Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/761

 EXCOMMUNICATION

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EXCOMMUNICATION

not released from any of his obligations in regard to the Divine Office and, if bound to it, must recite it, but privately and not in the choir. A toleratus may be admitted to the choir, but a vitandus must be expelled therefrom. All e.xcommunicated clerics are prohibi- ted from celebrating Mass and performing other strictly liturgical functions, under penalty of the ir- regularity ex delicto for violation of the censure; par- ticipation in the liturgical acts performed by an ex- communicated cleric is a forbidden communicalio in sacris; however, no censure would result from it ex- cept in the case of clerics voluntarily communicating in sacris with those whom the pope had excommuni- cated by name (Const. "Apost. SedLs", II, 17). In each case the fault should be estimated according to circumstances.

(3) Commiinio. — These are, properly speaking, the public suffrages of the Church, official prayers, Indul- gences, etc., in which tlie excommunicated have no share. But they are not excluded from the private suffrages (i. e. intercessory petitions) of the faithful, who can pray for them.

(4) Crypta. — This word signifies ecclesiastical bur- ial, of which the excommunicated are deprived. In chapter xii, de sepulturis (lib. Ill, tit. xxviii), Inno- cent III says: "The canons have established that we should not hold communion after their death with those with whom we did not communicate during their lifetime, and tliat all those should be deprived of ec- clesiastical burial who were separated from the unity of the Churcli, and at the moment of death were not reconciled thereunto." The Ritual (tit. VI, cap. ii, n. 2) renews this prohibition for those publicly excom- municated, and most writers interpret this as meaning those wliose excommunication has been publicly pro- claimed (Many, De locis sacris, p. 354), so that, under this head, the ancient discipline is no longer applica- ble, except to the vitandi. However, this does not mean that the tolerati can always receive ecclesiastical burial; they may be deprived of it for other reasons, e. g. as heretics or public sinners. Apropos of this leniency, it must be remembered that it is not the ex- communicated the Church wishes to favour, but rather the faithful for whose sake communion with the tolerati is allowed in the matter of burial as well as in other matters. The interment of a toleratiis in a con- secrated cemetery carries with it no longer the desecra- tion of said cemetery; this would follow, however, in the case of the vitandi. (See Burial.)

(5) Potestas signifies ecclesiastical jurisdiction, of which both the passive and the active use, to speak canonically, are forbidden the excommunicated. Jur- isdiction is used passively when a person is the object of one of its acts, of a concession. Now, ecclesiastical authority has no official relations with the exile unless, at his request, it negotiates the conditions for his re- turn to society. Connected with this discipline is the rule forbiilding the excommunicated to receive from the pope any kind of rescript (of grace or justice), ex- cept in regard to their excommunication, under pain of nullity of such rescript (c. xxvi, de rescriptis, lib. I, tit iii, and c. i, eod., in VI). Hence the custom of inserting in papal rescripts the so-called ad effectum absolution from censures, intended solely to ensure the value of the rescript, but affecting in no wise the ex- communication, if already existent. Jurisdiction is used actively when exercised by its depositaries. It is easy to understand that the ("hurch cannot leave her junsdiction in the hands of those whom she excludes from her society. In principle, therefore, excommuni- cation entails the loss of jurisdiction both in foro ex- terno and in foro interno and renders null all acts accomplished without the necessary jurisdiction. However, for the general good of society, the Church maintains jurisdiction, despite occult excommunica- tion, and supplies it for acts performi^d by the tolerati. But as the vitandi are known to be such, thia merciful

remedy cannot be applied to them except in certain cases of extreme necessity, when jurisdiction is said to be " supplied " by the Church.

() Frivdia sacra are ecclesiastical benefices. The excominuuieated ecclesiastic is incapable of acquiring a benefice, and his presentation to it would be legally null. A benefice already held is not forieited at once, even when to the censure the law adds privation of benefice; this is carried into effect only through a sen- tence which must be at least declaratory and issue from a competent (i. e. the proper) judge. Neverthe- less, from the very first the excommunicated bene- ficiary loses those fruits of his benefice belonging to choir service, provided he is bound thereunto. More- over, should he live a year in the state of excommuni- cation, he can be deprived of his benefice through judi- cial sentence. The aforesaid effects do not result from occult excommunication.

(7) Forum. — The excommunicated person is an exile from ecclesiastical society, consequently from its tribunals; only inasmuch, however, as they would be to his advantage. On the other hand, if he be sum- moned before them to satisfy a third party he is obliged to appear. Hence he cannot appear as plain- tiff, procurator, or advocate; he may be the defendant, or the party accused. At this point the difference be- tween the vitandi and the tolerati consists in this, that the former must be prevented from introducing any legal action before an ecclesiastical tribunal, whereas the latter can be debarred from so doing only when the defendant albges and proves excommunication as already incurred. It is a question here only of public excommunication and before ecclesiastical tribunals.

(8) Civilia jura, i. e. the ordinary relations between memliers of the same society, outside of sacred and judicial matters. This privation, affecting particu- larly the person excommunicated, is no longer imposed on the faithful except in regard to the vitandi. The medieval canonists enumerated the prohibited civil relations in the following verse: —

Os, orare, vale, communio, mensa negatur, namely: (a) conversations, exchange of letters, tokens of benevolence (osculum) ; (b) prayer in common with the excommunicated; (c) marks of honour and re- spect; (d) business and social relations; (e) meals with the excommunicated. But at the same time they specified the reasons that rendered these relations licit: —

Utile, lex, humilis, res ignorata, necesse, that is to say: (a) both the spiritual and the temporal benefit of the excommunicated and of the faithful; (b) conjugal law; (c) the submission owed by children, servants, vassals, and subordinates in general; (d) ig- norance of excommunication or of the prohibition of a particular kind of intercourse; (e) finally, any kind of necessity, as human law, is not binding to this degree.

Remote E fleets. — All the effects that we have just enumerated are the immediate results of excommuni- cation, but it also causes remote effects, which are not a necessary consequence and are only produced when the person censured occasions them. They are three in number: (1) The cleric who violates excommunica- tion by exercising one of the liturgical functions of his order, incurs an irregularity ex delicto. (2) The ex- communicated person who remains a year without making any effort to obtain absolution (insordescentia) becomes suspected of heresy and can be followed up and condemned as guilty of such (Council of Trent, Sess. XXV, cap. iii, De ref. ; cf. Ferraris, s. v. "Insor- descens"). (3) This neglect makes it the judge's duty to deprive the excommunicated cleric of all benefices, though some judges postpone for three years the ful- filment of this obligation (see Hollweck, Die kirch- lichcn Strafgesetze, art. 1, note 3).

Effects nj Invalid or Unjust Excommunication. — An excommunication is said to be null vi\wn it is invalid because of some intrinsic or essential defect, e. g. when