Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/765

 EXCOMMUNICATION

687

EXCOMMUNICATION

indicates the acts punished by excommunication, i.e. all violent attacks on the person of a prelate as such ; it likewise specifies the culprits, i. e those who perpe- trate such assaults and those who are responsible for them, as also their active accomplices.

(6) "Those who directly or indirectly prevent the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, either in foro interno or in foro externo, and who, for this purpose, have recourse to the secular tribunal ; also those who provoke or deliver the orders of this tribunal or lend it their aid, counsel, or support." The preceding article protects those who are the depositaries of jurisdiction; the present article protects the exercise of said juris- diction. It punishes any obstacle raised against the delivery or execution of a sentence or decision of the ecclesiastical authority. It is not question here of the power of order {potestas ordinis) or of facts that do not really imply jurisdiction, e. g. a simple contract. Nor is it question of measures taken with prelates so as to influence them into exercising their jurisdiction in a given direction, e. g. to confer a benefice on Caius or withhold one from Titius ; this censure is meant to punish any obstacle that really prevents action on the part of a prelate who wishes to perform an act of juris- diction or to carry it into effect. He is directly pre- vented when violence is used against him ; indirectly, when his subordinates are prevented from acting. The chief opposition here considered is recourse to .secular and especially judicial authority. Excom- mimication is therefore incurred under this head by all who provoke the intervention of secular tribunals, provided such intervention actually follow; by all who deliver orders or directions intended to prevent the exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction; finally, by all who co-operate in these acts with aid, counsel, or support, unless under compulsion. Moralists and canonists exempt from this penalty the clerks and servants of the secular courts.

(7) "Those who directly or indirectly oblige lay judges to cite ecclesiastical persons before their tri- bunal, except in cases provided for by canonical agree- ments, also tho.se who enact laws or decrees against the liberty or rights of the Church." The first part of this article has for its object the protection of the privileges of the ecclesiastical forum, i. e. of those ec- clesiastics whose right it is to be j udged by ecclesiasti- cal tribunals; consequently, those are excommuni- cated who oblige lay judges to summon clergymen be- fore their tribunal in cases where this ecclesiastical privilege ijirivilegium fori) should be respected. But the judges themselves, who act by virtue of their office;, are not excommunicated (Holy Office, 1 Feb., 1870). Those who thus force lay judges to violate the privilegium fori are of two kinds; namely, those who actually cite ecclesiastics before secular judges, and the legislators or makers of laws detrimental to the rights of the Church. The first are not excommu- nicated provided they have no other means of ob- taining justice, i. e. when the laws of the country in uestion do not recognize the aforesaid ecclesiastical privilegium fori iHoly Office, 23 Jan., 1886). There remains, therefore, of this censure little more than the second part of the article, which now afi'ects chiefly the legislators responsible for laws and decrees against the liberty and rights of the Church.

(8) " Those who have recourse to lay power for the prevention of .\postolic Letters or Acts of any kind emanating from the Apostolic See or from its legates or delegates; those who directly or indirectly prohibit the promulgation of these acts or letters, or who, on the occasion of such promulgation, .strike or terrify either the parties interested or third parties." This article should be compared with number 6 (above), from which it differs in that it protects, not all exer- cise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but that which the Holy See exercises in its official letters, it being emi- nently important to ensure the free communication of

the faithful with Rome. The letters in question are: first, Apostolic Letters, in which the pope himself speaks. Bulls, Briefs, Encyclicals, etc. ; second, the Acts of the Holy See emanating from Roman Congre- gations or other organs of the Curia, which constitute but one authority with the pope (Holy Office, 13 Jan., 1S92); finally, the acts of the official representatives of the pope, e. g. papal legates and delegates. The excommunication considers not only Letters that con- cern all the faithful, but also those regarding individ- uals, e. g. grants of benefices, dispensations, etc. This admitted, the penalty applies to three classes of per- sons, namely: those who resort to secular power, not only judicial but administrative, to prevent these Let- ters from being published or from producing their effect; those who, by means of authority, prevent such publication or execution; and finally, those who, on the occasion of these Letters, strike or terrify eitlier the beneficiaries or even third parties who take part in their publication or execution. According to the more probable opinion, excommunication is incurred even if these measures of opposition do not produce the intended results.

(9) " All falsifiers of Apostolic Letters, even in the form of a Brief, and of petitions concerning matters of grace or j ustice signed by the Roman pontiff, or by car- dinal vice-chancellors or those who replace them, or simply by command of the pope; also those who falsely publish Apostolic Letters, even in the form of a Brief; and finally, those who falsely sign petitions of this kind with the name of the Roman pontiff, of the vice-chan- cellor, or of those who replace them." This excom- munication punishes what is generally known as for- gery, not in all its forms, but in so far as it affects such pontifical letters or grants as are issued through the tribunals known as the " Signatura Grati;e " and the " Signatura Justitiie ", i. e. whence issue papal favours purely benevolent or connected with litigation. It does not therefore attain forgeries affecting the letters of grants of the Roman Congregations or of prelates. It may be somewhat of a surprise to know that this excommunication does not include those who fabri- cate an entire Apostolic Letter, the definition of falsi- fication (falsian) meaning only a notable alteration of authentic Letters either by suppression, erasures, writing over, or substitution. Petitions addressed to the pope, when granted, are first signed by him, or by the vice-chancellor, or other officers. The grant does not thereby become official, but the petition thus signed serves as a basis for the wording of Apostolic Letters (Bulls or Briefs) that actually grant the favour requested. In this process three acts are punish- able with excommunication: the false signing of a pe- tition; the falsification of Apostolic Letters, and the publication of Letters thus falsified, in order to use them.

(10) "Those who absolve an accomplice in a sin against chastity, and that even at the moment of death, provided another priest, although he be not ap- proved for confession, can hear the confession of the dying person without serious danger of infamy or scandal." This excommunication is not derived from the Bull "In Coena Domini", but from the celebrated Constitution of Benedict XIV, "Sacramentum Poeni- tentia'" (1 June, 1741), completed by his Constitution " Apostolici muneris" (8 Feb., 1745). By these Bulls the pope, with a view to protecting the Sacrament of Penance from sacrilegious abuse, withdraws all juris- diction from a confessor for absolving from sins against chastity which he may have committed with another person, whether man or woman; the absolution he might impart for such sin would be null, and the mere attempt to absolve would incur excommunication. The sin thus withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the confessor is any grievous exterior sin against the Sixth Commandment, but it must be such on both sides. The confessor accessary to it cannot pardon it, but,