Point I. On the Petition by which a Dispensation Is Sought for the External Forum

The things to be expressed regard: 1° the persons of the petitioners; 2° the impediments; 3° various circumstances; 4° the cause or causes for dispensing; 5° the state of fortune of the petitioners.

I. The persons of the petitioners. There should be expressed:

1. The name and surname of the petitioners, each to be written distinctly and clearly and without any abbreviation of letters.

2. The diocese of origin or of actual domicile of the petitioners.

II. The impediments. There should be expressed:

1. "The species, even the lowest species, of the impediment; whether it is consanguinity or affinity; in the impediment of public honesty, whether it took its origin from an invalid marriage or from public or notorious concubinage; in the impediment of crime, whether it came from spouse-killing with a promise of marriage, or from spouse-killing with adultery, or from adultery alone with a promise or attempted marriage; in spiritual relationship, whether it is between the sponsor and the baptized person or between the baptizer and the baptized person."¹

2. The degree of consanguinity or affinity or public honesty, and whether it is simple or mixed, not only the more remote degree but also the nearer one, as also the line, whether it is direct or transverse, and likewise whether the petitioners are joined by a double bond of consanguinity, both on the father's side and on the mother's side.²

3. The number of impediments, for example if there is double or multiple consanguinity or affinity, or any other impediment whatever, whether diriment or impedient. Therefore if several impediments concur, ordinarily all must be expressed in one and the same petition.³ The reason is that the more numerous the impediments are, the more difficultly a dispensation is granted; wherefore all must be opened at least to one dispenser (St. Alphonsus VI, 1139). Conformably to this doctrine:

a) If even one of the impediments can be relaxed by the Holy See alone, ordinarily the Holy See must be approached for all (canon 1050). I said "ordinarily"; for, with the cited canon considered: 1° If with an impediment from which the Holy See alone can dispense there concurs either a public impediment from which the Ordinary can dispense by ordinary power, or an occult impediment from which he can dispense in any way whatsoever, then the Ordinary can dispense separately in the impediment of his competence, recourse having been made to the Holy See for the other impediment. 2° If the impediments over which the Ordinary can dispense are discovered after the dispensation has been obtained from the Holy See, the Ordinary will always be able to use his faculties, that is, even if with the impediment to be relaxed by the Holy See there concurs a public impediment in which the Ordinary can dispense by indult. It is said "after the dispensation has been obtained," that is, after the rescript of dispensation has been received, whether in gracious form or, as it seems should be added, in commissory form, because even in this case the dispensation seems able to be said to have been obtained from the Holy See.

b) If a public impediment and an occult impediment which cannot be opened without infamy or injury of the seal stand in the way of marriage, a twofold petition is needed, one for the external forum, the other for the internal forum, unless the petitioners permit all things to be manifested for the external forum. In that hypothesis, in the petition for the external forum only the public impediments should be expressed; in the petition for the internal forum both the public and the occult impediments should be expressed, adding that a dispensation from the public impediments has been or will be sought for the external forum.

If both petitions cannot be sent to the same Ordinary without infamy of the petitioners or injury of the seal, either consent should be sought for expressing all things in the petition for the external forum, in which case there should be added that this is done by consent given;⁴ or the petition for the internal forum should be sent directly to the Sacred Penitentiary.⁵

¹ Cited Instruction.

² Cited Instruction.

³ Cf. Sacred Penitentiary, April 15, 1853, and canon 1050.

⁴ Vlaming notes: "That practice, namely, of making mention of the occult impediment in the supplication for the external forum, pleases me especially little because I do not see how it will not happen that mention of the occult impediment will then occur also in the rescript; but rescripts of the external forum are customarily preserved in the parochial archive or elsewhere; thus therefore the occult impediment, for the most part arising from sin (crime) or at least pertaining to the forum of conscience (a private vow), is in a certain way handed down to posterity" (II, n. 447).

⁵ According to what was said under a), public impediments in which the Ordinary can dispense by ordinary power are not necessarily expressed in the petition; indeed, it is even disputed whether this is ever required for validity.

III. Circumstances. 1. Circumstances of age and condition are not to be expressed except insofar as they are alleged as a cause for dispensing.

2. The same must be said concerning copula perhaps admitted; and by force of the decree of the Holy Office of June 25, 1885 this also holds concerning incestuous copula, which formerly had to be expressed even if it was not alleged as a cause. From the same decree, the hope or malicious intention of obtaining a dispensation more easily by copula or some other crime must now not be expressed, at least if copula is alleged as a mere circumstance; if it is alleged as a cause, it is disputed whether the malicious intention must be expressed. Some affirm this, because the Decree of the year 1885 explicitly speaks only of copula and malicious intention as mere circumstances, but not of the case in which copula is alleged as a cause of dispensation. Others deny it, with both the benign mind of the Holy See and the formulas of dispensations considered, in which there is no mention of malicious intention, even if copula has been alleged as a cause. Whatever the case, by force of the decree of the Holy Office of March 18, 1891, "matrimonial dispensations over any impediment whatever, whether there is question of marriages invalidly contracted or to be contracted, are valid, even if copula or the plan and intention of obtaining the grace more easily through it have been kept silent."

3. The circumstance of offspring, whether already born or conceived, must be expressed only insofar as this is necessary for legitimating the offspring; that is, it must be expressed: 1° if there is offspring already born or to be born before the subsequent marriage, and there is question of adulterine or sacrilegious offspring, because it is legitimated neither by subsequent marriage (canon 1116) nor by dispensation (canon 1031); 2° if there is offspring already born or to be born before the dispensation has been fulminated, and there is question of a dispensation to be granted by rescript in a particular case, because even in this case the offspring is legitimated neither by subsequent marriage nor by dispensation (the cited canons).

4. The circumstance of a marriage to be contracted or already contracted invalidly. If it has already been contracted, several things must be added, as is explained in n. 822.

IV. The causes for dispensing should be set forth clearly and briefly.

V. The state of fortune must sometimes be expressed, for instance so that the Congregation may be able to judge in what form it should dispense: in the form of the poor or in the form of the rich, or, setting aside form, altogether gratis. If it is granted in the form of the poor, a minimal tax or composition¹ is required, which is determined with the nature and degree of the impediment considered, together with an agency fee proportioned to the tax. If it is granted in the form of the rich, a tax is required which is determined with the nature and degree of the impediment and the fortune of the petitioners considered, together with an agency fee proportioned to the tax. If the petitioners are "miserable," as it is said, nothing at all is required. Moreover, the tax or composition is imposed both by way of a fine to recompense the wound inflicted on the law by the dispensation, and so that the Holy See may be able to pay the stipends of officials or promote other good works. Therefore:

1. The state of fortune must be expressed in obtaining dispensations from the Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments, which observes the distinction between rescripts in the form of the rich and in the form of the poor. It should be set forth how much the male petitioner and the female petitioner possess in reality, and what they hope for from the succession of ascendants, debts, however, being deducted; nevertheless one must not proceed scrupulously. In addition, a dispensation granted in the form of the poor is valid even if the petitioners are not poor;² nevertheless they are bound to pay or supply the rights defrauded.

Note. In practice the state of fortune is rather often expressed in letters directed to the Ordinary, through whom the dispensation is obtained from the Holy See.

2. The state of fortune is not expressed for dispensations to be obtained from the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide or from the Sacred Penitentiary; these Congregations do not impose a tax or composition.³ Only postal expenses must be paid and, unless the rescript is obtained through a person residing at Rome and conducting the business of the Bishop, the rights of the Agent. Nor must the state of fortune be expressed for dispensations to be sought from the Holy Office, which requires a fixed tax and also grants reduction for circumstances. Moreover, although in the cases explained the state of fortune need not be expressed, and even poverty erroneously or falsely alleged does not obstruct the value of the dispensation, nevertheless the petitioners, as we noted above, must pay or supply the rights defrauded.

3. Nor must the state of fortune be expressed if the dispensation is obtained from the Bishop; namely, "except for some modest payment by title of chancery expenses in dispensations for non-poor persons, local Ordinaries or their officials, any contrary custom being reprobated, cannot, on the occasion of a dispensation granted, exact any emolument, unless this faculty has been expressly given to them by the Holy See; and if they have exacted it, they are bound to restitution" (canon 1056).⁴

¹ The distinction between tax and composition has practically been removed; likewise the distinction between the truly poor and the almost poor.

² Sacred Congregation of the Council, September 9, 1679; Sacred Penitentiary, August 7 and December 3, 1852; Ordo servandus, part 1, chapter XI, 3°.

³ Ordo servandus, part 1, chapter XI, 150; the other part, chapter VIII, article 1, 3°.

⁴ A privilege perhaps conceded in this matter perseveres even after the Code has been introduced (canon 4).