38 - 53 minutes readTREATISE VI – Ecclesiastical Punishment

TREATISE VI

Ecclesiastical Punishment

This treatise is divided into three chapters : I. Ecclesiastical penalties in general ; 2. Censures in general ; 3. Particular censures. For the sake of brevity only one vindictive punishment will be discussed in n. 759.

CHAPTER I. ECCLESIASTICAL PENALTIES IN GENERAL

730. Definition. An ecclesiastical penalty is a painful evil contrary to the will of the sufferer inflicted by the Church in punishment of some delinquency, or, in the words of the Code, c. 2215 : “ An ecclesiastical penalty is the privation of some good, inflicted by legitimate authority on the delinquent for his correction and for punishment of the offence.” Ecclesiastical law understands delinquency (delictum) as an external and morally sinful violation of a law to which is attached at least an indeterminate canonical sanction (c. 2195, § 1). Although it might be possible for the Church to punish even internal acts, in fact she never does so but leaves the punishment of such acts to the justice of God. — Ecclesiastical punishment has a two-fold purpose, the good of society and the good of the individual, or, in other words, the reparation of the harm caused to the social order and the correction of the delinquent.
731. Kinds, 1. By reason of their purpose ecclesiastical penalties are either vindictive or medicinal, or penal remedies, or canonical penances.

A penalty is vindictive when its primary purpose is the expiation of delinquency and reparation of the harm caused to the social order, e.g. deposition, deprivation of benefice.

A penalty is medicinal when it has as its chief purpose the emendation of the delinquent, e.g. censures.

Penal remedies (which are four in number— admonition, reproof, precept, vigilance) are preventive medicinal penalties since they are intended to act as a safeguard against all delinquency or a particular form of delinquency which would be punished by censure or vindictive penalties.

Canonical penances are inflicted in order that a delinquent may either escape punishment or obtain absolution or dispensation from a penalty which he has contracted abeady (c. 2312).

2. By reason of their author penalties are inflicted either by law or by an individual, according as they are imposed by die law itself or by a legitimate superior (c. 2217, § 1, 11. 3).
3. By reason of their object penalties are either purely spiritual when they deprive a person of a spiritual benefit, such as the prayers of the Church, or temporal when they subject the delinquent to some temporal evil, such as prison or a fine.
4. By reason of their form a penalty is latae sententiae if it is incurred by the very fact of transgressing the law without the necessity of any condemnatory sentence by a judge ; a penalty ferendae sententiae is one which is incurred after such a sentence.

1 732. Review of ecclesiastical penalties in force at present. All penalties inflicted by the Church can be reduced to the following four types :

1. censures, or medicinal penalties : excommunication, suspension, interdict ;
2. vindictive penalties : a) twelve affect clerics or religious only, such as deprivation of benefice or ecclesiastical office, loss of active and passive vote, deposition, degradation, etc. ; b ) twelve affect both clerics and lay persons, e.g. infamy of law, deprivation of ecclesiastical burial, removal from legitimate acts, fines, etc. ;
3. penal remedies : admonition, reproof, precept, vigilance ;
4. canonical penances, e.g. the recitation of certain prayers, the performance of spiritual exercises, giving a stated alms.
5. The author of penalties. The general rule is that those who have the power of enacting laws or imposing precepts possess the power also of attaching penalties to those laws or precepts. Persons who possess juridical power only can do no more than apply the penalties legally prescribed in the manner demanded by law (c. 2220).

Thus the following have the power of imposing penalties :

1. a) the Pope for the whole Church ;
2. b) Bishops, Superiors of clerical exempt religious Orders for their own subjects ; a vicar general has no power to do so without a special mandate (ibid. § 2). The rules to be observed in inflicting penalties, especially so far as judges are concerned, are discussed by canonists ; cf. for instance, the author’s Man. iur. can. q. 554.
3. Those subject to penalties. The general rule is that persons subject to a law or precept are subject likewise to any penalty attached thereto, unless they are explicitly excepted (c. 2226).

Therefore in order to incur such penalties a person must be :

1. a) subject to the person inflicting the penally. Consequently the Pope alone has the power of inflicting penalties i) on those who hold the supreme power in a State, their sons and daughters, those who have the right of immediate succession, ii) on Cardinals, iii) Legates of the Holy See and all bishops (even titulars) (c. 2227) ;

b ) above the canonical age of puberty. Children who have not attained this age are excused from, penalties latae sententiae, and they should be punished with disciplinary chastisement rather than by censures or other more serious punitive penalties (c. 2230) ;

1. c) able to observe the penalty without loss of good repute, so far as penalties latae sententiae are concerned (c. 2232) ;
2. d) aware of the law and the penalty attached. Affected ignorance does not excuse from any penalty latae sententiae (c. 2229, §1), and therefore the contrary opinion held formerly must now be rejected ; however if the law contains the words : “ shall have presumed, or dared, or acted knowingly, temerariously, of set purpose ” and the like which demand full knowledge and consent, any diminution of responsibility either on the part of the intellect (ignorance — but not affected ignorance — inadvertence) or on the part of the will (fear) exempts from penalties latae sententiae (ibid. § 2). Thus drunkenness, omission of due care, debility of mind, impulse of passion, exempt from incurring such penalties precisely because they diminish responsibility, even though sometimes they may not excuse from the guilt of grave sin. The same holds true when these offences are committed by minors, i.e. by those who have not completed their twenty-first year (c. 2204). Thus, for instance, a minor reading an heretical book does not seem to incur excommunication.

If the law does not contain the terms already mentioned, crass or supine ignorance of the law or of the penalty only does not excuse from any ecclesiastical penalty, but if the ignorance was other than crass or supine it does exempt from medicinal penalties (censures, but not from other penalties).

735. The remission of penalties (whether by absolution in the case of censures or by dispensation in the case of vindictive penalties) can be granted only by the person who inflicted the penalties, or his competent superior, or successor, or a person with delegated faculty. Consequently anyone with the power to grant exemption from the law has the power to remit the penalty attached to the law, but a judge who in virtue of his office applies a penalty determined by the superior cannot pardon from the penalty once he has imposed it (c. 2236).

Penalties can be remitted either in writing or by word of mouth, whether the person so pardoned is present or absent.

All Ordinaries (i.e. all local Ordinaries and major Superiors of clerical exempt religious Orders) have ample powers of remitting penalties inflicted on their subjects, viz. :

1. In public cases the Ordinary can remit all penalties latae sententiae of the common law with the exception of :
2. a) cases brought to court for trial ;
3. b) censures reserved to the Holy See ;
4. c) penalties which render a person incapable of holding benefices, offices, dignities, positions in the Church, an active or passive vote, penalties which deprive persons of such favours, perpetual suspension, infamy of law, privation of the right of patronage and of a privilege or favour granted by the Holy See (c. 2237, § 1).
5. In occult cases, even if they are not urgent, the Ordinary may himself or through someone delegated by him remit penalties latae sententiae of the common law, with the exception of censures most specially or specially reserved to the Holy See (ibid. § 2). When considering urgent occult cases, the Ordinary possesses the same faculties granted to all confessors in such circumstances (cf. n. 691).

CHAPTER II. ECCLESIASTICAL CENSURES IN GENERAL

This chapter is divided into six articles : 1. definition and kinds of censures ; 2. their author ; 3. those subject to censures ; 4. the cause of censures ; 5. reasons which excuse from censures ; 6. absolution from censures.

Art. 1. Definition and Kinds of Censure

736. Definition. A censure is a medicinal ecclesiastical penalty by which a baptized person is deprived of certain benefits whether spiritual or connected with matters spiritual, because of obstinate violation of some law of the Church, until such time as he repents and obtains absolution (c. 2241).

This definition will gain in clarity from later discussion regarding the subject and cause of censures.

The more important kinds of censure are the following.

1. By reason of their specific nature censures take the form of excommunication, suspension or interdict.
2. By reason of their efficient cause censures are said to be inflicted either by law or by an individual.

3 . By reason of the way in which they are inflicted censures are either latae sententiae or ferendae sententiae.

4. By reason of the power of absolution certain censures are reserved, others are not reserved.

Art. 2. The Author of Censures

737. 1. It is of faith that the Church possesses the power to inflict censures (Council of Constance). In the ordinary way this power resides only in all ecclesiastical prelates who exercise jurisdiction in the external forum (cf. c. 2220, § 1) ; the power may be delegated, but only to clerics (c. xi8).

The ordinary power to inflict censures resides in :

The Supreme Pontiff and an Ecumenical Council in regard to all members of the Church, Legates a latere in the territory of their delegation.

Bishops in regard to their own subjects, but not a vicar general unless he possess a special mandate (c. 2220, §1),

The Vicar Capitular while a See is vacant,

Prelates possessing quasi-episcopal jurisdiction in the external forum, Provincial Councils, and Chapters of Religious Orders.

The delegated power of inflicting censures is not granted to lay persons nor, a fortiori, to women.

738. 2. The following conditions must be fulfilled in order that censures be inflicted validly and lawfully.
739. a) He who inflicts the censure must be of sound mind ; he must also intend to inflict a genuine censure, and he should proceed with prudence and circumspection.
740. b) He must act freely and not under violence.
741. c) He must possess jurisdiction which he is not prevented from using.
742. d) He should first reprimand and admonish the delinquent in the prescribed legal or canonical form, since he must be certain that the delinquent remains obstinate (c. 2233, § 2).

Art. 3. The Subject of Censures

739. Those subject to censures are all persons on whom a censure can be inflicted. The following conditions must be verified :
740. a) the person must be baptized. The Church has no jurisdiction over b) alive, J those who are unbaptised or dead.
741. c) possess the use of his reason and be capable of a grave deliberate transgression of the law.

These conditions must be fulfilled since censures presuppose delinquency and obstinacy. Furthermore habitual aments, even though they have rational intervals, are incapable of delinquency and therefore do not incur censures (c. 2201, § 2). Although persons who have reached the canonical age of puberty have the use of their reason and are capable of grave transgression of the law, nevertheless according to existing discipline they do not incur censures latae senteutiae (c. 2230). Such persons are better corrected by corporeal punishment than by censures.

1. d) He must be a subject of the person inflicting the censure, since it is an act of jurisdiction which can be exercised only over one’s subjects.
2. Corollaries, 1. No superior incurs any censure which he himself has determined.
3. By privilege Cardinals (unless they are mentioned expressly) are not subject to any penal law, nor are Bishops subject to ipso facto suspension or interdict (c. 2227).
4. Since those who hold supreme power in a State, their sons and daughters, and their successors, cannot be judged by anyone except the Supreme Pontiff himself, it would seem that they do not incur censures reserved to a Bishop (whether they be inflicted by law or by a superior).
5. Members of exempt Religious Orders cannot be visited with episcopal censures, unless this is specifically stated in the law.
6. Territorial censures are not binding on strangers nor on those who are absent from that territory. 1
7. Moral persons (communities) are liable to interdict and suspension but not to excommunication (c. 2255).

One and the same person may incur several censures (either of the same or a different character) :

1. a) if he has committed a delinquency to which a censure has been attached by different superiors (which is rare nowadays) ;
2. b) if he has committed different offences or the same offence on different occasions (c. 2244). Thus, for example, a person who contracts a marriage before a non-Catholic minister and agrees that his children should be brought up in heresy, has them baptised by a non-Catholic minister, and reads heretical books on seven occasions, incurs ten excommunications. As a general rule, there are as many penalties incurred as there are delinquencies committed (c. 2224, § 1).

Art. 4. The Cause of Censures

741. The cause of censures— sometimes called the object or subject- matter of censures — is the delinquency on account of which the punishment is inflicted. But according to present discipline (c. 2242) no delinquency is punished by censure unless it is :
742. a) grave, both objectively and subjectively ; therefore anything which excuses from the grave imputability of an offence excuses also from censure (c. 2218, § 2) ;
743. b) external (whether it is public or occult). Consequently internal sins, such as heresy which is completely internal, is not punishable by censure ;
744. c) actual (and not merely attempted, unless even attempted delinquency is subject to punishment) — that is to say, the censure is not incurred unless the delinquency fulfils all the conditions mentioned in the pronouncement of censure, since censures are not to be interpreted strictly ; accordingly, e.g. no censure is incurred by a person who causes an explosion to occur close by a cleric without he himself actually touching the cleric ;
745. d) accompanied by obstinacy, i.e. by at least virtual contempt for the censure.

This contempt — and, in consequence, the censure also — is not present when the sinner is not aware of the law forbidding the act or of the special punishment inflicted on those transgressing the law. This holds for the internal forum at least, since in the external forum sometimes presumed obstinacy is sufficient. For when a law is sufficiently promulgated the subjects are presumed to be aware of that law so that if they transgress it, they must incur in the external forum all the penalties and censures attached.

Art. 5. Causes which Excuse from Censures

742. The following causes excuse from censures :
743. lack of jurisdiction which prevents the censure being incurred ;
744. some defect in the offence itself which does not fulfil all the conditions mentioned hi the preceding article ;
745. grave fear, as often as it is sufficient to excuse from the observance of ecclesiastical law ; in such circumstances contempt is absent. Certain exceptions are to be found listed in c. 2229, § 3, n. 3 ;
746. ignorance of the censure, a) Crass or supine ignorance, but not affected ignorance excuses from censures directed against those who act “knowingly, of set purpose, temerariously,” etc. ; b) ignorance that is only slightly culpable excuses from all other censures.

Note. Since a censure obliges in exactly the same way as any ecclesiastical law, whatever excuses a person from fulfilling such laws will excuse also from the observance of censures. Thus, for example, a priest under occult excommunication is not obliged to abide by that censure if he is liable to incur public, grave disrepute in consequence.

Art. 6. Absolution from Censures

743. First Principle. Once a censure (in the strict sense of the word) has been incurred it is only removed by legitimate absolution.

Therefore censures do not cease on the death of the superior inflicting the censure, or of the individual punished by censure, nor are they removed by the guilty party making amends or satisfaction. Consequently an excommunicate who elicits an act of perfect contrition recovers the state of grace but does not cease to be excommunicated and separated from communion with the Church. However absolution cannot be refused, once the delinquent has ceased from his obstinacy (c. 2248, § 2). Absolution from censure may be granted either for the external forum or for the internal forum ; it may be granted ad cautelam, or on condition that the censure will be incurred again if certain conditions are not fulfilled (cf. the author’s Man. Theol. mor. 01 , 491).

744. Second Principle, a) Any confessor may give absolution in the internal forum from unreserved censures ; b) no one may absolve from reserved censures unless he has the required ordinary or delegated jurisdiction ; c) the following censures are reserved: i) all censures imposed by a special judgement ; ii) all censures expressly declared in the law to be reserved. All these statements would seem to be evident. However the following should be noted regarding delegated jurisdiction for the absolution of censures. Delegation is granted either by an individual Superior, when everything stated in the document whereby jurisdiction is granted must be observed, or else by the law itself. The faculty to absolve from reserved censures is delegated by law :
745. 1. in danger of death, when every priest (even if another is present with the requisite faculties) may absolve from all censures. But there are two instances when the person in danger of death must have recourse to the competent Superior, if he recovers his health within a month (presuming that such recourse is morally possible), viz. when absolution was given : a) from censures most specially reserved to the Holy See ; b ) from censures imposed by sentence in an ecclesiastical court (c. 2252).
746. in urgent cases * when any confessor may absolve directly from all a case is considered urgent if a censure incurred ipso facto cannot be observed externally without danger of grave scandal or defamation, or if it is burdensome to remain in the state of a grievous sin during the time necessary for the Superior to make provision for granting absolution (c. 2254, § 1), censures inflicted by law (but not from those inflicted by an individual) with the proviso that a person so absolved is bound under pain of relapse into the same censure to have recourse within a month to the Sacred Penitentiary or to seek a fresh absolution from one who has the requisite faculties. When such recourse is morally impossible it may be omitted (c. 2254).
747. Cardinals can absolve any penitent from all censures, with the exception of those most specially reserved to the Holy See and the censure attached to the revelation of secrets of the Holy Office (c. 239, § 1).
748. Ordinaries have the power in virtue of c. 2237, § 2 to aosolve their subjects in all occult cases from censures simply reserved to the Holy See. Similarly they may absolve in the external forum from the censure incurred through heresy (ibid. c. 2314, § 2).
749. Religious confessors may absolve from censures reserved by law to the local Ordinary, since the new Code does not seem to have revoked this privilege which was existing prior to the Code. Cf. lx old in, de Poenis 12, n. 95.
750. Note. 1. In granting absolution from censures the confessor must demand : a) that “the penitent repair any scandal or harm he may have caused ; and b) that he receive a special penance distinct from the sacramental penance.
751. Absolution for the external forum may be given in any way, but it is better that the rite should be determined by a competent superior or follow the form set forth in the Roman Ritual (tit. 3, c. 3 ) the internal forum the customary form used in the granting of any absolution should be followed (c. 2250, § 3).
752. Absolution given for the external forum is valid for the internal forum also, but if a penitent is absolved in the internal forum he may act in the external forum as a person absolved, provided he does not give scandal ; but unless the absolution is proved in the external forum or at least lawfully presumed, the superior may still demand a special absolution in the external forum (c. 2251).
753. If a person has incurred several censures, he may be absolved from one while the others remain. But such a case is extremely rare. If, however, a general absolution from censures was granted legitimately, it is valid also for those cases which were concealed in good faith, with the exception of four censures most specially reserved to the Holy See, but it does not avail for those concealed in bad faith (c. 2249).
754. Absolution obtained by violence or grave fear is invalid by law (c. 2238).

CHAPTER III. PARTICULAR CENSURES

Introduction. We shall consider briefly only those matters with which the confessor is liable to be confronted in practice ; those who require a fuller treatment may refer to the author’s Man. Theol. mor. or to the Canonists. — Since there are three kinds of censures, as already mentioned, we divide this chapter into three articles : I. excommunication ; 2. interdict ; 3. suspension.

Art. 1. Excommunication

747. Definition. Excommunication is a censure by which a person is deprived of communion with the faithful of the Church (cf. c. 2257).

If a person is completely excluded from this communion, he is to be shunned (i.e. if he has laid violent hands on the person of the Pope, or if he has been excommunicated by the Holy See by name and publicly denounced as one to be shunned) ; otherwise he is tolerated. Consequently, according to present discipline, only the Holy See has the power to declare that an excommunicate is to be shunned.

748. The effects of excommunication. Exclusion from communion with the Church resulting from excommunication has the following eight effects :
749. With regard to sacred things, i.e. the sacraments, whose administration and reception are partially forbidden to excommunicates :
750. a) the excommunicate who is to be shunned, since he lacks ecclesiastical jurisdiction, may not validly administer any sacrament for which genuine jurisdiction is necessary. An exception is made in danger of death ;
751. b) the excommunicate who is tolerated may validly administer the sacraments and also lawfully administer them, if explicitly requested to do so by the faithful (c. 2261) ;
752. c) no excommunicate may lawfully receive the sacraments, unless he be excused by ignorance or fear of great loss. An excommunicate after declaratory or condemnatory sentence cannot receive even sacramentals (c. 2260, § 1).
753. Exclusion from rites, i.e. from divine liturgical offices (but not from sermons). However according to the present discipline of the Church tolerated excommunicates may assist at these liturgical offices (but not excommunicates who have to be shunned).

This is the ruling given in the Code, c.2259, § 2: “ If a tolerated excommunicate assists passively at a religious service he is not to be expelled. but an excommunicate who has to be shunned must be expelled, or if this is not possible, the service must be discontinued if possible without grave inconvenience ; not only excommunicates who are to be shunned but also those who are declared such after declaratory or condemnatory sentence or who are otherwise notoriously excommunicated arc debarred from all active assistance (which implies some participation) in the celebration of the divine offices.” It is evident that the Church to-day does not so severely exclude Protestants from Catholic divine offices.

3. Exclusion from the common suffrages of the Church and from Indulgences, which however are sometimes allowed to tolerated excommunicates. A priest may offer Mass privately and apart from scandal for a tolerated excommunicate, such as a Protestant (c. 2262).
4. Exclusion from ecclesiastical burial, but only after declaratory or condemnatory sentence. On this question, cf. the author’s Man. iur. can. q. 372, sqq.
5. Exclusion from power, winch includes:
6. a) ecclesiastical jurisdiction both in the external and in the internal fora, which cannot be exercised validly by excommunicates after declaratory or condemnatory sentence (except in cases of danger of death) ; such jurisdiction cannot be even lawfully exercised by any excommunicate, unless the faithful solicit him to do so for a good reason (c. 2261) ; b) the right of election, nomination, or presentation (c. 2265, §1) ; c) the power to obtain ecclesiastical offices or to receive orders (ibid. n. 2) ; d) the power to exercise legitimate acts, which are : the office of administrator of church property ; acting as judge, auditor and relator, defender of the bond of marriage, promoter of justice and the Faith, notary and chancellor, courier and beadle, lawyer and procurator in ecclesiastical cases ; godparents at the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation ; voting in ecclesiastical elections ; exercising the right of patronage (c. 2256, n. 2).
7. Exclusion from ecclesiastical income. After declaratory or condemnatory sentence an excommunicate is deprived of the revenue from dignities, offices, benefices, pensions, positions, if he possessed any of these in the Church ; an excommunicate who must be shunned is also deprived of dignities, offices, benefices, and pensions (c. 2266).
8. Exclusion from participation in civil or ecclesiastical courts. But present discipline is less severe.
9. Exclusion from certain civil rights. Present discipline has been modified even in respect of excommunicates who have to be shunned (cf. c. 2267).
10. Note. 1. An excommunicated cleric (or one under any other censure) incurs irregularity by exercising voluntarily any act proper to sacred orders (c. 985, n. 7).
11. Anyone who continues obstinately in the censure of excommunication for one year incurs suspicion of heresy (c. 2340, §1).

Art. 2. Interdict

750. Definition. Interdict is a censure whereby the faithful while remaining in communion with the Church are forbidden the use of certain sacraments and other sacred things (cf. c. 2268, § 1).

Although interdict is termed a censure, frequently it is also a vindictive penalty or merely a prohibition which causes suffering even to the innocent. However since an interdict does not sever communion with the Church, it is normally a less severe form of punishment than excommunication.

Kinds, 1. A local interdict is one which affects a place immediately and only indirectly the persons living in that place, including externs and those who are exempt ; a personal interdict is one which affects the individual directly and accompanies him wherever he goes. — No mention is made in the new Code of a form of interdict which affects both place and individual in the same way.

2. An interdict is general, if it affects either a whole territory (a general local interdict) or all the individuals in one place (a general personal interdict) ; otherwise it is particular, when it affects either one place (such as a church or monastery) or certain individuals.
3. An interdict forbidding entrance into a church is a partial interdict forbidding a person to celebrate the divine offices in any church or to assist at such offices or to receive ecclesiastical burial ; however if he should assist at these offices he need not be expelled, and if he is given ecclesiastical burial his body need not be removed (c. 2277).
4. Author. A general interdict affecting an entire diocese or realm or exempt places or the persons in a diocese or realm can be inflicted by the Holy See only ; a general interdict affecting a parish or the people of a parish, and certain particular interdicts can be issued by the bishop (c. 2269, §1).
5. The effects of an interdict and its extent are usually determined in each specific case by the legitimate Superior. But in general the following rules apply.
6. A local interdict
7. a) forbids the celebration of divine offices and the administration of sacred rites in the place under interdict, except on five feast days (Christmas Day, Easter, Pentecost, Corpus Christs, the Assumption of Our Lady) when the interdict is suspended to allow all sacred rites, with the exception of the conferring of orders and the solemn blessing of marriage (c. 2270, § 2);
8. b) does not forbid:
9. i) the private administration of the sacraments and the sacramentals to the dying nor the burial of the faithful in a cemetery but without any ecclesiastical rite (c. 2270, § 1 ; c. 2272, § 2) ;
10. ii) the celebration in private and in a subdued voice of all the divine services and sacred functions in any church or oratory with the doors closed and without ringing of church bells, if the local interdict is general and nothing to the contrary is expressly stated in the decree (c. 2271, n. 1) ;

iii) the celebration of one Mass each day, reservation of the Blessed Sacrament, the administration of Baptism, of Holy Eucharist, Penance, marriage without the nuptial blessing, funerals without any solemnity, blessing of the baptismal water and holy oils, preaching of the Word of God, in the cathedral and in parochial churches and in any church which is the only one in the town. In all these functions singing, display in sacred utensils and vestments, ringing of church bells, playing of the organ and of other musical instruments are forbidden (ibid. n. 2).

From this it is evident that a local interdict is not such a serious punishment, at least for those who are innocent.

2. A personal interdict forbids those under interdict :
3. a) to celebrate or assist at Divine offices, with the exception of sermons. Passive assistance at these services is not so strictly forbidden ; but if the interdict was imposed by a condemnatory or declaratory sentence, or is otherwise notorious, they must be repelled from any active assistance which implies participation in the celebration of Divine offices (c. 2275) ;
4. b) to consecrate, administer or receive the sacraments and sacramentals, with the exceptions mentioned above in n. 748 relating to excommunicates. Those under personal interdict are subject to the same restrictions as excommunicates in respect of their rights of voting, presentation, nomination, in respect also of their obtaining dignities, offices, benefices, pensions, positions in the Church, papal favours, and likewise of their reception of sacred Orders (cf. n. 748) ;
5. c) to receive ecclesiastical burial (c. 2275, n. 4).
6. An interdict ceases in the same way as other vindictive penalties, i.e. by legitimate dispensation or lapse of the stated period, if it was inflicted in the form of a vindictive punishment. If the interdict was imposed in the form of a censure (as is usually the case), what has been said already regarding the absolution of censures applies also to the cessation of interdict.

Art. 3. Suspension

754. Definition. Suspension is a censure whereby a cleric is restrained from the use of his office or benefice or both, either in part or completely (cf. c. 2278).

Explanation, 1. It is a censure since it is normally a medicinal punishment, although on occasions it is a vindictive penalty and thus resembles an interdict. When doubt arises whether suspension is a censure or a vindictive penalty, it is presumed to be a censure (c. 2255, § 2).

2. Suspension is inflicted on clerics only, while excommunication and interdict can be inflicted on lay persons.
3. Kinds, 1. Suspension is either general or restricted, according as the cleric is forbidden either all use of his sacred Orders, office and benefice, or the use of one of these three. A suspension inflicted without any further qualification is considered to be general.
4. Suspension from office is either general or restricted; it is general if it forbids the exercise of the power of Orders and jurisdiction and also of mere administration proper to an office (with the exception only of the administration of the goods of one’s own benefice ; c. 2279, § 1) ; it is restricted if it forbids only certain acts attached to his office. — General suspension from office (and this applies also to general suspension from benefice) affects all offices (or benefices) which the suspended cleric holds in the diocese of the superior who issues the suspension (c. 2281). The local Ordinary cannot suspend a cleric from a specified office or benefice which he holds in another diocese, since he has no jurisdiction in that diocese. But a suspension latae sententiae inflicted by the common law affects all offices or benefices no matter in which diocese they are held (c. 2282). Thus, for example, a cleric who knowingly receives sacred Orders through simony is suspended from all offices and benefices, even though he holds them in different dioceses.
5. There are nine restricted forms of suspension (c. 2279).
6. a) Suspension from jurisdiction in general forbids every act of the power of jurisdiction in either forum.
7. b) Suspension from the divine ministry forbids every act of the power of Orders even if possessed by privilege, such as the power of Confirmation delegated to a simple priest.
8. c) Suspension from Orders forbids the exercise of any act of the power of Orders received by ordination.
9. d) Suspension from sacred Orders forbids the exercise of the powers of major orders.
10. e) Suspension from the exercise of a certain definite Order forbids not only the exercise and reception of that Order but also the reception of any higher Order and its exercise, if received.
11. f) Suspension from conferring a certain specified Order forbids the conferring of the Order specified, not however of a higher or lower order.
12. g) Suspension from a specified ministry, such as the hearing of confessions, or from a specified office, such as that of the care of souls. It forbids every act of that ministry or office.
13. h) Suspension from the pontifical Order forbids the exercise of every act of the power belonging to the Order of bishops.
14. i) Suspension from pontificals forbids the exercise of episcopal functions in which the liturgy requires the use of the mitre and crozier.
15. Effects of suspension.
16. A suspended cleric commits grave sin by exercising any act forbidden to him (but there is the possibility of parvity of matter in such cases), unless there exist excusing causes which are the same as those that justify the non-observance of censures in general (cf. n. 742).
17. A cleric suspended from a sacred Order who violates that suspension by exercising an act proper to that Order incurs irregularity (c. 985, n. 7) ;
18. Suspension from benefice deprives the cleric of the revenues of the benefice (with the exception of dwelling in the residence belonging to the benefice) but not of the right of administering the goods of the benefice. This is the normal rule. If the beneficiary in spite of the suspension does receive the revenue of the benefice, he is bound to restitution (c. 2280).
19. Generally speaking, suspension has the same effects as excommunication, n. 748.
20. Suspension ceases in the same way as other penalties whether vindictive (if the suspension is a vindictive punishment) or medicinal (if the suspension is in the form of a censure).
21. Scholium. Suspension ex informata conscientia. This suspension is an extremely grave punishment and an extraordinary remedy. It may be inflicted by the Ordinary or by the major Superior of an exempt Religious order of clerics. It applies to offices only (either to all or to some), c. 2186, § 1, and not to benefices.

The conditions required for the valid and lawful infliction of this penalty are ;

1. a) that the Ordinary cannot without grave inconvenience proceed against his subject in the ordinary course of law (ibid. § 2) ;
2. b) that the decree of suspension be given in writing (unless circumstances demand otherwise) with the day, month and year dearly stated ; moreover it must be stated explicitly that the suspension is inflicted ex informata conscientia and for how long the penalty is valid.— The reason is two-fold : firstly, to prevent the Ordinary having recourse to this extraordinary measure in a sudden fit of anger, and secondly, to allow the subject to exercise his right of recourse more easily. If the suspension is inflicted as a censure, the Ordinary must inform the cleric of the reason for this punishment ; otherwise he is under no strict obligation to do so, although it is fitting that he should. If the cleric appeals against the suspension, the Ordinary must forward to the Holy See the proofs from which it is certain that the cleric actually committed the offence which deserves this extraordinary penalty (c. 2194)
3. c) that the delinquency punished in this severe manner should be certain, occult and sufficiently grave to be punished in this way (c. 2190 sq.). In extraordinary circumstances a public delinquency may be punished by this suspension, but a notorious delinquency never (c. 2191).

The manner and time of instituting an appeal against this severe penalty is described in the author’s Man. iur. can. q. 556.

Art. 4. Other Ecclesiastical Penalties

Introduction. In n. 732 we have already given a summary of those ecclesiastical penalties in existence at present. Since it does not belong to the province of moral Theology but to that of ecclesiastical law to discuss vindictive penalties, canonical penances and penal remedies, we must refer the indulgent reader to the author’s Man. iur. can. Furthermore these penalties do not occur frequently and when such a case does arise a superficial knowledge — the only type possible in this brief Vade-mecum — would be insufficient. However it may be useful to outline what one ought to know regarding one form of vindictive penalty with which the confessor is sometimes confronted in practice, i.e., infamy.

Infamy

759. Definition. Infamy consists in the loss or at least diminution of a person’s good repute or honour (reputation, character).

We are here considering only canonical or ecclesiastical infamy, and not its civil counterpart. There used to exist some authors who thought that a person declared infamous by a civil judge incurred infamy also in ecclesiastical law, but at least according to present discipline this opinion is not true, as will become clear from what follows. It is not denied that a person declared infamous by civil law incurs canonical infamy also, but he does so not because of the civil judgement but for another reason.

760. Kinds. There are two forms of infamy — of law, and of fact. Infamy of law is that which is specified in certain cases by common law (c. 2293, § 2). Infamy offset is incurred when a person loses his good reputation amongst good and reliable Catholics as the result of evil conduct or the commission of some crime, the judgement of which belongs to the Ordinary. One offence is sufficient, provided that it is so grave and notorious that in the judgement of the Ordinary (to the exclusion of any other man) it destroys the person’s good reputation with upright and seriously-minded Catholics.

Note. In the old law infamy was sometimes incurred by the discharge of certain offices regarded as evil, such as those of executioner or actor. According to present discipline infamy is incurred for delinquency only, and this is to be understood personally. Consequently infamy does not affect the person’s blood relations or relations by marriage (ibid. § 4). But it is possible to incur irregularity from defect by exercising the office of executioner, for example.

761. There are seven instances in which infamy of law is incurred ipso facto, and two instances where it is incurred after judicial sentence. The following are infamous ipso facto :
762. those who formally join a non-Catholic sect or who publicly adhere to one (c. 2314, § 1, n. 3) ;
763. those who throw away the consecrated species or remove or retain them for an evil purpose (c. 2320);
764. those who have violated the bodies or graves of the dead by theft or other crimes (c. 2328) ;
765. those who lay violent hands on the person of the Pope, Cardinals, or Legates (c. 2343) ;
766. those who fight a duel, and their seconds (c. 2351, § 2) ;
767. those who commit bigamy (c. 2356) ;
768. lay people lawfully condemned for crimes of impurity with minors under sixteen years of age, or for rape, sodomy, incest, bawdry (c. 2357).

The following are to be declared infamous :

1. apostates, heretics, schismatics, unless they return to the faith after they have been admonished (c. 2314, § 1, n. 2) ;
2. clerics who commit similar sins of impurity as previously mentioned in respect of lay persons, likewise those who commit sins of adultery, bestiality, incest of the first degree (c. 2359, § 2).
3. The effects of infamy of law are :
4. irregularity by defect (c. 984, n. 5) ;
5. inability to obtain benefices, pensions, offices, ecclesiastical dignities, (c. 2294, § 1) ;
6. inability to exercise legal ecclesiastical actions (ibid.) ;
7. inability to exercise ecclesiastical right or office (ibid.) ;
8. a prohibition to exercise the ministry in sacred functions (ibid.). The effects of infamy of fact are :
9. exclusion from receiving orders, dignities, benefices, ecclesiastical offices (ibid. § 2) ;
10. exclusion from exercising the sacred ministry and legitimate acts.
11. Infamy of law ceases by dispensation only, granted by the Holy See ; infamy of fact ceases when the individual recovers his good reputation with good and reliable Catholics, provided that all the circumstances are taken into consideration and especially the amendment of the guilty party made long ago. The Ordinary is to judge concerning the recovery of this reputation. What constitutes an amendment made long ago — whether, for example, the period of three years proposed by older authors is sufficient — is to be left to the prudent judgement of the Ordinary.

chapter iv. censures of the present day

Introduction. The following general direction is given in the Code, c. 6, n. 5 : “All former ecclesiastical punishments, whether spiritual or temporal, corrective or punitive, latae or ferendae sententiae, of which the Code makes 110 mention, are held to be abolished.” Therefore by common law only those punishments found in the Code are at present in existence. — For hearing confessions, it is extremely useful to possess a brief summary of the censures which are still in existence. Other forms of ecclesiastical punishment are not so frequently encountered in the confessional. Therefore we intend to treat briefly of censures of the present day : 1. excommunications ; 2. interdicts ; 3. suspensions.

Art. 1. Excommunications of the Present Day

There are five categories of excommunication incurred ipso facto, according to the manner in which their absolution is reserved ; 1. most specially to the Holy See ; 2. specially to the Holy See ; 3. simply to the Holy See ; 4. to Ordinaries ; 5. to no one.

1. Sins which incur Excommunication Most Specially Reserved to the Holy See

Excommunications most specially reserved to the Holy See are four in number (in addition to those which are incurred for the violation of a secret of the Holy Office or Sacred Congregation or of a Consistory in electing a bishop).

764. The following persons incur this excommunication :
765. those who throw away the consecrated species or carry them off or retain them for an evil purpose.

Thus, for instance, thieves who sacrilegiously break open the tabernacle and scatter the hosts incur this excommunication. — Anyone guilty of this offence is also suspected of heresy and incurs infamy ipso facto. If he is a cleric he must be deposed (c. 2320).

2. those who lay violent hands on the person of the Pope (c. 2343). Moreover the delinquent is to be shunned ipso facto and incurs infamy of law ; if he is a cleric he must be deposed.
3. Those who absolve or pretend to absolve their accomplice in a sin against chastity (c. 2367 ; cf. n. 723);
4. a confessor who presumes to violate the seal of confession directly. The manner in which the seal is violated directly has been explained in n. 707. As a result of the words used in the Code, c. 2369, § 1 — “ excommunication most specially reserved to the Holy See awaits a confessor who presumes to violate directly the sacramental seal ” — some authors (because of the use of the verb “ awaits ” with the accusative) regard this censure as being ferendae sententiae and not latae sententiae, but the contrary opinion is more probable and common.
5. Sins Which Incur Excommunication Specially Reserved to the Holy See

There are eleven such excommunications, in addition to those which may be incurred because of abuses in Papal elections.

765. The following persons incur this excommunication :
766. apostates from the Christian Faith, heretics and schismatics (c. 2314, § *);

It has been explained already, n. 201, what is meant by an apostate, a heretic, and a schismatic. Anyone suspected of heresy who shows no sign of amendment within six months after contracting the penalty is considered to be a heretic and therefore is liable to penalties inflicted on heretics (c. 2315). — If the sin of heresy or apostasy or schism has been brought to the external forum of the local Ordinary, no matter in what way (even by voluntary confession), the local Ordinary (but not the Vicar General, unless he enjoys a special mandate) may absolve in the external forum in virtue of his ordinary authority, but he must previously obtain an abjuration of heresy and observe all that is prescribed by law ; a person so absolved may then seek absolution in the internal forum from any confessor (c. 2314, § 2). This statute is of practical importance when converts are received into the Church. Other penalties mentioned in c. 23×4 are incurred by apostates, heretics and schismatics.

766. 2. those who publish books of apostates, heretics or schismatics, which defend apostasy, heresy or schism, those who defend such books or other books specifically condemned by Apostolic Letters, and those who knowingly read or keep such books without due permission (c. 2318, § 1) ;

This censure, originally contained in the Bull “ Apostolicae Sedis,” has undergone some modification. By way of explanation we will indicate briefly which books and which actions come within the prohibition.

The books to which this canon refers (excluding manuscripts and pamphlets, but including periodicals that are bound in the form of a volume : Holy Office Jan. 13, 1892) are :

1. a) those which of set purpose defend (and which do not merely contain) apostasy, heresy, or schism. According to some authors such books would not be prohibited under pain of excommunication if, while defending heresy, they were written anonymously or by a Catholic or by a non-baptised person, since such authors could not be regarded as heretics, etc. in the strict sense of the word ; but such an opinion seems to be extremely formalistic and against the spirit of the law which seeks to protect the faithful against the serious dangers caused by any work which expressly defends apostasy, etc.
2. b) those which are forbidden specifically (i.e. under their own particular title, and not under the general heading : all the works of such an author) by Apostolic Letters, e.g. a Brief or an Encyclical (but not a decree of the Holy Office) under pain of excommunication. Such books are very few in number and in the new Index of prohibited books are indicated by the sign t.

Four actions are prohibited under pain of excommunication :

1. a) the effective publication of the work by the author, printer, editor, but this probably excludes all other persons who co-operate in the publication ;
2. b) the reading of such works : this refers to those persons who read the book with their own eyes and understand at least to some extent what they are reading, and thus it does not include a person who listens to such books being read or one who does not understand what he reads or who reads such a small portion of the book that there is no danger of perversion. It is further required that they knowingly read such books ; hence any form of ignorance (excepting affected ignorance) excuses from the censure;
3. c) the defending of such books — that is to say, defending a book not because of its fine style or other good qualities, but precisely because it defends apostasy, etc. ;
4. d) retaining such works — that is to say, retaining these books in one’s own name without real necessity. Consequently those employed in libraries and bookbinders are not subject to this excommunication.

Note. 1. In addition to this excommunication there is another (reserved to no one) which is inflicted on those who print the Sacred Scriptures without due permission, cf. below.

2. In addition to those books which are forbidden under pain of censure there are many other prohibited books ; cf. the author’s Man. iur. can . q. 417 sqq.
3. those who, not being priests, simulate the celebration of Mass or hear sacramental confessions (c. 2322) ;
4. those who appeal from the mandates of the Pope to a General Council (c. 2332) ;
5. those who have recourse to the secular power in order to impede the letters or other documents of the Holy See (c. 2333) ;
6. 6. those who publish laws, orders, or decrees against the liberty or rights of the Church, as also those who directly or indirectly impede the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction of either the internal or external forum by having recourse for such purpose to any lay authority (c. 2334) ;

This excommunication could be frequently incurred in those countries where many evil laws are passed by members of parliaments or senators, but in practice the censure is avoided through ignorance of the censure or as the result of an existing Concordat. However any private individual who has recourse to the civil authorities in order to impede the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction does not deserve such an excuse.

7. those who dare without due permission from the Holy See to cite before a lay judge a Cardinal, Papal Legate, or major official of the Roman Curia on matters arising from their office, or their own Ordinary (c. 2341) ;

The Holy See sometimes grants general permission in a Concordat to allow clerics to be cited before the civil courts, as happens in many Latin American countries. To cite a cleric before the civil court seems to mean compelling a cleric to appear as a defendant and not merely as a witness before the court.

768. 8. those who lay violent hands on a Cardinal, Papal Legate, archbishop or bishop, even though merely titular (c. 2343) ;

To lay violent hands on such persons means some grave violation of the privilegium canonis, such as striking or imprisoning these persons. A similar injury inflicted on other clerics is punished by other censures, cf. above, 1, 2, and also below, IV, 6.

9. those who usurp or retain property belonging to the See of Rome (c. 2345) ;
10. those who falsify letters or decrees of the Holy See or knowingly use such letters (c. 2360, § 1) ;
11. those who falsely denounce a confessor for the crime of solicitation (c. 2363).

Cf. n. 729, where it was emphasized that such false denunciation is always a sin reserved to the Holy See even if the censure is not incurred, as happens when the individual is ignorant of the penalty.

III. Sins which incur Excommunication Simply Reserved to the Holy See

769. The following persons incur excommunication simply reserved to the Holy See :
770. those who make profit from indulgences (c. 2327) ;

This seems to include all persons who deliberately seek gain from indulgences, whether they use the profit for themselves or not.

770. 2. those who join the sect of the Masons or other societies which plot against the Church or the lawful civil authority (c. 2335) ;

The Holy Office, May 10, 1884, made a distinction between those societies which simply fall under condemnation, and societies which are condemned and whose members are excommunicated. Under the first class are included all societies which exist for some evil purpose, e.g. cremation, and those which make use of evil means to achieve their purpose, as also those which exact the strictest secrecy and absolute obedience from their members. Societies whose members incur excommunication include the sect of the Masons and all societies which of set purpose plot against the Church or legitimate civil authority, such as the Communists, Bolsheviks, Nihilists. It is doubtful whether all socialists fall under this censure.

771. 3. those who without due faculties presume to absolve from an excommunication reserved either most specially or specially to the Holy See (c. 2338, § 1) ;

Any form of ignorance (excepting affected ignorance) excuses from this excommunication, since it is issued against those who presume to absolve.

4. those who aid or abet anyone in a crime for which he was declared an excommunicate to be shunned by all ; similarly clerics who knowingly and willingly hold communion with such excommunicates in divinis and admit them to Divine services (c. 2338, § 2) ;

Since excommunicates who have to be shunned are to-day extremely rare, no further explanation is required here. Cf. the author’s Man. Theol. mor. Ill, 519.

5. those who without due permission dare to cite before a civil court a bishop (not of their own diocese), or an abbot, a prelate nullius, or any of the major superiors of religious Institutes approved by Rome (c. 2341) ;

This excommunication is incurred by those who violate the privilegium fori in respect of certain prelates. Regarding other excommunications incurred as the result of violating this privilege, cf. above, II, 7, where the highest prelates are concerned, and n. 777 in respect of other ecclesiastical persons.

6 . those who violate the enclosure of nuns, and women who enter the enclosure of religious men, likewise those who admit or introduce such persons ; furthermore nuns who leave their enclosure without due permission (c. 2342) ;

The enclosure to which this canon refers is the so-called papal enclosure which is normally found only in houses of religious with solemn vows. Therefore those who violate any other form of enclosure do not incur this excommunication. Regarding the circumstances which permit entry into or departure from the enclosure, cf. the author’s Man. iur. can. q. 228.

7. those who convert to their own use ecclesiastical property or who hinder those who have a right to the income from Church goods (c. 2346) ;

Those who commit such an offence incur other penalties mentioned in the same canon. Ordinary thieves and robbers would not seem to incur this censure (cf. Holy Office, March 9, 1870) : similarly a mayor and his advisers who retain Church property not for their own use but for the benefit of the city (Sacred Penitentiary, January 3, and March 8, 1906) ; also those who freely undertake the administration of such stolen property (Sacred Penitentiary, September 17, 1906). But the excommunication is inflicted on those who have bought or laired for their own use Church property, i.e. property belonging to a moral ecclesiastical person, as also on intruding parish priests and beneficed clerics. Absolution from the censure cannot be granted until the ill-gotten goods have been restored. In some countries, e.g. France and Italy, bishops have special faculties to grant or facilitate this absolution (S. Pen. August 5, 1907).

8. those who fight a duel, or who make or accept a challenge to a duel, or who permit it, as also those who purposely go to see the duel or who give any aid to it, or favour it (c. 2351). Cf. what has been said previously 011 this subject, n. 279.
9. 9. clerics in major Orders or Regulars or nuns who have taken the solemn vow of chastity who presume to contract marriage — even civil marriage — and also all persons who attempt to contract it with them (c. 2388, § 1).

Prior to the new Code this excommunication was reserved to the Ordinary, to whom is now reserved a somewhat similar excommunication inflicted on those who having taken simple vows presume to contract marriage (cf. below, IV, 9). If clerics or religious live in concubinage without attempting (at least apparent) marriage, they do not incur this excommunication.

10. those who are guilty of simony in any office, benefice, or ecclesiastical dignity (c. 2392) ;

Those who are guilty of simony incur other penalties, as is evident from c. 2392, but the excommunications inflicted prior to the new Code on those who committed simony in entering religion or in collecting Mass stipends appear to have been abolished.

11. those who steal, destroy, conceal, or substantially alter any document belonging to the episcopal Curia (c. 2405).
12. Sins which Incur Excommunication Reserved to the Ordinary
13. The following persons incur excommunication reserved to the Ordinary :
14. those who marry before a non-Catholic minister (c. 2319) acting as such and not as a mere civil authority.

This excommunication is incurred in the external forum even by those who are ignorant of the censure (Holy Office, May 17, 1892). It is customary for bishops to determine the way in which reconciliation may be effected.

2. those who contract marriage on the understanding that their offspring shall be educated outside the Catholic Church (ibid.) ;
3. those who knowingly present their children to non-Catholic ministers for Baptism (ibid.) ;
4. parents, or those who take the place of parents, who knowingly hand over their children to be educated or brought up in a non-Catholic religion (ibid.) ;
5. those who manufacture or knowingly sell, distribute, or expose for public veneration false relics (c. 2326) ;
6. those who lay violent hands on a cleric (below the status of prelates, already mentioned in I, 2 and II, 8) or a religious of either sex (c. 2343, § 4 );
7. those who effectually procure an abortion, not excepting the mother (c. 2350) ;
8. religious who apostatize from the religious life. This excommunication is reserved to the major superiors of the respective Order or, if the Institute is lay or not exempt, to the local Ordinary of the place in which they live (c. 2385) ;
9. professed religious of simple perpetual vows (whether in an Order or Congregation) who attempt to contract marriage, even a civil marriage, and those persons with whom they contract marriage (c. 2388, § 2 ; cf. above, III, 3).

Note. Regular confessors may absolve from any of these nine censures, unless the Ordinary has specially reserved one to himself. In danger of death any confessor has the requisite faculty to absolve from such censures, and there is no obligation to approach the Bishop if the absolved person recovers.

1. Sins which Incur Excommunication Not Reserved
2. The following persons incur excommunication which is reserved to no one :
3. authors and publishers who without due permission publish books of the Bible, or annotations or commentaries on the same (c. 2318, § 2) :
4. those who dare to command or compel the Church to give ecclesiastical burial to infidels, apostates, heretics, schismatics, or other excommunicated or interdicted persons enumerated in c. 1240, § 1 (c. 2339) ;

In addition to those mentioned the following persons are excluded from ecclesiastical burial : 1. suicides; 2. duellists killed in a duel or dying from some wound received in it ; 3 . cremationists ; other public sinners. — If any sign of repentance was given prior to death, these persons may be granted ecclesiastical burial.

3 . those who in any way are guilty of unlawful alienation of Church property without the necessary permission of the Holy See (c. 2347, n. 3) ;

4. those who use any force to compel another to enter the clerical fife or a religious community (c. 2352);
5. those who knowingly neglect to denounce within a month a confessor guilty of solicitation (c. 2368, § 2).

Art. 2. Forms of Interdict of the Present Day

773. 1. Universities, colleges, Chapters, and other moral persons of whatsoever kind, who appeal from the laws, decrees, and mandates of the reigning Pope to a General Council, incur an interdict specially reserved to the Holy See (c. 2332).

Physical persons guilty of this offence are suspected of heresy and incur excommunication specially reserved to the Holy See, as stated already, II, 3. The interdict inflicted on moral persons is specially reserved to the Holy See.

2. Those who knowingly celebrate or cause to be celebrated Divine offices in places under interdict or who allow clerics under excommunication, interdict, or suspension to celebrate after condemnatory or declaratory sentence such Divine offices as are forbidden by censure incur an interdict forbidding entrance into a church, until they have made fitting satisfaction according to the discretion of the superior whose sentence they ignored (c. 2338, § 3).

3 . Those who are the cause of a local interdict, or of an interdict on a college or community incur a personal interdict (ibid. 4).

This interdict does not seem to be reserved.

4. Those who of their own accord grant ecclesiastical burial to infidels, apostates, heretics, schismatics, excommunicates, or those under interdict, incur an interdict forbidding entrance into a church and this penalty is reserved to the Ordinary (c. 2339).
5. Catholics who without due permission have dared to contract a mixed marriage (even though valid) are ipso facto excluded from legitimate acts and sacramentals, until they have obtained the requisite dispensation from the Ordinary (c. 2375).

Art. 3. Forms of Suspension of the Present Day

Certain suspensions are reserved to the Holy See, others to the Ordinary, others to religious superiors, while some are not reserved. Amongst these suspensions there are some which are vindictive penalties rather than censures.

1. Suspensions Reserved to the Holy See
2. 1. Those who confer or receive episcopal consecration without leave from the Holy See are ipso facto suspended, until such time as the Holy See dispenses them (c. 2370).
3. All clerics (including bishops) who administer or receive Orders or any other sacrament through simony incur suspension (c. 2371).
4. Those who presume to receive Orders from one who is excommunicated, suspended or under interdict (after condemnatory or declaratory sentence) or from a notorious apostate, heretic or schismatic incur suspension from the divine ministry. Those who are ordained in this manner in good faith are forbidden to exercise any Order thus received until they arc dispensed (c. 2372).
5. Suspension from conferring orders for a year is incurred ipso facto by those who confer Orders a) without the necessary testimonial or dimissorial letters ; b) before the canonical age ; c ) on religious without the requisite permissions (c. 2373).
6. An abbot or a prelate nullius who in spite of no existing impediment delays his consecration for over three months after receiving the papal letters is suspended ipso facto from exercising the power of jurisdiction (c. 2402).

There is some doubt whether this suspension is reserved, since the Code makes no mention of any such reservation.

6. A religious in major Orders whose profession has been declared null and void on account of deceit on his part is suspended until the Holy See dispenses him (c. 2387).
7. A professed religious in major Orders who having taken perpetual vows is dismissed because of some minor offence (enumerated in c. 670) is suspended ipso facto (c. 671).
8. Priests who without the necessary letters required by the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory (Dec. 30, 1918) rashly and arrogantly emigrate from Europe or territories bordering on the Mediterranean to America or the Philippines remain ipso facto suspended from the divine ministry ; if in spite of this prohibition they exercise some act of the ministry (which God forbid) they incur irregularity, and only the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory can absolve them from these penalties (Act. Ap. Sed. XI, 43).
9. Suspension Reserved to the Ordinary
10. A cleric who without due permission from the local Ordinary dares to sue in a civil court any ecclesiastical person who is neither a Cardinal, bishop, nor major Prelate, incurs suspension from office (c. 2341).

III. Suspension Reserved to the Major Superior of a Religious Order

778. Religious in major Orders who become fugitives are suspended (c. 2386).

Not only religious in the strict sense of the term but also brothers without vows living the common life in a community of men incur the same penalty if they become fugitives from their religious Institute (Pontifical Commission, June 3, 1918).

1. Suspension Not Reserved
2. I. Priests who presume to hear sacramental confessions without proper jurisdiction are ipso facto suspended from the divine ministry ; those who presume to absolve from reserved sins are ipso facto suspended from the hearing of confessions (c. 2366).
3. Clerics who maliciously receive Orders without dimissorial letters or with false ones or before the canonical age or without observing the prescribed sequence of Orders are ipso facto suspended from the Orders thus received (c. 2374).
4. Clerics who presumptuously resign an office, benefice, or ecclesiastical dignity into the hands of lay persons incur suspension ipso facto from the divine ministry (c. 2400).
5. A Vicar Capitular who grants dimissorial letters unlawfully is ipso facto suspended from the divine ministry (c. 2409).
6. Religious superiors who in violation of the law have presumed to send their subjects for ordination to a bishop of another place are ipso facto suspended for one month from the celebration of Mass (c. 2410).

This suspension is likewise incurred by superiors of clerical Congregations which do not take vows, if they have the privilege of granting dimissorial letters for their own subjects (Pont. Comm., June 2-3, 1918. Act. Ap. Sed. X, 347).