Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/768

 EXCOMMUNICATION

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EXCOMMUNICATION

(14) " Religious who, without permission of the par- ish priest, venture to administer extreme unction or the Eucharist as Viaticum, to ecclesiastics or laymen, except in cases of necessity." The penalty affects religious with solemn vows and professed, but is not incurred if they have at least the presumed permission of the parish priest, if they be in ignorance, finally if it be a case of necessity. Those to whom these reli- gious must not administer the sacraments are seculars, ecclesiastics or laymen ; they may, however, administer them to persons domiciled in their convents.

(15) "Those who without legitimate permission take relics from the cemeteries or catacombs of Rome or its territorj', and those who give such persons aid or countenance." The permission is to be sought from the Roman Vicariate, and excommunication is in- curred only by carrying away from the catacombs genuine relics, not other objects. Relics are the re- mains, not of anyone happening to be buried in the catacombs, but only of martyrs or of those regarded as such by reason of the "signs of martyrdom" that dis- tinguish their tombs, notably the phial of blood, ac- cording to the .Sacred Congregation of Rites, 10 April, 1668, and 27 Nov., 1S63.

(16) "Those who hold communion in criminal crime with a person whom the pope has excommunicated by name, that is, those who give him assistance or coun- tenance." The "criminal crime" (crimen crimino- sum) is the very one for which the culprit was excom- municated; the article, of course, does not contem- plate participation in the offensive act itself, since excommunication by name is necessarily posterior to such an act. The penalty is inflicted for subse- quently assisting or countenancing the excommuni- cated person. This is a survival [see above, II (5)] of the penalties incurred by intercourse with the excom- municated. It must be noted that this censure is not imposed for intercourse with all excommimicated per- sons, but only with vitandi, those whom the pope has excommunicated by name, not such as have been ex- communicated by a Roman Congregation (Holy Office, 16 June, 1897) or by the bishop.

(17) " Clerics who knowingly and wilfully hold com- munion in divinis with persons whom the pope has excommunicated by name and receive them at Divine service." The excommvmicated in question are the same as in the preceding article, and they cannot be admitted to Divine worship; however, the penalty in- curred concerns ecclesiastics only, when acting freely and with full knowledge [see above, II (5)].

(c) Excommunications Reserved to the Bishop (Ordinary). — These are three in number and affect the following persons;—

(1) " Ecclesiastics in Holy orders and regulars or nuns who dare to contract marriage after having made a solemn vow of chastity, also those who dare to contract marriage with one of these persons." The ecclesiastics whose marriage is null in consequence of the impediment of Holy orders are subdeacons and those in still higher orders; the nuns and male reli- gious whose marriage is null through the impediment of vow are members of the great orders. Neverthe- less, the impediment does not exist from the time of their first profession that follows the novitiate, but only from the solemn profession made three years later. The penalty is incurred by an attempt at mar- riage, not by an act of betrothal; such an attempt is recognized m any contract having the fiqura matri- mnnii, i. e. which would constitute a marriage if there were no impediment; consequently the penalty is in- curred for civil marriage (Holy Office, 22 Dec., 1880), even if there were other impediments, e. g. consan- guinity dloly Office, 16 Jan., 1892).

(2) "Tho.se who efficaciously procure abortion." The fruitless attempt is not punished with excommu- nication ; authors do not agree as to whether the woman guilty of self-abortion is excommunicated.

(3) " Those who knowingly make use of counterfeit Apostolic Letters or who co-operate in the crime." [8ee above, (a) (9).] This article is not directed against forgers but against those who endeavour to profit by falsified letters. Petitions signed by the pope or in his name are not mentioned. Accomplices are also punished ; but the culprits must act knowingly, and be fully aware that they are using falsified papal letters.

(d) Excommunications That Are Not Reserved (Xemini Reservatce). — These are four in number and are pronounced again.st the following persons: —

(1) "Those who command or oblige the giving of ecclesiastical biu-ial to notorious heretics or to persons excommunicated by name or placed under interdict." The article does not consider funeral ceremonies, but only material interment in consecrated ground. Those who admit heretics or others to ecclesiastical burial are not punished, but only those who, by au- thority or force, compel such an interment, thereby violating the prohibition of the Church. Nor is it question here of all who, according to the Ritual, should be deprived of ecclesiastical burial, but merely of the two categories indicated.

(2) "Those who wound or terrorize the inquisitors, informers, witnesses, or other ministers of the Holy Office ; those who lacerate or burn the writings of this tribunal and all who give to the aforesaid assistance, counsel, or countenance." This excommunication does not apply in countries where the Holy Office has no organized tribunal; the inquisitional functions de- volve in such countries on the bishop, who is pro- tected by the specially reserved excommunications described above, under (a) (5), (6), (8).

(3) "Those who alienate and those who have the audacity to receive church property without Apostolic authorization, according to the terms of the Constitu- tion 'Ambitiosie, de rebus eccl. non alienandis'." The author of this Constitution ( Extra vagantes, lib. Ill, tit. iv, inter comra.) was Paul II (1 March, 1467). It forbids under pain of reserved excommimication and of the nullity of the acts, not only alienations (properly so called) of ecclesiastical property, sales, donations, etc., but also all contracts savom-ing of alienation, such as mortgages, etyiphi/lcusis or perpet- ual lease, long-term leases, etc. For the manifest benefit of the Church these contracts must be author- ized by the pope ; only objects of small value are ex- cepted (see Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, no. 20).

(4) "Those who, through their own fault, neglect or omit to denounce within a month the confessors or priests by whom they have been solicited to immodest acts, in all the cases set forth by our predecessors Gregory XV in the Constitution 'Universi' (20 Aug., 1622) and Benedict XIV in the Constitution 'Sacra- mentimi poenitentia>' (1 June, 1741)." This excom- munication is not intended to punish those solicited to sin (they are not therefore guilty), but to protect the administration of the Sacrament of Penance. Per- sons thus solicited are strictly obliged to make known to the inquisitor or the bishop those priests who have solicited them to the aforesaid acts; if, through their own fault, such denunciation is not made within a month they incur excommunication, which ceases only when they have made known in the aforesaid manner the guilty party. The solicitation here alluded to is not any provocation to evil, but to sins against chas- tity on the part of confessors or priests, and in con- nexion with the Sacrament of Penance, this being the abu.se that the legislator especially seeks to pimish. Said connexion exists when the solicitation takes place "during the very act of sacramental confession, immediately before or after, on the occasion or under the pretext of confession, or finally, in the confes- sional".

B. ExcommunicaHons Pronounced by the Council of Trent. — These are eight in number, the first being sim-