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 IRREGULARITY

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IRREGULARITY

scribe certain requisites for the licit reception of orders, e.g. moral probity, proper age, legitimate birth, knowledge proportionate to each order, integrity of body, mind, will, and faith. A defect in these quali- ties prescribed by church regulations is rightly called an irregularity. The direct effect of an irregularity is twofold: first, it prohibits the reception of orders and, second, prevents an order received from being licitly used. Indirectly it impedes one who has become ir- regular from obtaining an ecclesiastical benefice.

Total or Parti.\l. — Irregularity is total when it prohibits the reception of any order and the exercise of every order already received. Such, for example, is the irregularity arising from voluntary homiciile. If partial, it interferes with .some exercise of an order or l^revents only the ascent to a higher order. Thus, the absence of tlie left eye would not prevent one from ministering as a deacon, but he could not receive the priesthood, and a priest who lost his thumb would be- come irregular for sacrificing at the altar, but not for hearing confessions.

Perpetu.^l or Temporal. — The former irregular- ity is of its nature enduring; the latter, existent only for a certain period, as a defect of age.

Ex Delicto or Ex Defectu. — The main division of irregularities is into those which are the conse- ((uence of crime (ex delicto) and those which arise from defect (ex defectu), according as they have been im- posed by law on account of crimes by reason of which a person becomes imworthy of the reception of orders or their exercise or have been imposed on accoimt of certain defects which would be indecorous in a sacred minister. It is not to be supposed however that ir- regularity ex delicto has been directly and proximately imposed as a punishment; for when the Church de- clares one irregular on account of crime, she does not primarily intend the pimishment of the guilty one, but rather desires to shield the sanctuary from profana- tion. As a consequence, irregularity ex delicto re- solves itself logically into irrregularity ex defectu. The distinction, however, must be retained in practice, both on account of the laws of dispensation and be- cause irregularity ex delicto is a result of wrongdoing. This distinction has been taken by canonists from a decree of Pope Innocent III (cap. "Accedens", xiv, X, " De purg. canon.").

( 1 ) Irregularities ex Delicto or on Account of Crime. — In the primitive Church those who had performed public penance for a crime, whether notorious or se- cret, were not allowed to receive orders; and if already ordained were not admitted to higher orders. This was the first form of irregularity in the legislation of the Church, if w-e except certain prescriptions which appear in the New Testament (I Tim., iii, 2; v, 22; Titus, i, 6). After public penance had fallen into desuetude all faults were atoned for by private pen- ance, and then began the distinction found in the "Corpus Juris Canonici" (c. xxxii. § 3, d. 1) between jniblic and private crimes, to the effect that the former produced irregularity, while the latter did not. This was the .second form that irregularity assumed. At present, however, a different rule obtains, namely, that only those crimes which are expressly mentioned in law, whether they be public or private, can produce ir- regularity ex delicto; though it must be noted that crimes to which irregidarity is attached on account of infamy do not make a person irregular if they remain secret, while the other crimes mentioned in law do pro- duce irregularity, whether they be public or occult. For the incurring of irregularity ex delicto the act must be external, consummated, and of mortal gravity. Hence, if, on account of circumstances, the act be not a mortal sin, no irregularity is incurred; for while it is true that irregularity is not constituted precisely on account of crime, yet, as a matter of fact, it is never imputed imless there be a crime of mortal gravity. The exception to this rule is homicide, which may

sometimes make a person irregular when the fault is only venial. It is to be noted that penance cannot prevent the incurring of an irregularity. Suppose there be question of a doubtful crime. If the tloubt be one concerning the law (dubiuin Juri.-i), viz. whether there really exists a canonical irregularity on account of a particular crime, then an irregularity is not in- curred. If the doubt concern the fact {duhium facti), viz. wdiether the crime was actually committed or, if so, whether the act was of mortal gra\ity, canonists reply with a distinction: if the doubtful fact concerns homicide, then it is probable that irregularity was con- tracted, on account of the peculiar incongruity of homicide with the clerical state; but if the doubt con- cerns any other fact, then it is probable that the irreg- ularity has not been incurred, for the accused has the benefit of the doubt.

Homicide and Mutilation. — (a) Voluntary homi- cide, even if occult, is a perpetual irregularity both for the reception of Sacred orders and for the ol)taining of any ecclesiastical benefice or office. The same holds for procuring the actual abortion of a living fcetus. The penitential practice of the Church, however, pre- sumes that the male fcetus is animated only after forty days, and the female after eighty days. All those who concur in the homicide as instigators or counsellors also incur irregularity, unless they re- tracted before the deed was committed and so that their retraction could have been known to the actual perpetrators. As for co-operators in a homiciile, if several conspire together, or if in a public brawl all joined in the attack and it can not be known who in- flicted the fatal wound, all become irregular, at least in the external forum. Those who are in justice bound to prevent a homicide and neglect their duty also incur irregularity. Homicide for the necessary and just de- fence of one's own life, when no other means would ward off the danger, is free from irregularity; but tliis is not the case if the killing was unnecessary or if the act was perpetrated in defence of goods or even of the life of another. Accidental homicide or that per- formed by a person who is irresponsible profluces no irregularity. When a person performs a licit act, but omits to use all proper diligence or is not sufficiently skilled, and a death follows, he becomes irregular if he could have foreseen the consequence of his act. It is on this account that Benedict XIV declares that phy- sicians wishing to receive Sacred orders sho\dd oljtain a conditional dispensation, (b) ^Mutilation, in the canonical sense, is the separation from the body of one of its principal members or of some part of the body having a distinct office, as a hand or a foot or an eye. He, therefore, who cuts off a finger is not a mutilator, imless it be the index finger or thumb, which, for a priest, are accounted principal members. Those who mutilate themselves or procure mutilation without just cause incur irregularity. In practice, these two points are to be observed concerning homicide and mutilation: first, in doubt as to the fault where the fact is certain, a conditional dispensation must be ob- tained ; and second, in every case of homicide, even ac- cidental, a priest must abstain from the altar until the case be passed on by proper authority. Abuse of Baptism. — This is an irregidarity contracted by those who unconditionally reiterate baptism knowingly and openly. In such a case the persons baptizing, receiv- ing baptism, and those co-operating in it all become irregular. Some authors hold that the same irregular- ity is contracted by those who confer comlitional liap- tism where there is no prudent doubt that the first baptism was valid. Other canonists deny this and their opinion seems preferable. A person who allows himself to be baptized without necessity by a declared heretic falls also under this impediment. It is e\n- dent, however, that this does not affect infants bap- tized by heretics. Violation of Censure. — Irregularity is incurred under this head by those who presume to