What a censure is and its kinds

8. Notion of censure. A censure is a medicinal penalty by which the use of certain spiritual goods is taken away by the Church from a delinquent and contumacious Christian. Therefore two things are needed for incurring a censure: a delict and the contumacy of the delinquent.

a. Among the ancient Romans the name censure signified both the dignity and office of the censor, and also the sentence of the same, by which he either branded with a mark or inflicted a penalty upon citizens. In ecclesiastical usage censure signifies both a judgment by which it is noted whether something is worthy of praise or of blame, and a penalty inflicted for crime.

b. Medicinal: for in inflicting censure the Church chiefly intends the restraint of crime and the amendment of the delinquent; wherefore, once amendment has been posited, censure by its own nature demands that it be taken away; and if sometimes it is carried against those whose amendment is despaired of, this is done for striking terror into others. For the same reason censure is to be inflicted simply, not perpetually nor to a certain day, so that when the guilty person has amended himself, he can be absolved.

c. Censure can also have the character of a vindicative penalty, but only secondarily; but if it is inflicted chiefly for punishing a delict, it cannot be a censure properly so called.

d. Contumacious: censure is inflicted for breaking contumacy (virtual contempt of authority and of censure, disobedience), whose nature is described below. Therefore contumacy as a condition for incurring censure is always required; and as soon as contumacy ceases through the amendment or satisfaction of the delinquent, the censure is to be taken away, just as once health is recovered the use of medicine ceases.

e. Of spiritual goods, namely those which are subject to the power of the Church. Indeed, besides the goods which inhere habitually in each person, goods of a threefold kind exist in the Church: goods which proceed from the Head, or from Christ; goods which proceed from the members taken privately; goods which proceed from the body, or from the Church. Now, one censured cannot be deprived of goods habitually inhering in himself, such as the sacramental character, the power of order, faith, hope, and charity, etc.; nor of goods which proceed from Christ, the Head of the Church, such as manifold graces, because these goods do not depend upon the Church; nor can he be deprived of goods which proceed from the members of the Church taken individually, such as the prayers and good works of the faithful, because the Church cannot impede the communion of saints; but only of goods which are administered and conferred by the Church, such as the use of the sacraments, the sacrifice, indulgences, common suffrages, jurisdiction, ecclesiastical benefices. And if sometimes the Church deprives someone of temporal goods, as of civil commerce with the faithful, this is done secondarily and indirectly, insofar as it conduces to the spiritual good both of him who is bound by censure and of others.

¹ Suarez, De censuris. Covarruvias, Operum t. I, p. 315. Dicastillo, De censuris. Tamburini, De censuris et irregularitate. St. Alphonsus l. VII, De censuris eccles. Bucceroni, De censuris etc.^4 (Rome: Typographia S. C. de Prop. Fide, 1896). Hilarius a Sexten, Tractatus de censuris ecclesiasticis (Mainz: Kirchheim, 1898). Hollweck l. c., Die Zensuren, p. 86 ff. Heiner, Die kirchlichen Zensuren (Paderborn: Bonifatius-Druckerei, 1884). I. Kock, Die kirchlichen Zensuren latae sententiae (Graz: Styria, 1902). Paschalis de Siena, Commentarius in Const. Ap. sedis^3 (Pustet: Rome, 1902).

9. Division of censures. a. By reason of essence they are divided into three species, into excommunication, suspension, and interdict: for each of these penalties has the common character of censure and deprives the guilty person of other and diverse spiritual goods; but other ecclesiastical penalties, by whatever name they are called, are not censures.¹

b. By reason of the efficient cause, into a censure which is from law, if it is inflicted by stable law against future sins; and which is from man, if it is inflicted by a superior through judicial sentence against future or past sins.

A censure carried by man is carried either by way of precept or particular sentence, as if a bishop suspends a contumacious cleric from office, or if he prohibits a cleric from the game of dice under penalty of suspension, or by way of law or general statute, as if a bishop decrees that all who are about to commit some crime be bound by excommunication.

c. By reason of the power of absolving, into reserved censures, which cannot be taken away except by the one imposing them, his successor, or his superior; and non-reserved censures, which by the disposition of the legislator can also be taken away by inferior ministers.

d. By reason of publicity, into notorious censures, when either by sentence of a judge or by perpetration of the delict in a public place it is so known that someone has incurred censure that it can no longer be hidden; and occult censures, when this is not known.

e. By reason of the mode by which they are incurred, into censures of a sentence already passed, which are incurred by delinquents by this very fact, that they have committed the delict; and of a sentence to be passed, which, once the delict has been posited, are to be imposed by sentence of a judge.

f. By reason of the mode by which they are reserved:

a. into censures reserved to the Roman pontiff in a special mode;

b. into censures reserved to the Roman pontiff in the ordinary mode, or simply reserved;

c. into censures reserved to bishops;

d. into censures reserved to no one, which are indeed true censures insofar as they produce the effects of others, but from which the censured person, provided he is truly sorry for the sin, can be absolved by any confessor.

a. Several censures are called reserved in a special mode: a. because for them a general faculty of absolving from censures reserved to the Roman pontiff does not suffice, but an altogether special faculty is required; b. because they are not contained in the faculty conceded to bishops by c. Liceat, namely of absolving from all occult censures even those reserved to the pope; c. because those presuming to absolve from these without due faculty incur a special excommunication reserved to the Roman pontiff; d. because those absolved from these in the article of death by one not having power, if they recover, are held by a special obligation of presenting themselves to the superior and standing by his mandates.

b. From the declaration of the Holy Office of April 4, 1871, in the special faculty of absolving from censures reserved to the Roman pontiff in a special mode, there is not contained the faculty of absolving from cases reserved in the bull Sacramentum poenitentiae, which need a most special faculty and therefore are called reserved to the supreme pontiff in a most special mode. The cases reserved in the aforesaid bull are: a. absolution of an accomplice; b. malicious denunciation of a priest concerning the crime of solicitation.

¹ C. Quaerenti 20. De verborum sign. (V. 40).

10. Since censures in the specific sense, namely insofar as they pertain to the external forum, are called public or notorious, it is useful to indicate what is required for a censure to be notorious. But a censure is notorious if the delict prohibited under censure is notorious. A delict can be notorious either by law or by fact.

a. A delict is notorious by law when it is established: a. by the declaratory sentence of a judge, whether because the guilty person himself confessed the delict, or because he has been convicted of it; b. from public acts or from authentic protocols.

Thus if a cleric constituted in sacred orders contracts civil marriage; if a Catholic enters marriage before a heretical minister; if someone is punished by a civil judge because of a duel, these delicts are notorious by law, because they are established from public acts.

b. A delict is notorious by fact when it was perpetrated in a public place before several persons who can testify concerning it.

a. Since both elements must concur at the same time, a delict is not notorious which was perpetrated in a private or hidden place, although before many, nor a delict which was perpetrated in a public place before few persons, or indeed before many who nevertheless cannot testify about it, because they did not attend to it, e.g. to the heresy uttered. How many persons must know the delict so that it can be called notorious is indicated elsewhere.¹

b. A delict public by law is public everywhere, nor can it ever become occult; but a delict public by fact in one place can be occult in another, and if it consists in a transitory fact (the striking of a cleric), through oblivion it can become occult; not likewise if it consists in a permanent fact (illicit possession of ecclesiastical goods).

¹ Cf. De praeceptis n. 649.

WE here understand by a censure a spiritual and remedial penalty by which a baptized and contumacious delinquent is deprived by ecclesiastical authority of the use of certain spiritual advantages. It differs from other penalties, such as degradation, which are also spiritual and inflicted by the Church, in that a censure has in view the correction and amendment of the delinquent, while other penalties have chiefly in view the common good to be procured by the punishment and repression of crime. The Church has jurisdiction only over those who are baptized, and she punishes by censures only those of her children who have done wrong with their eyes open, with knowledge of the wrongfulness of their action and of the spiritual censure by which the Church punishes it.

A censure does not and cannot deprive a man of all the spiritual advantages which he may possess. There are some spiritual gifts in man’s possession which depend only on his personal relations with God, such as sanctifying grace, and the supernatural virtues and gifts which accompany it. These may adorn the soul of one who is not baptized, and they are not possessed by all members of the Church. There are, however, other spiritual privileges which a Christian enjoys through membership with the Church of God. Among these theologians distinguish those that are internal, external, and mixed. Internal comprise the special providence and helps which God grants to the members of his Church because they belong to his Spouse who is continually interceding for them. External are the society and special charity which binds the members of the Church to each other. Mixed are the participation in the same sacraments and sacrifice, the common suffrages, satisfactions, indulgences, children of the Church in communion with her enjoy. According to the common opinion, excommunication deprives the delinquent of all these privileges, it puts him outside the communion of the faithful, and consequently leaves him without the benefits of union.. The other two censures, suspension and interdict, deprive him at least of some of those benefits, as of their nature they are limited in their effect. There are, however, some theologians who with Suarez deny that a censure deprives a man of the merely internal advantages which membership with the Church confers.

With reference to the effects produced by them, censures are of three kinds: excommunication, suspension, and interdict. With reference to the manner in which they are inflicted, they are said to be a jure, or ab homine. The former are imposed by a stable and permanent law, the latter by way of particular precept or sentence. Sometimes a censure is incurred by the very fact of committing a crime, without any declaratory sentence of a judge; it is then said to be latae sententiae. Sometimes it needs the intervention of a judge, and is said to be ferendae sententiae.

I. Notion. Censure is a 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 (canon 2241, § 1). It is said:

1. Baptized, because the Church lacks jurisdiction over the non-baptized; against heretics and schismatics she can issue censures.

2. Delinquent and contumacious; these things will be explained more fully under II.

3. Until, withdrawing from contumacy, he is absolved. Namely, censure is a medicinal penalty, and therefore primarily intends the amendment of the guilty person; hence as soon as the delinquent withdraws from contumacy, he must be absolved (St. Alphonsus VII, 1).

Note. Censures, especially those latae sententiae, and most of all excommunication, are not to be inflicted except soberly and with great circumspection (canon 2241, § 2), "since, as the Council of Trent says,¹ experience teaches that if it is struck rashly or for light matters, it is rather despised than feared, and produces ruin rather than salvation."

II. A fuller exposition of the notion will show what things are required on the part both of the delict and of the delinquent, so that the penalty of censure may be decreed; and what things are required so that the delinquent may be absolved.

1. Requisites on the part of the delict. By censure there is punished only an external delict (n. 846), grave (n. 858), consummated (n. 858; St. Alphonsus VII, 31-34, 36; canon 2242, § 1). Note that a grave delict is required not only as to the external act, but also as to the internal act, so that whatever excuses from mortal sin also excuses from censure (n. 858), at least in the internal forum, because in the external forum malice is presumed.

2. The requisite on the part of the delinquent is contumacy (cited canon). Moreover:

a) If there is question of censures ferendae sententiae, one is contumacious who, notwithstanding the warnings mentioned in canon 2233, § 2 (n. 859), does not desist from the delict or refuses to do penance for the perpetrated delict with due reparation of damages and scandal (canon 2242, § 2).²

b) But to incur a censure latae sententiae, transgression of the law or precept to which the penalty latae sententiae is annexed suffices, unless the guilty person is excused from it by a legitimate cause (cited canon). It is disputed whether, in a case in which there is question of a censure which is not incurred unless the effect has followed, a transgression morally persisting until the effect has followed is required, so that the censure is not contracted by him who repents of the transgression before the effect. St. Alphonsus (VII, 40) and others affirm this, because a censure does not seem to be contracted by one who, at the moment at which according to the law it is contracted, is already no longer contumacious.

Note. Censure can also be issued against unknown delinquents (canon 2242, § 1), provided, however, that they are somehow determined; as happens, for example, in establishing censures latae sententiae. But a censure issued against an uncertain or indeterminate person would be invalid, for example: "I excommunicate one of the three authors of this crime."

3. The requisite for a delinquent to be absolved is that contumacy has ceased. Moreover, contumacy must be said to have ceased when the guilty person has truly repented of the committed delict and at the same time has given congruous satisfaction for damages and scandal, or at least has seriously promised it; but to judge whether the repentance is true, the satisfaction congruous, or the promise of the same serious or not, belongs to him from whom absolution from the censure is sought (canon 2242, § 3). Therefore the one absolving can sometimes require cautions, so that he may be certain of the serious conversion of the penitent.

Question. When does censure produce its effect, and to what extent is appeal or recourse admitted concerning a censure inflicted or threatened?

Response 1. Censures inflicted by judicial sentence carry execution with them as soon as they have been issued, and from them there is no appeal except in devolutive effect; likewise from censures inflicted in the manner of a precept there is recourse, but in devolutive effect only³ (canon 2243, § 1).

Response 2. But appeal or recourse from a judicial sentence or precept threatening censures, even censures latae sententiae not yet contracted, suspends neither the sentence or precept nor the censures, if there is question of a matter in which law does not admit appeal or recourse even with suspensive effect; otherwise it suspends the censures, the obligation of observing what is commanded by the sentence or precept nevertheless remaining firm, unless the guilty person has lodged appeal or recourse not only from the penalty, but also from the sentence or precept itself (canon 2243, § 2).

III. Multiplication of censure. Since by several titles someone can be deprived of the same good, "not only diverse censures, but even a censure of the same species, can be multiplied in the same subject" (canon 2244, § 1). Moreover, according to the adage, as many penalties as delicts, the Code establishes:

1. A censure latae sententiae is multiplied: 1° if diverse delicts, each of which carries a censure with it, are committed by the same or by distinct action (p. 716, IV, 1, 1°); 2° if the same delict, punished with a censure, is repeated several times, so that there are several distinct delicts (p. 716, IV, 1, 2°); 3° if a delict, punished with diverse censures by distinct Superiors, is committed once or several times (canon 2244, § 2, 1°, 2°, 3°).

2. A censure ab homine (inflicted) is multiplied if several precepts, or several sentences, or several distinct parts of the same precept or sentence, each inflicts its own censure (canon 2244, § 3).

IV. Division. Censure, as was said of penalty in general (n. 853), is determinate or indeterminate, latae or ferendae sententiae, a iure or ab homine. Besides, censures are divided:

1. By reason of the deprivation of goods, into excommunication, suspension, and interdict; concerning these separately below.

2. By reason of the power of remitting, some are reserved, others non-reserved (canon 2245, § 1). We shall speak specifically of reservation.

¹ Session 25, chapter 3.

² An unknown delinquent must be warned by edict before a censure is inflicted, according to the norm of canon 1724, compared with canon 1720, 1 and 2 (cf. also canon 1717, 3).

³ Recourse extends more broadly than appeal, since the former can be extrajudicial, but the latter cannot in present Law.

I. Notion of reservation. Reservation of censure is its evocation to the judgment of the Superior; therefore it limits the inferior's power of absolving (canon 893, §§ 1 and 2).

II. Power of reserving. Those same persons can reserve censures who can issue them (cited canon). Nevertheless, "if a censure is reserved to the Apostolic See, the Ordinary cannot issue another censure reserved to himself for the same delict" (canon 2247, § 1). In addition, canon 2246, § 1, admonishes: "Let no censure be reserved unless with attention to the peculiar gravity of the delicts and to the necessity of providing more suitably for ecclesiastical discipline and of healing the consciences of the faithful."

III. Reserved censures. 1. A censure ab homine (inflicted)¹ is reserved, and indeed to him who inflicted the censure or issued the sentence, or to his competent superior, or successor, or delegate (canon 2245, § 2).

2. Censures latae sententiae, established by law or by precept, are reserved if this is expressly said in the law or precept (canon 2245, § 4). Moreover, among censures reserved by law, some are reserved to the Ordinary, others to the Apostolic See (canon 2245, § 2). Among those reserved to the Apostolic See, some are reserved simply, others in a special manner, others in a most special manner (canon 2245, § 3).

IV. Interpretation of reservation. Reservation receives strict interpretation (canon 2246, § 2). Therefore reservation is not had in doubt whether the requisites are present so that it must be applied.

V. Effect of reservation of censure with respect to sin. Reservation of a censure impeding reception of the sacraments (n. 864) imports the reservation of the sin to which the censure is annexed (canon 2246, § 3). But a sin of this kind is said to be reserved by reason of the censure, not by reason of itself; hence, "if someone is excused from the censure or has been absolved from it, the reservation of the sin ceases entirely" (cited canon).

VI. Limits of reservation. Reservation of a censure in a particular territory does not exert its force outside the boundaries of that territory, even if the censured person goes out of the territory to obtain absolution; but a censure ab homine is reserved everywhere, so that the censured person can nowhere be absolved without the due faculties (canon 2247, § 2).

¹ Inflicted; for a censure latae sententiae added to a particular precept is indeed ab homine, but is not always reserved, as is said under III, 2.

What is censure? It is a medicinal spiritual penalty by which a baptized man, delinquent and contumacious, is deprived by ecclesiastical power of the use of certain spiritual goods. Penalty: i.e., chiefly of the external forum. Therefore only those can impose censure who have jurisdiction in the external forum. Spiritual: because it consists in a certain removal of spiritual goods; it is from spiritual or ecclesiastical power; for a spiritual good; and obliging in conscience. Medicinal: for it is properly imposed for this end, as a medicine for preventing sins not yet admitted and curing those admitted, namely so that one may not sin, and if he has sinned may return to better fruit. C. Cum medicinalis 1, de Sent. exc., in VI.

Hence, in order that a censure truly be imposed by way of censure, and not generally by way of penalty, it is necessary that it not be imposed in perpetuity, nor at the discretion of the one imposing it, but it must be imposed simply, so that as soon as the guilty person has amended himself he can be absolved; for when the disease ceases, the medicine ceases. Baptized man: for one who has not been baptized is not subject to the power of the Church. But he must be capable of reason and a subject: for one who is incapable of fault is not liable to penalty; and the power of jurisdiction, of which censure is an act, is exercised only upon subjects.

He must also be some determinate person, and not a moral person, which can indeed be deprived of the rights by which it enjoys, but cannot be struck with penalties and censures so that it may repent, since it has only a moral existence. Yet the individual persons of a moral body can be punished with censures. Cf. Schmalzgrueber, n. 44-46. But Cardinals and Bishops are not liable to censures issued by the law itself unless they are expressly included, except for excommunication; likewise those not yet pubescent, except in the case of violation of the enclosure of nuns. C. Apostolicae Sedis. But by a special privilege legitimately introduced in the course of time, kings and queens cannot be bound by censure except by the Pope. By ecclesiastical power: for a penalty cannot be imposed except by one having power, and spiritual penalty pertains to spiritual power.

Of the use of certain spiritual goods: therefore censures do not take away the goods themselves, nor power or rights to them, but only the use of them from the guilty person, until he has returned to better fruit. C. Ex litteris 11, de Const. But it deprives him of the use of those goods which are in the power of the Church, such as public prayers, administration of the sacraments, offering of sacrifice, ecclesiastical burial, etc. Therefore it does not deprive him of merely internal goods, e.g., the sacramental character, the power of order, nor of proper and private goods, e.g., faith, hope, charity, etc. And if sometimes it deprives him of human intercourse, this is done only secondarily. E.M.

What is the division of censures? According to the various goods of whose use censure deprives one, it is threefold, namely excommunication, suspension, and interdict. Excommunication and interdict touch all; suspension touches only clerics. Excommunication has the force only of censure, or medicinal penalty. Therefore it cannot be imposed upon a moral person. C. Romana 5, de Sent. exc., in VI; Suarez, disp. 18, sec. 2, n. 3. But suspension and interdict can be imposed also by way of mere penalty, or in vindication of fault, and by way of mere privation, which holds even without fault, and therefore both the guilty and the innocent. Hence suspension and interdict can be imposed for a merely past delict which has no successive continuance, without any preceding threat or warning, without any expressed cause, in perpetuity, or for a determinate time, or at the good pleasure of the one who imposed it. Likewise they can be imposed upon moral persons, e.g., a chapter, a city, etc., and with respect to the innocent they have the nature of mere privation. Violation of a censure imposed by way of censure brings irregularity if a cleric violates it by exercising an order; not likewise one imposed by way of penalty, unless something else has been specially provided by law.

Some censures are issued by law; others by man. The former are imposed by way of law, the latter by way of mandate or sentence. An example of the former kind is the censures contained in the constitution Apostolicae Sedis, and the censures contained in episcopal statutes. An example of the latter is if a Bishop, without judicial process, issues a mandate, or if a judge, after judicial process has been instituted, issues a sentence against an abductor, that he restore the abducted person to liberty within three days, otherwise he incurs excommunication. Suarez, disp. 3, sec. 1, n. 2. A censure issued by law still perseveres after the death of the author; not likewise one issued by man. Yet one who incurs the latter is held by it everywhere until he is absolved from it. Episcopal censures issued in synod are held as censures by way of law and, when the Bishop has died, they endure; but those issued outside synod are held as censures by way of simple statute, and when the Bishop has died, they cease. L. 6.

Likewise some censures are latae sententiae; others are ferendae sententiae. They are latae sententiae if they are established as to be incurred by the very fact by which someone acts against the law. They are ferendae sententiae if they are to be inflicted by the sentence of a judge. Therefore censures are ferendae sententiae if the words of the law require the ministry of a judge, or the action of another, for incurring the censure, e.g., if it is said: it is prescribed under penalty of excommunication; he will be excommunicated, etc. But they are latae sententiae if the words of the law do not include a condemnatory sentence, or at least a declaratory sentence of the crime, e.g., one doing such things is by that very fact, by the law itself, excommunicated.

932. • A censure is commonly defined thus: It is a spiritual and medicinal penalty by which a baptized man, delinquent and contumacious, is deprived through ecclesiastical power of the use of certain spiritual goods.

It is called: 1. a penalty, because it supposes fault; 2. spiritual, both because it is imposed by spiritual power for the spiritual utility of Christians and because it immediately takes away spiritual goods; 3. medicinal, because it is imposed for this end, that the soul may return to better conduct ¹; 4. upon a baptized man, because those who are not baptized are not subject to the power of the Church, while power is exercised over subjects; 5. delinquent and contumacious, because a penalty is inflicted only upon one who is delinquent, while medicine ought not to be offered except to those whose contumacy needs so great a remedy; 6. is deprived of the use of certain spiritual goods, namely, goods which are subject to the power of the Church, such as public prayers, the Sacraments, etc.

¹ Although the correction of the delinquent is despaired of, a censure can be imposed both in vindication of the offense and lest others be infected by communication with the wicked (Salmanticenses, On Censures, chapter 1, no. 10). Hence, when the end of correction ceases, the other ends do not thereby cease (Coninck, disputation 13, doubt 1, no. 9).

Hence a censure differs: 1. from deposition and degradation, which are not medicinal nor imposed for a time, but only as punishment and permanently; 2. from irregularity, which can be contracted even on account of a defect of mind or body alone, without any fault, and therefore of itself is not a penalty but only a canonical impediment, although, when inflicted on account of certain crimes, it can also have the character of a penalty.

Hence it is also apparent that a censure does not endure perpetually but reaches its end with the amendment of the delinquent; for then he ought to be loosed from the bond of the censure.

Suspension and interdict sometimes assume the nature of a censure and sometimes of a vindicative penalty. But you will recognize them to be a vindicative penalty both if they are imposed on account of a merely past offense and if they are inflicted perpetually or even for a determinate time, for example, for two or three months ².

² Therefore, one who violates interdicts or suspensions of this kind does not incur irregularity.

936. • Questions. - QUESTION 1. How is a censure latae sententiae distinguished from a censure ferendae sententiae?

Reply 1. Generally, a censure will be latae sententiae: 1. if the words by which it is expressed exclude the action or ministry of anyone else, for example, if it is imposed with these words: by the fact itself, by the law itself, by that very fact, without another sentence;

2. if the words are in the present or past tense, for example, we excommunicate, we have excommunicated, etc.; 3. if the words are in the imperative mood, for example, let him fall under excommunication, let him remain suspended, interdicted, etc. - St. Alphonsus, no. 7.

Reply 2. But a censure is to be held as ferendae sententiae: 1. if the words by which it is imposed demand the work and ministry of another, for example, let him be excommunicated by the Bishop; 2. if they are only comminatory, for example, we command under threat of anathema, unless something else is gathered from the circumstances; 3. if they express the future tense, for example, he will be excommunicated, he will be an excommunicated person, etc. ¹⁰.

¹⁰ If the words are ambiguous, rule 49 of the Law in the Sext can be followed: in doubt concerning penalties, the more benign interpretation is to be made. Common opinion.

Concerning these it is treated in the Code in can. 2255-2285. Three species are had in can. 2255 § 1. - 1290 The definition of excommunication is had in can. 2237 § 1. The effects cannot be separated; therefore the distinction between greater and lesser excommunication is altogether taken away; 2º is confirmed by can. 2258 § 1. Today from § 2 of the same canon only those are to be avoided who are excommunicated by name by the Holy See; besides, the excommunication must be publicly denounced, and in the decree or sentence it must be expressly said that he must be avoided. - 1291 1º is confirmed by can. 985 n. 7; 2º can. 2340 § 1. - 1292 1º can. 2260 § 1. Note can. 2250 § 1; 2º can. 2261 §§ 1, 2, 3. The Note which pertains to 1º, can. 2260 § 1; 3º can. 2259 §§ 1 and 2, cf. also can. 2256 n. 1; 4º can. 2262 § 1, but it is extended to all excommunicates. As regards private suffrages, it is confirmed by the same canon § 2; 5º can. 2264. As regards assistance at marriage, can. 1095 § 1, 1º (it is extended to the interdicted); 6º can. 2265 § 1 nn. 1 and 2; in § 2 of the same canon the nullity of acts is restricted to the case in which there is had a declaratory sentence of excommunication. As regards rescripts, cf. there and can. 36 § 2. As regards privation of benefice, it is confirmed by can. 2340 § 1, 2315, 2314 § 1 n. 2 taken together. As regards fruits, can. 2266; 7º can. 2263, 2256 n. 2, 1654; 8º can. 2267; 9º can. 2260 § 2 and 2240 § 1 n. 2, where it is limited only to excommunicates after a condemnatory or declaratory sentence. As regards extracting corpses, the obligation from can. 1242 is limited to those alone who are to be avoided, and if indeed it can be done without grave inconvenience. An excommunicate, although he has not been condemned or declared, sometimes must be deprived of ecclesiastical burial from another head, can. 1241 § 1, e.g., from n. 6. - 1294 and 1295 are confirmed by can. 2267. Private prayer is licit from can. 2262 § 2 n. 1; 4º one communicating in a criminal crime is confirmed by can. 2338 § 2. - 1298. A doubt concerning one to be avoided, after can. 2258 § 2, can scarcely be had any longer.

1299. The definition of suspension is had in can. 2278 § 1. The division is somewhat other: suspension is total or partial, and this is either from office or from benefice from can. 2278 § 2; partial suspension from office is again total or partial from can. 2279 § 1; from benefice it is had in can. 2280 § 1. - 1300 1º is confirmed by can. 2298 n. 2; 2º can. 2222 § 2 and by the last words of the same: "they do not have the nature of a penalty." - 1301 is confirmed by can. 2186-2194 and can. 2222 § 1. - 1302 can. 2278 § 2. - 1303 can. 2279 § 2. In this canon the species of partial suspension from office are clearly indicated with their effects; 4º is confirmed from can. 2280 §§ 1, 2; 5º from can. 2285. - 1304 I is confirmed by can. 986; II can. 985 n. 7. The question concerning violation of suspension as a vindictive penalty is solved through this canon, so that then an irregularity is also incurred; III is confirmed by can. 2284. - 1305 1º and 2º can. 2236 § 1, 2248 § 1 and 2289.

1306. The definition of interdict is in can. 2268 § 1. As regards the division, 1º mixed is to be omitted, can. 2268 § 2. The rest is confirmed by can. 2269 § 1. Concerning interdict from entrance of the church, it is treated in can. 2277. - 1307 I is confirmed by can. 2273, but as regards the note, the cemetery is not interdicted when the church has been interdicted. Those who did not give the cause from can. 2276 can receive the sacraments. Concerning the faculty of the Bishop, confer can. 2269 § 1; II is confirmed in some measure by can. 2269 § 2; III Bishops are exempt from can. 2227 § 2; innocents from can. 2276; externs from can. 2269 § 2; infants from can. 2230 and the insane from can. 2201 § 1 and 2218 § 2, who are not even

deprived of ecclesiastical burial from can. 1240 § 1 n. 2. - 1308 must be changed in some measure, although it is substantially confirmed. 1º The effect of a local interdict (whether general or partial) is the prohibition of any divine office or sacred rite in the interdicted place from can. 2269 § 1. What is understood by divine offices, see can. 2256 n. 1. The limits as regards the dying are in can. 2270 § 1; as regards clerics they are confirmed by can. 2271, 1º; as regards days, can. 2270 § 2; as regards sacraments, if the church is the only one or is parochial, can. 2271 n. 2. Ecclesiastical burial is prohibited only for those who are personally interdicted from can. 1240 § 1 n. 2, and only after sentence. For the rest in a local interdict only solemnities in funerals are prohibited from can. 2271 n. 2; b) if it is a particular local one; cf. besides can. 2272. - 1309. 1º a) is confirmed by can. 985, 7º; b) can. 2372; c) can. 2338 § 3; 2º is confirmed by can. 2338 § 3 and can. 2275. - 1310. 1º is confirmed by can. 2353 n. 1; as regards reserved ones confer can. 2237 § 1; 2º is confirmed by can. 2253 n. 2 and can. 2247 § 2; 3º can. 2253 n. 1.

475. Notion. A censure is a medicinal ecclesiastical penalty by which a baptized, delinquent, and contumacious man is deprived of the use of certain spiritual goods or of goods annexed to spiritual goods (c. 2241, § 1).

This is explained: The name censure signified in the ancient Roman law the office of the censor, who entered the census, that is, the description of persons and goods, into the censorial tables and branded delicts perpetrated against public morality with a censorial mark.³² In ecclesiastical law, however, censure has a threefold signification, namely: 1. in the first centuries of the Church, censure signifies any ecclesiastical penalty whatever (whether vindicative or medicinal), for example, public penances, excommunication, deposition; 2. from the time of Innocent III³³ (the thirteenth century), censure began to be restricted to the penalties or sentences of excommunication, suspension, and interdict; 3. censure signifies the examination and approval of a book to be published.³⁴ This censure is properly called preventive censure, and in this sense Leo XIII enacted most wise laws "concerning the censure of books."³⁵ - The definition given is valid only for censure taken in the second sense.

It is called, first, "a penalty," and therefore it presupposes fault and is distinguished from irregularities, which are either solely or at least principally incapacities.

It is called, second, "ecclesiastical and medicinal," because a censure is inflicted by ecclesiastical power as a medicine, that is, for the amendment of the delinquent. Therefore: 1. if the amendment of the delinquent has truly been obtained, absolution from censures not only can, but must, be given;³⁶ 2. a censure cannot be imposed because of a merely past delict which does not have - as they say - a successive continuance, or which has already been amended; 3. a censure cannot be imposed for a determinate time, nor even simply in perpetuity; for when the amendment of the delinquent arrives, then the censure is to be removed, as was already said; 4. a censure can be imposed even upon those whose amendment is nearly despaired of; for a censure is imposed not only for the amendment of the delinquent, but also (although secondarily and accidentally) for the punishment of the delict committed and for instilling terror in others; moreover, the amendment of no living man is to be altogether despaired of. But no censure properly so called is to be imposed upon the dead.

Note. Suspension and interdict are sometimes inflicted not as censures, but as vindicative penalties; excommunication, however, is always inflicted as a true censure. Hence Innocent III says: "Since excommunication is medicinal, not deadly; disciplining, not uprooting, provided, however, that the one against whom it has been imposed does not despise it: let the ecclesiastical judge cautiously provide that, in imposing it, he show himself to pursue that which belongs to one correcting and healing" (c. 1, V 11 in VI^o).

It is called, third, "by which a baptized, delinquent, and contumacious man." By these words are indicated the conditions required for a censure on the part of the subject and of the object. These will be treated specifically below, n. 481 ff.

It is called, fourth, "is deprived of the use of certain spiritual goods or of goods annexed to spiritual goods." By these words the effect of a censure is indicated. Since a censure is an ecclesiastical penalty, it deprives one only of the use of those goods of which the Church freely disposes, for example, the administration and reception of the sacraments, offices, benefices, and so forth. Hence a censure: a) does not deprive one of spiritual goods which proceed immediately from Christ, such as the sacramental character, the power of order, habitual or actual grace, the virtues, and so forth; for these goods do not depend upon the Church; b) does not deprive one of those spiritual goods which are produced by individual men, such as the good works and prayers of the faithful; the reason is that not even these goods depend upon the Church, since she has no power to impede the communion of saints; hence it is lawful to pray privately for an excommunicate even when he is one to be avoided; c) does not deprive one of the spiritual goods themselves, but only of their use; for a censure must be a medicinal penalty and therefore must be inflicted by way of a bond easily dissolved as soon as the guilty person has withdrawn from contumacy.³⁷

The goods of whose use an ecclesiastical censure deprives one are principally spiritual; nevertheless, per accidens and secondarily, the use even of temporal goods which are annexed to spiritual goods is taken away, for example, civil communication with the other faithful, the revenues of a benefice, and so forth.

³² Cf. Wernz, Ius Decretal. V, 144.

³³ Cf. c. 20, X 5, 40.

³⁴ Censure in this sense is sometimes taken more broadly for a judgment as to whether some thing is worthy of praise or blame.

³⁵ Constitution Officiorum ac munerum, January 25, 1896, tit. 2.

³⁶ Code of Canon Law, c. 2248, § 2.

³⁷ Cf. Laymann, Tract. de cens. eccl., P. 1, c. 1, n. 2.

476. Division of Censures. The principal divisions appear to be the following:

1. By reason of species, censures are divided into excommunication, suspension, and interdict.³⁸

No other species of ecclesiastical penalties is contained under the genus of censure. Therefore, for example, deposition, degradation, irregularities, and so forth, are not censures.

2. By reason of the efficient cause, censures imposed a iure and ab homine are distinguished.

Censures are imposed a iure if they are inflicted against future sins through a stable law or general statute; but they are imposed ab homine by way of a sentence or particular precept, as when a bishop suspends some determinate cleric from office because of a crime committed.

3. By reason of the manner, censures latae sententiae and ferendae sententiae are distinguished.

Censures latae sententiae are incurred by the very fact of the crime committed, without a condemnatory sentence. In the external forum, a declaratory sentence concerning the crime is indeed often still customarily required, but in the internal forum not even this declaratory sentence is required in order that such a censure be truly incurred by the very fact that the crime was committed.³⁹ Censures ferendae sententiae are incurred in neither forum except after a condemnatory sentence of a judge.

4. By reason of the power of absolving, censures are distinguished as reserved and non-reserved, according as they can be removed either by the one imposing them alone (or by his superior, successor, or one specially delegated), or also by inferior ministers.

The reserved censures existing today are reserved: 1. to the Supreme Pontiff, and indeed a) in the most special manner; b) in a special manner; c) simply;⁴⁰ 2. to bishops; 3. to religious superiors for their subjects.⁴¹

³⁸ Cf. c. 20, X 40.

³⁹ Cf. Cappello, De cens., nn. 4, 6, 74.

⁴⁰ Code of Canon Law, c. 2245, § 3.

⁴¹ Cf., however, the decree of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, August 5, 1913, related above in n. 417.

Censure is commonly defined: A spiritual and medicinal penalty, by which a baptized man, delinquent and contumacious, is deprived by ecclesiastical power of the use of certain spiritual goods. It is called 1°. a penalty, because it supposes fault; 2°. spiritual, both because it is brought by spiritual power for the spiritual utility of Christians, and because it takes away spiritual goods primarily and immediately, temporal goods only secondarily and mediately; 3°. medicinal, because regularly it is brought and ought to be brought for this end, that the soul may bring itself back to better fruit; nevertheless accidentally, when this is expedient, it is brought even against him of whose conversion there is despair; for although it is a medicine, it is also a penalty, and therefore, when the primary end of correction ceases, secondary ends are still obtained, namely that the guilty person be chastised and fear be instilled into others; 4°. a baptized man, because those who have not been baptized are not subject to the power of the Church; but power is exercised over subjects; 5°. delinquent and contumacious, because a penalty is inflicted only on a delinquent, but medicine ought not to be offered except to those whose contumacy needs such a remedy; 6°. he is deprived of the use of certain spiritual goods, namely of goods which fall under the power of the Church, such as public prayers, sacraments, etc. - Hence censure differs 1°. from deposition and degradation, which are not medicinal nor for a time, but only penal and perpetual; 2°. from irregularity, which can be contracted also on account of a mere defect of mind or body without any fault, and therefore of itself is not a penalty, but only a canonical impediment.

The Code gives nearly the same definition.

§ 1. Censure is a penalty by which a baptized man, delinquent and contumacious, is deprived of certain spiritual goods, or goods annexed to spiritual goods, until, withdrawing from contumacy, he is absolved.

§ 2. Let censures, especially latae sententiae, above all excommunication, not be inflicted except soberly and with great circumspection (Can. 2241).

Censures are distinguished in many ways, namely:

1°. Excommunication, suspension, interdict, concerning which we shall treat specifically. - Nevertheless it must be noted that excommunication is always a censure; but suspension and interdict take on the nature sometimes of a censure, sometimes of a vindicative penalty. But you will recognize that they are vindicative penalties both if they are brought on account of a merely past delict, and if they are inflicted perpetually, or even for a determinate time, for example for two or three months; for these things are a certain indication that not the amendment of the guilty person, but his punishment, is intended.

2°. § 1. Some censures are reserved, others non-reserved.

§ 2. A censure ab homine is reserved to him who inflicted the censure or pronounced the sentence, and to his competent Superior, or successor, or delegate; but of censures reserved a iure some are reserved to the Ordinary, others to the Apostolic See.

§ 3. Of those reserved to the Apostolic See, some are reserved simply, others in a special mode, others in a most special mode.

§ 4. A censure latae sententiae is not reserved unless this is expressly said in the law or precept; and in doubt whether of law or of fact, the reservation does not press (Can. 2245).

3°. Notorious or occult censures, according as it is publicly established that someone has incurred them on account of a fact which is so known that now it cannot any longer be concealed; or otherwise.

4°. Just or unjust censures; valid or invalid; according as the superior has consulted justice, truth, and law, or not, in imposing the censure.

The conditions required for the validity of censures are that the sin, on account of which it is inflicted, be mortal, external, consummated, not merely past, and that it be conjoined with contumacy.

§ 1. By censure only an external, grave, consummated delict, conjoined with contumacy, is punished; but censure can also be brought against unknown delinquents.

§ 2. If there is question of censures ferendae sententiae, he is contumacious who, notwithstanding the admonitions of which in can. 2233, § 2, does not desist from the delict or refuses to do penance for the perpetrated delict with due reparation of damages and scandal; but for incurring a censure latae sententiae the transgression of the law or precept to which a penalty latae sententiae is attached suffices, unless the guilty person is excused from this by a legitimate cause.

§ 3. Contumacy must be said to have ceased when the guilty person has truly repented of the committed delict and at the same time has given congruous satisfaction for damages and scandal, or at least has seriously promised it; but to judge whether the penance is true, whether the satisfaction is congruous or the promise of the same serious, or not, belongs to him from whom absolution from the censure is sought (Can. 2242).

Question 1. In what way is a censure latae sententiae discerned from a censure ferendae sententiae?

Resp. Generally a censure will be latae sententiae: 1°. if the words by which it is expressed exclude the action or ministry of any other, for example, if it is brought by these words: by the fact itself - by the law itself - by that very thing - without any other sentence; 2°. if the words are of the present or past time, for example, we excommunicate - we have excommunicated, etc.; 3°. if the words are of the imperative mode, for example, let him fall into excommunication - let him remain suspended - interdicted, etc.

But a censure must be held as ferendae sententiae: 1°. if the words by which it is brought demand the work and ministry of another, for example, let him be excommunicated by the Bishop; 2°. if they are only threatening, for example, we prescribe under threat of anathema, unless something else is gathered from the adjuncts; 3°. if they express future time, for example, he will be excommunicated - he will be excommunicated, etc. - Cf. St. Alphonsus, nn. 7 and 8.

Question 2. Must he be judged to have incurred a censure who doubts whether he has incurred it?

Resp. Negatively, whether he doubts whether he has gravely offended, or whether the case falls under the censure.

§ 1. In penalties the more benign interpretation must be made.

§ 2. But if it is doubted whether a penalty, inflicted by a competent Superior, is just or not, the penalty must be observed in both forums, except the case of an appeal in suspensive effect (Can. 2219).

Question 3. Is someone bound by a censure which he knows to be manifestly unjust?

Resp. Negatively, whether the superior, relying on a false presumption, has condemned an innocent man as guilty, or whether he has omitted legal forms, or has exceeded the limits of jurisdiction. Nevertheless the danger of hallucination in one's own cause must be carefully avoided; and if it is not publicly established that the censure is null, this must altogether be observed in order to avoid scandal. - Cf. St. Alphonsus, n. 68.

Question 4. Does ignorance excuse from censure?

Resp. Ignorance of fact certainly excuses, namely when someone does not know that he is placing an act prohibited under censure. Thus, for example, if someone strikes a priest, thinking him to be a layman, he does not incur the censure brought against strikers of clerics, and the reason is that the censure ought to be known to the sinner, so that he may be contumacious. - Ignorance of ecclesiastical law prescribing or prohibiting something under censure also excuses. This is clear from the same reason just given; for he cannot be called contumacious against the Church who does not know her law, as is clear from canon law, in VI°, lib. 1, tit. 2, de Constit., cap. 2, where it is said: "We do not will the ignorant to be bound, provided nevertheless that the ignorance was not crass or supine." - Cf. St. Alphonsus, nn. 43 and following; Can. 2242, § 2.

Question 5. Does vincible ignorance excuse from censure?

Resp. Affected ignorance excuses from none. If the law has the words: has presumed, has dared, any diminishment of imputability excuses. If the law does not have those words, crass or supine ignorance does not excuse; but that which is not crass or supine excuses. - Cf. Can. 2229.

Question 6. Does grave fear excuse from censure?

Resp. Affirmatively, speaking generally, and the reason is that ecclesiastical penal laws do not seem to press with such rigor; for since ecclesiastical laws themselves, if very grave fear presses, cease to oblige, the penalty itself annexed to them must necessarily fall.

§ 3. Grave fear, if the delict inclines toward contempt of the faith or of ecclesiastical authority or toward public harm of souls, in no way exempts from penalties latae sententiae (Can. 2229, n. 3). - Cf. Can. 2205.

Question 7. Is it required that admonition of the delinquent precede the censure?

Resp. No admonition is required for censures brought a iure, because the law itself, brought and known, sufficiently admonishes subjects.

§ 1. No penalty can be inflicted unless it is certainly established that the delict has been committed and has not been legitimately prescribed.

§ 2. Although this is legitimately established, if there is question of inflicting a censure, let the guilty person be reprehended and admonished to withdraw from contumacy according to the norm of can. 2242, § 3, with a congruous time for returning to his right mind being given, if in the prudent judgment of the same judge or Superior the case bears this; if contumacy persists, the censure can be inflicted (Can. 2233).¹

¹ Cf. Addenda, p. 1106, n. 48.

Question 8. Does he incur a censure if it repents him of the fact which he placed before the consummation, or before the effect follows?

Resp. He does not incur it if he was able to prevent the effect and did prevent it. But if he was not able to prevent the effect, although he tried, it is controverted: those affirming say that contumacy is in this, that someone knowingly and willingly violated the law, nor does contrition impede the effect. But others deny it, because the censure is brought against the contumacious; but this man, when the effect actually follows, is not contumacious; therefore censure cannot be brought upon him; concerning which opinion D'Annibale, n. 333, says: "Which either is the truer, for to what purpose is medicine when the disease has been healed? Or it is the more equitable." And in a note, applying this opinion, which from St. Alphonsus he made his own, he says: "As, behold, if he gave an abortive to a girl, or to someone counsel, a mandate of killing; and before she expelled, or this one killed, it repented him of the fact." - Cf. Ferreres, 8°, n. 1189, 3°.

II. A censure is distributed into three species: excommunication, suspension, and interdict. Irregularity from a delict, deposition, and degradation are not medicinal penalties. Cessation from divine offices is not a censure, but a precept.