Part III. On Easter Communion

(St. Alphonsus, Theologia Moralis, book VI, nn. 295-301; Homo Apostolicus, tract 12, nn. 39-42.)

I. Existence of the precept. The precept of Easter communion, just like that of annual confession, was enacted by the Fourth Lateran Council¹ in 1215, and confirmed by the Council of Trent.² It is presented thus by the Code of Canon Law: "Every one of the faithful of either sex, after he has reached the years of discretion, that is, the use of reason, must once a year, at least at Easter, receive the sacrament of the Eucharist, unless perhaps, by the counsel of his own priest, for some reasonable cause, he has judged that he should abstain for a time from receiving it" (can. 859, § 1). That the prescription obliges under grave sin follows from the nature of the matter, which is grave. Finally, it is clear that the precept is not satisfied by a sacrilegious communion (can. 861); hence proposition 55 condemned by Innocent XI: The precept of annual communion is satisfied by a sacrilegious eating of the Lord.³

¹ Chapter Omnis, De poenitentia et remissione.

² Session 13, canon 9, De Eucharistia.

³ Denzinger-Bannwart, n. 1205.

II. The subject of the precept is all who have been baptized and enjoy the use of reason. It is said:

1. Have been baptized; both because infidels cannot sacramentally receive Holy Communion, and because they are not subject to the power of the Church.

2. And enjoy the use of reason, so that little children and the perpetually insane are excluded, but not children below the seventh year who have reached the years of discretion. Hence the decree Quam singulari: The age of discretion, both for confession and for Holy Communion, is that in which a child begins to reason, that is, around the seventh year, whether above or even below. From this time begins the obligation of satisfying each precept, of Confession and Communion.¹ So also the President of the P. C. to the Bishop of Valleyfield.²

In doubt whether a child has attained the use of reason, before the completion of the seventh year he is judged not to be in possession of himself; but after the seventh year has been completed, he is presumed to have the use of reason (can. 88, § 3).

Note. The obligation of the precept of receiving communion, which burdens those under puberty, also and especially falls back upon those who ought to have care of them, that is, upon parents, guardians, the confessor, teachers, and the pastor (can. 860).

¹ S. C. de Sacr., 8 Aug. 1910 (A. A. S. 1910, p. 577).

² 3 Jan. 1918; cf. Linzer Quartalschrift 1922, p. 113.

III. Time of fulfilling the precept. 1. Easter communion is to be made from Palm Sunday to Low Sunday, unless the time has been legitimately anticipated or extended (can. 859, § 2), or in a particular case deferred. Note, however:

a) With respect to anticipation. Local Ordinaries can, if circumstances of persons and places so require, anticipate the time of Easter communion even for all their faithful, but not before the fourth Sunday of Lent (can. 859, § 2). Travelers also can use the anticipated time (n. 131). The pastor and confessor lack the faculty of anticipating the time.

b) With respect to extension. Local Ordinaries enjoy the same faculty with respect to extension as with respect to anticipation; yet they cannot extend the time beyond the feast of the Most Holy Trinity (can. 859, § 2). The pastor and confessor are without the said faculty.

c) With respect to deferral. In particular cases, communion can be deferred for a time, for a reasonable cause, according to the judgment of one's own priest (can. 859, § 1). Under the name of one's own priest come the pastor or the confessor (St. Alphonsus, VI, 297). For the rest, the circumstance of time also obliges under grave sin.

Corollary. One who, when the useful time, that is, the time established by law or by the local Ordinary, has not yet begun, foresees that he will be impeded during the aforesaid time is not bound to anticipate. The reason is that he cannot yet satisfy the precept, so that the communion received would not be a fulfillment of the precept (St. Alphonsus, VI, 298; n. 167). But one who, once Easter time has begun, sees that afterwards he will not be able to satisfy the precept, is bound to communicate now (St. Alphonsus, loc. cit.; n. 167).

2. The precept of Easter communion still urges if someone, for whatever reason, has not fulfilled it at the prescribed time (can. 859, § 4). Moreover, the obligation of supplying seems to urge not only until the end of the civil year, as some think, but until the following Easter. The reason is that, as Eugene IV declared in the constitution Fide digna,¹ the year within which, before the Code, communion was to be received ran "from Easter to Easter." But the Code repeats the ancient law, and indeed in the same words (St. Alphonsus, VI, 297). Finally, with St. Alphonsus (loc. cit.) against others, we judge that the obligation of supplying must be fulfilled as soon as morally possible. That this is the mind of the legislator seems to have to be deduced from the end of the law, which is that reception of the Holy Eucharist not be deferred longer than is fitting.

¹ 8 July 1440.

IV. Place of fulfilling the precept. The faithful should be advised that each satisfy this precept in his own parish, and those who satisfy it in another parish should see to it that their own pastor is informed concerning the fulfilled precept (can. 859, § 3). Notification of one's own pastor is judged to be of counsel rather than of precept.

V. Counsels. 1. It is expedient that on Thursday of Holy Week all clerics, even priests who abstain from celebrating Mass on that day, be refreshed with the most holy Body of Christ in the solemn or conventual Mass (can. 862).

2. The faithful should be encouraged to be refreshed frequently, even daily, with the Eucharistic bread according to the norms handed down in the decrees of the Apostolic See; and those assisting at Mass, if rightly disposed, should communicate not only by spiritual affection, but also by sacramental reception of the Most Holy Eucharist (can. 864). More will be said about these things in the treatise on the Most Holy Eucharist.