Scholion. On Reserved Vows

I. Notion of reservation. The reservation of a vow consists in this: that the power of dispensing and commuting, not of irritating, certain vows is reserved to the Supreme Pontiff, so that no one enjoys the said power unless he has received a special faculty.

II. Reserved vows. Private vows reserved to the Apostolic See are only the vow of perfect and perpetual chastity and the vow of entering a Religion of solemn vows, when these have been emitted absolutely and after the completion of the eighteenth year of age (can. 1309). Nevertheless, only the substance of the vow is reserved, not the time, for example, of entering Religion, or the circumstance, for example, of a stricter Religion; nor is the matter into which a reserved vow has legitimately been commuted reserved (St. Alphonsus, III, 258).

Besides the private vows just enumerated, public vows are also reserved to the Roman Pontiff. Such are: 1. the vow of chastity emitted in receiving the subdiaconate; 2. religious vows, solemn as well as simple, perpetual as well as temporary, emitted in a Religion approved by the Holy See.

III. Conditions of reservation. Reservation, since it is odious, is to be interpreted strictly. Hence for a vow to be reserved, it must be a true vow, absolute, not disjunctive, perfect as to act, obligation, and matter.

1. True, that is, a promise made to God. Therefore a promise made either to a man, or to a Saint while stopping at him, is not reserved; nor is an oath, unless it is confirmed by a vow (St. Alphonsus, III, 259).

2. Absolute, as can. 1309 expressly states. Hence it must not have been emitted under a condition concerning a future contingent thing;¹ nor is a vow of this kind reserved after the condition has been fulfilled, because it was not emitted absolutely, which canon 1309 requires. Hence a vow emitted in this way is not reserved: "I vow Religion, if I shall have sinned again"; or: "if I shall have been rescued from danger." Otherwise, however, one must speak "if someone has vowed Religion with a condition, for example, if his mother dies, because then the vow is rather absolute; although it does not oblige to execution while the mother is alive; for the particle if not rarely is equivalent to the particle when" (St. Alphonsus, cited place).

3. Not disjunctive, namely, in such a way that someone binds himself to reserved matter or to non-reserved matter; as if someone says: "I vow Religion or the reception of sacred order." Nor after the election of matter reserved in itself does the chosen part become reserved, unless someone confirms it by a new vow. The reason is that the one vowing, by choosing one part, does not deprive himself of the liberty of choosing the other (St. Alphonsus, III, 224, 258). Otherwise, however, one must speak if the vow indeed is disjunctive, but each part is reserved.

4. Perfect as to act, obligation, and matter. It is said perfect:

a) As to the act; hence a vow emitted from fear, even light fear, unjustly struck, is not reserved (St. Alphonsus, III, 258).

b) As to the obligation; therefore a vow emitted under light obligation is not reserved (St. Alphonsus, cited place).

c) As to the matter, that is, what is vowed must be perfectly that which is assigned as reserved.

Hence the following are not reserved: 1. a vow of not marrying, since not marrying is not the same as preserving perfect chastity; 2. a vow of conjugal chastity, or 3. of virginity, if it is taken for integrity of the flesh alone, because perfect chastity extends further than conjugal chastity and virginity so taken;² 4. a temporary vow of chastity; 5. a vow emitted by a married person, because it cannot be a vow of entire chastity; except if the spouse either has lost the right of asking the debt, for example by adultery, or has renounced it; likewise if each spouse by mutual consent has emitted a vow of chastity and has explicitly or implicitly renounced the right to the debt (St. Alphonsus, VI, 986); 6. a vow of receiving Sacred Order, since it is not a vow of chastity, but a vow of embracing a state which has a vow of chastity annexed to it; 7. a vow of entering a Religion of simple vows. Moreover, "if someone has vowed to enter a monastery, or if a girl has vowed to become a nun, and has not expressly thought of an order strictly so called, from present-day circumstances it must be judged that that vow is not reserved, since there are so many religious congregations or Orders in the broader sense, by entering which the one vowing must be judged to have fulfilled the vow."³

¹ Vows under a condition concerning the past or the present are immediately absolute or null, according as the condition exists or does not exist. Vows under a condition concerning a necessary future thing are immediately absolute (St. Alphonsus, cited place).

² A vow of virginity also, according to the mind of those vowing, often contains a vow of perfect chastity.

³ Lehmkuhl, Theologia Moralis, I, n. 627.

IV. Cessation of a reserved vow. First compare and apply what we have said about the cessation of a vow taken generally (n. 651). But as to the dispensation and commutation of a reserved vow, certain special things must be noted.

1. Dispensation. a) Bishops and those who have episcopal jurisdiction can dispense, but only insofar as it is necessary, "if access to the Pope is not easy and there is danger of grave harm in delay" (St. Alphonsus, cited place; VI, 987). I said insofar as it is necessary; "hence if it suffices that the vow be suspended, it cannot be dispensed. Likewise, if someone is dispensed from a vow of chastity with the restriction that he marry a certain woman to repair her honor, he cannot marry another" (St. Alphonsus, III, 258).

b) Regular confessors probably can do the same as Bishops, namely by a privilege which probably persists (cf. St. Alphonsus, III, 258; VI, 987, 1128), so that at least the Church supplies. Dispensation, however, can be granted even outside confession.

2. Commutation. Insofar as those mentioned under 1 can dispense in reserved vows, to that extent they can also commute them.

Warning. The people should be advised not to emit vows without consulting the confessor. But the confessor should not permit vows so easily, especially a vow of chastity, above all of perpetual chastity, because ecclesiastical authority is not accustomed to dispense in this vow, when it has been maturely emitted, unless a very great commutation has been attached. If that vow seems fitting, let a temporary vow be permitted the first time, or several times, from one feast of the Blessed Virgin to another, and so at last, after much and serious testing, a perpetual vow¹ (cf. St. Alphonsus, Praxis Confessarii, n. 93).

¹ Lehmkuhl, Theologia Moralis, I, n. 631.