Irregularities from Defect

The seven defects on account of which irregularity is contracted are these: 1. defect of body; 2. defect of soul; 3. defect of liberty; 4. defect of birth; 5. defect of sacrament; 6. defect of reputation; 7. defect of mildness.

141. From defect of body those are irregular who, on account of some bodily fault, cannot perform the sacred rite either at all or becomingly.

a. Therefore this irregularity arises from a twofold head: from impotence for exercising an order, and from indecency in its exercise. He who labors under impotence for celebrating is not indeed properly irregular, because he is kept from the reception of orders not by ecclesiastical law but by natural law; nevertheless authors are accustomed to refer here also those who are unable to celebrate.

b. This irregularity absolutely prohibits the reception of orders: for even if the defect impeded the exercise of only one order, e.g. the priesthood, nevertheless no order, not even first tonsure, can licitly be received. But the exercise of orders already received is not prohibited absolutely: hence if the defect supervenes after the reception of orders, the ordained man is prohibited from exercising only those orders for the exercise of which he has been made unfit, or which he cannot exercise without offense and scandal. Therefore nothing prevents, for example, one who cannot celebrate publicly without scandal from celebrating privately.

142. Therefore from defect of body the following are irregular:

1. The mutilated, who lack a foot, hand, or fingers, likewise those who lack the thumb or index finger either entirely or in part, so that they cannot break the host.¹

a. He who lacks one of the three posterior fingers is not irregular; indeed, according to the opinion of some, neither is he irregular if two fingers are lacking. But if all three are lacking, he is irregular, not indeed on account of impotence, but on account of deformity. A priest, however, does not become irregular nor is he prohibited from celebrating, even if he has lost all three posterior fingers.²

b. He who lacks the index finger will more easily obtain a dispensation, because the middle finger can supply the place of the index finger in the sacred ministry. But a priest who has lost the index finger can use the middle finger in sacred functions, which, since the whole hand of the priest is consecrated, is consecrated equally with the index finger.³

c. Authors judge him to be irregular who has a wooden foot, because he cannot celebrate without great indecency; but since today artificial feet are constructed so aptly that he who is furnished with a foot of this kind can perform sacred functions without indecency, this irregularity, at least after orders have been received, no longer seems to have to be urged.

d. He was said to be irregular whose one eye was wholly taken away or torn out; yet because today a glass eye can be so aptly substituted that no deformity appears, he who is furnished with a glass eye does not seem to have to be called irregular.

¹ C. Thomas 7 De corpore vitiatis (I. 20).

² Cf. Ballerini-Palmieri VII. n. 478.

³ Cf. Ballerini-Palmieri l.c.

143. 2. The debilitated, who indeed have all their members, but for whom one or another member which is required for sacred ministry has become useless, as if someone's arm or hand has become stiff.

a. Therefore the mute are irregular; the blind, who are deprived of the power of seeing in both eyes, but not those with failing sight, provided they can read in the missal with the help of an ocular instrument; the deaf, who lack hearing in both ears, so that they cannot hear the server responding. But those who are hard of hearing are not irregular, nor those who lack hearing in only one ear;¹ stutterers are not irregular, unless either they have a tongue that is very lisping or altogether stumbling, or they move others to laughter. Those who have hands so trembling that they cannot celebrate without danger of spilling the Blood are irregular.

b. He is not irregular who lacks the power of seeing in one eye only, whether it is the right or the left eye; for what is established by some authors, namely that he is absolutely irregular who lacks the canonical eye, i.e. the left, lacks foundation, since no text of law declares him irregular. Therefore this irregularity must be restricted to the case in which one who lacks the left eye cannot read the canon without indecency with the right eye.²

c. A priest who has become blind is not prohibited from hearing confessions; indeed, if it is established that he will not err, he can receive license from the supreme pontiff for celebrating, with another priest nevertheless assisting. A priest who has become deaf is not prohibited from celebrating, even if he does not hear the server responding.³

¹ Cf. Acta s. sedis IV. p. 595.

² Cf. S. C. C. Sept. 17, 1887. Acta s. sedis XX. p. 380 ss.

³ Cf. St. Alphonsus n. 405.

144. 3. The deformed, who have a deformity in some member which cannot easily be hidden, to such a degree that they cannot discharge the sacred ministry without indecency, or they excite horror in others or move them to laughter. Therefore the following are irregular:

a. Those whose noses or outer ears have been cut off, unless, by hair aptly grown out, the defect of the ears can be covered.

b. Those who have a notable spot on the face or in the eye.¹

c. Pygmies, who are so small in stature that they cannot perform the sacred rite upon the altar; likewise giants.

d. The hunchbacked, who have so notable a hump on the back that they cannot raise the head.

e. The lame, who cannot approach the altar or stand at the altar without a staff; but the lame who do not need a staff are not irregular, unless the limping is enormous and notably deforming.

A priest who has become lame can celebrate privately, although he needs a staff.

It pertains to the bishop to judge whether the deformity is great or small, if the one to be ordained is a secular or a non-exempt regular; but if he is an exempt regular, the judgment pertains to the regular prelate. Nevertheless the bishop who confers orders is not bound to stand by the judgment of the prelate.

¹ C. Quum 2 De corpore vitiatis (I. 20).

145. 4. Those laboring under a grave and incurable disease:

a. Paralytics, that is, the paralyzed and the gouty, if namely the paralysis is so great that they cannot hold the sacred vessels or break the sacred species. Those who, on account of stiffness of the elbow, cannot bend the arm are irregular.¹

But if paralysis does not wholly impede the exercise of an order, a distinction must be made: if it supervenes upon ordination, it does not impede celebration; if it precedes ordination, it will belong to the bishop to declare whether the infirm man is irregular; for in law nothing has been established on this matter.

b. Epileptics, or those laboring under the falling sickness,² as long as they are subject to the disease, cannot be ordained; but if it is established that they have been healed without probable danger of relapse, with the license of the bishop added, they can be ordained.

a. A priest who after ordination is seized by this disease is not prohibited from celebrating privately, if the disease returns rarely, i.e. once in a month or every fifteen days; if, however, he is not safe from an attack of the disease for this interval, a fasting priest must assist him, who, if the disease rushes upon him, may complete the Mass.

b. Epilepsy which began before puberty is not rarely healed completely; therefore he is not judged irregular who labored under this disease before puberty, but afterward, in the judgment of a physician, recovered entirely. But epilepsy which began after puberty, not from an accidental cause, e.g. from an inflicted wound, but from congenital disposition, according to the opinion of physicians is scarcely ever fully healed, i.e. without danger of relapse.

c. Those who abstain from wine, who cannot take even a little wine without danger of vomiting. It is clear that these cannot be dispensed even by the pope.

d. Lepers, because they bring in horror and scandal; but a priest who is infected with leprosy can celebrate in a private place.

¹ It is established from the declaration of S. C. C., Jan. 26, 1867. Cf. Aichner l.c. p. 210.

² Those who are seized are in reality epileptics; but by the ancients they are numbered among the demoniacs, because in antiquity they thought this disease to be caused by a demon.

146. On account of deformity the following are not irregular.

a. Those who have six fingers or some joined together, or who lack one finger, provided they can fittingly perform the sacred rite.

b. Those who have a spot on the face or in the eye that is not very deforming.

c. Those who lack the nail of the thumb, provided they can hold and break the host.

d. The one-eyed, or those looking obliquely, provided the deformity is not notable.

e. Those who lack testicles (eunuchs, the castrated, the cut), whether these have been cut by another, or lost by reason of disease or by accident.

Those are irregular who cut off their own testicles, or cause them to be cut off, in order to preserve a boyish voice (139).

147. A threefold defect of soul induces irregularity: defect of the use of reason, defect of knowledge, and defect of firm faith.

Defect of the use of reason and of knowledge can be perpetual, on account of an incapacity of nature, or temporary, which ceases with the passage of time. If the defect is temporary, the supreme pontiff can dispense during the defect, so that, for example, an infant or boy may be ordained, provided that he abstain from the exercise of the order until he has arrived at due knowledge and the required age.

1. From defect of the use of reason the insane are irregular. If the insanity is perpetual, the irregularity cannot be removed; if the temporary insanity now seems to have ceased, a distinction must be made: if the insane man has already been ordained, after a space of time in which, by the judgment of the bishop, recovery from the disease is proved, he can again minister in the orders received; if he has not yet been ordained, the matter must be defined by the judgment of a physician and the decision of the bishop. For if, by the judgment of a physician, it is established that the insanity has ceased, with the bishop consenting, ordination is licit.

2. From defect of knowledge the unlettered are irregular, who lack that instruction which is required by the Council of Trent for the several orders.¹

3. From defect of firm faith the following are irregular:

a. Neophytes, i.e. those who from Jews, pagans, or other sects have been converted to the faith in adult age and recently baptized,² until their firm faith is established from the declaration of the bishop.

How long the ordination of neophytes must be deferred, so that they can be judged sufficiently firm in faith and Christian virtue, is permitted to the judgment of the bishop, whose part it is to issue an authentic declaration on this matter. There are those who say that after ten years from conversion a neophyte is no longer irregular.³

b. The non-confirmed, because before confirmation they are not yet Christians in the full sense (sheep and soldiers of Christ).

The Council of Trent established irregularity from defect of confirmation.⁴ There are indeed those who deny this irregularity (Suarez, Reiffenstuel); nevertheless recent authors (Gasparri, Aichner, Wernz), appealing to repeated declarations of the Holy See,⁵ affirm that it exists and must be removed by dispensation of the Holy See.

¹ Cf. sess. 23. c. 4. 11. 13. De reform.

² 1 Tim. 3, 6.

³ Cf. St. Alphonsus l. 7. n. 402.

⁴ Sess. 23. c. 4. De reform.

⁵ S. C. C. Sept. 27, 1601; May 15, 1802.

148. He who lacks the liberty required by law for receiving orders is irregular.

This irregularity is not an irregularity properly so called; for it is induced because defect of liberty cannot be reconciled with the obligations of the clerical state. For he who intends to satisfy clerical obligations must necessarily neglect the duties of the state which induces the defect of liberty.

From defect of liberty the following are irregular:

1. Slaves or bondsmen, unless they first have obtained liberty from their master.¹

2. Married men, upon whom not even tonsure may be conferred, unless they wish either to enter religion or to receive sacred orders.²

a. A married man can receive sacred orders if he has been released from his wife; but he is judged released from his wife: a. if divorce has been juridically effected on account of the wife's adultery, for in this case the wife has perpetually lost her right over the husband; b. if the wife freely and expressly consents that the husband receive orders or enter religion.

b. From a wife consenting to the husband's ordination or religious profession it is required by the statute of law either that she enter religion, or that she profess continence, i.e. that she emit a vow of perpetual chastity.³ That she enter religion and profess continence in religion is required in a twofold case: a. if the husband is to be promoted to the episcopate;⁴ b. if the wife is young or suspected of incontinence. Whether a wife is to be called young does not depend upon a determinate year of age, but must be judged from the circumstances by the prudent judgment of the bishop, namely from health, strength, the custom of her past life, etc.⁵

3. Court officials, i.e. those who, either by an oath emitted or by a stipend accepted, are bound to serve the courts of princes as presidents, judges, advocates, or soldiers, as long as they discharge this office.⁶

Since today, with ecclesiastical immunity disregarded, both clerics and religious are compelled to undergo military service, the Holy See has established the following concerning their admission to sacred orders or to religious profession (for Italians):

a. Those who have served for the space of one year or a longer time in the first class (category), and have remained firm in their vocation, are not to be admitted to sacred orders or to solemn profession unless they have proved constancy in their vocation for the space of at least one year.

b. They are to bring testimonial letters from the ordinaries in whose dioceses they have lived for at least three months.⁷

4. Those bound to reckonings or to rendering accounts, namely those who, from their office, are bound to render an account of another's money administered, whether public or private, such as magistrates, administrators, curators, and tutors, unless first they have rendered the account and have resigned the office.⁸

Yet those who bear offices and administrations which are not prohibited to clerics can be ordained, even if they have not rendered an account nor resigned the office; thus they licitly bear the administration of the money of their own blood relatives, of miserable persons, and of pious causes.

¹ C. Instruendi 1 De servis non ordinandis (I. 18).

² C. Nullus 4 De tempor. ordinat. in 6° (I. 9).

³ C. Coniugatus 5 De convers. coniugat. (III. 32).

⁴ C. Sane 6. tit. cit.

⁵ S. C. C. Aug. 28, 1830.

⁶ C. Aliquantos 2; C. Praeterea 3 Dist. 51.

⁷ S. C. sup. disc. reg. Nov. 27, 1892.

⁸ C. Magnus un. De obligatis ad ratiocinia (I. 19).

151. Declarations. Irregularity from defect of sacrament, namely of marriage, is also called irregularity from bigamy, because it has its origin from bigamy.

1. A threefold bigamy is distinguished: true, interpretative, and similitudinary.

a. True bigamy is had when someone successively contracts two valid marriages and consummates them by carnal copula. A bigamist is called a man who successively has had two wives and has known each; a man who successively has had three wives will be a trigamist, and so on.

b. Interpretative bigamy is had when someone indeed contracts only one marriage, which nevertheless by interpretation of law is twofold, and consummates it. But a marriage is judged twofold if a man marries a wife who already previously was known by another man (as if he marries a widow known by a previous husband, or a woman already corrupted by another), or if he approaches his own wife after she has committed adultery: for a woman who has known two or more is, as it were, a twofold wife.

c. Similitudinary bigamy is had: a. when someone contracts two marriages, one valid, the other invalid, and consummates each; b. when someone, after his wife has died, receives sacred order and then (invalidly) marries another wife and knows her; c. when someone, never before married, after religious profession or after sacred orders have been received, contracts marriage (invalidly) with a virgin and consummates it. In this case there is a twofold marriage, one spiritual with Christ, the other carnal with a woman. This bigamy is called similitudinary, because in an invalid marriage there is indeed not a sacrament, but nevertheless some likeness of a sacrament.

2. In order that the reason for this irregularity may be declared, it must be noted that marriage, from its institution, according to the Apostle, signifies the union of Christ with the Church, and this as one and indivisible.¹ The man represents Christ, the woman the Church. This signification is had fully and perfectly only in a marriage entered and consummated with a virgin. For just as Christ is joined to only one Church, so the man who contracts and consummates marriage with a virgin is joined to only one wife.

But bigamy is not suitable for perfectly representing the union of Christ with the Church, because the bigamist has joined himself to two wives. On account of this defect, which by its nature inheres in bigamy, a bigamist is declared irregular by the Church. And because the defect is in this, that bigamy cannot perfectly exhibit the signification which belongs to the sacrament of marriage from its institution, it is called irregularity from defect of sacrament, or rather from defect of the signification of the sacrament. Therefore the reason of the irregularity is the defect inhering in the sacrament which the bigamist has received, not the incontinence of a man passing to second nuptials. Therefore a man who has carnal knowledge of a woman outside marriage does not become irregular.

¹ Eph. 5, 32.

152. True, interpretative, and similitudinary bigamy induce irregularity.

1. Concerning true bigamy.

a. Irregularity from true bigamy is not established by divine law, but by ecclesiastical law. For although from Sacred Scripture a bishop or priest ought to be the husband of one wife,¹ nevertheless by these words the Apostle does not promulgate a divine law; but these words gave the Church occasion for establishing a law by her own authority.² For a law in which the Church truly dispenses cannot be divine law, but must be ecclesiastical law. On account of the analogy which each other bigamy has with true bigamy, the Church extended irregularity also to them.

b. Bigamy constitutes irregularity even if someone married two wives before baptism, or one before baptism and the other after baptism. For the defect on account of which irregularity was established inheres also in an unbelieving bigamist and cannot be washed away by baptism. Before baptism a bigamist is not indeed irregular except radically, but once baptism has been received he becomes formally irregular, as Innocent I expressly declared.³

2. Concerning interpretative bigamy.

The individual cases of interpretative bigamy are expressly established in law; namely, he is irregular: a. who marries a widow;⁴ b. who marries a corrupted woman;⁵ c. who has known an adulterous wife.⁶

This irregularity applies also to a cleric constituted in sacred orders who marries a widow or a corrupted woman, even if his marriage is invalid.⁷

3. Concerning similitudinary bigamy.

a. The first case of similitudinary bigamy, which is had if someone enters two marriages, one valid, the other invalid, St. Alphonsus refers to interpretative bigamy. But according to St. Alphonsus himself as witness, this irregularity is not had as expressed in law; authors establish it on account of similitude with another particular case expressed in law. But since an irregularity which is not expressed in law is not to be established, and since it is not licit to conclude from a case to a similar case, this irregularity is asserted gratuitously, or at least is doubtful.

b. The particular case expressed in law is this: if a cleric constituted in sacred orders, who before ordination had been joined in marriage and had known his wife, marries another wife (certainly invalidly) and knows her.⁸

c. The second case of similitudinary bigamy, which is had if someone after solemn profession or after sacred order has been received contracts marriage with a virgin and knows her, is indeed established by the common opinion of authors; but with Suarez as witness this case is not contained in law.⁹

¹ 1 Tim. 3, 2. In verse 12 it is established: deacons are to be husbands of one wife.

² C. Ut bigami 1 De bigamis (I. 21).

³ C. Si quis viduam 13. dist. 34.

⁴ C. De bigamis 3 De bigamis (I. 21).

⁵ C. Debitum 5 De bigamis (I. 21).

⁶ C. Si cuius 11. and C. Si laici 12. dist. 34.

⁷ C. A nobis ult. De bigamis (I. 21).

⁸ C. Nuper 4 De bigamis (I. 21).

⁹ Suarez disp. 49. sect. 4. n. 3.

153. Therefore no bigamy intervenes, and consequently no irregularity from bigamy, in the following cases.

a. If someone contracts espousals with two women, even if he has known them carnally, because the union of Christ with the Church is signified only by marital copula, not by fornicatory copula.

b. If someone enters marriage with two women, but consummates it with only one, because a division of flesh into two wives is not made.

c. If someone marries a widow carnally known neither by her husband nor by another, because she is not a twofold wife.

d. If someone marries a woman previously corrupted by himself, but not by another, because she is not a twofold wife.

e. If someone, whether unmarried or married, has fornicated with a prostitute, because fornicatory copula does not signify the union of Christ with the Church, or because a division of flesh into several wives is not made.

From defect of reputation those contract irregularity who are infamous in any manner whatsoever, whether by law or by fact.

The ministers of the Church ought to be irreprehensible and without crime. Therefore in antiquity any delict whatever kept a guilty man from the sacred ministry and constituted him irregular. But today only graver delicts, and indeed those which are expressed in law, make one irregular; nor properly the delicts themselves, but the infamy which is contracted on account of the delicts.

154. Declarations. 1. Infamy is the privation or diminution of good reputation or good estimation.

2. One infamy is of law (legal), which is inflicted by the authority of law on account of a delict; the other is of fact (popular), which is contracted from public knowledge of a crime committed.

a. Infamy of law is contracted either by the fact itself, namely by the very commission of the crime before every sentence of the judge;¹ or by sentence of the judge which decrees infamy. The former infamy is called by some immediate, or of latae sententiae; the latter mediate, or of ferendae sententiae.

b. Infamy of fact is contracted by its nature from public notice of a crime committed. This notice can become public in a twofold mode: either by sentence of a judge condemning the guilty man concerning the crime, or by actual divulgation.

No infamy is contracted from an office which someone discharges or has discharged, although in the estimation of men that office is low and abject, such as the office of butcher, executioner, actor, etc. He who discharges an office of this kind is kept from orders by natural law, unless he has renounced it.

3. Infamy of law induces irregularity, even if the delict is hidden;² but infamy of fact by its nature requires that the delict be publicly known, either by sentence of a judge or by actual divulgation.

Infamy of fact actually existing induces irregularity, even if the sentence of the judge is unjust or the judgment of men concerning the crime committed is false; for an unjust sentence and a false estimation generate infamy equally with a just and true one.

4. Irregularity arising from infamy of law, whether it is of latae sententiae or ferendae sententiae, is an irregularity properly so called, perpetual of itself, which cannot be removed except by dispensation. But irregularity arising from infamy of fact is not an irregularity properly so called: for it does not need dispensation, but is removed by amendment of life, which has been proved and has become notorious by perseverance for three years. For when infamy is removed by amendment of life, the irregularity also, which arises from it, is removed.

¹ By law indeed a declaratory sentence of the crime committed, or rather of the infamy contracted, is required; but since declaratory sentences of this kind today are rarely issued, authors commonly teach that immediate infamy of law is contracted without sentence of a judge.

² Gasparri I. n. 288, following Suarez.

155. Irregularity from infamy of law. 1. In antiquity, by canon law, those were held infamous whom Roman civil law marked with infamy (immediate) on account of delict. But, Roman law having been abrogated, the ancient canon: All are said to be infamous whom the laws of the age call infamous¹ does not seem to have to be extended to recent civil laws, so that today according to the mind of the Church those are not marked with infamy of law except those who are declared infamous by canon law.²

2. By the law itself chiefly the following are declared infamous:

a. Duelists and their seconds.³

b. Ravishers of women and their cooperators.⁴

c. He who has two wives at the same time, as one who attempts civil marriage while his legitimate wife is living.⁵

d. Heretics, apostates, and those favoring heretics. More will soon be said concerning irregularity from heresy.⁶

¹ C. Omnes 2. c. 6. q. 1.

² Moreover, modern civil codes establish the penalty of infamy rarely, if ever.

³ Council of Trent, sess. 25. c. 19. De reform. From the declaration of S. C. C., Aug. 9, 1890, academic duels also are to be numbered among the duels to which infamy of law is annexed.

⁴ Council of Trent, sess. 24. c. 6. De reform.

⁵ C. Nuper 4 De bigamis non ordinandis (I. 21).

⁶ Cf. Aichner p. 216 s.

156. Irregularity from infamy of fact. 1. Infamy of fact is contracted by any enormous delict which is publicly known, whether by sentence of a judge condemning the delinquent or by actual divulgation.

2. Delicts of this kind are: homicide, perjury in court, adultery, sodomy, simony, robbery, preparation of arms against parents, public exercise of usury, etc.¹

Therefore one who is accused on account of a crime of this kind and is condemned by an ecclesiastical judge contracts infamy, even if no mention of infamy is made in the condemnatory sentence. But if a cleric is condemned by a civil judge on account of a crime of this kind, by this condemnatory sentence itself he is not yet of himself infamous; but the ordinary, after the cause has been examined in the ecclesiastical forum, must either absolve or condemn the cleric, and when this has been done the condemned man will be infamous.² Ordinarily, however, already by the sentence of a civil judge, at least on account of the actual divulgation of the crime, he is held infamous.

¹ Cf. St. Alphonsus n. 363.

² Cf. instruction of S. C. Ep. et Reg., Jan. 11, 1880.

157. Concerning irregularity from heresy. 1. Heretics who publicly adhere to a condemned sect are irregular from infamy of law.¹

a. All affirm that heretics are irregular; but they dispute whether they are irregular from the crime itself of heresy, or from the infamy of law which is annexed to heresy. But because in law there is no canon which declares heretics irregular on account of heresy itself, it seems it must be said that they become irregular on account of infamy, which is annexed by law to the crime of heresy.

b. Heretics who have not defected to a condemned sect, even public ones, are not irregular: for there is no text of law from which this irregularity can be proved. Therefore Catholics who have denied one or more articles of faith, even publicly, are not judged to be irregular, neither they themselves nor their sons.

2. Also the sons and grandsons of heretics are irregular if they descend from a heretical father; the sons alone, but not also the grandsons, if they descend from a heretical mother;² and this indeed if the sons were born after the parents had lapsed into heresy, and if the parents die in heresy.

It was the common opinion of authors that this irregularity is not contracted in Germany and England and places of this kind, where heresy spreads unpunished and heretics themselves are not marked with infamy. But the following response of the Holy Office given to the bishops of Germany is opposed to this opinion: "heretics converted to the Catholic faith, and the sons of heretics who persist in heresy or have died in it, to the first and second degree through the paternal line ... are irregular even in Germany and in the other places concerning which inquiry is made, and therefore need dispensation in order to be promoted to tonsure and to orders."³

¹ C. Excommunicamus 13 De haereticis (V. 7).

² C. Quicunque 2 and C. Statutum 15 De haereticis in 6° (V. 2).

³ S. Officium, Dec. 4, 1890.

158. According to the mind of the Church it is plainly unfitting that he who has shed another's blood, or has cooperated in the killing or mutilation of a man, should represent the person of the most meek Christ, who never injured anyone. Therefore she established an irregularity proceeding from a twofold head: from just war and from judgment of blood. That is called a judgment of blood in which a case is treated that is concluded by the imposed penalty of death or mutilation. This irregularity is usually called from defect of (Christian) mildness: for this defect is contracted only after baptism has been received.

159. Irregularity from judgment of blood. He who in a just judgment concurs directly, proximately, and efficaciously, from public authority, toward the killing (or mutilation) of a man becomes irregular. Although there is no text of law which clearly establishes this irregularity, nevertheless from the practice of the Church its existence cannot be doubted.

1. A just judgment: for if the judgment is unjust, irregularity is not contracted from defect of mildness, but from the delict of homicide or mutilation.

2. Toward killing: to incur this irregularity some other penalty is not sufficient, such as flogging, even if joined with the shedding of blood; but killing or mutilation is required, and this really following, even if it is accomplished without the shedding of blood. Nevertheless the penalty of mutilation is no longer inflicted in recent law.

3. From public authority: for he who kills or mutilates a man by private authority does not become irregular from defect, but from delict.

4. He concurs directly, proximately, and efficaciously who by his action influences the effect; but he influences the effect by his action who places an action necessary for the judgment, either by conducting the trial, or by rendering the sentence, or by executing it.

a. Therefore, of those who concur in a judgment of blood, whether by reason of the trial, or by reason of the sentence, or by reason of execution, the following become irregular from defect of mildness:

a. The judge pronouncing the sentence of death.

b. The accuser and witness deposing against the accused.

c. The advocate and procurator acting against the accused.

d. Assessors, or at the present time especially jurors, who by their vote concur toward the death of the guilty man.

e. Lictors and executioners themselves, who as ministers of justice put the guilty man to death.

b. Of those who cooperate in some way in a judgment of blood, the following do not become irregular:

a. The prince who made the law concerning a crime to be punished by death, because he concurs only remotely.

b. The jurist who, privately asked whether the accused has merited the penalty of death, replied that according to the laws he is to be punished by death, because he does not act in court nor by public authority.

c. The confessor who accompanies the guilty man to the place of punishment, even if he exhorts him to acquiesce in the sentence, to ascend the ladder, to bend his neck, etc., because he acts outside the judgment and by private authority.

d. Spectators of the fatal execution, even if they are clerics, both because by watching they do not cooperate, and because they act outside the judgment and lack public authority.

160. Irregularity from just war. He who in an offensive just war himself by his own hand kills or mutilates someone (in the sense explained above) becomes irregular.

1. In a just war: for he who in an unjust war kills or mutilates someone, just like he who by his own authority kills or mutilates another, does not become irregular from defect, but from delict.

2. Offensive: for he who in a defensive war, even by his own hand, kills or mutilates another does not become irregular, unless he is a cleric, just as neither does he who kills or mutilates an unjust aggressor in order to defend himself. Nevertheless clerics who voluntarily serve as soldiers in a defensive war and kill or mutilate someone become irregular.¹

3. By his own hand: for those who kill or mutilate no one, even if they are present at the battle, indeed even if by words or deeds they add courage to the soldiers, whether they are laymen or clerics, do not become irregular. For against those who themselves kill or mutilate no one, even if they concur physically or morally in a just war toward homicide, the Church has established no irregularity.

¹ C. Petitio tua 24 De homicidio (V. 12).

483. From Defect of Body those are irregular who are vitiated in body and who, because of debility or deformity, cannot safely perform the ministry of the altar.¹ Therefore this irregularity arises from a twofold head: from debility and from deformity of body, which impede the exercise of order.

1. This irregularity absolutely prohibits the reception of orders; for although the defect impedes the exercise of only one order, e.g., the presbyterate, nevertheless no order, not even first tonsure, can be licitly received. But it does not absolutely prohibit the exercise of orders received. Hence if a defect supervenes after the reception of orders, the ordained man is prohibited from exercising only those orders for whose exercise he has been made unfit, or which he cannot exercise without offense and scandal. Therefore nothing prevents, for example, the man who cannot celebrate publicly without scandal from celebrating privately, or the man who cannot celebrate from hearing confessions.

2. Greater indecency is required so that one already ordained is bound to abstain from the exercise of order, e.g., from celebrating Mass, than so that one not yet ordained is kept away from receiving orders.

3. In order that someone can celebrate decently, it is required that sacred things not be exposed to danger of irreverence, that horror not be stirred up in the people, and that liturgical laws not be violated in a matter of greater moment.

4. If there is doubt concerning impotence for celebrating about one who has not yet been ordained, judgment belongs both to the proper bishop and to him who will confer the orders. If the same doubt concerns one who is already ordained, judgment belongs to the bishop of domicile or of the place of celebration. In neither case must a bishop stand by the judgment of another bishop.

¹ Cn. 984, 2.

484. In Species irregularities from defect of body are almost innumerable; therefore it will suffice to recount the more important ones in this place.

1. He who is mutilated in thumb or index finger, whether wholly or in part, so that he cannot break the host, is irregular.

He who lacks one of the three remaining fingers is not irregular; indeed from the opinion of some, not even if two fingers are lacking, if only all three are not lacking, is he irregular, not indeed because of impotence but because of deformity. A priest, however, is not made irregular nor prohibited from celebrating, even if all three posterior fingers have been lost.¹

He who lacks an index finger will more easily obtain dispensation because the middle finger can better substitute in the sacred ministry for the index finger. But a priest who has lost the index finger in sacred functions can use the middle finger after the consecration; for, although the entire hand of a priest is consecrated, the index finger is consecrated equally.²

2. He is not irregular who lacks the power of seeing in one eye only, or whose one eye is on the left side; but what is stated by some authors, namely that he is absolutely irregular who lacks the canonical eye, that is, the left, lacks foundation. Therefore this irregularity is to be restricted to the case in which, because the left canon is lacking, he cannot read with the right eye without indecent turning of the head.³

He would be called irregular whose one eye is entirely drawn out or torn out, because then a notable deformity can be present. But one does not seem to be called irregular who has been furnished with a glass eye, since no deformity appears.

A priest who has become blind can receive permission from the holy pontiff of celebrating, if it is established that he will not err, while another priest assists.

3. Irregular are the mute, the blind who are destitute of the power of seeing in both eyes, not those with weak sight provided they can read in the missal with the help of an ocular instrument; the deaf who lack hearing in both ears so that they cannot hear the responding minister; and irregular not only are the deaf, but those who lack hearing in one ear only.⁴ Stammerers are not irregular unless they either have a badly lisping tongue or one entirely too quick, or they move laughter. Those who have trembling hands to such a degree that they cannot celebrate without danger of spilling blood are irregular.

There are to be added abstemies, who cannot drink even a little wine without danger of vomiting.

4. All are irregular who by defect or blemish of body stir up horror or mockery in spectators, such as the enormously hunchbacked, those having a notable blemish on the face or in the eye, those notably limping, etc.

Note. It belongs to the bishop to judge whether the deformity is great or small, if the ordinand is a secular or a non-exempt regular. But if he is an exempt regular, judgment pertains to the regular prelate; nevertheless the bishop who confers orders is not bound to stand by the judgment of the prelate. If after examination doubt remains concerning the existence of the defect, the ordinary can dispense.

¹ Ballerini-Palmieri VII, n. 478.

² Ballerini-Palmieri l. c.

³ Cf. Acta S. Sedis XX, p. 380 ss.

⁴ Acta S. Sedis IV, p. 595.

485. Who Are Irregular. In the new law, in the third place, chiefly because of defects of soul, these are called irregular: those who are epileptic, or insane, or possessed by a demon.¹

1. The epileptic, as long as they are subject to the disease, cannot be ordained; but if it is established that they have been healed without probable danger of relapse, with the permission of the bishop they can be admitted to orders.

a. Epilepsy which began before puberty is not rarely healed entirely; therefore he is not judged irregular who labored under this disease before puberty but afterward, by judgment of a physician, altogether recovered. But epilepsy which begins after puberty, not from an accidental cause, e.g., from an inflicted wound, but from an inborn disposition, according to the opinion of physicians is scarcely ever healed fully, that is, without danger of relapse.

b. A priest who after ordination has contracted this disease is not prohibited from celebrating privately if the disease rarely returns, that is, once in a month or every fifteen days; but during this interval a fasting priest ought to stand by and assist him, who, if the disease rushes on, can complete the Mass.

2. The insane. If the insanity is perpetual, the irregularity cannot be removed; if the insanity is temporal and seems now to have ceased, the matter must be defined by the judgment of a physician and the prudent judgment of the bishop. But if by the judgment of a physician it is established that the insanity has ceased, with the bishop consenting, ordination is licit.

3. Those possessed by a demon. From the practice of the holy see it is established that dispensation was not granted two or three years after recovered health; in recent times it has been granted a decade after liberation from the influence of the evil demon.²

4. If an irregularity has supervened after orders have been received and it is certainly established that it has now ceased, the ordinary can again permit his subjects the exercise of the orders received.³

¹ Cn. 984, 3.

² S. C. C., April 27, 1916.

³ Cn. 984, 3.

486. From Defect of Sacrament bigamists are irregular, namely those who have contracted two or more valid marriages successively.¹

a. Matrimony from its institution, according to the Apostle, signifies the union of Christ with the Church, and this one and indivisible union.² The man represents Christ, the woman represents the Church. But this signification is had fully and perfectly only in marriage entered with a virgin. For just as Christ is joined to one Church only, so the man who contracts marriage with a virgin is joined to one wife only.

But bigamy is not suitable for perfectly representing the union of Christ with the Church, because the bigamist has joined himself to two wives. On account of this defect, which inheres in bigamy by its nature, the bigamist is declared irregular by the Church. And because the defect lies in this, that he cannot perfectly exhibit the signification which is in the sacrament of matrimony from its institution, it is called irregularity from defect of sacrament, or rather from defect of signifying the sacrament.

b. Bigamy constitutes irregularity even if someone before baptism married two wives successively, or one before baptism and the other after baptism. For the defect on account of which irregularity was established inheres even in an infidel bigamist and cannot be washed away by baptism. Before baptism, however, the bigamist is only radically irregular, not formally; but when baptism has been received, he becomes formally irregular.

1. In the ancient law other species of bigamy also induced irregularity; in the new law only true bigamy, by which someone contracted two or more marriages successively, does so.

2. The marriages entered successively must be valid. It is not required that they have been entered among Catholics; they can be mixed; nor is it required that they have been consummated, provided they have been validly contracted.

¹ Cn. 984, 4.

² Eph. 5, 32.

487. From Defect of Reputation those are irregular who are marked by infamy of law.¹

The ministers of the Church ought to be irreprehensible and without crime. Therefore in antiquity any delict at all kept one away from the sacred ministry; but today only grave delicts, and indeed those which are expressly determined by law, render irregular, and not properly the delicts themselves but the infamy which is contracted because of the delicts.

1. Infamy is privation or diminution of good reputation or good estimation.

2. Infamy is one thing of law, legal, which is incurred by the authority of law because of a delict; another thing of fact, popular, which is contracted from public knowledge of a crime committed.

a. Infamy of law is contracted either ipso facto, namely by the very commission of a crime before every sentence of a judge, or by sentence of a judge which decrees infamy.

b. Infamy of fact is contracted by its nature from public notice of a crime committed. This notice can become public in a twofold way: either by sentence of a judge condemning the accused for the crime, or by actual divulgation.

3. Infamy of law induces irregularity even if the delict is hidden;² but infamy of fact by its nature requires that the delict be publicly known, either through the sentence of a judge or through actual divulgation.

Infamy of fact existing in reality induces irregularity, even if the sentence of the judge is unjust or the judgment of men about the committed crime is false; for an unjust sentence and a false estimation equally generate infamy, and true infamy.

¹ Cn. 984, 5.

² Gasparri I, n. 288, following Suarez.

488. Who Are Infamous. Infamy of law is not contracted except in cases expressly established by common law.¹

In the new law those expressly established as infamous ipso facto are:

a. He who gives his name to an acatholic sect or publicly adheres to it, Cn. 2314, 2.

b. He who casts away the consecrated species, or carries them away or retains them for an evil end, Cn. 2320.

c. He who violates the corpses or tombs of the dead for theft or another evil end, Cn. 2328.

d. He who lays violent hands on the person of the Roman pontiff or of some cardinal or legate of the Roman pontiff, and nuncios and internuncios also pertain to legates, Cn. 2343 and 267.

e. Duelists and those who are called their seconds, Cn. 1351. Duels of students in Germany, namely academic Mensuren, are true duels, which bring infamy of law on those dueling and on their seconds, as the Sacred Congregation of the Council declared August 9, 1890.

f. Bigamists who, while the conjugal bond remains, attempt another marriage, even only civil, Cn. 2356.

g. Laymen legitimately condemned because of delicts against the sixth commandment with minors below the age of sixteen, or because of rape, sodomy, incest, or pandering, Cn. 2357, 1.

By sentence of a judge clerics in sacred orders, whether seculars or religious, who have admitted a delict against the sixth precept of the Decalogue with minors below the age of sixteen, or adultery, rape, bestiality, sodomy, pandering, incest with blood-relatives or relatives by affinity in the first degree, must be declared infamous, Cn. 2359, 2.

In the new Code the delicts by which infamy is contracted ipso facto have indeed been increased; but infamy itself is restricted to this extent, that because of the delict of another no one is any longer made infamous. Neither infamy of law nor of fact affects the blood-relatives or relatives by affinity of the delinquent, Cn. 2293, 4.

¹ Cn. 2293, 2.

THE illegitimate are irregular from defect of birth (Can. 984).

Defect of birth arises from illegitimacy, when the parents are either not married at all, or their marriage in the eyes of the Church is null and void on account of some diriment impediment known to both parties. If the impediment was unknown to at least one of the parents, the marriage is called putative, and the offspring is legitimate. When there is a doubt concerning legitimacy, as in the case of foundlings, legitimacy may be presumed until the contrary is proved.

This irregularity ceases by legitimation, dispensation, and solemn religious profession. If the parents at the time of conception or birth of the child could have been married, the child is by ecclesiastical law legitimized by subsequent marriage (Can. 1116); otherwise it can only be legitimized by the rescript of the Pope. A dispensation from this irregularity may be granted by the Pope, and by delegated authority by bishops, regular prelates, and others. Solemn religious profession takes away the irregularity as far as it is a bar to the reception of Orders, but not so as to enable the party to accept prelacies in the Order without dispensation.

Any bodily defect which makes it impossible to say Mass and fulfil the other functions of Orders, or prevents the person afflicted from exercising the sacred ministry with decency and edification, constitutes an irregularity. Thus the blind, deaf, mute, lame, crippled or maimed in limb or even necessary fingers, notably deformed, and those who cannot drink wine, are irregular.

In case of doubt the bishop may decide as to whether a person is irregular, and in such a case he may dispense as far as is necessary. If the irregularity is certain, only the Pope or his delegate can dispense. A dispensation from this impediment is more easily granted after ordination than before, to enable a priest to exercise his functions,

Marriage as a sacrament symbolizes the union of Christ with his Church, but to represent that union perfectly it should be a marriage of one man with one woman. In a second marriage the representation is less perfect, and such a bigamous marriage gives rise to the irregularity from defect of the sacrament.

A man becomes irregular from bigamy when he has contracted two or more valid marriages in succession.

Defect of lenity may cause irregularity in two ways: (1) In the case of a judge who has passed sentence of death.

(2) In those who have undertaken the office of executioners of a death sentence and their voluntary and immediate assistants.

Loss of reputation, or infamy, is a cause of irregularity. Those who are guilty of certain grave crimes are declared by canon law to be ipso facto infamous, and become irregular.

Those who are or who have been epileptics, insane, or possessed by the devil are irregular; if they became such after being ordained and are now certainly free, the Ordinary can permit his subjects to exercise again the Orders which they have received.

By force of canon 984 the following are irregular from defect:

I. From defect of birth: "Illegitimates, whether the illegitimacy is public or occult, unless they have been legitimated or have professed solemn vows" (cited canon, n. 1). Now:

1. Who are illegitimate, see in the treatise on matrimony.

2. Irregularity from defect of birth is removed: 1° by legitimation, about which later; 2° by dispensation (n. 644); 3° by solemn religious profession. This removes the irregularity, but does not legitimate; hence an illegitimate person solemnly professed cannot be constituted major Superior in his Religion (canon 504).

Note. Illegitimates cannot be admitted into the Seminary (canon 1363, § 1); nevertheless legitimation by the subsequent marriage of the parents suffices.¹

¹ Pontifical Commission, July 13, 1930 (A.A.S. 1930, p. 365).

II. From defect of body: "Those defective in body who cannot safely by reason of weakness, or decently by reason of deformity, perform the ministry of the altar. Yet to impede the exercise of an Order legitimately received, a graver defect is required; nor because of this defect are acts prohibited which can rightly be placed" (cited canon, n. 2°). Therefore the following are irregular:

1. Those who by reason of weakness cannot safely perform the ministry of the altar. To this class belong: 1° those lacking the index finger or thumb, that is, the customary fingers with which the host is broken; likewise those who have hands so trembling that there is danger of spilling the Blood; likewise those lacking either arm or either hand; 2° the deaf who cannot hear the responding minister; but deafness supervening upon the priesthood does not stand in the way of the celebration of Mass; 3° the mute, likewise those stammering so much that they cannot pronounce whole words, or cannot except with great difficulty, so that they provoke laughter; 4° the blind, likewise the partially blind, who cannot read except very large characters; but not one who lacks only one eye, provided it is not the left eye, or the eye of the Canon, and provided the deformity is removed by a glass eye.¹ But if the eye of the Canon is lacking, a dispensation can be given if the other eye is sufficiently fit for reading the Canon without deformity (St. Alphonsus, VII, 404-409).

2. Those who by reason of deformity cannot decently perform the ministry of the altar. To this class belong: 1° those deprived of a conspicuous member, unless the deformity is removed by an artificial member. Those who lack the three rear fingers are irregular for receiving Orders, but not for exercising them; 2° those having a conspicuous member very deformed, whether the deformity arises from nature or from disease, for example from leprosy. Deformity of the legs can ordinarily be sufficiently covered by a cassock; 3° the monstrous, such as pygmies, the very hunchbacked, and hermaphrodites; yet the latter defect does not induce irregularity if it is occult and the male sex prevails. Likewise those notably limping are irregular (St. Alphonsus, VII, 410-412).

Note 1. Since all Orders, even first tonsure, are ordered to the priesthood, one excluded from the priesthood must also be regarded as excluded from the other Orders.

Note 2. To impede the exercise of an Order legitimately received a graver defect is required than to impede the reception of an Order (canon 984, 2°). Moreover, one who by reason of some defect is impeded from some exercise of an Order received is not therefore impeded from acts which can rightly be placed (canon 984, 2°); so that, for example, a blind priest can well hear confessions.

Note 3. In doubt whether some defect stands in the way of the reception or exercise of an Order, the Ordinary should be consulted (St. Alphonsus, VII, 414).

¹ With respect to partially blind priests, the Sacred Congregation of Rites established the following on January 12, 1921:

1. A partially blind priest, or one laboring under such weakness of visual power, whether accidentally or habitually, that he can read only very large type, can obtain from the Supreme Pontiff or the Sacred Congregation of Rites, unless the Bishop has been furnished with an apostolic faculty, a dispensation to celebrate either the votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary or the Mass which they call the daily Mass of the Dead.

2. The conditions added in the instrument of a privilege of this kind are not mere matters of rituality and style, but obligatory in conscience.

3. If in the privilege it is said: Provided the petitioner is not entirely blind, and meanwhile he becomes blind, then he must abstain from celebrating Mass until he has obtained a new indult; and once this has been obtained, he is bound under grave obligation to use the assistance of another priest, although perhaps this obligation was not expressly added in the indult. After these things noted by the Sacred Congregation, the rules to be followed in celebration follow (A.A.S. 1921, p. 154-156).

III. From defect of mind: "Those who are or have been epileptic, insane, or possessed by a demon; but if after receiving Orders they have become such and it is certainly established that they are now free, the Ordinary can again permit his subjects the exercise of the Orders received" (canon 984, 3°).

1. Epilepsy must be taken in the strict sense, so that it does not comprehend a certain disease of the stomach which carries with it certain signs of epilepsy. Furthermore, if the disease supervenes upon the priesthood and recurs rarely, for example only once in a month, without emission of sounds, foaming, and notable contraction of the body, the priest will be able to celebrate privately, with a fasting priest joined to him who may complete the Mass when the disease comes on (St. Alphonsus, VIII, 399). There are also those who judge that one who had been freed from epilepsy before puberty is not irregular. But this opinion is with difficulty composed with the words of the law, which states absolutely: "Those who are or have been epileptic."

2. Insanity is understood which flows from a permanent cause; but an insane person is irregular even if he has lucid intervals.

3. Possession by a demon; concerning which, see t. I, n. 700.

4. Just as those healed cannot receive Orders without the permission of the Holy See, so neither can they receive a higher Order without the same permission.

5. Under the name of Ordinary, of which the cited canon speaks, come both the Ordinary of the place and the major Superior in an exempt clerical religion (canon 198, § 1).

IV. From defect of sacrament: "Bigamists, namely those who have successively contracted two or more valid marriages" (canon 984, 4°). "It is said: from defect of sacrament, because he who has married two wives cannot aptly signify the union of Christ with the Church, His one spouse" (St. Alphonsus, VII, 436). This irregularity, at least with respect to some major Orders, is of apostolic origin, according to these words of St. Paul: "Therefore a Bishop must be irreproachable, the husband of one wife... Let deacons be husbands of one wife."¹

For irregularity it suffices that several marriages have been validly contracted; it is not required, however, that they have been consummated.

Note. One who before Baptism successively contracted several valid marriages seems, after Baptism has been received, to become irregular.

¹ 1 Tim. 3:2, 12.

V. From defect of reputation: "Those who are marked by infamy of law" (canon 984, 5°). It is called an irregularity from defect, because the infamy itself which induces irregularity is not a delict. What infamy of law is and who contract it, see in the treatise on ecclesiastical penalties.

VI. From defect of mildness: "The judge who has pronounced sentence of death" (canon 984, 6°). If a capital sentence has been established collegially, those judges are irregular who agreed to the capital penalty, not the others who cast a contrary vote. Furthermore this irregularity is not to be extended to a region where sentence of death, although pronounced, is nevertheless no longer carried into execution; nor to the case in which a leader in war orders someone to be killed without any military council having been held, because he does not proceed as judge. Nor are jurors irregular, since they pronounce sentence only about the truth of the fact, but do not establish the penalty.

Moreover, from defect of mildness the following is irregular: "Those who have undertaken the office of executioner and their voluntary and immediate ministers in the execution of a capital sentence" (canon 984, 7°). Among these are not counted: 1° soldiers who kill the enemy in battle, or by command of the leader or of a military council kill a guilty person, because they are not said to have undertaken the office of executioner; 2° those who, for example, erect the scaffold or lead the one condemned to death to the place of punishment, because they are not immediate ministers of the executioner; but indeed those who, for example, place the head of the condemned man under the machine, etc. (St. Alphonsus, VII, 461-468).

1021. • Eight species of these are numbered, namely, from defect of: 1. mind; 2. body; 3. birth; 4. age; 5. freedom; 6. Sacrament; 7. lenity; 8. reputation.

These defects, or rather the qualities opposed to them, are expressed in these little verses:

Birth, mind, freedom, body, and age; Not a bigamist, gentle, nor marked by evil fame.

1022. • A threefold defect of mind is assigned, namely, of reason, knowledge, and confirmed faith.

1. Of reason. Hence those perpetually insane, lunatics, the furious, epileptics, and the possessed are irregular, even if they have lucid intervals. Nevertheless, the exercise of Orders already received is permitted to them less reluctantly than the reception of new ones.

2. Of knowledge. Those who do not have the knowledge necessary for the several Orders are irregular, whether they are in fact ignorant or incapable of learning. This is deduced from what was said in the Treatise on the Sacrament of Order and from the Decree, part 1, distinction 36, canon 1.

3. Of confirmed faith. Neophytes recently baptized at an adult age are irregular until they are judged worthy by the Bishop. This is evident from Canon Law. See St. Alphonsus, no. 397 and following.

1023. • This irregularity is incurred on two grounds: 1. if someone is unfit for the exercise of an Order; 2. if he causes notable horror in others or displays something unbecoming.

Hence the following are regarded as irregular:

1. The mutilated, those bearing a wooden leg, and those unable to use a hand, thumb, or index finger.

2. The blind, those altogether lacking sight, or those so dim-sighted that they cannot read in the Missal.

3. The deaf, who hear nothing, so that they cannot at all hear the voice of the server responding.

4. The mute or stammerers, who cannot pronounce whole words, or cannot do so except with great difficulty, such that they provoke the laughter or contempt of those present.

5. The lame, who cannot stand at the altar without a staff.

6. Those lacking a nose, or having one enormously distorted, sunken, or protruding.

7. The monstrous, for example, those having an enormous hump which produces great deformity, etc. See St. Alphonsus, no. 403 and following. See, however, what was said concerning the Eucharist, no. 404, in the Note.

1024. Questions. - QUESTION 1. Is one who lacks one eye irregular?

Reply 1. Negatively, if he lacks only the right eye, because it is less necessary for the celebration of Mass, provided no notable deformity arises from it.

Reply 2. Affirmatively, if he lacks the left eye, which is called the Eye of the Canon, because it is necessary for reading the Canon of the Mass. Except if he can read the Canon with the right eye without deformity. This, however, must be submitted to the judgment of the Bishop. Thus commonly with St. Alphonsus, no. 404.

QUESTION 2. Can one who, already promoted to the Priesthood, has an impaired thumb or index finger celebrate and administer the Eucharist?

Reply 1. It seems that this must be denied absolutely as to the celebration of Mass, at least more probably according to the common opinion. St. Alphonsus, no. 408 and book 6, no. 244.

Reply 2. Negatively also of itself as to the administration of the Eucharist, excepting nevertheless cases of necessity in which he can use other fingers.

1025. • Defect of birth induces irregularity. This is evident from the Decretals, book 1, title 18.

Hence: 1. the illegitimate, even occult, are irregular, or all who were born from fornication, adultery, or incest; 2. those who were born from a clandestine matrimony and within a prohibited degree, even if unknown; 3. but those who were illegitimate at the time of their conception or birth, whose parents were then capable of contracting matrimony and afterward contracted it, are not irregular, because they were legitimated by the subsequent matrimony. See St. Alphonsus, no. 420 and following.

Those illegitimately born from a public but invalid matrimony because of an impediment unknown to at least one party are not irregular. St. Alphonsus, ibid.

QUESTION. How is irregularity from defect of birth removed?

Reply. It is removed: 1. by the subsequent legitimate matrimony of the parents, as was just said; 2. by religious profession; 3. by legitimate dispensation.

1026. • 1. Those who have not attained canonical age are regarded as irregular. But this is not irregularity strictly so called, since it ceases when the required age is completed.

2. Those who knowingly receive Orders before canonical age sin gravely.

A defect of freedom arises from a threefold bond, namely, from the bond of servitude, matrimony, and office. Hence:

1. All who are properly called slaves are irregular until they obtain full freedom.

2. Married men are irregular and cannot receive Orders unless their wife consents, vows chastity, and enters Religion, at least if she is young.

3. Those who by office and oath are involved in secular business, such as judges, magistrates, etc., are irregular ¹. See St. Alphonsus, no. 355 and following.

¹ Except if they have a special dispensation of the Pope for those offices, or if custom, with the Pope's knowledge, permits it. St. Alphonsus, book 7, no. 456.

1027. • By defect of Sacrament in the present case is understood the Sacrament of Matrimony received several times, or bigamy. That bigamists are irregular is evident from Canon Law in the title On Bigamists. The reason of congruity is that in bigamy there is lacking a perfect signification of the union of Christ with the Church, which union is altogether simple and not multiple. This is inferred from the Apostle, 1 Timothy 3:2: A Bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife.

Bigamy in Canon Law is of three kinds, namely, true bigamy, interpretative bigamy, and similitudinary bigamy.

1. True bigamy exists when someone successively marries several wives and consummates the matrimony with each.

2. Interpretative bigamy is that by which someone is regarded as a bigamist by interpretation of law, although he has married only one wife. Such is: 1. one who marries and has carnal knowledge of a widow who was carnally known by her former husband; 2. one who marries any woman corrupted by another and consummates the matrimony; 3. one who has carnal knowledge of his own wife after adultery committed by her; 4. one who contracts two marriages, one valid and the other invalid, although in good faith. Indeed, even if both marriages were invalid, one who consummated both with marital affection would become irregular. This is proved from various passages of Canon Law.

3. Similitudinary bigamy occurs when someone contracts matrimony after a solemn vow of Religion or after sacred Order has been received, although the matrimony is null. The reason is that he is deservedly considered to have contracted two marriages, the first spiritual with Christ, the second carnal with a woman. This is deduced from the title On Bigamists. See St. Alphonsus, no. 436 and following.

1028. • All who voluntarily, actively, efficaciously, and proximately concur in the death or mutilation of someone, even justly, by an action of its nature ordered to that end, contract irregularity from defect of lenity. See St. Alphonsus, no. 457 and following.

Resolutions. 1. Executioners, judges, and all who cooperate in a judgment of this kind are irregular. Except: 1. compelled witnesses; 2. accusers seeking compensation for their damages.

1. Eulogius, a minorist, in good faith gave medicine to a sick man for his remedy and relief, who nevertheless died from it. Does Eulogius incur irregularity?

R. Negatively. For in the Case none incur irregularity except 1.º clerics constituted in sacred orders and monks; 2.º except by cutting or burning; and 3.º if the sick person dies from the incision or burning. But Eulogius is a minorist and applied no incision or burning in the Case. Therefore he incurs no irregularity, although he is beneficed. St. Alph., l. 7, n. 384, 385; I. M. 1345.

2. Clemens, a soldier, in a defensive war indeed discharged his weapon several times against enemies, of whom many were killed and mutilated. But since he always had to discharge it together with many other fellow soldiers of his, he doubts whether he himself truly killed or mutilated anyone. But now wishing to ascend to sacred orders, he asks whether he himself is irregular.

R. Negatively. "If someone fought in a just war in which some were killed, and doubts whether he himself by himself killed someone, Bon., Leand., and others think that he can judge himself not to be irregular, because when the law says that one doubting about homicide ought to be judged irregular, it speaks of unjust homicide. Therefore in doubt concerning just homicide the condition of the possessor is better." La Croix, l. 7, n. 453. Nevertheless a dispensation can be sought as a precaution.

1. Philiarchus, after he committed fornication with two women, wishing to ascend to the priesthood, received first tonsure and minor orders. But, inconstant in soul, he entered marriage with a certain widow woman, who afterward was known to be his kinswoman in the fourth degree. Since therefore a marriage of this sort was void, he again intends to ascend to the priesthood; but he doubts whether he is irregular.

R. That Philiarchus first fornicated with two women gives rise to no bigamy from that, and therefore no impediment of bigamy, since there is no true, similitudinary, or interpretative marriage. I. M. 1343. But that, in an invalid marriage, already an acolyte, he married a widow, according to the more common opinion, is interpretative bigamy because of the affection of the intention, as if the husband of a widow, C. ult. de Big., and therefore irregularity is present. The less common opinion denies it, because in the aforesaid C. ult. there is question only of one ordained in sacred orders, and not of an acolyte nor of a layman; and in odious matters extension is not made from case to case, and thus Navarrus affirms that it was concluded in the Sacred Penitentiary. And D'Annib. says that he follows this opinion, ed. 3, p. 1, n. 419.

2. Titius married Caia invalidly because of an occult impediment of affinity. Caia having died, he married Sempronia, but also invalidly because of another occult impediment of affinity. The invalidity of each marriage having become known, Titius, wishing to receive sacred orders, thinks that he is bound by no impediment from this. Is this rightly thought?

R. Titius, according to the most common opinion of the doctors, is irregular from interpretative bigamy, namely if each marriage, as is supposed, was consummated. I. M. 1343.

The reason is that here not the thing itself, but the thought of the soul and the affection of the intention is attended to. C. 4, de Bigam. If this reason is valid when someone, his wife having died, receives sacred order, and then marries another wife and consummates the marriage, which second marriage is in reality null, the same reason consequently is valid when someone, although initiated in no sacred order, contracts and consummates a double marriage, although invalid. Whence it is also clear that although this irregularity, like others, is not expressed in the law, nevertheless it is most commonly affirmed. And D'Annibale, who calls the same irregularity doubtful, nevertheless, because it is most commonly affirmed, "does not dare to recede from this opinion, although received against all rules of law." Ed. 3, p. 1, n. 418.

1181. 1° From defect of birth: "Illegitimate persons, whether the illegitimacy is public or occult, unless they have been legitimated or have professed solemn vows."

⁵ Codex, c. 984.

The reason on account of which this irregularity was established is especially brought forward as threefold: (a) the reverence due to clerical dignity; for, as St. Thomas says¹, "because the brightness of a man is obscured from a vicious origin, therefore also those born of an illegitimate bed are repelled from the reception of orders, unless dispensation is granted to them, and the more base their origin, the more difficult is the dispensation"; (b) the danger lest the sons imitate the paternal incontinence; (c) that the paternal incontinence may be punished in some way. - Hence it is not expedient to grant dispensation unless illegitimate sons shine forth with special gifts.

¹ Supplem., q. 39, a. 5.

1182. 2° From defect of body: "Those vitiated in body who cannot safely, on account of weakness, or decently, on account of deformity, discharge the ministry of the altar. Yet for impeding the exercise of an order legitimately received, a graver defect is required, nor on account of this defect are there prohibited acts which can be duly placed; - those who are or have been epileptic or insane or possessed by a demon; but if after orders have been received they have become such and it is certainly established that they are now free, the Ordinary can permit his subjects again the exercise of the orders received."

1183. Wherefore they are irregular:

(A) On account of impotence or weakness: (a) those laboring under a grave and incurable disease, by which they are incapable of duly undertaking certain ecclesiastical offices: such are paralytics, who cannot hold the sacred vessels or break the sacred species; those who, on account of stiffness of the elbow, cannot bend the arm²; epileptics, or those laboring under the falling sickness, at least as long as there is probable danger of relapse; abstemious persons, who cannot drink wine without danger of vomiting; those possessed or obsessed by the devil.

² Sacred Congregation of the Council in Brixin., January 26, 1867.

(b) The mutilated, who lack a foot, arm, hand, or the last three fingers on either hand; or the index finger or thumb, so that they cannot break the host; the lame who cannot approach the altar and stand without a staff; those limping too much, even if they do not need a staff, who have a clubfoot, or one inclined toward the other foot; those who have an amputated foot, although they use an artificial foot; today, however, since artificial feet are so aptly arranged that those using them can decently undertake sacred functions, after orders have been received this irregularity no longer seems to be urged³.

³ To a professed cleric of the Order of Friars Minor, who walked with a mechanical foot, it was permitted by the Sacred Congregation of the Council, May 5, 1865, to be ordained; ap. Gasparri, n. 265.

(c) The blind, who lack the faculty of sight in both eyes; indeed the dim-sighted, who cannot decently read in the missal; those lacking one eye, especially the left, which is called the eye of the canon, if they cannot read the canon of the Mass without deformity; but if the left eye is good, and its visual power sufficient for reading decently in the missal, there is no irregularity, unless, in the judgment of a physician, the visual power, although sufficient here and now, is going to fail after some time.

(d) The deaf in each ear, who in no way hear the voice of the responding minister; but if deafness supervenes after the priesthood has been received, it does not impede the celebration of Mass.

(e) The mute or stammering, who cannot pronounce whole words, or can do so only in an unintelligible or ridiculous manner.

1184. (B) On account of deformity, all generally are irregular who are so deformed, especially in face, that without disgrace, or the laughter or horror of the faithful, they cannot exercise the sacred ministry; e.g., (a) those who have the face burned or very much stained; those whose lips, nose, or ears have been cut off, unless this last defect can be covered by hair; (b) lepers, or those laboring under another too repugnant disease; (c) the monstrous, the enormously hunchbacked, pygmies, or those who have legs so distorted that not even by the cassock can this defect be covered; those whose one eye has been torn out, unless the deformity is covered by lowered eyelids or by a glass eye, which today is very easy.

In all these cases, when it is doubted whether someone is irregular, the matter is left to the judgment of the Bishop, who will give sentence after the Master of ceremonies has carefully considered and reported how the candidate can exercise clerical functions.

1185. 3° From defect of sacrament: "Bigamists, namely those who successively contracted two or more valid marriages."

Wherefore interpretative or similitudinary bigamy is no longer an irregularity.

1186. 4° From defect of fame: "those who are marked by infamy of law." Now infamy of law is a vindicative penalty¹ which is established in cases expressed by law².

¹ Codex, c. 2291, n. 4.

² Codex, c. 2293, § 2.

But this penalty in the Codex, and indeed by the fact itself, is decreed against: (a) those who have cast away the consecrated species or have carried them away or retained them for an evil end³; (b) those who have violated corpses or tombs of the dead for theft or another evil end⁴; (c) those who have laid violent hands upon the person of the Roman Pontiff, of a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, or of a Legate of the Roman Pontiff¹; (d) duelists and their seconds²; (e) bigamists, i.e., those who, notwithstanding a conjugal bond, attempted another marriage, even only civil³; (f) laymen legitimately condemned on account of delicts against the sixth commandment committed with minors below the age of sixteen years, or on account of rape, sodomy, incest, pandering⁴.

³ Codex, c. 2320.

⁴ Codex, c. 2328.

¹ Codex, c. 2343.

² Codex, c. 2351, § 2.

³ Codex, c. 2356.

⁴ Codex, c. 2357.

1187. Besides, from the Codex, the following must be declared infamous: obstinate apostates, heretics, and schismatics⁵; and also clerics in sacred orders who commit enormous delicts against chastity⁶.

⁵ Codex, c. 2314, § 1, n. 2, c. 2315.

⁶ Codex, c. 2359.

Those truly cooperating in either delict are also irregular (in the sense of canon 2209), and therefore those commanding or furnishing proximate assistance so that the crime be committed, unjust judges and witnesses, and those counseling the crime or the manner of perpetrating it.

1188. 5° From defect of mildness: "A judge who has issued a sentence of death; those who have undertaken the office of executioner, and their voluntary and immediate ministers in the execution of a capital sentence."⁷ Therefore witnesses, accusers, the procurator general who requests a sentence of death, the judge of instruction, or jurors do not incur irregularity.

⁷ Codex, c. 984, 6° and 7°.

III. On Irregularities From Delict.

Preliminary note. What irregularities from defect are was stated above, n. 610. According to the discipline of the Church in force, there exist seven irregularities from defect.¹²¹

¹²¹ Ibid., c. 984.

614. 1. Defect of birth has constituted an irregularity for centuries, because a) illegitimate children bearing the reproach of their parents are not sufficiently worthy for the excellence of the clerical state; b) they not rarely imitate the incontinence of their parents.¹²² According to the discipline in force, those who were born outside a true or at least putative marriage are irregular from defect of birth.¹²³

The following are not illegitimate and consequently not irregular:

a) foundlings; nevertheless, as a precaution, a dispensation is customarily given if their parents are entirely unknown;

b) children doubtfully illegitimate;

c) children born from adultery during a legitimate marriage, provided, however, that this adultery and the illegitimate origin of the child have not been juridically proved. For the adage holds: The father is he whom the marriage indicates, unless the contrary is proved by evident arguments.¹²⁴

The cessation of this irregularity is obtained:

a) through a legitimate (ecclesiastical) dispensation. Who can dispense from this irregularity has already been stated above.

b) through legitimation by means of a subsequent marriage. In this manner irregularity is not removed for spurious children, but only for natural children (that is, of parents who were capable of contracting marriage at the time either of conception, pregnancy, or birth).¹²⁵

c) through solemn religious profession.¹²⁶ But not through simple profession, nor through reception of the religious habit, unless a special privilege is present.¹²⁷

¹²² Cf. Council of Trent, sess. 25, c. 15, De reform.

¹²³ On the contrary, "children conceived or born of a valid or putative marriage are legitimate, unless at the time of conception the use of the previously contracted marriage was forbidden to the parents because of solemn religious profession or the reception of sacred order" (Code of Canon Law, c. 1114). What a putative marriage is will be stated below, n. 640.

¹²⁴ Code of Canon Law, c. 1115, § 1.

¹²⁵ Ibid., c. 1116.

¹²⁶ Ibid.; cf. below in the treatise on marriage, n. 893.

¹²⁷ Cf. Gasparri, De ordinatione I, 247.

615. 2. Defect of mind is a defect of the use of reason arising from a habitual cause. Those labor under such a defect who are or have been epileptic, insane, or possessed by a demon.¹²⁸ But if they become such after receiving orders and it is now certainly evident that they are free, the Ordinary can again permit his subjects to exercise the orders received.

¹²⁸ c. 1, X 1, 17; cf. Code of Canon Law, c. 984, n. 3.

616. 3. Defect of body is a bodily fault on account of which orders cannot be exercised either safely because of weakness or becomingly because of deformity.

The following are irregular from defect of body:

a) the mutilated, for example, those lacking a foot, hand, thumb, or index finger, or those who cannot becomingly break the host with thumb and index finger.

b) those impaired or so weakened that they cannot becomingly perform the offices connected with orders, for example, the blind (or those so dim-sighted that they cannot read in the Missal); the deaf, who hear nothing; the mute or those who stammer so much that they cannot pronounce complete words; the lame, who cannot stand at the altar without a staff; paralytics, who cannot hold the sacred vessels or perform the prescribed ceremonies.

c) the deformed, who labor under an external fault so easily perceptible that they excite horror or laughter in others, for example, those whose noses have been cut off, those who are true dwarfs,¹²⁹ or, on the contrary, giants,¹³⁰ and those who are notably hunchbacked.

Note. It pertains to the bishop to judge whether, in a particular case, a defect of body is so great that it causes irregularity. This judgment indeed ought to be more severe before ordination than afterward. For it is hard to lose through misfortune the exercise of an order rightly received.¹³¹

¹²⁹ In German: Zwerge [dwarfs]; in French: nains [dwarfs].

¹³⁰ In German: Riesen [giants]; in French: géants [giants].

¹³¹ Code of Canon Law, c. 984, n. 2.

617. 4. Defect of bigamy (which is also called defect of the sacrament) is true bigamy, namely, when a man successively marries several wives.

Already St. Paul established that bishops, priests, and deacons be husbands of one wife.¹³² For marriage signifies the union of the one Christ with the one Church. Therefore a marriage which a man contracts (successively) with two women imperfectly signifies this union and causes a certain stain in the man. Hence arose the irregularity of the sacrament, or of bigamy.

¹³² Cf. 1 Tim. 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6.

618. 5. Defect of reputation arises from infamy of law alone. Infamy in general is the lack or notable diminution of a good reputation. How necessary a good reputation is for all clerics is evident of itself. Hence St. Paul says of a bishop: "It is necessary that he also have a good testimony from those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and into the snare of the devil."¹³³

Infamy of law arises only in those cases which are established by common law.¹³⁴

Infamy of fact arises (before the condemnatory sentence of a judge) from the commission of some enormous and notorious crime, for example, from the notorious commission of adultery, perjury, sodomy, and generally of all crimes which are punished by civil laws with a gravely infamous penalty, for example, imprisonment at hard labor.

Infamy is now by no means incurred from the fact that someone or his parents exercise a base trade, for example, that of a butcher, executioner, or stage-player. But it is evident of itself that he who exercises a trade of this kind must leave it if he wishes to become a cleric.

Infamy of fact is not an irregularity properly so called, but those who labor under infamy of fact are simply impeded from orders as long as it endures in the judgment of the Ordinary.¹³⁵ This infamy of fact especially ceases through removal to a place where the disgraceful fact is entirely unknown.

¹³³ 1 Tim. 3:7.

¹³⁴ Cf. Code of Canon Law, cc. 2314, 2320, 2328, 2343, 2351, 2357, 2359.

¹³⁵ Ibid., c. 987, n. 7.

619. 6. and 7. Defect of lenity is twofold, namely: a) in a judge who has pronounced a sentence of death.¹³⁶ Jurors also appear to come under the name of judge.¹³⁷ b) in those who have undertaken the office of executioner and their voluntary and immediate assistants in the execution of a capital sentence.

¹³⁶ St. Thomas, S. theol. 2, 2, q. 64, a. 7, ad 3.

¹³⁷ In German: Geschworener [juror]; in French: le juré [the juror].

1933. These come from defect 1. of soul, 2. of body, 3. of birth, 4. of age, 5. of Sacrament, 6. of good fame, 7. of liberty, 8. of mildness.

I. From defect of SOUL the following are irregular:

1. Those who at times lack the use of reason: as the demented, lunatics, the insane, epileptics, and energumens; although they have lucid intervals. Nevertheless, the exercise of Orders already received is more easily permitted than the reception of new ones. Thus, e.g., a priest who rarely, say once in a month, is seized by epilepsy, can celebrate privately and with a fasting priest joined to him, provided he is not accustomed suddenly to fall to the ground, nor to foam, nor to cry out. And this same thing must be said concerning energumens and lunatics.¹

2. Those who lack necessary knowledge, either actually, because they are illiterate and lacking that erudition which the Order to be received requires; or radically, on account of weakness of mind, which prevents them from being imbued with sufficient doctrine. - This irregularity is not only of human law, but also of divine law, which evidently teaches that the office is to be denied to those by whom it cannot be sustained² (see n. 1914).

3. Those who lack sufficiently proved faith, that is, neophytes or those recently baptized in adult age. For those who have scarcely been made disciples would incongruously be constituted masters of the faith, as the Apostle intimates (1 Tim. 3:6). Therefore they remain irregular, until they are judged suitable by the Bishop. Toletus thinks that after ten years from conversion they are no longer irregular.³

1934. II. From defect of BODY those are held irregular who, on account of a bodily vice, either are incapable for the exercise of Order, or bear before themselves notable indecency and bring horror upon others.

1. FROM THE FIRST head the following are irregular: 1) The blind, totally lacking sight: likewise, those lacking the canonical eye, i.e., the left eye, unless with the right eye, without deformity, they can read the Canon: which is to be subjected to the judgment of the Bishop. But the blind, already initiated in the priesthood, can be dispensed by the Pontiff for celebrating, if it is established that they do not err in celebration, and if they also have an assisting priest.⁴ 2) The deaf, who do not hear at all. If nevertheless deafness supervenes on a priest, celebration of Mass is permitted to him, since defects are more easily tolerated in one already promoted. - 3) The mute, who cannot speak, or only with great difficulty. But those who stammer, or lack teeth, are not irregular, unless they move the laughter or contempt of those standing by: which rarely happens.⁵ - 4) The lame, who cannot stand without a staff, or who use a wooden foot. But the lame who do not need a staff, or who have only distorted legs, are not irregular, and can be ordained, unless there is in them great deformity, which cannot be covered. - And after Ordination, if the defect is slight, and in some way the indecency can be repaired, celebration can be permitted by the judgment of the Bishop.⁶ - 5) Those lacking a hand, or all fingers, or the three posterior fingers, or the thumb.⁷ One lacking the index finger can obtain dispensation.⁸ 6) All who habitually labor under such a disease that they cannot celebrate without proximate danger of fainting, or of notably erring: of this sort are those who have hands so tremulous that there is danger of spilling the Blood; likewise, those who suffer so great a cough that danger is present in receiving Communion; likewise, abstainers who so abhor wine that, although they take little, they incur the danger of vomiting. With these, not even the Pope can dispense.⁹

2. FROM THE SECOND head the following are irregular: 1) Those lacking a nose, or some bodily member, so that they move laughter or horror. 2) Lepers, or those who have the face deformly marked by disease. (If they have already been ordained, scandal being removed, they can celebrate privately.) 3) Monstrous persons: such as the enormously or deformly hunchbacked are commonly held to be; pygmies and giants, of whom the former move laughter, the latter a certain terror; Ethiopians, who in our regions would excite a certain horror if they habitually exercised the ministry; hermaphrodites, i.e., individuals who are of doubtful sex; and, although the male sex prevails in them, if their defect is known.¹⁰

Concerning defects of body it must be NOTED: 1. In doubt whether a defect induces irregularity, the matter is to be remitted to the Bishop, who can pronounce; and, if the vice seems slight, he can also dispense from custom. 2. If the defect supervenes before the reception of Order, it induces irregularity absolutely, not only for that Order whose exercise it impedes, but also for all other Orders. For since all refer themselves to the Priesthood, it follows that one excluded from the Priesthood is also excluded from the other Orders. - 3. But if the defect supervenes when Orders have already been received, a priest is not impeded from the acts of that Order which he can exercise without indecency: e.g., a blind or lame priest can hear confessions, sing the Gospel, etc.¹¹

1935. III. From defect of BIRTH all illegitimate sons are irregular, even occult ones. And this has been established by the Church, both on account of danger of incontinence from paternal imitation, and on account of hatred of the paternal crime, and so that the memory of paternal incontinence may be kept very far away from places consecrated to God.¹² Moreover, here illegitimates are reputed to be not only those who were born from fornication, incest, or adultery, but also those born from a marriage which, the proclamations having been omitted without dispensation, was celebrated with a diriment impediment, although unknown to the spouses.¹³

Nor indeed are irregular: 1. Those illegitimately born from a public marriage, but one invalid on account of an occult impediment, unknown at least to one party.¹⁴ - 2. Those born from infidels, whose marriage was valid according to nature, although invalid according to canon law.¹⁵ - 3. Exposed children, concerning whose parents there is no certainty.¹⁶

In doubt concerning the legitimacy of birth, no one is judged irregular. - Hence the S. C. of the Council, June 27, 1857, responded that a certain man did not need dispensation, who appeared to have arisen from a legitimate marriage both from the parish books and from the civil state, although a grave doubt concerning his legitimacy was pressing, because public fame, and his parents themselves, affirmed that he was adulterine, that is, born from a free father and a married mother.¹⁷

Irregularity from defect of birth IS REMOVED: 1. By legitimation, which is made either through a Rescript of the Pontiff, in every case and as to all effects of legitimation for the forum of the Church; or through the subsequent marriage of the parents, provided at the time of conception (or at least of birth, according to a very probable opinion) they could validly have contracted, and it is not a question of elevation to the Cardinalate. 2. By religious profession; and 3. by legitimate dispensation, namely of the Pontiff for sacred Orders and Dignities; of the Bishop for minor Orders and a simple Benefice; as was said n. 1931, 3 and 4.¹⁸

1936. IV. From defect of AGE, those are held irregular who have not reached the canonical age for the individual Orders (cf. n. 1918). Those who knowingly receive an Order before the canonical age sin gravely; but today, from the Constitution Apostolicae Sedis, they no longer incur suspension, and therefore, if they exercise the Order, they do not incur another irregularity.¹⁹

1937. V. From defect of SACRAMENT, or from BIGAMY, irregularity arises, as is established from the title De bigamis, and is inferred from the words of the Apostle (1 Tim. 3:2): "A Bishop ought to be the husband of one wife." They assign as reason, that he who has married two wives cannot aptly signify the union of Christ with the Church, His one spouse.²⁰ - A threefold bigamy is DISTINGUISHED: true, similitudinary, and interpretative.

1. TRUE bigamy exists in him who has contracted valid marriage with two successively, and in each case has consummated it (cf. n. 2027).

2. SIMILITUDINARY bigamy exists in him who, after the emission of a solemn vow, whether of Religion or of sacred Order, has contracted and consummated marriage (although null, or even only civil). The reason is, because such a one, by the fiction of law, is judged to have contracted two marriages, one spiritual, the other carnal. But this irregularity seems to be from delict, and it matters nothing whether he contracted with a corrupted woman or with a virgin (cf. n. 1348).

3. INTERPRETATIVE bigamy exists in him who, by a certain interpretation of law, is judged to have had two wives, although in reality he has not had them.²¹ This happens in four ways: 1) when someone has married and known a widow already known by her former husband, even if he married invalidly; - 2) when he has married and known a woman corrupted by another or a fornicator, even if he believed her to be a virgin, and although he contracted invalidly; - 3) when he has known his own wife after her adultery, although occult, or extorted, or unknown, because then he is judged as if he had married a corrupted woman; - 4) when he has contracted and consummated two invalid marriages, or one valid and another invalid: for then there is present an affection toward two marriages, at least outwardly entered. - Nor in all these things does good faith exempt from the law; for the present irregularity, according to the more common opinion, does not come from delict, but from defect of the signification of the Sacrament.²²

St. Alphonsus denies that one is irregular who has married a woman previously corrupted by himself.²³ - But neither is the layman irregular who has entered marriage with a nun, even solemnly professed; and the reason is, because the laws speak only of one contracting after his own vow.²⁴ Nor similarly do betrothals with several induce irregularity, even if copulation followed; nor fornication, nor adultery, nor ratified marriage with several. - See more among the Canonists.²⁵

1938. VI. From defect of GOOD FAME irregularity is contracted, according to that saying of the law: "Let not the gates of dignities lie open to the infamous." Likewise from can. Infames, caus. 6, q. 1. - A twofold infamy is distinguished, namely of law and of fact.

Infamy of law is contracted in two ways: 1. from juridical confession of an enormous crime, which either ecclesiastical law or civil law has marked with infamy; 2. from a judge's sentence, whether declaratory of the crime or condemning to infamous penalties, e.g., to the galleys, although the sentence issued had rested on false testimonies. And this irregularity indeed impedes both the reception and the exercise of Order, until dispensation is granted in it, or until fame is restored to the guilty one through another sentence.

Infamy of fact is contracted before every sentence: 1. From the notoriety of some enormous crime, which has become known to the greater part of the neighborhood or college (where there are at least ten), so that it can now be concealed by no evasion; 2. from certain notorious and enormous crimes of parents. - This irregularity altogether impedes the reception of sacred Order; but as to the exercise of Order, the Bishop can dispense in it, if the crimes are less than adultery, and the guilty one has done penance. It is also removed through Baptism and through notorious amendment, e.g., of three years (cf. n. 1931).²⁶

IT IS ASKED. What are the CRIMES to which infamy is annexed by law?

Resp. They are the following: "Homicide, perjury made in judgment, heresy, simony, the crime of lese-majesty, sodomy, adultery, pandering (base gain from the adultery of one's wife), treason, robbery, the exercise of usury, invasion of Cardinals or Bishops. Likewise, abduction of women, or cooperation in it, duel, preparation of arms against parents, etc. Likewise, the exercise of an actor with base representations;"²⁷ and other notorious crimes which, the circumstances being attended to, render a man of vile and abject estimation among the pious and prudent.²⁸ But the crimes of parents, whose infamy redounds upon children born after the delict, are the crime of lese-majesty, the prostitution of the mother, and notorious heresy, concerning which see nn. 1945 and 442.

1939. VII. From defect of LIBERTY, the following are declared irregular in various chapters of Law:

1. Slaves properly so called, or bondsmen, until they obtain full liberty.²⁹

2. Married men, on account of the bond of marriage. Nevertheless, a man can be ordained: 1) if on account of the wife's adultery a juridical divorce has been made; for in this case, he has been withdrawn from her right in perpetuity; 2) if the wife expressly and freely consents, and at the same time vows perpetual chastity. Indeed, the wife is altogether bound to enter Religion: 1) if the husband is assumed to the Episcopate; 2) if he becomes a Religious, and she is young.³⁰

3. Courtiers, or those who by obligation of oath or stipend serve the Courts of Princes: such as Judges, Advocates, soldiers, etc., as long as they discharge such office. - Except, if they have obtained at least tacit license from the Pontiff or from custom: as are certain clerics, occupied in the courts of princes in civil causes, not however criminal causes.³¹

4. Those bound to render accounts; as public treasurers, depositaries, magistrates, etc.: all of whom cannot be ordained unless their accounts have been rendered and their office laid down. - Nevertheless, administrators of pious places are not to be numbered among these, as is established from canon law.³²

1940. VIII. From defect of MILDNESS those are irregular who, after Baptism, voluntarily, actively, efficaciously, and proximately concur in the death or mutilation of someone, although justly and from public authority, through an action ordered by its nature to this. "This the Church has therefore established, because the priest bears the person of Christ, who, as most mild, never injured anyone."³³ If such concurrence were unjust, there would be irregularity from delict (cf. n. 1946).

This irregularity is contracted both in JUDGMENT, and in WAR, and in the exercise of the MEDICAL art.

1. In JUDGMENT they become irregular, the effect having followed: Judges pronouncing a sentence, although just, of death or mutilation (unless they have a privilege, as Inquisitors of the faith, and their Officials); Counselors and assessors, who cooperate by their counsel or vote; accusers or denouncers seeking vindication of a capital crime, although they protest that they do not wish the penalty of death, since the protestation is contrary to the fact; voluntary witnesses, although they preface the same or a similar protestation; voluntary advocates and procurators against the accused; notaries writing, subscribing, or dictating the sentence; executioners, lictors, and all ministers executing the same sentence of death or mutilation.³⁴ Whether jurors, e.g., in France, in Italy, become irregular is controverted; it is more probable that they are to be assimilated to compelled witnesses.³⁵

2. IN AN UNJUST WAR (if nevertheless the injustice is established) all soldiers become irregular, even if only one man is killed; but that irregularity is from delict (see n. 1946). In a just merely defensive war no one becomes irregular, just as neither is he to be called irregular who mutilates or kills an aggressor in inculpable defense of life, chastity, or even of neighbor.³⁶ In a just offensive war all those become irregular who mutilate or kill by their own hand; likewise, clerics in Sacred Orders, or beneficiaries, who of their own accord have given their name to military service (in which they sin gravely), and at some time have used a gun in some conflict, although they should swear that no one was injured by themselves.³⁷

Nor indeed do the following contract irregularity: the legislator establishing a capital law; a cleric exhorting men to fight bravely in a just war, to punish the guilty, etc.; a theologian resolving speculatively a case of war; a confessor exhorting the guilty one to ascend the ladder of punishment, or to submit his head to the blow; a cleric, assisting from curiosity at the punishment of the guilty one, although he sins venially, at least if he is in Sacred Orders; a compelled witness; an accuser civilly seeking compensation for damage to himself or to his relatives up to the fourth degree, even in a criminal cause, provided he protests, at least externally, that he wishes neither vindication nor death.¹

3. In the exercise of the MEDICAL ART, clerics in Sacred Orders incur irregularity, as also monks, who heal (outside the case of true necessity) with burning or incision, if death is notably accelerated from this or mutilation follows; although they are skilled in the art and apply every diligence.²

Nevertheless, more truly, clerics constituted in minor Orders do not contract this irregularity, although they are beneficiaries; for penalties are not to be extended to cases not expressed in law.³ - Nor do these things regard lay physicians or surgeons, if they operate according to the rules of their art, as Benedict XIV says.⁴ Nevertheless, the usage is that, for caution, even as to these, dispensation is sought, if perchance they at some time had culpably offended in their art.⁵ - See other things n. 1946.

Eight species of these are enumerated, namely from defect: 1° of mind; 2° of body; 3° of birth; 4° of age; 5° of liberty; 6° of Sacrament; 7° of lenity; 8° of reputation.

These defects, or rather the qualities opposed to them, are expressed by these verses:

Birth, mind, liberty, body and age,
Let him not be twice-married, let him be lenient, nor let evil fame mark him.

1758. - A threefold defect of mind is assigned, namely of reason, of knowledge, and of confirmed Faith.

1° Of reason. Hence the perpetually insane, lunatics, the furious, epileptics, and the possessed are irregular, even if they have lucid intervals. Nevertheless the exercise of Orders already received is permitted to them less with difficulty than the reception of new ones. This irregularity by law remains even when the illness has ceased and must be removed by dispensation of the Pontiff, unless the insanity, etc. came from a rather accidental cause, e.g., fever. S. C. C.¹ also defined that a Cleric who was once affected by mild epilepsy and then for many years gave no signs any more of the said illness is not irregular and can be promoted. But the exercise of Orders already received can be permitted by a Superior, if either sufficient time has already elapsed, so that the cessation of the illness can prudently be presumed (which we think must especially be decided from the judgment of a religious and pious physician), or the illness rushes in rarely and less violently. Hence they say that to an epileptic, who e.g. falls only once in a month without cry and foam, the celebration of Mass can be permitted, privately however and with a fasting priest joined to him, who, when the illness comes on, may complete the Mass.²

2° Of knowledge. Those are irregular who do not have the knowledge necessary for the individual Orders, whether in fact they do not know, or are incapable of learning. See n. 1523. q. 1°.

3° Of confirmed Faith. Neophytes baptized recently in adult age are irregular until they are judged worthy by the Bishop.³

1759. - This irregularity is incurred under a twofold head: 1° if someone is unfit for the exercise of the Order; 2° if he brings notable horror to others, or presents indecency. These things in doubt will have to be determined by the prudent estimation of the Bishop.⁴ - But S. C. C. shows itself more difficult in granting dispensations of this kind with an orator to be promoted to Orders than with one already promoted.¹

Hence the following are held as irregular:

1° The mutilated, those carrying a wooden leg, those lacking a hand, the three rear fingers, a thumb or index finger, or part of the thumb or index finger, or having these so weak that they cannot elevate or break the Host. Cf. however n. 1293. q. 1°.

2° The blind, or those so failing in sight that they cannot read in the Missal. Those already marked with the priesthood are dispensed by the Pontiff, under precautions.²

3° The deaf, who hear nothing, so that they cannot at all hear the voice of the responding minister, but not the hard of hearing. Deafness supervening on a priest does not impede celebration, since a defect is more easily tolerated in one promoted than in one to be promoted.³

4° The mute or stammering, who cannot pronounce whole words, or cannot except with great difficulty, so that they move the laughter or contempt of those standing by.

5° The lame, who cannot be supported at the altar without a staff.⁴ Cf. n. 1333. q. 2°.

6° Those lacking a nose, or having one enormously distorted, lowered, or prolonged.

7° The monstrous, e.g., those having an enormous hump, which induces great deformity, etc.

8° Black persons, "not however among their own, but among strangers," i.e., among men of white color, "where the disparity is a mockery," as Busembaum says in St. Alph., although, as the same Holy Doctor adds, others deny this. "But a swarthy" color (mulattoes), he says, "or red" (copper-colored, Indians) "does not injure the altar."⁵ (P) p. 412.

1760. Questions. - Quaer. 1° Whether one who lacks one eye is irregular?

Resp. 1° No, if he lacks only the right eye, because it is less necessary for the celebration of Mass, provided notable deformity does not arise from this.

Resp. 2° Yes, if he lacks the left eye, which is called the Eye of the Canon, because it is necessary for reading the Canon of the Mass. Except unless he can read the Canon with the right eye without deformity. But this must be subjected to the judgment of the Bishop.⁶

Quaer. 2° Whether he who, already promoted to the Priesthood, has an impeded thumb or index finger can celebrate and administer the Eucharist?

Resp. 1° No, as regards the celebration of Mass, according to the common opinion.¹

Resp. 2° No also of itself as regards the administration of the Eucharist, except in cases of gravest necessity, in which he can use other fingers. See n. 1293. q. 1°.

1761. - Defect of birth induces irregularity. It is established from Canon Law.² Hence:

1° Illegitimate persons, even occult ones, or all those who have been born from fornication, adultery, or incest, are irregular.

2° Those who have been born from a Matrimony which, the proclamations having been omitted without dispensation, was celebrated with a diriment impediment, even though unknown to the spouses.³

3° But the following are not irregular:

a) Those illegitimate at the time of their conception whose parents at that time (or, according to the opinion very probable to St. Alphonsus,⁴ only at the time of birth) were capable of contracting Matrimony, and afterward contracted, because by subsequent Matrimony they have been legitimated.⁵

b) Those illegitimately born from a public Matrimony, but one invalid because of an occult impediment unknown to at least one.⁶

c) Children born from infidels, whose Matrimony was valid according to nature (and, in the more common opinion, of which at n. 1574. q. 1°, according to their civil laws), although invalid according to Canon Law.

d) Foundlings, concerning whose parents there is no certainty.⁷

Quaer. How is irregularity from defect of birth removed?

Resp. It is removed: 1° by the legitimate subsequent Matrimony of the parents, as was just said; 2° by religious Profession for the effect declared at n. 1757. q. 5°. R. 4°; 3° by legitimate dispensation either of the Holy See, or, for the effects designated at n. 1144. I. 8°, of the Bishop.

1762. - 1° Those who have not reached the canonical age are held irregular.

2° Those who knowingly receive Orders before the canonical age sin gravely.

What age is required for the individual Orders, see n. 1523. q. 2°.

1763. - Defect of liberty arises from a threefold bond, namely from the bond of servitude, of Matrimony, and of office. Hence the following are irregular:

1° All slaves properly so called, until they obtain full liberty.

2° Married men, who cannot receive Orders except with the consent of the wife vowing chastity and entering Religion, at least if she is young, or unless, on account of the wife's adultery, a juridically made divorce has taken place. See n. 1521. 10°.

3° Those who from stipend or oath are implicated in secular affairs, as judges, magistrates, etc., as long as their office lasts, unless they have a special dispensation of the Pope,¹ or unless custom permits it.²

1764. - By defect of Sacrament in the present case is understood the Sacrament of Matrimony received more than once, or bigamy. It is clear from Canon Law that bigamists are irregular.³ But the reason of fittingness is that in bigamy the perfect signification of the union of Christ with the Church is lacking, which union is altogether simple and not multiple. But that was inferred from the Apostle:⁴ It behooves ... a Bishop ... to be the husband of one wife.

Bigamy by Canon Law is of three kinds, namely true, interpretative, and similitudinary bigamy.

1° True is had when someone validly marries several wives successively, and consummates Matrimony with each in the manner which was stated at n. 1589. 114.

2° Interpretative is that by which someone from the interpretation of law is held as a bigamist, although he has married only one wife. Such is: 1) one who married, even invalidly, and knew a widow who had been known by her prior husband; 2) one who married (according to St. Alph., even invalidly) and knew any woman corrupted by another, even if in good faith he thought her a virgin; 3) one who knows his own wife after adultery committed by her, even if unknown to him (as the common and truer opinion teaches), or even occult (according to the opinion which is more pleasing to St. Alph.¹); 4) one who contracts and consummates two Matrimonies, one valid, and the other invalid, although in good faith. Indeed, even if both Matrimonies were invalid, he who consummated both would become irregular. It is proved from various places of Canon Law.

3° Similitudinary, when someone attempts and consummates Matrimony after the solemn vow of Religion, or after Sacred Order received, although the Matrimony is null. The reason is that he is deservedly judged to have contracted two Matrimonies, the first spiritual with Christ, the second carnal with a woman.

1765. - All those contract irregularity from defect of lenity who voluntarily, actively, efficaciously (i.e., the effect having followed), and proximately concur in the death or mutilation of someone, although justly, through an action ordered by its nature to this.²

Resolves. - 1° Executioners, judges, and all who cooperate in a judgment of this kind either juridically, or (in which case irregularity from delict is incurred) unjustly and with sin, are irregular. Except: 1° coerced witnesses and, as indeed seems to me because of the same reason of coercion, jurors (n. 1056); 2° accusers asking compensation for their damages. - Therefore Clerics who assist at capital punishment without a sufficient cause, e.g., from curiosity, do not become irregular, provided they do not efficaciously influence the penalty; nevertheless, those constituted in Major Orders sin venially.

2° Physicians and surgeons are not irregular, even though they cut off members or hasten death by remedies given in good faith, unless grave negligence intervenes, in which case irregularity from delict arises.

3° Nor Clerics exercising medicine or surgery short of cutting and burning. Indeed, not even if in a case of necessity they employ cutting or burning; for necessity is governed by no law. Indeed, not even outside necessity, if the Clerics are not constituted in Sacred Orders, provided death or mutilation does not follow from grave fault.

4° Those who kill an aggressor in just defense are not irregular, because it is not judged a defect of lenity to defend one's own life, the moderation of blameless defense being observed, even with the death of an unjust aggressor.

5° Soldiers do not become irregular in a just defensive war, nor in a just offensive war, unless by their own hand they have killed or mutilated; but in an unjust war the whole army becomes irregular, even if only one man perishes.¹

1766. - Infamy is: 1° of fact, which is contracted before every sentence from an enormous and notorious crime, or one which is so evident to the greater part of the neighborhood or college (where there are at least ten), that it cannot be hidden by any tergiversation; 2° of law, which is contracted a) from the juridical confession of a crime infaming by force of ecclesiastical law or even civil law (which nevertheless can be admitted by the Church); b) from a judge's sentence declaratory of an infaming crime, or condemning to an infaming penalty.

1767. Questions. - Quaer. 1° What are the principal crimes to which infamy is annexed by law?

Resp. They are the following (provided they are notorious by fact or by law): homicide, perjury made in judgment, simony, sodomy, lenocinium, betrayal, adultery, exercise of usuries, invasion of Cardinals or Bishops, abduction of women, duel, preparation of arms against parents, etc.² Who are infamous from the crime of parents, see St. Alph.³

Quaer. 2° Whether the innocent are irregular who were condemned from false testimonies to infaming penalties?

Resp. Yes, until the sentence has been revoked, or they have obtained legitimate dispensation; the reason is that in fact they are infamous.

Irregularity from infamy of fact ceases both through Baptism and through notorious amendment persevering at least for three years, without dispensation; otherwise if there is question of infamy of law. The Salmanticenses, however, think it not improbable that this also is removed through Baptism.⁴

743. Irregular from defect are, according to can. 984:

1. From defect of birth, "the illegitimate, whether the illegitimacy is public or occult, unless they have been legitimated or have professed solemn vows."

Illegitimacy is not presumed, but must be proved; civil legitimation does not suffice, but ecclesiastical is required.

The irregularity does not affect those legitimated or solemnly professed; from others it is to be removed by dispensation: nevertheless all these are excluded from the dignity of Cardinal, bishop, abbot or prelate nullius, and major superior in religion (can. 991, § 3; 232, § 2; 331, § 1; 320, § 2; 504).

Let it be noted that illegitimate persons cannot be admitted into the Seminary (can. 1363, § 1).

2. From defect of body, "those vitiated in body who cannot safely, because of weakness, or decently, because of deformity, discharge the ministry of the altar. Nevertheless, to impede the exercise of an order legitimately received, a graver defect is required, nor because of this defect are acts prohibited which can be duly placed."

Thus, for example, the blind, or those so dim-sighted that they cannot read the missal; the altogether deaf, the mute, or those stammering to such an extent that they cannot pronounce words or provoke laughter; those lacking a foot, arm, hand, or necessary fingers, namely, the right thumb or index finger, or two others with half the palm; those notably deformed, such as pygmies, lepers, those enormously hunchbacked, those bearing a greatly blemished face, or having nose or lips cut off, those notably limping; those paralytic in the arms or hand so that they cannot elevate and break the host, those trembling in the hands so that they cannot celebrate without danger of spilling the blood, those dizzy who suffer danger of fainting or of notably erring, abstainers who cannot taste even a little wine without danger of vomiting, or those suffering an uncontrollable cough.

In doubt, the judgment belongs to the Ordinary; but the bishop who confers orders is not bound to stand by this judgment. After orders have been received, a priest can easily obtain dispensation if he has an artificial member, well fitted, even an arm or hand, or if he becomes blind and knows by memory the Mass of B. V. and of the dead, and is able to celebrate with the assistance of another priest.

3. From defect of mind, "those who are epileptic or insane or possessed by a demon, or have been such; but if after orders have been received they have become such and it is certainly established that they are now free, the Ordinary can permit his subjects again to exercise the orders received."

Epileptics are those who, stricken by the falling sickness, are accustomed to fall to the ground; the insane are understood as those who, from a permanent and habitual cause, truly are or have been such, but not if accidentally, for example, by force of fever or a wound.

4. From defect of sacrament, "bigamists, namely, those who have successively contracted two or more valid marriages."

Thus conformably to I Tim. III, 2, 12; Tit. I, 6. The reason is both because a bigamist, who has divided his flesh among several wives, can no longer perfectly represent the union of Christ and the Church, and therefore there is a defect in the signification of the sacrament; and because by presumption he bears before himself a stain of incontinence. It is incurred also if before Baptism someone had validly married several wives, or if one before and another after Baptism.

5. From defect of reputation, "those who are marked by infamy of law."

Infamous by the fact itself are: a) one who has given his name to or publicly adhered to a non-Catholic sect (can. 2314, § 1, 3); by the name of a non-Catholic sect there also comes an atheistic sect (c. int., July 30, 1934).

b) one who has thrown away consecrated species or taken them away or retained them for an evil end (can. 2320);

c) one who has violated the corpses or sepulchers of the dead for theft or another evil end (can. 2328);

d) one who has laid violent hands upon the person of the Roman Pontiff, or of a Cardinal or legate of the Supreme Pontiff (can. 267 and 2343);

e) duellists and their seconds (can. 2351);

f) one who, an existing matrimonial bond notwithstanding, has attempted another marriage, even civil (can. 2356);

g) laymen legitimately condemned for delicts committed against the sixth commandment with minors below the age of sixteen years, or for rape, sodomy, incest, or procuring (can. 2357, § 1).

By sentence of a judge the following are to be declared infamous: a) all apostates from the Christian faith and all and individual heretics and schismatics, if, having been warned, they have not come to their senses (can. 2314, § 1, 2); b) clerics in sacred orders, whether secular or religious, who have admitted a delict against the sixth commandment with minors below the age of sixteen years, or are guilty of adultery, rape, bestiality, sodomy, procuring, or incest with blood-relatives or affines in the first degree (can. 2359, § 2).

6. From defect of Christian mildness, "a judge who has pronounced a sentence of death; those who have taken up the office of executioner and their voluntary and immediate ministers in the execution of a capital sentence."

They do not incur irregularity: jurors, because they do not pronounce sentence; judges who did not efficaciously influence the sentence; compelled soldiers who kill the guilty man, because they did not take up the office, nor their leader, because he does not pronounce the sentence; nor those who erect the scaffold, because they are not immediate bodily executors; one who before Baptism pronounced or executed the sentence, because he could not violate Christian mildness.

They are irregular from defect:

1°. The illegitimate, whether the illegitimacy is public or occult, unless they have been legitimated or have professed solemn vows;

2°. Those defective in body who, safely because of weakness, or decently because of deformity, cannot discharge the ministry of the altar. Yet for impeding the exercise of an order legitimately received, a graver defect is required; nor because of this defect are acts prohibited which can be duly placed;

3°. Those who are epileptics or insane or possessed by a demon, or have been so; but if after Orders have been received they have become such, and it is certain that they are now free, the Ordinary can again permit his subjects the exercise of the orders received;

4°. Bigamists, namely those who successively contracted two or more valid marriages;

5°. Those who are marked by infamy of law;

6°. A judge who bore a sentence of death;

7°. Those who have undertaken the office of executioner, and their voluntary and immediate ministers in the execution of a capital sentence (Can. 984).

1°. Legitimate children are children conceived or born from a valid or putative marriage, unless to the parents, on account of solemn profession or a sacred order received, the use of a marriage previously contracted was prohibited at the time of conception. Illegitimate children are children conceived and born from fornication, adultery, incest, or sacrilegious intercourse between parents to whom at the time of conception the use of marriage was prohibited on account of solemn religious profession or sacred order.

They are legitimated: 1°. by subsequent marriage, provided the parents were able to enter marriage between themselves at the time of conception or pregnancy or birth; 2°. by decree of the prince. - Cf. Can. 1116.

2°. Those defective in body are those who, because of a defect of body, cannot perform the functions of the altar either safely because of weakness or decently because of deformity. Concerning this defect note that a graver one is required for impeding the exercise of an Order received, and not all functions of the order are prohibited. To this defect are reduced any defects, and only those, which have as a consequence either weakness, so that the functions of Order cannot be exercised safely, or deformity, so that they cannot be exercised decently, without scandal. Truly the canon itself explains the matter.

This irregularity is incurred under a twofold head: 1°. if someone is unfit for the exercise of Order; 2°. if he brings notable horror to others, or presents indecency.

Hence the following are held irregular: 1°. the mutilated, those wearing a wooden leg, those unable to use the hand, thumb, or index finger; 2°. the blind, totally lacking sight or so becoming blind that they cannot read in the Missal; 3°. the deaf, who hear nothing, so that in no way can they hear the voice of the minister responding; 4°. the mute or stammering, who cannot pronounce whole words, or cannot except with great difficulty, so that they move the laughter or contempt of those standing by; 5°. the lame, who cannot present themselves at the altar without a staff; 6°. those lacking a nose, or having one enormously distorted, lowered, or extended; 7°. the monstrous, for example, those having an enormous hump, which induces great deformity, etc. - Cf. St. Alph., nn. 403 and following.

Question. Whether one who lacks one eye is irregular?

Resp. Negatively, if he lacks only the right eye, because it is less necessary for the celebration of Mass, provided no notable deformity is born from it. But it must be said otherwise if he lacks the left eye, which is called the eye of the canon, because it is necessary for reading the canon of the Mass. Except, unless he can read the canon with the right eye without deformity. But this is to be subjected to the judgment of the Bishop. - Cf. St. Alphons., n. 404.¹

3°. Epileptics; see the Canon, n. 3.

¹ Cf. Addenda, p. 1087, n. 5.

4°. Bigamists: this irregularity has now become simple by force of this canon; it arises from the fact that someone successively and validly entered two or more marriages, because in bigamy the perfect signification of the indissoluble union of one Christ with one Church is lacking. This irregularity is called from defect of Sacrament; in the second valid marriage, or third, the perfect signification of that great sacrament, concerning which St. Paul to Ephes. V. 32, is lacking. True bigamy, and it alone, constitutes irregularity. A bigamist is not said to have sinned, "but to have lost the norm of the sacrament necessary not for the merit of life but for the seal of ecclesiastical ordination." C. 2, D. XXVI.

5°. Those who are marked by infamy of law are irregular. That infamy of law is that which is established in cases expressed by law. But cases, latae sententiae, are:

He who has cast away the consecrated species or carried them away or retained them for an evil end is, by the fact itself, infamous (Can. 2320).

He who has violated the corpses or tombs of the dead for theft or another evil end is, by the fact itself, infamous (Can. 2328).

He who has laid violent hands upon the person of the Roman Pontiff is infamous by the law itself (Can. 2343, § 1).

The duelers themselves and those who are called their seconds are besides infamous by the fact itself (Can. 2351, § 1).

Bigamists, that is, those who, with the conjugal bond standing in the way, have attempted another marriage, even only civil, as they say, are by the fact itself infamous (Can. 2356).

Laymen legitimately condemned for delicts against the sixth with minors below the age of sixteen years committed, or for rape, sodomy, incest, pandering, are by the fact itself infamous (Can. 2357).

Infamy of law ferendae sententiae:

All apostates from the Christian faith and all and each heretics or schismatics, unless having been warned they have come to their senses, are to be declared infamous (Can. 2314, § 1, n. 2).

Clerics, if they have admitted a delict against the sixth precept of the decalogue with minors below the age of sixteen years, or have practiced adultery, rape, bestiality, sodomy, pandering, incest with blood-relatives or relatives by affinity in the first degree, are to be declared infamous (Can. 2359, § 2).

Infamy of law ceases only by dispensation granted by the Apostolic See (Can. 2295).

6°. A judge who bore a sentence of death; those who have undertaken the office of executioner, and their voluntary and immediate ministers in the execution of a capital sentence. Christ Our Lord taught meekness both by words and by example; clerics ought to imitate it. Therefore the Church abhors a judgment of blood, and on account of defect of gentleness makes irregular: judges who bore a judgment of death; those taking up the office of executioner; voluntary and immediate ministers of the execution of a capital sentence voluntarily involving themselves in this execution, but not others. And therefore this irregularity also is much restricted.

Whether marriages of this sort are held illicit for all, and because of their special malice those who have contracted them are prohibited from the clergy, or whether such men are kept from it only because of the propriety of the clerical order, just as bigamists are kept away, is not evident of itself from this canon. Yet if you consider other canons either of the same or of a very near age, you will easily understand to what this one tends. Cf. Canon LXI of Elvira below.

Canon I. It has seemed good that after this synod no one ... from among bigamists or husbands of women whose marriage has been interrupted (that is, of widows) can be ordained a cleric. Nor must it be asked whether, initiated in the divine sacraments or Gentiles, they have stained themselves with this necessity of an unhappy lot, since the form of the divine precept is chaste.

Decree VIII. He reproves bigamists advanced to the diaconate and Priesthood.

Canon I. It pleased the council concerning bigamists or husbands of women whose marriage has been interrupted that, although the statutes of the fathers have decreed otherwise, those who have been ordained up to this time, compassion having been had, retain only the name of the presbyterate or diaconate; but such deacons are not to presume the office of a presbyter in consecrating and ministering.

Chapter I. We command bigamous presbyters and deacons, and husbands of widows or repudiated women, to be separated, and, after penance has been completed, to return to their order. And those who are unwilling to dismiss illicit marriages ought to be degraded according to the institutes of the canon. But we command the separated women to be returned to their parents; and because they were not legitimate, if they wish, let it be lawful for them to be married.

Since the women are said not to be legitimate, it is clear that the discourse is about those who were accepted after orders had been received. Therefore, calling them bigamous, the Fathers are dealing with those presbyters and deacons who entered marriage twice and establish that at least the second marriage after ordination is no marriage; but concerning the first they decree something economically in chapter III. Cf. what we shall say under chapter III.

III. QUESTION II. Of how many kinds is irregularity? ANSWER. There are two kinds of irregularities. One from defect, the other from delict. From defect nine are numbered: 1. From defect of soul; 2. From defect of body; 3. From defect of birth; 4. From defect of age; 5. From defect of liberty; 6. From defect of obligation; 7. From defect of sacrament; 8. From defect of good repute; 9. From defect of lenity.

XXIV. QUESTION IX. What are the defects of body which beget irregularity? ANSWER. Those who lack an arm or a hand; a presbyter who lacks two fingers with half the palm, if the fingers be the thumb and index; likewise those who lack the light of the left eye, and those who lack all hearing, are reputed irregular. If nevertheless privation of hearing supervene, it is not reputed an impediment. If the light of the right eye can supply the defect of the left, it is not reputed an impediment. Defects which beget a notable deformity induce irregularity, as the privation of an eye, of the nose, of a foot; or those having eyes too deformed, labouring under excessive weakness of body, a hump, leprosy, or the French disease, are held irregular. But here all things are permitted to the judgment of the bishop. Eunuchs and hermaphrodites, even occult ones, are irregular. All the illegitimate, whether bastards, or spurious, or incestuous, or sacrilegious, are irregular. Those nevertheless born of a matrimony contracted in good faith in the face of the Church, but void on account of some occult impediment, are not held irregular, as is gathered from chapter Cum inter, and so forth. It is to be said otherwise if the matrimony were contracted in bad faith.

XXVI. QUESTION X. Who are called irregular from defect of liberty, of age, and of obligation? ANSWER. Bondmen or slaves are irregular so long as they dwell in the state of servitude. If a slave, with his master knowing and not contradicting, receive Orders or even the first tonsure, he becomes free; but if he do it with his master contradicting or unknowing, he sins mortally, and remains a slave. If a bishop conscious of the servitude confer major Orders, he is bound to satisfy the master. Of defect of age it has been said above. Defect of obligation is when a man is bound to render accounts, or is found implicated in …

… secular businesses by office, as courtiers, soldiers, and so forth, until they free themselves from such an obligation.

XXIX. QUESTION XII. How is irregularity contracted from defect of lenity? ANSWER. A baptized man, but not an unbeliever, becomes irregular if he voluntarily and proximately concurs to the death or mutilation of his neighbour, from defect of lenity. Hence irregular are judges passing sentence, assessors of judges, fiscal promoters, procurators, officers, apprehenders, accusers, advocates, denouncers, and necessary and voluntary witnesses, when by force of such actions the accused is killed; but not those who testify in favour of the accused. Temporal and ecclesiastical lords do not become irregular when, having jurisdiction, they commit causes of blood to others, and admonish that their ministers be vigilant against malefactors and punish them according to the laws. Ecclesiastical judges delivering the degraded to the secular arm, entreating that they treat them kindly, do not become irregular; nor clerics consulted by a judge, if they answer that such a delict is to be struck by the laws with the penalty of death. The same is to be said of confessors, who can deny absolution to a judge unwilling to punish malefactors according to the laws.