (cited canon). Hence a deacon is rightly called only an extraordinary minister. That a deacon is truly an extraordinary minister is clear from Tradition² (cf. St. Thomas, loc. cit., ad 1). It is said:

a) Dependently upon the permission of the local Ordinary or the pastor. To these is equivalent a quasi-pastor, but not the rector of a church or a religious superior as such.

b) Permission cannot be granted except for a grave cause, for example if the priest were impeded in his ministry and, unless the deacon dispensed the Holy Eucharist, its dispensation would be delayed longer than is fitting (St. Alphonsus, VI, 237, question 1).³ If a grave cause is present and the pastor cannot conveniently be approached, permission is legitimately presumed (canon 845, § 2). But a deacon who illicitly dispenses the Holy Eucharist sins gravely; likewise the local Ordinary and the pastor who grant permission without a just cause, since in a grave matter they violate the hierarchical order (St. Alphonsus, VI, 234). Nevertheless the deacon does not become irregular, since, being a minister, even if only an extraordinary one, he does not entirely usurp an order not his own (cf. canon 985, 1).

¹ Session 13, chapter 8.

² St. Justin Martyr, Apology I, chapters 65, 67, Migne 6, 427-430; Fourth Council of Carthage, canon 38; it occurs among the ancient statutes of the Church, in Hefele, loc. cit., vol. 2, part 1, p. 166; Apostolic Constitutions, book 8, chapter 13, Funk ed. 1906, p. 519.

³ Cf. S.R.C., 25 February 1777, n. 2504.

II. The power of jurisdiction is likewise required, and this either ordinary or delegated; delegated, I say, either by law or by him who has ordinary power. Ordinary power belongs to all who exercise a pastoral office, such as the Ordinary, the pastor, all who in law come under the name of pastor, etc. These things having been noted in general, something must be said specifically about the dispensation of the Eucharist on the occasion of Mass or outside it, about carrying Communion to the sick, and about the dispensation of Viaticum.

1. Dispensation on the occasion of Mass or outside it. a) Any priest can minister Holy Communion within Mass and, if he celebrates privately, also immediately before and immediately after it (canon 846, § 1).

b) Even outside Mass any priest has the same faculty. Nevertheless, if the priest is a stranger, that is, not assigned to the church, the at least presumed permission of the rector of the church is required (canon 846, § 2).

2. Carrying Communion to the sick. First note that a twofold carrying is distinguished, public and private. It is public if it is done manifestly, with solemnity; otherwise it is called private.¹

a) Public carrying. First, public carrying is prescribed unless a just and reasonable cause suggests otherwise (canon 847).

Second, the right and office of carrying Holy Communion publicly to the sick, even non-parishioners, outside the church, belongs to the pastor within his own territory (canon 848, § 1). Other priests can do this only in a case of necessity or with the at least presumed permission of the same pastor or of the Ordinary (canon 848, § 2). It is said only in a case of necessity, for example if the pastor and another to whom permission perhaps has been granted are impeded for too long.

b) Private carrying. First, private carrying is licit only when a just and reasonable cause suggests it (canon 847). But the judge of a just and reasonable cause is only the local Ordinary.² If, however, he has judged that such a cause is present, and has signified this either explicitly or tacitly, for example by not contradicting custom or common opinion,³ he cannot prevent it from being carried secretly. Now, when a just and reasonable cause has been posited and admitted by the Ordinary:

Second, any priest can carry Communion privately to the sick, with the at least presumed permission of the priest to whom custody of the Most Holy Sacrament has been committed (canon 849, § 1).

3. Dispensation of Viaticum. a) By the name Viaticum here is understood Communion which is considered, or, so to speak, is held in the external forum as fulfilling the precept of receiving the Holy Eucharist in danger of death, about which canon 864, § 1 speaks; but not that Communion which the sick person receives afterward, nor that which one constituted in danger of death previously received, although this Communion, speaking accurately, should be called fulfilling the precept.⁴

b) One who illegitimately administers Viaticum is judged to sin gravely, since he violates a grave right of the competent person.

c) As regards the persons who legitimately administer Viaticum, receive these points:

a) To carry Holy Communion by way of Viaticum, whether publicly or privately, to the sick, even non-parishioners, outside the church, belongs to the pastor within his own territory. Other priests can do this only in a case of necessity or with the at least presumed permission of the same pastor or Ordinary (canon 850 compared with 848).

b) Canons, according to the order of precedence, must minister the sacraments to a bedridden bishop (canon 397, 3).

c) Superiors in every clerical religious institute can and must, personally or through another, minister Eucharistic Viaticum and Extreme Unction to sick professed members, novices, and others dwelling day and night in the religious house for the sake of service, education, hospitality, or ill health (canon 514, § 1). These things also hold for conferring these sacraments outside the religious house, if it concerns professed religious or novices, yet with the right of the pastor preserved as regards the public carrying of the Holy Eucharist.⁵

d) In a house of nuns, the ordinary confessor, or the one who acts in his place, has the same right and office (canon 514, § 2). Under the name of nuns also come religious women whose vows by institute are solemn, but for some places by prescription of the Apostolic See are simple (canon 488, 7).

e) In another lay religious institute this right and office belongs to the local pastor or to the chaplain whom the Ordinary has substituted for the pastor (canon 514, § 3).

f) The rector of a seminary, not the pastor, or his delegate can minister Viaticum and Extreme Unction to all who are in the seminary and are gravely bedridden (canon 1368).

g) Particular law commonly permits those who have domicile or quasi-domicile in ecclesiastical colleges specially entrusted by the bishop to a director or rector, or approved by him, to be able to receive Viaticum and Extreme Unction from the rector himself or from his delegate. This right does not belong to the pastor if the particular law intends the said colleges to be withdrawn from the care of the pastor (cf. canon 464, § 2).

h) Finally, if priest and deacon are lacking, even a subdeacon, cleric, and layperson can with sufficient probability minister Viaticum, provided that scandal is absent or prevented. For the ecclesiastical prohibition is not judged to comprehend this case; all the more because in antiquity even laypeople brought the Eucharist home for the sake of communicating (St. Alphonsus, VI, 237, question 3). If the case concerns a dying priest or deacon, the layperson should only bring the ciborium, and the dying person himself, if he can, should give Viaticum to himself. Note besides that a priest is equivalently lacking if singular dexterity is required in communicating the dying person; hence at times it can be entrusted, for example to a sister, to give Viaticum, for instance, with a spoon. I add with St. Alphonsus (loc. cit.) that in a case of supreme necessity, which can occur for example in time of plague, the bishop can commit the ministration of Viaticum to a layperson.

Corollary. Although in itself no one except the celebrating priest can minister Communion to himself, nevertheless this is permitted:

1. If the case concerns Viaticum, to a priest and deacon, if another priest and deacon are lacking; to an inferior cleric, if priest, deacon, and another inferior cleric are lacking; to a layperson, if priest, deacon, and inferior cleric are lacking. This doctrine is rightly admitted both because the divine precept of receiving Viaticum seems to prevail, and because "formerly lay faithful carried the Eucharist into their homes and communicated themselves with their own hands; and this indeed was permitted because of necessity" (St. Alphonsus, VI, 237, question 2). It is confirmed by a response of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide,⁶ which declared that in time of persecution it is permitted that confessors of the faith condemned to death, and to whom the sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist is brought in prison, may secretly receive it in their hands and secretly communicate themselves, lest the priest communicating them in the ordinary manner be known and seized, provided nevertheless that so great a sacrament is not exposed to any irreverence or other danger.⁷

2. If the case concerns Communion to be received only for the sake of devotion, a priest can with sufficient probability minister Communion to himself if another priest is lacking (St. Alphonsus, VI, 238).

3. Where the necessity of preventing profanation of the Most Holy Sacrament is urgent, even laypeople can consume the species and distribute them to one another.

¹ Cf. Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, 23 December 1912 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 1912, p. 725, ad III).

² Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, 5 January 1928.

³ The Ordinary should be easy in admitting a just and reasonable cause. Hence the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, in the decree of 5 January 1928, adds "with this mind, which is the following: If from common experience and opinion there is no inconvenience in the diocese or in some particular place for the private carrying of Holy Communion to the sick, Ordinaries must beware lest, by rules too strictly defined or general rules prescribing public carrying, or by a reservation made to themselves of giving permission in individual cases of carrying the sacrament of the Eucharist privately, the consolation of Communion, even daily Communion, be impeded for the sick." And in the annotations to the Decree, the Acta Apostolicae Sedis warns: Most Reverend local Ordinaries must carefully watch lest in a matter of such great importance the end intended by the Church be frustrated in any way. For no one is unaware that in our times Holy Communion, even daily Communion, is commended most highly to the Christian faithful. Now who, more than a sick person, is to be said to need the help and consolation of so great a sacrament for bearing the distresses of illness?

⁴ This Communion is also called Viaticum by the Code (canon 864, § 3).

⁵ Pontifical Commission, 16 June 1931, under I (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 1931, p. 353).

⁶ 10 August 1841.

⁷ Gaude in the cited place of St. Alphonsus.