The six commandments of the Church

WE saw in the book on Laws that the Church has received power from God to make laws which bind all her children, and that she alone has authority to regulate all matters pertaining to the worship of God and the salvation of souls. The Catholic Church has exercised the power entrusted to her and imposed certain laws and precepts on the faithful. According to the Catechism the chief of these are six in number:

To keep the Sundays and holy days of obligation holy, by hearing Mass and resting from servile work.

To keep the days of fasting and abstinence appointed by the Church.

To go to confession at least once a year.

To receive the Blessed Sacrament at least once a year, and that at Easter or thereabouts.

To contribute to the support of our pastors.

Not to marry within certain degrees of kindred, nor to solemnize marriage at the forbidden times.

The last of these will be best explained when we come to treat of marriage; the other five will form the subject of the following chapters.

WHAT pertains to the obligation of hearing Mass and abstaining from servile work on Sundays and holy days of obligation has been already explained under the Third Commandment of the Decalogue. It only remains to add a few observations to what was there laid down.

Before Urban VIII issued his Bull Universa, September 13, 1642, various feasts were kept as of obligation in different countries. ‘For the purpose of introducing greater uniformity, Urban VIII drew up a list of feasts which were everywhere to be observed and besides which no others might be observed without the sanction of the Pope. Besides all the Sundays of the year, the list contained the following feasts: Christmas Day, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Resurrection and two following days, the Ascension, Whit Sunday and two following days, the Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi, Finding of the Cross, the Purification, Annunciation, Assumption, and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin; the Dedication of St Michael, the Nativity of St John the Baptist, SS Peter and Paul, St Andrew, St James, St John, St Thomas, SS Philip and James, St Bartholomew, St Matthew, SS Simon and Jude, St Matthias; St Stephen, St Sylvester, St Joseph, St Anne, the feast of All Saints, and one of the principal patrons in each kingdom or province, and another principal patron in each city, town, or village, where such are venerated.

In most countries the number of these feasts has been greatly reduced, and in England they have been reduced to eight by decrees of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda dated March 9, 1777, and May 17, 1830. ‘Those eight are: Christmas Day, the Circumcision or New Year’s Day, the Epiphany, the Ascension of our Lord, Corpus Christi, SS Peter and Paul, the Assumption of our Lady, and All Saints. The suppressed feasts are still observed as days of devotion.

As in England we had no patrons such as those whose feast was to be observed according to the Bull of Urban VIII, by . a decree dated May 24, 1863, Pius IX granted permission for the name of St George to be inserted in the prayer A Cunctis at Mass, and for a commemoration of St George to be made in place of that of the patron among the suffrages of the saints in the Office. By a decree S.R.C. (December 2, 1891 [n. 3758]), regulars may add the name of their saintly founder as well. In Ireland the feast of St Patrick is celebrated as the feast of the patron and as a day of obligation in addition to those observed in England. in the United States the following are the holy days of obligation: Christmas Day, the Circumcision, the Ascension, the Assumption, the Immaculate Conception of our Lady, and All Saints.

Canon 1247 is as follows: “‘ The festival days of obligation in the Church universal are these only: Each and all Sundays, the feasts of the Nativity, Circumcision, Epiphany, Ascension, and Corpus Christi, of the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Blessed Mary Mother of God, of St Joseph. her Spouse, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and finally of All Saints.”

The feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of St Joseph have not so far been introduced in England.

THERE are various reasons why the Church bids Catholics to fast and abstain from flesh meat on certain days. By these means we more easily keep our lustful appetites in due subjection and we do penance for our sins. There are certain devils, which, as our Lord taught us, are only cast out by prayer and fasting. Moreover, by denying and curbing our appetites we exercise ourselves in the virtue of temperance, and, like soldiers on parade, we accustom our lower nature to obey the command of reason, so that it may not betray us when we are in presence of the enemy in time of temptation.

Considerable changes were introduced into the law of fasting and abstinence by the new code. According to Canon 1250: The law of abstinence forbids the eating of flesh meat and of soup made from flesh meat, but not eggs, milk, cheese (lacticinia), nor any condiments even from the fat of animals.”

The flesh of animals that are born on land and that breathe is forbidden, as also soups made from this flesh and extract of meat. Fish, oysters, turtle, crab are not forbidden, and in some places certain aquatic birds are allowed by custom. Suet is classed as flesh meat, but the rendered fat of animals, butter, milk, cheese, and eggs are allowed.

This precept binds under pain of grave sin, but a violation of it would not be a mortal sin unless an appreciable quantity of unlawful food were taken. Theologians are not agreed on what quantity is necessary to constitute grave matter, but, in the opinion of some, two ounces would be necessary and sufficient.

All Catholics who have come to the use of reason are as a general rule subject to the precept of abstinence as to other positive laws of the Church. However, inasmuch as positive laws do not bind when they could not be observed without relatively serious inconvenience, those who are sick, or are recovering from illness, or those who are in weak health and cannot take abstinence fare, are excused from observing this precept, and may eat meat on days of abstinence. Children, too, of negligent Catholic parents who do not observe the law, Catholic servants in bigoted Protestant families who cannot get such food as the Church allows on days of abstinence, and must fast unless they eat meat which is put before them, may lawfully do so. Dispensations also from the obligation of abstaining may for good reason be obtained from the Bishop or from the priest.

The superiors of Religious Orders have the same powers as Bishops with regard to their own religious subjects. Ordinarily these can only dispense in particular cases or families, but on account of some great concourse of people or of public health, Ordinaries can now dispense in the law both of fasting and abstinence (Can. 1245, sec. 2, 3).

According to Canon 1251: “‘ The law of fasting prescribes that only one full meal be taken in the day; but it does not forbid the taking of some food in the morning and in the evening, nevertheless the approved custom of the place must be kept with regard to the quantity and quality of food. Nor is it forbidden to mix flesh meat and fish in the same meal, nor to change the evening collation with dinner.”

The law of fasting, then, prescribes that only one full meal may be taken in the day, and that after twelve o’clock midday. Solid food, not drink, is limited by the law of fasting, but very nutritious liquids, such as milk, soup, thick chocolate, are classed as food. Custom sanctions the taking of about two ounces of dry bread with tea, coffee, or thin chocolate at breakfast, and about eight ounces of lighter sorts of food in the evening at collation. If it is preferred the collation may be taken after midday and the full meal in the evening.

According to Canon 1252: “ The law of abstinence alone is to be observed on every Friday.

The law of abstinence and fasting also is to be observed on Ash Wednesday, on the Fridays and Saturdays of Lent, and on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays of Ember Week, on the vigils of Whit Sunday, the Assumption, All Saints, and Christmas Day.

The law of fasting alone is to be observed on the other days of Lent. On Sundays or on feasts of obligation the law of abstinence, or of abstinence and fasting, or of fasting only, ceases, except on the feast during Lent, and the vigils are not anticipated; it also ceases on Holy Saturday after midday.”

The Holy See has dispensed English and Scotch Catholics from abstinence except during Lent, on the Saturdays of Ember Week, and on those vigils which immediately precede or follow Friday or another day of abstinence.

On June 12, 1923 the Holy See extended to England the regulations for fasting already granted to Australia. By this indult on fasting days those bound to fast are allowed one full meal at or after midday. In addition they are allowed two light meals, one of about eight ounces, at which butter, cheese, eggs or fish may be taken in small quantities; the other of two or three ounces, at which a little butter may be taken. No time is indicated for the two light meals, which may therefore presumably be taken at any time at the choice of the individual.

It is special to the law of fasting that it only binds the faithful after they have attained the age of twenty-one until they enter upon their sixtieth year. It binds under pain of grievous sin, which may be committed not only by taking more than one full meal in the day according to what has just been said, but also by taking food at frequent intervals in small quantities, for thus the total amount would be considerable. When one who is bound to fast has already taken two full meals, he has broken his fast, and the law no longer binds him. Whereas the law of abstinence is broken, and sin is committed, as often as the prohibited act is done.

Though all who have reached the age of twenty-one are per se bound to fast, yet as a matter of fact many are excused on the ground of impossibility, work of importance which cannot be omitted without serious inconvenience and which cannot be done if fasting is observed, and dispensation.

Not only hard bodily labour in the fields, mines, workshops, or mills, but severe mental work such as teaching, continual preaching, or hearing confessions, excuses from the precept of fasting. The sick, convalescents, health are also excused. and those in delicate Even though the difficulty of fasting and at the same time of doing one’s work is sometimes not sufficient of itself to excuse one from fasting, it will be sufficient for obtaining a dispensation, which may be given not only by the Pope, but by the Bishop, one’s religious superior, or by the parish priest.

As the Council of Trent teaches, there is a divine law which prescribes that all who fall into grievous sin after receiving Baptism should confess such sin to a priest and receive absolution for it from him. This divine precept is contained in the institution of the sacrament of Penance, and will best be explained when we come to treat of that sacrament. Here we have to do with a positive ecclesiastical law which supposes the divine law, but further determines it according to time and the person to whom the confession is to be made. The divine law does not determine any precise time for making the confession nor does it limit the choice of confessor. This was done by the Fourth Lateran Council, c. 21: “‘ Let all the faithful of both sexes after they have come to years of discretion faithfully confess all their sins in private at least once a year to their own priest, and do their best to perform the penance which he shall enjoin them.”

It is the common opinion of theologians that this law only affects those who have fallen into mortal sin, so that although venial sin may be confessed and affords sufficient matter for sacramental absolution, yet there is no law, human or divine, which imposes any obligation on the faithful in general to confess venial sins. The divine law does not do this, as the Council of Trent explains (sess. 14, c. 5), and the Lateran law only determines the divine law.

One’s own priest, according to the modern discipline of the Church, is any priest who has faculties for hearing confessions in the place where they are made. ‘To satisfy the precept it is not sufficient merely to make one’s confession; it must be made fruitfully, so as to merit absolution and reconciliation with God.¹

¹ Prop. 14, condemned by Alexander VII.

No special time within the year is mentioned by the council, and various methods of reckoning the year would satisfy its requirements; but as Easter time is assigned for the annual Communion which is also prescribed, in practice the two precepts are fulfilled together within the time appointed for the Easter duties. If one has neglected to go to the Sacraments within the prescribed time, he is not free for a further term, but he should go as soon as he can (Can. 906, 907).

THERE is also a divine precept to receive Holy Communion: ““ Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you shall not have life in you.” + But no special time was assigned by our Lord for the fulfilment of this precept; he left all such matters to be determined by the Church. The Fourth Council of the Lateran, therefore, made the universal law that all the faithful, after coming to years of discretion, should reverently receive the holy Eucharist at least at Easter, unless it be deemed advisable to abstain for a time for some reasonable cause.”

Canon 859 of the new code repeats the words of the Lateran Council and interprets the words “years of discretion ”’ as ‘‘ coming to the use of reason,” so that children ¹ become subject to this law after completing their seventh year. This obligation, as far as it affects those under the age of puberty, falls chiefly on those who have care of them—that is, on their parents, guardians, confessor, teachers, and parish priest (Can. 860).

The Easter Communion should be made during the fortnight from Palm Sunday to Low Sunday, but local Ordinaries can anticipate the time from the fourth Sunday of Lent or prolong it to Trinity Sunday.

The faithful are to be exhorted to fulfil this precept in their own parish church, and if they fulfil it in another parish they should inform their parish priest.

In England the time for fulfilling the Easter duties is still from Ash Wednesday to Low Sunday.

In the United States the time for fulfilling the Easter precept is from the first Sunday in Lent till Trinity Sunday; in Ireland it extends from Ash Wednesday to the octave day of the feast of SS Peter and Paul.

This precept is not fulfilled by a sacrilegious Communion, and if it has not been complied with at the proper time the obligation still remains, and should be discharged as soon as the occasion offers.

Other matters concerning Holy Communion will be treated when we come to the Sacraments (Can. 861).

¹ John vi 54.

“ Know you not,” says St Paul, “‘ that they who work in the holy place eat the things that are of the holy place; and they that serve the altar partake with the altar? So also the Lord ordained that they who preach the gospel should live by the gospel.”¹ As, then, there was special provision made by God for the support of the priests and the maintenance of religion under the Old Law, so under the New Law our Lord commanded that his ministers should be supported by those to whom they ministered. The faithful, then, are bound by divine precept to contribute according to their means to the support of their pastors.

The method of fulfilling this duty has varied at different times; nowadays, at least in English-speaking countries, the offerings of the faithful are almost the only source of church revenue, as they were in the first ages of Christianity. The Church urges this divine precept and further determines it either by universal law or by provincial and diocesan regulations.²

¹ 1 Cor. ix 13, 14.

² Cf. 1 West., d. 23, nn. 4, 5; 2 West., d. 8; 3 Plen. Baltim., tit. 9; can. 1496.

Ministers of religion have a right in justice to decent support, for from the fact that they are put by lawful authority in spiritual charge of a parish or mission, the people under their care are bound by an implicit contract to support them, just as citizens are bound to support temporal rulers, magistrates, and officials.¹ The obligation, then, to support one’s pastors is grave, but it is difficult to determine when mortal sin is committed in particular cases by failing to comply with this duty. Much depends on the degree of necessity in which a pastor is placed, and on the means of the parishioner, The sacraments and ministrations of the Church should never be refused to the poor who cannot pay the usual fee, nor more especially is the priest justified in refusing the consolations of religion to dying people on the ground that they neglected the duty of supporting their pastors during life. The priest is bound by other ties to his flock than by the hope of earthly reward,

¹ St Thomas, Summa, 2-2, q. 87, a. 1.

What precepts of the Church come to be considered. As many as have been prescribed by general laws of the Code or by particular laws, indeed or by use of jurisdiction, so many in truth are precepts of the Church. By this reason, in every part of moral theology there is speech about the precepts of the Church, and there are also many precepts which are necessarily passed over in moral books. Nevertheless, by a more restricted use of the word, by the name precepts of the Church there have customarily been called a few prescriptions, of very general use, which in catechism formulas are proposed to the faithful to be held by memory. These are now to be explained by us. To these, however, the laws concerning the censure and prohibition of books must be joined.

Moreover, these common precepts can conveniently be referred to the Christian virtues. For the precepts concerning annual confession and Paschal communion are connected with the general pursuit of justice and sanctity; the canons concerning the censure and prohibition of books are directed chiefly to protecting the virtue of faith; the obligation of sanctifying feasts coheres with the virtue of religion; but by the precept concerning fast and abstinence the virtue of temperance to be exercised is inculcated. The precepts concerning annual confession and communion, however, were proposed in the treatises on the Eucharist and Penance.

1217. There are FIVE precepts of the Church which are proposed to be observed by all the Christian people, namely: 1. To be present at the sacred rite, on Sundays and feast days of precept. 2. To fast in Lent, on vigils, and on the Four Times. 3. To abstain from meats on Friday and Saturday. 4. To confess, at least once in the year, and to communicate at Easter. 5. Not to celebrate nuptials at forbidden times.⁰¹

Concerning the obligation of assisting at the sacred rite and sanctifying feasts, we have already treated in the treatise on the third Precept. Concerning annual confession, concerning paschal communion, and concerning the forbidden time of nuptials we shall more suitably deal in the treatises on Penance, on the Eucharist, on Matrimony.

Therefore it remains to be treated: 1. concerning ecclesiastical fast; 2. concerning abstinence from meats.

Caius, a centurion of the British militia (commonly, Officer of Militia) and a Catholic, who ordinarily has charge of a very extensive business, has experienced difficulties more than once concerning the obligations of fasting and abstinence. Being of robust health, he is much devoted to hunting; and when he was recently free from business, he indulged in hunting on a fast day without, however, fasting. On another Friday he was invited to a formal dinner of the regular regiment to which his own militia regiment is attached; he accepted the invitation and did not observe abstinence. Finally, during the past Lent he obtained a dispensation from the law of fasting; nevertheless, it happened more than once that on those days on which meat was permitted by indult to those fasting at the principal meal, he himself ate meat twice or even three times. Afterward, however, moved by the stings of conscience, he asked a confessor whether he had acted rightly. It is asked:

1. To what does the law of the ecclesiastical fast bind?

2. What excuses from the laws of fasting and abstinence?

3. What is to be said of the case?

1. To what does the precept of the ecclesiastical fast bind?

Essentially, fasting consists in taking but one full meal in the twenty-four hours and that after mid-day, but it also implies abstinence from flesh meat unless leave be given to eat it.¹

1 Manual of Moral Theology, vol. i, p. 573.

2. What excuses one from the precepts of fasting and abstinence?

Physical or moral impossibility of observing the law arising from ill health, laborious occupations, or other source, excuses from the observance of these precepts; a dispensation may be granted by the bishop or by the parish priest.

3. The case. Caius, an officer of militia, in robust health, went hunting on a fasting-day and did not fast. We suppose that Caius ordinarily fasts, and that his ordinary business duties are not sufficiently laborious to excuse him. If he frequently went hunting on fasting-days, and excused himself from fasting, he would do wrong. If he found that the labor of the chase was incompatible with fasting, he should abstain from such laborious recreation and observe the laws of the Church. However, if this happened only once in a while, and Caius had some good reason for joining the hunt on that particular day other than the mere wish to escape fasting, so that it would have been seriously inconvenient not to attend the hunt, and he finds that hunting is incompatible with fasting, he was not blameworthy in what he did.

On a Friday he accepted an invitation to dinner given by the regiment to which his corps was attached, and he did not abstain. There is more difficulty in excusing Caius from blame in this case. If he could easily have declined the invitation, or if, having accepted it, he could easily have made a dinner on fish or other lawful food which is generally provided at such dinners, he did wrong in eating flesh meat on a Friday. Still, again, if it was a very special occasion, and he could not absent himself without serious inconvenience, and finding himself seated at dinner he could not procure fish or other lawful food, he might be excused from sin if, without giving scandal, he took flesh meat. In such cases he might ask his parish priest to give him a dispensation, and thus avoid all difficulties.

Last Lent he got a dispensation from fasting, and on days when flesh meat was allowed by indult to fasters at the principal meal Caius took meat two or three times in the day. Whether Caius was justified or not in doing this depends on the terms of the dispensation or the expressed intention of him who granted it. The dispensation might be granted to eat meat only once in the day. This does not seem to have been done; we must suppose that it was granted without limitation. In that case Caius acted within his rights. Those who fast may take meat by indult only once in the day, but Caius was dispensed from fasting.

Titius, a missionary priest in England, in order that he may be able, in accordance with the First Council of Westminster, diligently to explain the laws of fasting at the beginning of Lent to the people committed to him, goes through a certain recent author and, from the reading of him, proposes for solution certain difficulties that have arisen. He asks in particular:

1. Is milk allowed whenever food or drink is taken?

2. What kinds of food and how much are allowed at the collation?

3. Many could fast by interchanging the little breakfast and the collation. Are they bound to this if they are unable to fast otherwise?

4. How often in the day may those dispensed from fasting eat meat when meat is permitted by indult?

5. Does Titius have the power to dispense from fasting, and whence does he have it?

1. Is milk allowed on fast days whenever the faster eats or drinks?

No; lacticinia, i.e., milk, butter, and cheese are by the common law forbidden at least during Lent whenever flesh meat is forbidden.¹ In some places lacticinia are also forbidden on other fasting days outside Lent. In England milk and butter are allowed by custom at the full meal outside Lent, and at least by indult in Lent at the full meal. By concession of the Holy See² milk, butter, and cheese are allowed by way of condiment at collation, also on all fasting-days except Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

1 Proposition 32, condemned by Alexander VII.

2 Sacred Office, March 18, 1880.

2. How much food and of what sort is allowed at collation?

About eight ounces of lighter food, excluding always flesh meat and eggs, are allowed at collation. In some places eggs also are allowed. According to an instruction issued by the archbishop and bishops of England in 1883, when fish is taken at collation, the quantity of it should not exceed two or three ounces.

3. Many could fast by taking the collation in the morning and two ounces of food in the evening. Are those who can not otherwise fast bound to adopt this method?

No; it is indeed allowed to fast in that way for some good reason, but as it is not the usual way of fasting in England, there is no obligation to adopt it.

4. How often may those who are dispensed from fasting eat meat on days when meat is allowed at the principal meal to fasters by indult?

That depends on the extent of the dispensation, but unless there is an express limitation, it is generally understood that they may eat meat as often as they please.

5. Have missionary priests in England the power of dispensing from fasting, and whence do they obtain it?

They seem to obtain the power of dispensing those who are committed to their charge from custom, the source whence parish priests obtain it. The existence of the power seems to be implied in the First Council of Westminster, decree XXIII, no. 3.