When reservation ceases

Certain conditions are required in order that any particular sin may be reserved. First of all it must be a grave sin such as forms the necessary matter of confession, for a venial sin which the penitent need not confess cannot be effectually reserved. It is not the practice of the Church to reserve merely internal sins; there must be an external act and as such gravely sinful. So that a slightly: indecent word, even if uttered with a seriously bad intention, would not fall under reservation if all sins of indecency were reserved. The sin must be completed and perfect in its kind, not merely attempted, for reservation is to be strictly interpreted. For the same reason it must be certain that the sin is reserved, so that any prudent doubt of law or of fact whether a particular sin is reserved is sufficient to enable the confessor to give absolution without special faculties. ‘4. Those who are under the age of puberty do not incur papal cases unless they are expressly included in the law. The only papal cases in which they are so included is the violation of the enclosure of nuns. The same rule may be applied to bishops’ cases, unless a bishop has made known his intention to bind even those who have not reached the age of puberty. Ignorance of a censure, unless it be crass or supine, excuses from the censure, as is expressly laid down in the Decretals.¹ As in papal cases the reservation of the sin is on account of the censure annexed to it, and ignorance excuses from incurring this, therefore ignorance will excuse one from incurring papal reserved cases to which a censure is attached. The reservation of false accusation of solicitation is very probably penal, as theologians gather from the words by Benedict XIV in the Constitution Sacramentum Poenitentiae, and as ignorance of a penalty excuses one from incurring it, therefore ignorance will excuse one from incurring this reserved case. This opinion, however, which many hold to be still probable, is hardly of practical importance, for the ecclesiastical judge who receives the false accusation will certainly warn the culprit of the penalty incurred by false accusation.

It is a disputed point whether ignorance excuses from incurring bishops’ cases or not. It excuses, indeed, from incurring any censure inflicted by any ecclesiastical superior, but it certainly does not excuse from incurring a reserved sin if the bishop has expressed his intention of reserving it even when committed in ignorance of the reservation. Otherwise it is probable that ignorance excuses in episcopal as well as in papal cases, for reservation is partly penal, and it cannot attain its end of deterring the faithful from committing reserved sins if they are ignorant of the reservation.

According to Canon 900, all reservation ceases: (1) When either the sick who cannot leave the house make their confession, or those about to be married with a view to marriage.

(2) Whenever either the lawful superior on being asked has refused to grant faculties for absolving a particular case, or in the prudent judgement of the confessor faculties for granting absolution cannot be asked for from the lawful superior without serious detriment to the penitent or without danger of violating the seal of confession.

(3) When the penitent is outside the territory of him who reserved the case, even though he left it only to obtain absolution. But, according to the Commission for the Interpretation of Canon Law a stranger (peregrinus) incurs the reserved cases of the place where he is staying (A.A.S. xii, 575)-

¹ C. 2, de const. in 6to; can. 2229, sec. 3, i.

VI. Cessation of reservation. - Every reservation ceases in danger of death (can. 882); besides, according to can. 900, "Any reservation lacks force:⁴

⁴ Nevertheless by special disposition, priests who have absolved adherents of the "action francaise" and have been absolved when the reservation ceased, within a month from the day of obtained absolution or recovery must recur to the Sacred Penitentiary under penalty of excommunication specially reserved to the Supreme Pontiff.

"1) When confession is made either by sick persons who cannot leave home (which also profits sick religious or others who are in a house where confessors dwell, but not those who cannot go out yet are not truly sick, such as the incarcerated or women in childbirth), or by betrothed persons for the sake of entering marriage;

"2) As often as either the legitimate Superior has denied the faculty of absolving requested for some determinate case, or, in the prudent judgment of the confessor, the faculty of absolving cannot be requested from the legitimate Superior without grave inconvenience of the penitent or without danger of violation of the sacramental seal (such as grave difficulty of returning to the confessor, danger of grave scandal, e.g., difficulty of abstaining from communion without some mark or suspicion);

"3) Outside the territory of the one reserving, even if the penitent departed from it only to obtain absolution" (namely, in fraud of the law).

Therefore there are five cases: a sick person unable to go out; - a betrothed person about to enter marriage; - faculty denied in a determinate case; - grave inconvenience of the penitent; - departure from the territory of the one reserving.

597. Cessation of reservation. - A. Reservation of sins and censures. Any reservation ceases in danger of death, in which every priest can absolve from all censures and sins according to what was said in n. 585.

B. Reservation of sins. According to can. 900: "Any reservation lacks all force:1

"1) When confession is made either by the sick who cannot leave the house, or by spouses for the purpose of entering marriage."

This also benefits sick religious or others who are in a house where confessors dwell, but not those who cannot go out but are not truly sick, as those imprisoned or women in childbirth; and spouses even if they have not contracted betrothal.

"2) As often as either the legitimate superior has denied the faculty of absolving requested for some determinate case, or, in the prudent judgment of the confessor, the faculty of absolving cannot be requested from the legitimate superior without grave inconvenience of the penitent or without danger of violating the sacramental seal."

In the first case, the reason is that, the case having been known by the superior, the disciplinary end can be obtained. In the other, the inconvenience is understood as extrinsic to the reservation, such as: grave difficulty of returning to the confessor together with grave difficulty of approaching another endowed with the faculty of absolving; danger of grave scandal, e.g., the necessity of celebrating; danger of grave infamy, e.g., difficulty of abstaining from communion without some notice or suspicion; and, for the seal, danger that the superior come into suspicion of the person for whom the faculty is requested.

"3) Outside the territory of the one reserving, even if the penitent has departed from it only in order to obtain absolution," namely, as if in fraud of the law.

Therefore there are five cases: a sick person unable to go out, - a spouse about to enter marriage, - a faculty denied in a determinate case, - grave inconvenience of the penitent, - departure from the territory of the one reserving.

C. Reservation of censures: 1) "In more urgent cases, namely, if latae sententiae censures cannot be observed outwardly without danger of grave scandal or infamy, or if it is hard for the penitent to remain in a state of grave sin for the time necessary for the competent superior to provide, then any confessor in the sacramental forum can absolve from them, in whatever way reserved, with the burden of recurring imposed, under penalty of reincidence, within a month (i.e., 30 days)... to the superior,... and of standing by his mandates" (can. 2254, § 1).

Where it should be noted: a) The faculty is granted for censures a iure (universal or particular) latae sententiae, not for censures ab homine.

b) Nevertheless there is excepted the absolution of priests from excommunication on account of attempted merely civil marriage, and actually living chastely with a woman, and their admission to participation in the sacraments after the manner of laymen: these, namely, outside danger of death, are reserved exclusively to the Sacred Penitentiary by a recent decree (S. Penitentiary, April 18-28, 1936 and May 4, 1937).

c) The more urgent cases are determined by law: 1. if the censure cannot be observed without danger of grave scandal, as if, because of the excommunication of a parish priest or magistrate, anger or disturbance would arise among the people; - 2. likewise if it cannot be observed without danger of infamy, as if all things are already prepared for nuptials, or a parish priest or vicar cannot omit celebration, or a layman cannot omit paschal communion, without infamy; - 3. if it is hard for the penitent to remain in a state of grave sin for the time necessary for the competent superior to provide, i.e., for two or three days, indeed sometimes for one day. Yet this is not always hard, nor for everyone.

d) The cases are indicated for absolution from reserved censures, not for sins reserved by reason of themselves, especially the third; whence the Church seems to urge reservation more if the sin is reserved by reason of itself than if it is reserved only by reason of the penalty, which can be understood from the nature of the thing itself.

e) Absolution from these cases is direct, but provisionally under condition of reincidence into the censure.

f) The burden of recurring must be imposed in the case, and recourse must be made within a month, either by the penitent himself by approaching the superior or delegate, or at least by letter and through the confessor, with the name withheld, to the Sacred Penitentiary or to the bishop or another superior endowed with the faculty (can. 2254, § 1). Recourse must be made not so that the penitent may be absolved, since he has already been absolved directly from the censure and sin, but so that satisfaction may be made to the reservation and so that a suitable penance and other mandates to be imposed by law may be imposed. But if within a month, when it could have been done, recourse has not been made, the penitent falls back into the censure.

g) Nevertheless, "nothing prevents the penitent, even after having received absolution as above and even after recourse has been made to the superior, from approaching another confessor endowed with the faculty, and from obtaining absolution from him, with confession at least of the delict with the censure repeated; and when this has been obtained, from receiving mandates from the same, without being bound afterward to stand by other mandates coming from the part of the superior" (ibid., § 2).

h) "But if in some extraordinary case this recourse is morally impossible, then the confessor himself... can grant absolution without the burden (of recurring) mentioned above, nevertheless with those things imposed which are to be imposed by law, and with a suitable penance and satisfaction for the censure imposed, so that the penitent, unless within a suitable time to be fixed beforehand by the confessor he has done penance and given satisfaction, falls back into the censure" (ibid., § 3). There is excepted excommunication in the absolution of an accomplice, for which recourse must always be made (can. 2367, § 1). Likewise the excommunication of priests on account of attempted merely civil marriage and living with a woman, concerning which above, b); this is to be held as reserved in a most special manner (S. Penitentiary, April 18-28, 1936).

Recourse can be morally impossible if neither can the confessor send a letter, because he must depart before the response and, when absent, cannot safely communicate the response without others suspecting; nor perhaps can the penitent, being inexperienced, do so, and at the same time it is hard for him to approach another confessor (Holy Office, Nov. 9, 1898, Sept. 5, 1900).

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

Therefore the confessor can absolve pilgrims or even inhabitants who incurred a reserved censure in another territory, provided it is particular to the alien territory and it is a question of a censure a iure and not of a censure ab homine.

3. "If the confessor, ignorant of the reservation, absolves the penitent from the censure and sin, the absolution of the censure is valid, provided it is not a censure ab homine or a censure reserved in a most special manner to the Apostolic See" (can. 2247, § 3).

The absolution of the sin is also valid, if it is reserved only by reason of the censure: for then, if someone has been absolved from the censure, the reservation of the sin completely ceases.1

All reservation of sins ceases in several cases mentioned by the new Code. It ceases when the sick who cannot leave the house make their confession, and when confession is made by those who are about to marry with a view to marriage. If special faculties cannot be asked for from the superior without serious inconvenience to the penitent or without danger of violating the seal of confession, a reserved sin may be absolved by an ordinary confessor. If a penitent has incurred a Bishop’s reserved case in one diocese, but knows that in a neighbouring diocese the case is not reserved, nothing prevents him from making his confession to a priest in the latter diocese and obtaining absolution from his reserved sin. Every Catholic has the fullest liberty to go to confession to any priest who has faculties in the place, and such a priest can absolve from all sins to which his jurisdiction extends. Not only the Bishop, but the Vicar-General and the Canon Penitentiary can absolve from all Bishop’s cases. Deans can also do the same, and they should be empowered to grant faculties to other priests for a reserved case on request.