The Privileges of Religious

I. Religious, even lay religious and novices, enjoy the privileges of clerics (can. 614); but concerning these there was discussion in n. 1153.

II. Moreover regulars, novices not excluded,¹ whether men or women, with their houses and churches, except those nuns who are not subject to regular Superiors, are exempt from the jurisdiction of the local Ordinary, except in cases expressed by law (can. 615). Nevertheless a house that is not formed remains under the special vigilance of the local Ordinary, who, if abuses have crept in and have been a scandal to the faithful, can provide in the meantime by himself (can. 617, § 2).

III. Religions of simple vows do not enjoy the privilege of exemption unless it has been specially granted to them (can. 618, § 1), as it has been granted to the Redemptorists and Passionists.

¹ Postulants are excluded.

173. • The privileges by which Religious rejoice are chiefly concerned with exemption from the jurisdiction of Bishops, the sacrament of Penance, reserved cases and censures, irregularities, certain vows and bonds, Mass and Communion, and some other things. - See St. Ligorius, bk. 1, at the end, Appendix 2, on Privileges; and in Hom. apost., tr. 20, ch. 4.

1º Regulars generally enjoy the privilege of exemption from the jurisdiction of Bishops, because regular Prelates in their monasteries and churches have jurisdiction quasi-episcopal ¹.

¹ ** These things do not render the reason, nor do they assign the cause of exemption, but merely express its effect. The cause is the will of the supreme Legislator, namely of the Roman Pontiff, who judged it to be for the ecclesiastical matter to have several persons immediately subject to himself, and therefore exempt from the jurisdiction of Ordinaries.

2º Therefore they are exempt from the visitation of the Bishop both as to persons and as to Monasteries and Churches. Except 1º Monasteries of Nuns not subject to Regulars, and also those subject to them as to the custody of enclosure, for taking care of which Bishops watch as delegates of the Apostolic See; 2º Churches of seculars whose Pastor is a Religious; 3º Churches of Regulars if they are parishes, yet only as to those things which regard the parish and the Pastor insofar as he discharges that office ².

² ** The rights of Bishops, as regards the visitation of Parochial Churches belonging to monasteries of Regulars, you have defined by the Constitution Firmandis of Benedict XIV, 6 Nov. 1744.

3º The privilege of exemption is enjoyed not only by the Professed and Conversi, but by Novices and tertiaries who dwell within the cloisters. Likewise, as to censures and sacraments, servants of Regulars who actually serve, and, as if of the family and perpetual table companions, reside within the cloisters of the Monasteries ³, no otherwise than the Conversi themselves. - Trent, sess. 24, ch. 11. - See St. Ligorius, bk. 1, at the end, Appendix on Privileges, n. 75.

³ ** Hence the true reason must be sought why these servants of Regulars, as St. Alphonsus also notes, bk. 6, n. 583, are not subject to episcopal reservations of sins or censures: namely, because they are exempt from the jurisdiction of the Bishop. And indeed by force of this principle, the solution becomes easy of a certain case which could seem very complex to some. Suppose, for instance, that some servant of this sort falls into a sin which the Bishop has reserved, and wishes to confess his sins to a secular Confessor, not however having faculty for reserved cases. I ask: will this confessor be able to absolve him? For if you deny it, how will you say with St. Alphonsus (l.c.) that he is not subject to episcopal reservation? But if you affirm it, how does the Confessor absolve from a sin over which he does not have jurisdiction? Perhaps finally will you say that reservation, which is a restriction of jurisdiction, affects not Confessors but penitents? Therefore solve the knot from this, that these servants are in the same condition as Religious as to this, whom they serve. Now just as a religious, when by faculty of his prelate he confesses to a secular priest or to one of another Order, is absolved by force of the jurisdiction which the Prelate indirectly communicates to the priest whom the subject has chosen for this, so also these servants, who likewise are subject to the jurisdiction of the Prelate. And since the regular Prelate does not restrict the jurisdiction indirectly communicated by himself as to that sin which the Bishop has reserved, the reason is manifest why the jurisdiction of the secular priest in absolving either a religious or a servant of religious is not restricted.

But this very thing plainly happens when someone confesses in a diocese not his own and brings a sin reserved in that diocese indeed, but not in the proper diocese of the penitent. For since both from the nature of the thing and from the common opinion of the Doctors, absolution is then conferred by force of jurisdiction indirectly communicated to that confessor by the Ordinary of the penitent, and since this Ordinary, as the hypothesis states, has not reserved a sin of this sort and therefore has not restricted jurisdiction as to it, the manifest reason is clear why in the case the Confessor can validly and licitly absolve him from the sin in whatever way reserved there, unless he came there in fraud of reservation, as will be said in its place.

174. • 1º Regular Priests, by faculty of their Superior, can absolve Religious of the same Order without any approval of the Bishop of the place. Thus from the privileges conceded to them by law. - St. Ligorius, n. 140. Nevertheless Congregations which are not Religions properly so called are by no means comprehended by this privilege ⁴.

⁴ ** Sometimes, however, even these Congregations enjoy the same privilege, namely from a special indulgence of the Roman Pontiff.

2º Regulars living in a Convent ought to confess to Priests of the Order designated by the Superior, nor can they be validly absolved by any others either inside or outside the house without permission of the Superior ⁵. Thus from the privilege conceded to Religion.

⁵ ** This permission of the Superior imports an indirect communication of jurisdiction, which is made to the priest to whom the subject will confess. But why a Religious cannot be validly absolved by any others whatsoever, besides the designated confessors, whether within or outside the Order, the reason is easily plain: namely, because all others lack jurisdiction for absolving him.

3º Yet it is customary to concede that during the time of Jubilee Regulars, even Nuns, can confess to any approved Priest without permission of the Superior. - St. Ligorius, n. 410 ⁶.

⁶ ** The clauses of the Constitution granting the jubilee must be diligently inspected. For several times the Apostolic See has elsewhere declared either that universally Religious, or at least certain ones of them by force of a singular disposition or privilege, are not comprehended by these concessions.

4º Regulars on a journey, if they have a suitable companion of the same Order, ought to confess to him. But if a suitable companion is lacking, they can confess to any Priest at least approved, whether regular or secular.

But can Regulars, when a suitable companion is lacking, confess to any Priest, even not approved, provided he is suitable? Some deny this, especially relying on the decision of the Sacred Congregation of the Council to the postulate of the Bishop of Hildesheim. But more probably one must affirm with St. Ligorius, Appendix on Privileges, n. 3, with the common opinion ⁷.

⁷ ** This common opinion of the Doctors rests on the Decree of Trent (sess. 23, ch. 15, De Reform.), which is of this sort: "The Holy Synod decrees that no one, even a Regular, can hear confessions of seculars, even of priests, nor be reputed suitable for this, unless he either has a parochial benefice, or by examination by the Bishops, if it seems necessary to them, or otherwise is judged suitable, obtains approval...." Therefore it expressly requires the necessity of approval only for receiving confessions of seculars. Therefore Regulars are not comprehended by this Decree, and thus remain under the old law. But that Capuchin Fathers can confess only to approved priests was specially established by Benedict XIV. For the rest, since Pontifical Constitutions grant Regulars the faculty that, if a companion from their own Order is lacking, they can be absolved by another Priest, whether Regular or secular, by that very fact jurisdiction is conferred on this priest who is chosen by the penitent.

But the Resolution of the Sacred Congregation to the Postulate of the Bishop of Hildesheim does not stand in the way, because there was question of Religious who, although they had at hand companions of their own Order, nevertheless wished to confess to any Priest, as by law is conceded to them on a journey when a suitable companion is lacking ⁸.

⁸ ** From the Acts of the Sacred Congregation (Thesaur. Resol. S. Congr. Conc., tom. 38, p. 111) it is established that the question proposed was concerning Regulars who, coming to the city several times per year and staying there for some days, were accustomed there to choose for themselves a secular presbyter not approved by the Bishop, although in the same city there were not lacking those who, from the proper family of each Order, could receive their Confessions, and of whom they could easily have supply (ibid., p. 113). Now, as is also noted in the Acts, the faculty conceded to Regulars, that while they were traveling or were outside their convents they could confess to any priests whatsoever, had this condition added (ibid., p. 116): "if they cannot have some suitable presbyter from the Professed of the Order," or if they cannot have a supply of priests because they do not have their own confessor. Therefore that the Sacred Congregation responded, not indeed to the general question, but to that special case on 18 Nov. 1769, that those confessions were not valid, pertains nothing to the controversy which the Author touches in this place.

175. • 1º As to subjects. They can absolve them 1º from all papal cases and censures, unless the Pontiff excepts certain ones, although reserved to the Bishop, such as the light striking of a Cleric; 2º from all papal cases in the same mode as Bishops can absolve their own diocesans; 3º from excommunication on account of striking even gravely and publicly inflicted on Clerics ⁹.

⁹ ** St. Alphonsus (bk. 7, n. 107) notes that by common law a Regular can be absolved by his Prelate, 1º if he has struck a companion of the same Order, unless the striking is enormous, or a hand has been laid on a Bishop or Abbot; 2º if he has struck a religious of another Order, provided also the sentence of the Prelate to whom the one struck is subject is applied; 3º that he cannot be absolved by his Prelate if he has struck a secular cleric, but that the Apostolic See must be approached for absolution, although he can be absolved by the Bishop if the striking was light. All these things are extended to a Novice who has bound himself by these crimes.

But St. Alphonsus adds with the common opinion that these things must be understood according to common law. For, he says, with privileges considered, Religious can indeed be absolved by their Prelates, even if the striking was enormous ... and this has force even if a Religious struck another of another Order, or a secular cleric, and even if the striking was public. But as to these privileges, St. Alphonsus remits the reader to some writers, among whom Palaus (De Censur., disp. 3, punct. 23, § 4, n. 10) alleges the Compendium of Privileges of the Society of Jesus, word Absolutio, where these things are had (n. 10): "If any live under the obedience and correction of the Society, they can be absolved by the Provost General and by others whom he deputes, from all sins committed before or after entrance into the Society, and from all censures and penalties inflicted by law or by man, except from these four which are contained in the Bull of Sixtus IV, namely relapse into heresy, schism, falsification of apostolic letters, and carrying of prohibited things to infidels. It is had by the Bull for the Preachers, given on the day before the Kalends of September 1474 under Pontiff Sixtus IV, beginning Regimini universalis..., and of the same Pontiff Sixtus IV for the Carmelites, 4 Kal. Dec. 1476, beginning Dum attenta..., and of Julius II for the same Preachers, 27 Feb. 1510, beginning Exponi Nobis..., where among the above excepted cases he adds conspiracy against the Roman Pontiff; but as to the remaining cases besides these five, he declared that the publication of the Bull Coenae and the derogations contained in it do not stand in the way."

For the rest, as to absolving religious subjects from cases of the Bull Coenae, there must not be passed over what Lucius Ferraris notes after others (word Absolutio, art. I, n. 37, and word Praelatus Regularis, n. 20), namely that the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, a word having been made with His Holiness Clement VIII, absolutely decreed that all Bulls and decrees derogatory of the privileges of Regulars, as to the faculty of absolving from cases reserved to the Pope, are to be understood only in order to seculars, but not in order to their own Regular subjects. But as to what he intimates (word Praelatus Regularis, n. 31), that certain authors assert that the Sacred Congregation declared that Regular Prelates cannot absolve from hidden heresy, he himself (ibid., nn. 25-29) openly shows that that Declaration of 19 Nov. 1628, which Mendo boasts of so much (Stater., disp. 1, q. 4, n. 56), and after him Dominicus Viva (on prop. 4 of Alexander VII, n. 2), pertains nothing here. See also those things which the same Ferraris has under word Absolutio, art. 1, from n. 29.

2º As to seculars. 1º They could absolve them, supposing the Bishop's approval for hearing confessions, from papal cases, excepting those which are contained in the Bull Coenae and five others, which are customarily called Clementine; 2º more probably they could absolve from cases reserved to the Bishop in law or from custom and which the Bishop himself did not reserve to himself. - St. Ligorius, ibid.

But these general faculties have been taken away by more recent law through the Constitution Apostolicae Sedis, 15 Oct. 1869, in which, as to the faculty of absolving from cases reserved to the Apostolic See, these things are read: "But whatever privileges or faculties, whether by Our Predecessors or even by Us, have ever been conceded up to this time to any company, Order, Congregation, Society, Institute, even Regular of whatever species, even endowed with a peculiar title and even worthy of special mention, all these and every one of them We will by this Our Constitution to be revoked, suppressed, and abolished, as in fact We revoke, suppress, and abolish them," etc. Therefore both the things which Gury had written in this place, and the things which older Authors of many centuries have concerning this matter, pertain merely to the history of the past time ¹⁰.

¹⁰ ** Note nevertheless the Declaration which in the Instruction of the Holy Office of the Supreme Inquisition, given 1 Feb. 1871 to the questions of a certain Ordinary, is read thus: "By the Constitution (Apostolicae Sedis) the Most Holy Father by no means intends, not even in the least, to bring detriment to faculties of whatever kind which had been conceded by the Holy See before the promulgation of the same Constitution, whether these are quinquennial, or extraordinary, or regard the present Jubilee," namely that proclaimed on the occasion of the Ecumenical Vatican Council, "and he wills that they remain in their full vigor for the time prefixed in the said Constitutions or Indults enduring." These last words sufficiently indicate that temporary faculties, even those conceded to some company, or Order, or Institute, are not comprehended in the abrogation. Likewise, since in the cited words of the Constitution the abrogation is referred only to privileges or concessions attributed to a company, Order, Society, Institute, or Congregation, it is openly gathered that faculties which are personal remain in their force, namely those which had been conceded to some singular person.

But if from a concession of this sort there are some who have the faculty in papal cases, the question now returns whether they can absolve from cases reserved to the Bishop by law or custom, and which the Bishop himself has also reserved to himself anew. Now that those who enjoy the aforesaid faculty cannot absolve from papal cases which by law become episcopal, when perhaps Bishops in their edicts have also specially reserved those to themselves, St. Alphonsus (bk. 3, n. 397, and bk. 7, n. 99) seems to have taken from Viva (on prop. XII of Alexander VII, n. 13), although for it he alleges Cabassutius and Elbel. But others perhaps will in some way deny the supposition, namely that a Bishop can reserve to himself a sin, or cause, which the Supreme Pontiff has reserved to himself. For the reservation of a Superior so withdraws that cause from the power of the inferior prelate that the latter cannot even absolve from that sin, or certainly cannot absolve except by a power delegated to him and from mere permission of the Superior. But it seems absurd that he who does not even have the faculty of absolving from some sin nevertheless reserves it to himself, and indeed reserves it in such a way that not even those who received the faculty of absolving from the reserving Superior can absolve from it.

Suarez excellently treats this question (De Poenit., disp. 31, sect. 4, n. 26), writing these things among others: "By this very fact that the Supreme or higher Pastor reserves a sin to himself, he extracts it from the jurisdiction of all inferiors. Therefore inferiors have nothing which they can reserve to themselves. But if this is so, it rightly follows that, through the faculty of the same supreme Pastor, which is also communicated to the Mendicants, the reservation is sufficiently removed, because a Superior can concede jurisdiction even if the inferior is unwilling; and this is true not only from use, but also from the rigor of law."

Nor otherwise does Card. De Lugo speak (De Poenit., disp. 20, n. 151), who moreover recalls that this is positively interdicted to Bishops. Finally I add, he says, that what has been said, namely that a Bishop cannot VALIDLY reserve to himself a sin which the Supreme Pontiff had already reserved to himself, which is the same concerning any inferior Prelate with respect to a superior Prelate, has place also when the Bishop or inferior Prelate had first reserved some sin to himself. For if afterwards the Pope or superior Prelate reserves that same sin to himself, by that very fact the reservation of the Bishop or inferior Prelate ceases, because then also through the reservation of the Pope there is taken away from the Bishop the faculty of absolving from that sin; and therefore he cannot reserve it to himself anew, nor continue the reservation previously made.... Finally the Sacred Congregation of Cardinals by mandate of Clement VIII, in its decree edited in the year 1602 concerning reserved cases, prohibited that for the rest Bishops reserve to themselves cases accustomed to be read in the Bull Coenae, or others specially reserved to the Apostolic See.

1º With their own they can dispense 1º in all hidden irregularities from offense, with voluntary homicide excepted, as Bishops with diocesans; 2º in irregularities as to defect of soul on account of insanity, if its danger has ceased; as to defect of body, for example, as to defect of birth, which irregularity of itself ceases through religious profession, as to bigamy even true, and public defect of mildness.

2º With seculars. 1º They can dispense in all hidden irregularities from offense, as a Bishop; 2º they can dispense and commute vows and oaths, as a Bishop, but only in the internal forum; 3º they can dispense with spouses in the impediment of exacting the debt because of incest committed with a blood relative of the other spouse. - St. Ligorius, n. 109. - Moreover Religious can dispense in a vow of chastity with spouses in order to the use of matrimony, whether the vow was emitted before or after marriage had been entered.

176. • 1º Regulars can celebrate Mass one hour before dawn, that is, three hours before sunrise, but only in their own Churches, in which secular Priests also can do this from the same privilege, Gregory XIII; but after midday only one hour. For although from the privilege conceded by Eugene IV they formerly could celebrate even three hours after midday had elapsed, yet that privilege was revoked by St. Pius V.

2º They can administer the Eucharist in their Churches to all the faithful, except on the day of Easter ¹¹.

¹¹ ** At Rome Thursday in the Lord's Supper is also excepted.

3º They can administer paschal Communion, Extreme Unction, and Viaticum to their subjects, novices, and familiars ¹². - St. Ligorius, nn. 121, 122. - Nevertheless secular Congregations, excluding a special Apostolic Indult, such as for example was recently conceded to the Sulpicians, Marists, and Oratorians.

¹² ** Understand familiars here as those who are perpetual table companions and live within the cloister. And hence the reason why Regulars can administer to them the sacraments about which there is speech. For as was said above, n. 173, by law these are exempt from the jurisdiction of the Bishop, and therefore of the pastor.

1º They can dispense, with cause, in ecclesiastical laws for their own subjects, as Bishops can, for example concerning the divine Office, fasting, abstinence, etc.; because they have quasi-episcopal jurisdiction.

2º Regular Superiors can permit subjects who are simply tonsured to preach in Churches (Gregory XIII).

3º Mendicant religious generally communicate among themselves ¹³ in their privileges, both as to persons and as to places. But they do not communicate them when they are wholly special, or odious, or contrary to their own state, so that they prejudice the common good or the observance of Religion.

¹³ ** Indeed Mendicants also participate in the privileges of Orders that are not Mendicant.

But it must be carefully observed that these privileges conceded to Religious families by Canon Law, or by the Holy See, belong only to Superiors, who communicate them to subjects according to their wisdom; and furthermore that the same are not extended to Orders not strictly religious, which are called secular Congregations ¹⁴.

¹⁴ ** Understand: unless by a special indult of the Apostolic See this also has been conceded to them.

— Notion. We call privileges of religious not indeed all peculiar dispositions, even favorable ones, which have been enacted concerning religious, but those which have been conceded to them although they are not required by the state itself. The Code, cc. 613-625, numbers: communication of privileges; privileges of clerics; exemption; use of indults given to dioceses; questing; privileges of abbots concerning governance.

— 1. Communication. The Code communicates to nuns, insofar as they are capable, the privileges of the same regular Order (c. 613, §2).

Among religions themselves it excludes any communication for the future.

By this disposition of c. 613, §1, are privileges already previously acquired and possessed by communication aeque principalis taken away or not? Some affirm. Thus R. P. Blat, Comment., I, pp. 601, 602; Biederlack-Fuehrich, De religiosis, n. 145; and c. 613, considered separately, favors them. But others, and indeed more in number, deny it. Thus Creusen and Vermeersch, S.J., Summa novi iuris, n. 222; Epitome I. C., I, 615; Nederlandsche Katholieke Stemmen, 1919, the matter being better deliberated after a stricter opinion; Prummer, O.P., Manuale, pp. 302-303; Brandys, O.F.M., Kirchl. Rechtsbuch fur relig. Laiengenossenschaften, n. 94; Fanfani, O.P., De iure religiosorum, nn. 77, 78. These are favored by the general economy of the Code, which, alien to violent disturbance, is not judged to wish to cast religious down from a several-centuries-old use of privileges and to furnish occasion for not a few doubts and difficulties: for when there is question of a religion not so recent, one must labor not a little to discern the titles of privileges. Canon 4 also favors them, by which privileges hitherto conceded and in use remain intact unless expressly revoked. Now in c. 613 there is lacking a clear revocation by which, for example, it would be said: "the very privileges hitherto acquired by communication having been revoked"; but only the ambiguous formula is read: "any communication for the future having been removed." Wherefore, until, if it ever does so, the Commission on the Code has imposed the stricter discipline, religious can safely continue to use all their privileges, even those obtained by communication, as they commonly do in the City itself.

— 2. Privileges of clerics. "Religious, even laymen and novices, enjoy the privileges of clerics of which in cc. 119-123" (c. 614).

— 3. Regulars, unless they live illegitimately outside the house, novices not excluded, with their houses and churches, are exempt from the jurisdiction of the Ordinary, except in cases expressed by law (cc. 615, 616). "Religions of simple vows do not enjoy the privilege of exemption unless it has been specially conceded to them" (c. 618). Nevertheless, in religions of pontifical law, the local Ordinary cannot change the constitutions, or, of himself, take cognizance of the economic matter, or insert himself into internal governance and discipline.

Therefore, when there is question of regulars, contrary to what is true of religious of simple vows, exemption is presumed; subjection must be proved. Yet nuns who are not subject to regular Superiors are subject to the Ordinary. Exemption from jurisdiction of itself does not bring exemption from visitation. Nevertheless regulars are of themselves immune also from this by their privileges. We spoke of the force of local exemption in I, n. 258. And, with a peculiar privilege saved, the Ordinary can sanction with penalties what he is permitted to command (c. 619).

— 4. Use of indults. With vows and proper Constitutions saved, all religious staying in a diocese can use an indult by which the obligation of common law is legitimately taken away for that place by the local Ordinary (c. 620).

— 5. Questing. Regulars who from their institute are called and are mendicants can, in the diocese where their house has been established, seek alms by the license alone of their Superiors; but outside the diocese they must ask the written license of the local Ordinary in whose territory they desire to quest. Other religious always need this license (cc. 621-624).

— 6. Privileges of abbots. Abbots who govern a monastery, after they have been blessed, can confer first tonsure and minor orders on their professed members, and can use pontifical insignia, with the violet skullcap excepted (c. 625).

— 7. Dispensations. To these privileges add the privileges of various Orders, especially the privilege of dispensing in vows and oaths, concerning which it was said in volume I, n. 296.

1190. By what reason their privileges have been granted to Regulars. - Privileges are granted I. either by writing or by oracle of the living voice. II. either directly or indirectly, that is, by communication with others privileged. Communication is made either in common form, embracing only those things which commonly and without difficulty are accustomed to be granted, or in special form, by which even unusual things and those which are of rare and difficult concession are comprehended, except nevertheless, unless they are expressed by name:

a) Indulgences, under which privileged altars also come. This follows from proposition 37 condemned by Alexander VII, p. XIV.

b) Proper Offices, which are not communicated to those using the Roman Calendar, and new ones, for which those who have a proper Calendar need an indult. This is clear from the declarations of the S. R. C. dated Sept. 30, 1679 to 3, and March 20, 1706 to 1 and 3.

c) Exemption from the jurisdiction of Ordinaries. Cf. n. 1185. 3°.

But by no communication, however broad, are comprehended:

1.) Certain wholly specific prerogatives which the Holy See has granted to certain Orders exclusively and privatively, with the faculty given to their Superiors General of communicating them to other Religions, Congregations, or even priests in particular.¹

2.) Odious privileges and those which are contrary to their own Statutes.²

3.) Those granted only for a certain time.³

4.) Those given on account of a special motive cause with a condition, either express or tacit: as long as the cause perseveres.⁴

5.) Those granted to some convent, province, or religious of some Institute existing in certain lands, unless the same or a similar reason militates for the other religious, convents, or provinces of the same or another Institute.¹

6.) Those generally revoked by Trent or through Apostolic Constitutions, unless they have been granted anew.²

7.) Those granted with a clause that they are not to be communicated to others, or declared incommunicable, unless nevertheless some succeeding Pontiff, or the same one afterwards, has either granted or confirmed a most ample communication with all other Religions in special form, with efficacious clauses added by which derogation is made from all Constitutions and Apostolic Ordinances to the contrary, and from all other derogatory clauses.³

1191. Confirmation of privileges. - Direct or indirect concessions of privileges by the Holy See are sometimes confirmed, and this either in common form, which does not give a new right and leaves individual privileges in that state in which they were before, or in special form, which not only, as the common form, corroborates valid things, but also revalidates invalidated things, and indeed in such a way that things lost, or granted with a clause that they are not to be communicated to others, are judged to be acquired anew. But if privileges are confirmed more often, and in one confirmation certain things are omitted which are had in another, omitted things are in no way judged revoked, except if they were opposed to Trent or to some Apostolic Constitution which had generally revoked privileges of this kind.⁴

1192. Various matters. - 1° Whatever has been granted to Superiors, whether General or Subaltern, of one Religion, is understood to have been granted to all Superiors also (General or Subaltern) of the other Religions which communicate with them, although the denominations of Offices are various. This rule must also be applied to conditions under which, and to other persons (for example private regulars) to whom some privilege was granted.⁵

2° If a privilege granted to some Religion is not accepted by it, or is not brought into use, or ceases by renunciation or contrary use, or is revoked by the Holy See in particular, or even the Religion is extinguished, no prejudice is thereby created for another Religion which communicates with it.¹

3° Individual members of a Community cannot renounce privileges which have been granted to Communities. See n. 196.

4° Superiors, yet from a just cause, can limit the use of one or another privilege for their subjects, indeed even entirely and generally prohibit it,² except nevertheless lower Prelates, who can use this power only for individual cases or subjects. But if Superiors have neither limited nor prohibited, nor has this condition been added in express words in the indult itself, subjects need no delegation, assignment, or permission from them in order to bring privileges into use.

5° Other Superiors cannot use privileges granted to the General alone; on the contrary, he legitimately uses their privileges.³

6° Privileges 1) communicated to subjects by the General, whether by himself or through subaltern Superiors, generally, that is, not for some special case, endure until they are revoked by him or, he being dead, by his Vicar or successor (n. 151).

2. Those communicated by their own right by subaltern Superiors constituted for a time expire when the term fixed for their office has ended, that is, when the new Superior has entered into his office.

3. Those to be granted for a certain number of cases cease only when the number has been exhausted, not when the office of the one granting has ended (n. 151).

7° Regulars are held to exhibit to the Ordinaries of places:

1. Although not requested, and before they can use them, privileges with the clause: the Ordinaries of places having been informed; likewise new indulgences before they are published.

2. When requested, yet without meanwhile being able to be interdicted from use of the privilege, special privileges of exemption, that is, those which are not contained in the common and notorious law of all regulars. (Cf. n. 195.)

8° Privileges of regulars:

1. Are to be interpreted most broadly, and in that way that they may operate something (n. 193).

2. The Holy See alone interprets authentically and definitively, or juridically. Yet the same must be said of Prelates of regulars in relation to subjects and for the forum of conscience.¹

1193. • Exemption is a privilege by which either some place or some person (physical or moral), or place and person together, within the territory of some ordinary jurisdiction, is withdrawn from the same.

Some exemptions are granted by the Supreme Pontiff, others by Bishops; some are from episcopal jurisdiction, others from parochial or even from lower jurisdiction; some are personal, others local, others personal and local at the same time.

The exemption of Regulars is a) granted by the Pope, b) from episcopal jurisdiction, c) from parochial jurisdiction, d) personal and local at the same time.

1194. • Generally it comprehends the following.

I. Neither the church of regulars, to which parochial care of souls or, as among us, quasi-parochial care is not annexed, nor the house, whenever twelve subjects dwell in them (under whose name lay brothers and novices also come), nor oratories, whether public or private, united to their houses, nor chapels and altars of laymen or lay confraternities erected in their churches, are subject to visitation of the Ordinary.²

II. Generals and Provincials enjoy quasi-episcopal jurisdiction, or they can do in their subjects what Bishops by law can do in their diocesan subjects. Local Superiors possess the same jurisdiction, provided nevertheless that it has not been legitimately limited by Superiors of a higher order, and all their subjects are exclusively subject to the jurisdiction of all these in odious things.³

But under the name of subjects come not only professed persons, both priests and lay brothers, but also in favorable things: 1) Novices. 2) Candidates from the time in which they are tried for the religious state, although they have not yet received the habit. 3) Familiars, that is, all secular persons actually serving convents of regulars, even for wages, provided they live inside their cloisters as constant table companions and under obedience to the Superiors (although only by reason of service). But whether residential students also are to be counted as familiars, setting aside privilege, which for example has been granted to Benedictines, Sulpicians, etc., is disputed. Therefore jurisdiction over these is doubtful by a doubt of law. See n. 1394. q. 5°.

1195. • By force of this quasi-episcopal jurisdiction, and of special privileges, the following things belong to the Superiors of regulars.

A) The General by himself or through his Visitors, and Provincials, can and must visit individual houses, persons, and churches subject to them, the visitation of Bishops being excluded, except in the cases indicated n. 1194. I.

B) The General against individual professed persons, and Provincials, and, at least with their consent, local Superiors against their subjects, similarly professed, are able to bring all those censures which can be inflicted on persons.²

C) Superiors can dispense with their subjects in those things and in that mode in which Bishops by law can do this with diocesan subjects, especially:

1° As to servile works on Sundays and feast days. H. A. Tr. XX. 106.

2° In fasting, both as to the one refection and as to abstinence. Ib.

3° In the Divine Office: a) after the likeness of Bishops, in particular cases, for a brief time, and, as is clear of itself, from a just cause, which Doctors say is present in doubt concerning moral inability to recite. Besides:

b) To a subject occupied with sacred studies, preaching, or hearing Confessions, or impeded by infirmity or the ministry of the sick, they can impose in place of the Office a certain number of psalms to be assigned by them (that is, by the Superiors), not fewer than seven, or six with division, with seven Pater and two Credo.³

4° As to prohibited books, Superiors, after the likeness of Bishops, can in a particular case of great necessity permit their reading and retention to their subjects.

5° As to irregularities.

They can dispense with their own: 1) in all occult irregularities, as Bishops with diocesan subjects. Besides, they can dispense in irregularity from voluntary homicide, but in the forum of conscience only and provided it was not committed after entrance into Religion. Thus from the Constitution of St. Pius V, Dum ad Congregationem, July 15, 1571. See Ferraris V. Irregularitas III. 18. 2) In all irregularities from defect in which dispensation can and is usually made. St. Alphonsus enumerates most of these.¹

6° As to any inabilities and penalties contracted from delict, as of privation of office, benefice, voice, place, etc., and this although they were reserved to the Pope.²

7° As to vows.

a) Except the vow of passing to a stricter Religion, they can directly irritate all the rest of the vows of the professed, even those to whose emission either they themselves, or a predecessor, or a subaltern Superior consented (n. 389).

b) The personal vows of novices can be suspended while they prejudice governance and the exercises of probation or are an impediment.

c) By themselves or through others, even outside Confession, they can relax by dispensing or commuting all vows of subjects, except those of the three pilgrimages; yet these, as was just said under a), they can irritate.

D) As to Orders to be received, see the Treatise on Order.

E) As to the diocesan Synod and conferences of cases of conscience, Regulars who are subject to general chapters, by force of personal exemption, are not held to come to diocesan synods, except those who have care of parochial or other secular churches, even annexed ones.³ - Similarly, unless they exercise parochial or quasi-parochial care, they are not obliged to assist at conferences of cases of conscience; and not even those regulars who are subject to the jurisdiction of Bishops, because the convent lacks the number of twelve subjects, can be compelled to this. Nor is it permitted to the Bishop to add to approval of Regulars for hearing Confessions of the faithful the condition that they assist at these conferences.⁴ For England and Scotland see Const. Romanos Pontifices, May 8, 1881.

F) As to temporal goods.

a) In administering them they do not depend on Bishops.¹ (y) p. 484.

b) Churches of regulars, to which parochial or, as here, quasi-parochial care of souls is not annexed, owe them no Cathedraticum (n. 631).

c) If an inheritance is left to an Order with the burden of pious works (under which also Masses come) to be fulfilled either within or outside the Order, Bishops cannot inquire concerning their fulfillment; and the same must be said of Masses, whether founded or manual, even in churches of regulars to which care of souls is annexed.²

G) As to the administration of the Sacraments.

a) It belongs to Superiors to approve confessors of their respective subjects, and to administer the Sacraments to them or take care that they be administered.

Under the name of subjects come the same ones who were enumerated above n. 1194. II.

b) Those making a journey with permission of Superiors can confess to a suitable companion of the Order, although not approved, or, if this one is lacking - and if you except Capuchins, who nevertheless from the concession of Benedict XIV, Const. Quod communi, March 30, 1742, can confess to a priest approved by the Ordinary if they are staying in places where neither a convent nor hospice, nor any brother confessor of the same Order, is found - to any priest similarly suitable, whether secular or regular, even not approved by the Ordinary of the place.³ - But the response which could be opposed, of the S. C. C. to the Bishop of Hildesheim, dated Nov. 18, 1769, is in no way contrary, since there the speech is concerning religious who had companions of their own Order at hand, as is clear from the acts of the same Congregation.

c) Confessors of regulars:

1. Can absolve their own, and, unless it is a question of a case brought before the contentious forum before their entrance, also novices, candidates who are being tested for the novitiate, and familiars from cases which Bishops have reserved to themselves in their dioceses.⁴ Concerning residential students recall the things said n. 1194. II.

2. As to censures and cases reserved to the Pope:

1° Regulars are numbered among those impeded from going to Rome, and therefore can ordinarily be absolved by their Prelates from any such things.¹

2° To the doubt: "Whether Regular Prelates after the Constitution Apostolicae Sedis enjoy the same privileges which they had before, that is, whether they can absolve their priests from papal cases simply reserved in the said Constitution?" The S. Penitentiary on Dec. 5, 1873 responded: "Negatively, with other faculties preserved, which flow from particular Rescripts granted for a time." The reason of the Response is that privileges of absolving had been abolished in the said Constitution; but the Tridentine faculty (Sess. 24. c. 6. Ref.) belonged to Regular Prelates only by privilege.²

Yet Regular Prelates can absolve, as before, from special censures which regard the internal governance of their Order, likewise from censures reserved by ordinary right (n. 1733-1735), because in these nothing was changed by the Supreme Pontiff through the Constitution Apostolicae Sedis. Concerning striking a cleric, see n. 1753. q. 2°. under 2°.

1196. As to exemption from parochial jurisdiction, where it exists by law, and insofar as in fact it is in force.

A) In the things in which regulars are exempt from episcopal jurisdiction, in the same things a fortiori they are exempt from parochial jurisdiction.

B) The following must be specially designated from Craisson³ and Van de Burgt, de Eccl.

1° In their churches or houses, not only the professed, but also novices, candidates, and familiars can receive Paschal Communion, Viaticum, and Extreme Unction. Yet strangers do not enjoy this privilege if they fall ill in one of their houses. But if they have died there, they cannot be buried in the churches unless they have chosen burial in them, in which case nevertheless, and unless a contrary custom exists, the fourth of funeral things (emoluments, for example from candles) is owed to the Pastor.

2° First Communion is not necessarily to be received from the Pastor or in one's own parish. The statutes of Bishops and diocesan customs must be consulted.

1196. B) 3° Although processions cannot generally be made by regulars and by confraternities which are erected in their churches outside the cloisters without permission of the Bishop, nevertheless that permission suffices without the consent of the Pastor. If the church lacks a cloister, the procession can be made without permission of the Bishop near the walls of the church, or by going out from one door of the church and entering by another. Through the Octave of Corpus Christi, the procession can be made outside the limits of the convent, without the permission of either the Pastor or the Bishop having been sought.

4° Regulars, simply approved for Confessions, can through the whole year, even in Paschal time, hear Confessions of secular persons; likewise hear the sick, but, once their Confession has been heard, they must make the Pastor more certain, at least by a writing left with the sick person; which can be prescribed to them by the Bishop (who nevertheless cannot prohibit either) under penalty of suspension from hearing Confessions. Thus from the S. C. C., Sept. 22, 1668, and from Clement X, Const. Superna.

5° Likewise they can distribute the Eucharist in their churches, even against the will of Pastors, except, outside the case of contrary custom, only on Easter day.

6° The Pastor cannot compel that his subjects satisfy the precept of hearing Mass in the parochial church; for they can fulfill the precept also in churches of Regulars.

7° All functions of Holy Week (the blessing of the font excepted) can freely be performed by regulars in their churches. Yet on Holy Saturday they cannot ring the bell before, or on Thursday in the Supper of the Lord after, the more worthy church, unless there is a custom or the churches are very distant.

8° In their churches they can perform all blessings, except those of the Baptismal Font, nuptial blessing, of the houses of laymen on Holy Saturday, and, as De Herdt well proves (Pr. Rit. c. 9. n. 5), of women after childbirth.

9° Funeral Masses and, in the case in which someone has chosen it among regulars, burial, are not of strictly so-called parochial rights; but the fourth of funeral things must be paid, as above 1°. (z) p. 484.

10° The Pastor cannot prevent regulars in their churches from celebrating, preaching, and announcing the feasts, vigils, and fasts of the following week at an hour pleasing to themselves.

1197. A. As to the foundation and abandonment of houses. - 1) They cannot erect a regular house or a hospice broadly so called, or one which has a church or public oratory, except with the consent of the Ordinary, and, per se, also of the Pope. Const. Romanos Pontifices, May 8, 1881. - There is no need of the consent of the Pastor: he is only to be heard if the future church of the Regulars would be parochial, or would be erected with prejudice to strictly and exclusively parochial rights:¹ nor is there need of the consent of Religious having a convent within the space of 560 Florentine ells from the house to be built, if it is a question either 1° of a house to be founded in some city, or 2° even in the country, but with those religious unjustly contradicting them, or 3° of the vicinity of other convents than those of Mendicant Friars, as is clear from the decision of the Rota dated June 22, 1615. Outside these cases they are regularly to be heard, unless it is otherwise clear that they will not suffer grave detriment from the new foundation.²

2. They can erect hospices strictly so called [above 1)] without permission of the Ordinary.³

3. By common law they are free to abandon their houses and churches, even against the will of the Ordinary, and, if they had been built from their own revenues or alms, once abandoned, all things pertaining to them in the name of the Order remain in their dominion, and they can freely dispose of these.⁴

1198. B. Concerning preaching. - 1) Approved by Superiors, they can preach: a) in their own churches, with permission of the Ordinary having been sought and not expressly denied; b) in others' churches, with it obtained, a moderate and discreet examination having preceded, if this seemed good to the Ordinary (Clement X, Const. Superna), or even in a place where the Ordinary is not actually present, with permission of the Pastor alone, if while passing through they were staying for only a brief time in some place in which the Bishop is not present.

2. Similarly any priest, whether secular or regular of another Order, needs the permission of the Bishop for preaching in churches of regulars.

3. If the Bishop himself preaches in some place, he can prohibit sermons from being given at the same time in other churches, even of regulars. Likewise, that on some day they preach, so that the whole people may gather at the Cathedral.

4. They cannot: a) publicly, without permission of the Ordinary, commend to hearers needy persons or families, unless nevertheless there is danger in delay, or it is a question of a church to which parochial or quasi-parochial care of souls is annexed; b) publicly, by express name, rebuke someone, or preach concerning a determined time of Judgment or Antichrist, or revelations of this kind; c) as to publishing indulgences, see n. 1192. 7°.

5. The Bishop can suspend some regular (not all of some convent as to preaching in their own churches), "for reasonable causes, although occult, yet concerning preaching," from preaching, Clement X, Const. Superna.

Note. 1° By the rigor of law the Ordinary cannot prescribe that regulars preach in their churches to which parochial or quasi-parochial care of souls is not annexed; nor 2° compel them to accept secular preachers or preachers of other Orders in their churches;¹ nor 3° prohibit them from preaching in their churches at the same hour at which a sermon is to be had in the parochial church, if he himself is not present at that sermon, H. A. XX. 124-128.

C) Concerning hearing the Confessions of the faithful, see the things to be said in the Treatise on Penance.

1199. D) Concerning the celebration of Masses. -

1° Except the cases related n. 1196 under 6°, 7°, 9°, 10°, in which they are not subject to Bishops, in the remaining things they are held to observe both diocesan statutes and special ordinances of Bishops concerning the celebration of Mass, and as to these things they are subject to them even as Apostolic delegates, H. A. XX. 75.

Yet notwithstanding the statute of the Bishop that it is not permitted to any wandering and unknown priest to celebrate Mass without his permission, nevertheless Regulars, after examining letters of their Superiors and of promotion to the priesthood, will be able to grant this in their churches to religious, even unknown, of their own or another Institute, with no permission sought from the Ordinary. N. Rev. Th. T. XI. p. 867 sq.

2° Concerning the tax and table of Masses, see the things said n. 637.

1200. E) Concerning the distribution of Holy Communion.

1° Concerning the forbidden distribution of Holy Communion on Easter day, see n. 1196. 5°, and concerning First Communion, ib. 2°.

2° Although Bishops cannot generally restrict distribution of Holy Communion to certain days in any week, nevertheless they can assign Communions to some one of their diocesan subjects in particular.¹

3° Regulars cannot without permission of the Bishop or Pastor carry the Eucharist publicly through the streets to the sick, unless a contrary custom is in force. Secretly? Canonists dispute in the case in which it is not a question of Viaticum.²

F) Concerning Viaticum, Extreme Unction, and Burial.

They cannot minister Viaticum and Extreme Unction to outsiders outside the case of necessity without permission³ of the Pastor.⁴ Yet they can keep Sacred Oil in their churches for the use of the professed, novices, and familiars. They can bury the same in their churches, and likewise other faithful who have chosen burial in them, with the fourth of funeral things preserved, as was said n. 1196. 1°. But it is not permitted to induce them to this by means of a vow, pact, or irrevocable promise.⁵

G) Concerning exposition of the Most Holy Sacrament.

1° Public exposition is not permitted to regulars except by permission of the Bishop, or by right of legitimately prescribed custom. But public exposition is that which is made with the Sacrament uncovered and with doors open. Therefore the permission of the Bishop is not required if it is made either with the Most Holy veiled, or with secular persons excluded.⁶

2° But once the permission of the Ordinary has been obtained, the consent of the Pastor is not required; and not even the permission of the Ordinary is needed through the Octave of Corpus Christi, whether among the solemnities of Masses or at Vespers.⁷

H) Concerning Blessings, see the things said n. 1196 under 8° and those to be said in the Treatise on the Sacraments in general, n. 1247.

1201. I) Concerning Processions. - The Bishop can bind regulars to be present at them, provided he calls them not by public edict, but personally through some messenger, and excepting those who perpetually live in stricter enclosure, or are exempted by privilege or by force of their Rule.

1202. K) Concerning Indulgences (see n. 1192. 7°), Most Holy Relics, and Images.

1° Relics cannot be exposed for public veneration unless with previous recognition by the Bishop (n. 327. 4)).

2° No unusual image at all can be placed in a church unless approved by the Bishop [n. 328. 2) c)].

3° The Relics of those not yet Beatified cannot be recognized for public cult, nor can images, nor "anything else whatever bearing before itself and indicating veneration and cult, be placed in oratories, or public or private places, or churches." Those who act contrary can be punished by the Ordinary [n. 328. 2) a)].

L) Concerning acts of homage to be furnished to Bishops.

Bishops can exercise pontificals and use a baldachin in churches of regulars, and they are to be received reverently.¹ On the contrary, in churches of regulars no one else can exercise pontificals except with the consent of the Ordinary.

M) Concerning parochial or quasi-parochial care of souls. In those things which pertain to it, regulars are subject to the jurisdiction, visitation, and correction of Bishops. How far this jurisdiction extends and how visitation is to be made, see H. A.³

It is also permitted "to Bishops to divide missions," even those over which Regulars have been placed, the form of the Holy Council of Trent (Cap. 4, Sess. 21, de ref.) being preserved, "as to missions which are truly and properly so-called parishes; but as to the rest," even without this being preserved, yet from sufficient causes and with the right of appealing preserved, if the matter demands, from the episcopal decree to the Holy See only in devolutive: nor in the division of a mission is the Bishop held "to prefer" religious sodales themselves to others in putting a Rector over the mission which is newly erected. Const. Romanos Pontifices, May 8, 1881.

N) Concerning the Statutes of diocesan and provincial Synods. Regulars are held to these: 1° as to directive force, when their observance is necessary for avoiding scandal. 2° As to coercive force: a) By reason of a quality not exempt in the exempt, for example of a duty dependent on the Bishop, and insofar as dependent, as of Pastor or quasi-Pastor, confessor, preacher, etc. b) As to the publication and observance of interdict. See n. 1695. I. 1°. II. 1°. c) As to the observance of feasts prescribed by the Bishop in his diocese, yet with their rite preserved as to Masses and the other divine offices. d) As to statutes concerning things to be observed and avoided in the celebration of Masses, as above n. 1199. 1°, 2°,¹ and generally as to those decrees which by common law, whether ordinary or delegated, also affect Regulars. Const. Romanos Pontifices, May 8, 1881.

1202. O) Concerning the coercive power of Bishops, to which regulars are subject:

1° Those transgressing their precepts in an exempt place, when these have been legitimately brought for places of this kind.

2° Those gravely delinquent in the preaching of the word of God, in hearing Confessions, in the administration of any Sacrament.

3° Those gravely offending Bishops, or impeding their jurisdiction, or delinquent concerning the enclosure of nuns.

4° Regulars a) living outside cloisters in a permanent manner (that is, without permission of the Superior, or in a place so far away that they cannot be punished by the Superior except after a long time; but not transitorily, for example for the cause of preaching or hearing Confessions, etc.) can be visited, punished, and corrected by the Bishop as delegate of the Apostolic See. Yet Regulars who dwell in residences of missions and there live under the discipline of the prefect of the province are exempt from the jurisdiction of the Ordinary, however small the number with which they cohabit. Const. Romanos Pontifices, May 8, 1881. b) Others than Superiors, living within cloisters and perpetrating a notorious delict outside them, or within them but with scandal of the people, must be punished by their Superior within a time to be defined by the Bishop; but if after repeated admonition of the Bishop they are not punished by the Superior, they can be punished by the Bishop. But if the Superior has sent the delinquent unpunished outside the diocese, he must be chastised by him under penalty of privation of office, within the time prescribed by the Bishop, wherever he may be; and if this is neglected, he must be punished by the Bishop of the place to which he has been sent.

5° Regulars in a cause of heresy and in other matters pertaining to the Tribunal of the Holy Office (what these are, see, if you wish, Craisson²) are subject also to Bishops, as delegates of the Apostolic See.³

6° "It is lawful ... for Regulars to appeal" from the interpretation which Bishops have given of synodal decrees, "only in devolutive as to the interpretation of decrees which by common law, whether ordinary or delegated, also affect Regulars: but as to the interpretation of other decrees, also in suspensive." Const. Romanos Pontifices, May 8, 1881.

In what cases a Bishop can compel disobedient regulars through censures will be said in the Treatise on Censures.

P) Various matters.

1° All controversies concerning precedence relative to processions in which regulars intervene, and in accompanying the bodies of the dead, the Bishop can decide for that act.⁴

2° As to confraternities. Excepting those which Generals of Orders erect by right granted to them by the Supreme Pontiff, they cannot be erected or aggregated without permission of the Ordinary; they are subject to his visitation, and it belongs to him to make, examine, correct, and renew their statutes. Except if the statutes had been confirmed by authority of the Holy See, or made by force of a contract. Craisson.⁵

3° As to the printing of books, they are subject to the Ordinary.⁶ Yet he will refuse permission unless it is clear to him concerning permission granted by the Regular Superior.

1203. • I. With secular persons. 1° They can dispense in all occult irregularities from delict, as a Bishop can;⁷ 2° they can dispense and commute vows and oaths, as a Bishop;¹ 3° they can dispense with spouses in the impediment of demanding the debt on account of incest committed with a blood-relative of the other spouse, yet with special permission of the Superior, at least of his own monastery.² - Besides, Religious can dispense in the vow of chastity with spouses in order to the use of Matrimony, whether the vow was emitted before or after Matrimony was entered.³ - Nor is the opinion affirming that Mendicant regulars and those communicating with them can dispense with betrothed persons improbable to St. Alphonsus, yet in a case of necessity, so that notwithstanding the same vow they may enter Matrimony.⁴

II. Regulars can celebrate Mass one hour before dawn, that is, three hours before sunrise, and from a just cause two after midnight, but only in their own churches, in which secular priests also can do this from the same privilege. After midday, from a privilege granted by Eugene IV, they can celebrate three hours after midday has elapsed.⁵

III. To the Nuns of St. Dominic, and therefore also to the other regulars by force of communication, in the case of illness, lethal in the judgment of a physician, it is permitted to emit profession before the year of Novitiate has been completed, provided nevertheless that they have the required age. St. Pius V, Const. Summi sacerdotii. Yet those convalescing, according to the opinion of many, are held to complete the year of Novitiate and emit a new profession.⁶

IV. "All regular Orders communicate in the privileges of other Orders, whether Mendicant or not." Thus St. Alphonsus.⁷ (E) p. 477.

We shall treat: 1. Of the privileges of Regulars in general; 2. of the privilege of exemption; 3. of various privileges of Regulars (recall what was said n. 249-254).

2180. • I. Privileges GRANTED to Regulars are either DIRECTLY, by writing or by an oracle of the living voice, or INDIRECTLY, by communication with other privileged persons.

But communication either is made in COMMON form, and embraces only those things which are commonly and without difficulty accustomed to be conceded; or it is made in SPECIAL form, and comprehends also unusual things and those which are of rare and difficult concession: excepted however (unless they are expressed by name) 1) indulgences, under which privileged altars also come; 2) Offices, both proper ones, which are not communicated to Religious using the diocesan Directory, and new ones, for which those who have a proper Calendar need an Indult; 3) exemption from the jurisdiction of Ordinaries.

It MUST BE NOTED: In no communication, however broad, are comprehended: - 1. Certain prerogatives entirely specific, which the Holy See conceded exclusively and privatively to certain Orders, with the faculty made to their Superiors General of communicating them to other Religions, Congregations, or even priests in particular. Thus, for example, the Superior General of the Dominicans communicates to priests petitioning the faculty of blessing rosaries, roses of St. Dominic, girdles of St. Thomas. - 2. Odious privileges, and those which are contrary to proper statutes. - 3. Privileges or Indults conceded for a determined time. - 4. Privileges conceded on account of a special motivating cause with a condition, whether expressed or tacit: as long as the cause perseveres. - 5. Privileges conceded to some convent, province, or to Religious of some Institute existing in certain lands, unless the same or a similar reason militates for the other Religious, convents, provinces, of the same or another Institute. - 6. Privileges generally revoked by Trent or by Apostolic Constitutions, unless they have been conceded anew. Yet advert that only those privileges were revoked by Trent to which a Decree of the Council is contrary with that expressed clause: notwithstanding any privileges whatsoever.²⁰ - 7. Privileges conceded with the clause: that they not be communicated to others, or declared incommunicable; unless some succeeding Pontiff, or the same one later, has conceded a very broad communication with all other Religions, in special form, with effective clauses added, by which all Constitutions and Apostolic Ordinations to the contrary, and all other derogatory clauses, are derogated.²¹

2181. • II. Direct or indirect concessions of privileges are sometimes CONFIRMED by the Holy See, and that either in common form, which does not bestow a new right and leaves individual privileges in that state in which they were before; or in special form, which not only, as the common one, strengthens valid things, but also revalidates invalidated things, and indeed in such a way that lost privileges, or those conceded with the clause "that they not be communicated to others," are judged to have been acquired anew. But if privileges are confirmed more often, and in one confirmation certain things are omitted which are had in another, the omitted things are by no means judged to have been revoked, unless perhaps they were opposed to Trent or to some Apostolic Constitution which had revoked privileges of this kind generally.²²

2182. • III. Whatever has been conceded to the Superiors of one Religion is understood also to have been conceded to all Superiors of other Religions which communicate with them, although the denominations of offices are various.²³ - Similarly, privileges conceded to inferior Prelates are also understood to have been conceded to Superior Prelates; but not vice versa.

2183. • Let it be noted: 1. If a privilege conceded to some Religion is not accepted by it, or is not brought into use, or if it ceases by renunciation or special revocation, no prejudice is thereby created for another Religion which communicates with it.²⁴ And this runs even if the Religion originally privileged were extinguished.

2. A Prelate can, for a just cause, LIMIT for his individual subjects the use of one or another privilege; indeed, the Superior General can extend a limitation of this kind to the whole Order. But if no limitation or prohibition intervenes, and no condition has been added in the Indult, subjects can bring their privileges into use without delegation or license of Superiors.²⁵

3. Privileges 1) communicated to subjects generally (i.e. not for a case) by the Superior General, whether by himself or through subaltern Superiors, ENDURE until they are revoked by him or by his successor; - 2) those communicated by subaltern Superiors by their own right expire when the time fixed for their office has ended, i.e. when a new Superior has entered upon his office; - 3) those to be conceded for a certain number of cases cease only when the number has been exhausted, but not when the office of the one granting has ended.

4. Regulars are bound to EXHIBIT to the Ordinaries of places: 1) even if not required, and before they can use them, privileges with the clause: the Ordinaries of places having been notified; likewise new indulgences, before they are published; 2) if required, yet without meanwhile being able to be interdicted from the use of the privilege, special privileges of exemption, i.e. those which are not contained in the common and notorious law of all Regulars.²⁶

5. "All Regular Orders COMMUNICATE in the privileges of other Orders, whether Mendicant or not";¹ and this communication is sometimes extended also, by special concession, to Congregations of simple vows.

2184. • EXEMPTION is a privilege by which either some place or person (physical or moral), or a place and person at the same time, within the territory of some ordinary jurisdiction, is withdrawn from the same.

Some exemptions have been conceded by the Supreme Pontiff, others by Bishops. Some exempt from episcopal jurisdiction, others from parochial jurisdiction, or even from inferior jurisdiction. - Some are personal, others local, others personal and local at the same time.

The exemption of Regulars: 1) has been conceded by the Supreme Pontiff; 2) exempts from jurisdiction, both episcopal and parochial; 3) is at once personal and local. - Moreover it is conceded most justly: both so that religious Orders may enjoy greater tranquility, unity, and vigor of discipline under the single governance of their own Prelates; and so that particular Churches may be bound by a stronger bond to the center of unity, i.e. to the Apostolic See.²

With these things having been premised, there comes to be explained: 1. what the exemption of Regulars comprehends; 2. what it does not comprehend.

2185. • The exemption of Regulars, provided there is question of a canonically erected Convent, generally comprehends the following:

I. AS REGARDS PLACES. Their churches, to which no parochial or quasi-parochial care of souls is annexed, are not subject to the Visitation of the Ordinary; nor their houses and oratories, whether public or private, joined to their houses; nor their chapels and altars of laymen or local Confraternities erected in these churches or oratories.³

But it must be noted what is read in the Constitution Romanos Pontifices of LEO XIII, 8 May 1881: "It has been established by common law... that houses which do not hold at least six religious members (of whom four are priests) must be entirely in the power of Bishops." - But Regulars dwelling in mission residences, although they may have been few, are not subject to Bishops "except in cases expressly named by law, and generally in those things which concern the care of souls and the administration of the Sacraments" (same Constitution).⁴

2186. • II. AS REGARDS PERSONS. Regulars are subject to the ordinary and exclusive jurisdiction of their own Prelates, insofar as no exception is established by the sacred canons or Apostolic Constitutions which declares in express words that they are subject in certain cases to the ordinary jurisdiction of Bishops or to jurisdiction delegated by the Holy See.⁵

Now it must be adverted: - 1. In odious things, under the name of subjects there come, generally, only professed Religious, both priests and lay brothers. 2. But in favorable things there come also novices, candidates admitted to probation, Oblates or Tertiaries dwelling in the monastery, and secular familiars, provided they are continuous table-companions, dwell within the enclosures of the Convent, and live under the obedience of Superiors⁶ (see what was said n. 1763, q. 2, concerning boarders).

2187. • Consequences. By force of this jurisdiction, which is called quasi-episcopal:

1. General Superiors can and must, either by themselves or through their Visitors, and provincial Superiors by themselves, VISIT the individual houses, persons, and churches subject to them: with every visitation of Bishops excluded, except in the cases to be excepted below (n. 2189).

2. The same Superiors can BRING against their professed subjects all those CENSURES which it is licit to inflict upon persons. The local Superior also can do the same, at least with the consent of the major Superiors (cf. n. 1256, 7, and 1774).⁷

3. All Superiors can DISPENSE with their subjects, in those things and in that manner in which and according to which Bishops can by law dispense with their own diocesans, namely: 1) as regards servile works on feast days and Sundays; 2) as regards fast and abstinence from flesh meats: concerning which "they can also accept for themselves and their own house those dispensations which the Bishop grants generally for the whole diocese";⁸ - 3) as regards the Divine Office, in the manner of Bishops, in particular cases, for a brief time and from a just cause, e.g. if there is doubt concerning moral impotence of reciting.⁹ (Moreover, from the concession of Clement VII, in favor of the sick and of those serving the sick who would not be excused of themselves, they can commute the Office into six or seven Psalms to be assigned by themselves, and seven Our Fathers and two Creeds);¹⁰ - 4) as regards prohibited books, in the manner of Bishops (i.e. in a case of great necessity, another privilege being set aside) (cf. n. 454, q. 2); - 5) as regards irregularities from an occult delict, and certain ones from defect, in which Bishops can dispense with diocesans, and even in the case of occult homicide, or one consummated outside the cloisters; in defect of body, "if someone should lack a foot or an eye, even the left"; in defect of birth (to dignities inferior to the Generalate), in bigamy, in defect of mildness, etc.;¹¹ - 6) as regards inabilities and penalties contracted from delict, such as privation of office, benefice, voice, place, etc., even if these have been reserved to the Roman Pontiff;¹² - 7) as regards all vows not reserved to the Pope; but reserved vows, if there is question of the vows of the three pilgrimages, they can irritate with professed members and suspend with novices, even if they themselves, or a predecessor, or a subaltern Superior, consented to their emission (cf. n. 638-640); - 8) as regards rules, in particular cases, unless dispensation has expressly been interdicted to them.¹³

4. It belongs to Superiors to ADMINISTER THE SACRAMENTS to any persons subject to themselves, or to see that they are administered; likewise, to approve confessors for their respective subjects, and to concede to them jurisdiction over the same, in the name of the Supreme Pontiff (cf. n. 1762-1763). - But these CONFESSORS, although they cannot absolve them, as formerly by privilege, from censures and cases specially or simply reserved to the Pope; nevertheless they can do this, with the special delegation of Prelate Superiors, by common law, insofar as Religious are impeded from going to Rome: according to what was said n. 1280, 3, and 1283. - Similarly the same confessors can absolve all their own, even novices, candidates, and familiars, from episcopal cases, unless there is question of a case brought before the contentious forum before their entrance¹⁴ (cf. n. 1762).

5. Superiors General and Provincials can give dimissorial letters to their subjects, yet professed ones, so that they may receive ORDERS, even outside the times, with the interstices not observed, on Sundays and feast days of precept (even suppressed ones), even continuously (cf. n. 1910).¹⁵

6. Regulars, by force of personal exemption, are not bound to intervene in DIOCESAN SYNODS. Except Abbots who are not subject to general Chapters of the Order, and those Regulars who exercise the office of pastors or quasi-pastors.¹⁶ Nor similarly are they bound to assist at conferences of cases of conscience, unless they exercise the care of souls (cf. n. 2254, end).

7. In administering TEMPORAL GOODS, male Regulars do not depend upon the Bishop.¹⁷ - Hence, when an inheritance has been left to an Order with the burden of Masses, or of pious works to be fulfilled either within or outside the Order, the Bishop cannot inquire concerning their execution. And the same must be said concerning Masses, whether founded or manual, even in those churches of Regulars to which the care of souls is annexed¹⁸ (cf. n. 1617, 1).

2188. • From these things you will resolve, FOR PRACTICE: the right of Regulars is composed with the right of pastors in the following manner.¹⁹

1. Regulars can, without the pastor being able to stand in the way, celebrate in churches at an hour that seems good to them, preach, announce the feasts, vigils, and fasts of the following week, and also distribute the Holy Eucharist on all days (Easter day excepted) (see also n. 677, 678).

2. Regulars, approved by the Bishop for confessions, can throughout the whole year, even in Paschal time, hear confessions of seculars, even of the sick. But after the confession of some sick person has been heard, they must notify the matter to the pastor at least by a writing left with the sick person: to which they can be constrained by the Bishop, under penalty of suspension from hearing confessions.

3. All the functions of Holy Week can freely be performed by Regulars in their own churches. Yet on Holy Saturday they cannot ring the bell before it is rung in the more dignified church, unless a contrary custom is in force, or unless the churches are very distant.

4. They can perform all blessings in their own churches: except the blessing of the baptismal font, and the nuptial blessing, and, where contrary custom or synodal statutes stand in the way, the blessing of women after childbirth.

5. Funeral Masses and burial, in the case in which someone has chosen it among Regulars, are not among parochial rights strictly so called. But the funeral fourth, or the candles lit at the exposition and association of the corpse, must be paid to the pastor in this case, unless a contrary custom is in force. But the bodies of the dead to be buried in cemeteries of Regulars must be carried by the direct path, and by the way to be declared by the pastor, to the churches of the Regulars themselves, but not first to the parish church, even if the heirs contradict. Thus the Sacred Congregation of Rites, 19 December 1671, in Savonen.²⁰

6. Although processions generally cannot be made by Regulars and by Confraternities which have been erected in their churches outside the cloisters without license of the Bishop, nevertheless that license suffices without the consent of the pastor. Indeed, during the Octave of Corpus Christi, a procession can be made outside the limits of the Convent without the permission of the pastor or even of the Bishop being sought.

7. Strangers, even if they should fall into sickness among Regulars, cannot receive Paschal Communion, Viaticum, or Extreme Unction from them without the pastor's license; for only familiars and boarders of Regulars enjoy this privilege, as we said above (n. 2186). - And the same holds for obsequies (cf. n. 2193, end).²¹

2189. • In general, Regulars ARE SUBJECT to episcopal jurisdiction in their operation ad extra, and in the exercise of sacred ministry to be furnished to seculars. - But in particular let the following be NOTED:

1. As regards the erection of houses. Regulars cannot erect a regular house, or even a hospice broadly so called, or one which has a church or public oratory, unless with the consent of the Ordinary. Thus from Trent, sess. 25, de Regul., cap. 3. - Yet (in this our time) the consent of the pastor is not required, who has only the right that he be heard in certain cases, namely when his strict and exclusive rights would be injured. Nor similarly is the consent of other Religious required, unless the house is erected outside the city in the vicinity of Mendicant Friars.²²

But by common law it is free for Regulars, even with the Ordinary unwilling, to abandon their houses and churches; and if they have built them from their own revenues or alms, freely to dispose of them (cf. n. 1353). - They can likewise, without new license, provided the rights of another are not injured, either return to their abandoned houses, or transfer a Convent into another place of the same land, or into its vicinity. Nor do they need any license for founding a hospice strictly so called, in which namely neither a church is built nor Masses are received.²³

2. Concerning divine worship. 1) Regulars are bound to observe the Feasts and Interdicts of the diocese; - 2) to conform themselves to the statutes and ordinations of the Bishop concerning the celebration of Mass and the tax of the stipend; - 3) when asked personally by the Bishop, and not only by a public edict, to intervene in processions, they cannot refuse, unless they are exempt by privilege or by force of their rule, or unless they live perpetually in stricter enclosure; - 4) they cannot expose sacred Relics or an unusual Image in the church for public veneration without previous recognition or approbation of the Bishop; - 5) nor similarly can they (outside the Octave of Corpus Christi), unless by license of the Bishop or from legitimately prescribed usage, publicly expose the Most Holy Sacrament (i.e. with the Most Holy uncovered and the doors opened), or institute processions outside the circuit of the church.²⁴

3. Concerning preaching. 1) In churches of Regulars, although approved by the Prelate of the Order, neither seculars nor Regulars of other Orders can preach unless after the license of the Ordinary has been sought and not expressly denied. - 2) In alien churches, they cannot

Regulars preach unless after license has been obtained, and, if it shall have seemed so to the Ordinary, after some moderate and discreet examination has been carried out. Yet the license of the pastor suffices, if they are staying only for a brief time in some place where the Bishop is not present. 3) The Bishop can suspend some Regular (but not all of some Convent, as regards preaching in their own churches), for "reasonable causes, although occult, yet concerning preaching," from preaching (Clement X, Const. Superna). - 4) If the Bishop himself is going to preach in some place, he can prohibit sermons from being had to the people at the same time in other churches, even those of Regulars; likewise, he can prohibit Regulars from preaching on some day, so that thus the whole people may come together in the cathedral.

Regulars cannot without license of the Ordinary 1) publish new indulgences; 2) commend to their hearers needy persons or families, unless there is danger in delay, or unless the church is quasi-parochial. - Moreover, they are forbidden publicly to reprove someone by expressing his name, and to preach concerning the determined time of the last judgment or of Antichrist, or to treat revelations of that sort.

It MUST BE ADVERTED: 1) The Ordinary cannot strictly command that Regulars who do not have the care of souls preach in their own churches, nor that they summon secular preachers or preachers of other Orders into their churches. 2) Likewise he cannot prohibit them from preaching in their own churches at the same hour at which a sermon is being had in the parish church, unless he himself is present at this sermon.¹

4. Concerning the administration of the Sacraments. - 1) To hear confessions of the faithful, Regulars entirely need the approbation of the Ordinary (cf. n. 1746). - 2) They can indeed administer the Holy Eucharist in their own churches, except on Easter day, or even on Thursday in the Supper of the Lord, if the Bishop or custom (as in the kindly City) shall have so established; but, outside the case of custom, they cannot carry it publicly through the streets to the sick without license of the Bishop or pastor. But whether they can carry it secretly, in a case in which there is no question of Viaticum, is disputed. 3) It is strictly prohibited to them, and indeed under penalty of excommunication reserved to the Pope, to administer Viaticum and Extreme Unction without license of the pastor, outside the case of necessity² (cf. n. 1341). Yet for the favor of professed members, novices, and familiars, they can keep holy Oil in their own churches.

5. Concerning the care of souls and Confraternities. - 1) In those things which regard parochial or quasi-parochial care of souls, Regulars are subject to the jurisdiction, visitation, and correction of Bishops.³ - 2) They cannot, without license of the Ordinary, erect Confraternities, except those which Generals of Orders erect by right conceded to them by the Supreme Pontiff. But Confraternities once erected are subject to the visitation of the Ordinary, to whom it also belongs to found, examine, correct, and renew their statutes, unless these have been confirmed by the Holy See or founded in the form of a contract.⁴

6. Concerning synodal Statutes. Regulars are bound by synodal Statutes: 1) as regards directive force, if their observance is necessary for avoiding scandal; - 2) as regards coercive force, if there is question of Feasts to be observed (the rite, however, excepted); or of Interdicts to be published and observed; of the celebration of Masses; of the first Communion of children; of exercising a non-exempt office, as of preacher, confessor, pastor.⁵

7. Concerning the coercive power of Bishops. - Regulars are subject to Bishops, as delegates of the Apostolic See, in the following: 1) In a cause of heresy, and in other matters belonging to the tribunal of the Holy Office. 2) If they gravely offend them, or impede their jurisdiction. 3) If they gravely offend in the preaching of the word of God, in hearing confessions, in the administration of the Sacraments, or in some matter pertaining to the enclosure of nuns. Likewise, if they admit pilgrim priests destitute of commendatory Letters to the celebration of Mass.⁶ - 4) If they dwell outside the cloisters in a permanent manner (i.e. without license of the Superior, or in a place so distant that they cannot be punished by the Superior except after a long time), they can be visited and punished by the Bishop. - 5) If, while dwelling in the cloister (Superiors, however, are excepted), they perpetrate a notorious offense, with scandal of the people, they must be punished by their own Superior within the time to be defined by the Bishop. But if, after repeated admonition, they are not punished, the Bishop himself will be able to take measures against them (cf. n. 1260, 4).⁷

8. Concerning various rights. - 1) As regards the printing of books, Regulars, no otherwise than others, are subject to the Ordinary.⁸ - 2) The Bishop can settle all controversies of precedence relative to processions and in conducting funerals, for that act.⁹ - 3) Bishops can exercise Pontificals in churches of Regulars and use the baldachin. - 4) Without the consent of the Ordinary, it is licit for no one to exercise Pontificals in the said churches.¹⁰

2190. • Questions. QUESTION 1. What power belongs to the Bishop over Religious who are NOT EXEMPT?

Resp. 1. The general principle is that the PERSONS and PLACES of any non-exempt Institute are subject, in all things, to the ordinary jurisdiction of the Bishop, unless the Rule approved by the Holy See, or special privileges obtained either directly or indirectly from the same Holy See, expressly establish some exceptions.

Resp. 2. In fact, there exists no approved Congregation of men which does not enjoy particular exemptions of this kind. But these exemptions generally regard all acts of internal economy, namely: nominations or elections of Superiors, admission and expulsion of Subjects, expenses and accounts, administration of goods, etc. Except if there is question of alienating immovables of not small value, or precious movables, apart from money; for in these things all Institutes, both of simple and of solemn vows, depend upon the Sacred Congregation of the Council (or of Bishops and Regulars), as was said n. 1353.^{vol2-0130-fn-10a}

QUESTION 2. What is the power of the Bishop over NUNS?

Resp. 1. If the nuns are exempt and immediately subject to the Holy See, the Bishop, as delegate of the Holy See, can and must, by himself or through another: 1) examine novices before profession, as was said above (n. 2149); 2) institute a canonical visitation once in the year; 3) preside over the election of the Superiorissa and receive the votes; but confirmation must then be sought from the Holy See itself; 4) exact each year an account of the administration of temporal goods; whence he can remove administrators, although he cannot constitute them¹¹ (cf. n. 2170, Note).

2. If the nuns are exempt and subject to Regular Prelates, he can likewise examine the novices before profession and watch over the administration of goods, as in the preceding case. But he cannot visit the monastery except by reason of enclosure, nor preside over the election of the Superiorissa except directively, only hearing the votes and recognizing them.¹² - The rest belongs to the Regular Prelates.

3. If the nuns are not exempt, he possesses full and ordinary authority over them, yet with the rules approved by the Holy See saved. Nevertheless, if, disseminated in different dioceses, they are subject to a general Superiorissa, each convent indeed depends upon the respective Ordinary as regards those things which are of episcopal jurisdiction; but not so as regards those things which are of mere economic administration, e.g. as regards elections and transfers of nuns from one house to another; for good order demands this for itself, that nuns in matters of this kind not depend upon the governance of ecclesiastical Superiors, but only upon the will of the general Superiorissa; nor does contrary custom seem to be reasonable.¹³

Here it must also be NOTED that it is generally not approved by the Holy See that some Bishop (or Priest) be Superior General of an Institute which is spread into other dioceses, lest the order of jurisdiction be disturbed.^{vol2-0130-fn-13a}

2191. • Regulars have from common law, either directly or by communication, the following FACULTIES:

1. "Generals and Provincials of Regulars can erect private ORATORIES in their Convents and Colleges, provided they are deputed only for divine worship; and in them, without another faculty of the Bishop or Supreme Pontiff, several Masses can be read on the same day, not only by Regulars, but also by secular presbyters";¹⁴ likewise, in them "all the faithful can hear Mass and satisfy the precept of hearing the Sacred rite on feast days, because those oratories enjoy the privilege of a public oratory" (cf. n. 678, 1583, 1, 1627, 2185).

2. Regular Superiors, even local ones, can bless any vessels, vestments, and other things pertaining to divine worship, provided a sacred unction is not to be used; but only for their own churches and convents. Likewise, they can bless sacred places proper to themselves, namely their own churches, and their own oratories and cemeteries; and, if they have been polluted, reconcile them with blessed water mixed, according to the precept of the Roman Pontifical, with salt, ashes, and wine.¹⁵ Yet it has been counseled that they never use this faculty when the Ordinary is unwilling, nor publicly.

3. Regulars can CELEBRATE Mass one hour before dawn (or about three hours before sunrise); indeed, when some just cause accedes, two hours after midnight, even in winter time; but only in their own churches, in which this is also licit for secular priests. Besides, from a privilege conceded by Eugene IV, they can celebrate three hours after noon.¹⁶

4. In time of Interdict Religious are privileged, as we saw n. 1307, II.

5. Regular Confessors, approved by the Bishop, have the faculty: - 1) of dispensing with seculars, whether within or outside confession, in all simple vows (the five reserved to the Pope excepted), provided the rights of a third party are not prejudiced; 2) of dispensing in all occult irregularities from delict, except voluntary homicide; - 3) of dispensing in the inability to celebrate which confessors soliciting to shameful things incur, and also priests abusing the sacrifice of the Mass for sorceries; - 4) of dispensing with spouses in the impediment of exacting the conjugal debt, which one of the spouses has contracted, whether from incest committed with an affine, or from a personal vow of chastity emitted before or after marriage; but special license from the Superior at least of the house must be sought for this.¹⁷

Will you ASK whether Regulars (or others possessing the same faculty) can dispense in oaths made to God, as also in vows? R. Authors dispute, and indeed probably on both sides. Whence St. Alphonsus concludes for practice: "The negative opinion must altogether be held; for the obligation of an oath already contracted, since it is certain and is in possession, cannot be taken away by a dispensation only probably valid."¹⁸