The Validity of Confessions and Marriages
in the chapels of the Society of St. Pius X

A CANONICAL STUDY

by Rev. Ramón Anglés

6. SACRAMENTS AND SACRAMENTALS ADMINISTERED BY AN EXCOMMUNICATED MINISTER

6.1. THE CANONS IN ENGLISH

* # 2. Without prejudice to the rule of # 3 of this Canon, the faithful may for any just reason ask the Sacraments and Sacramentals from an excommunicated person especially if there is no other minister available, and the excommunicated person at their request may minister to them without any obligation to inquire into the reason for the request.

# 3. From a minister who is an excommunicatus vitandus, or who has been excommunicated by a declaratory or condemnatory sentence, the faithful may ask for sacramental absolution in accordance with Canons 882 and 2252 only in danger of death, but, in the absence of other ministers, they can also ask for the other Sacraments and Sacramentals. (Canon 2261)

* If a censure prohibits the celebration of the Sacraments or Sacramentals or the placing of an act of jurisdiction, the prohibition is suspended whenever it is necessary to take care of the faithful who are in danger of death; and if an automatic censure is not a declared one, the prohibition is also suspended whenever a member of the faithful requests a Sacrament, a Sacramental or an act of jurisdiction; this request can be made for any just cause whatsoever. (New Code 1335)

6.2. NOTIONS

This Canon constitutes the most formidable argument against our adversaries. It manifests in a splendid manner the motherly concern of the Holy Church, always providing for the spiritual welfare of her children.

The sense is obvious and it does not require long explanations: for any just cause whatsoever, the faithful may ask from a censured priest all the Sacraments and Sacramentals, and even an act of jurisdiction. The priest will act validly and almost always licitly.

This concession to the faithful is a consequence of the general canonical principle established in Canon 682: Laici ius habent recipiendi a clero, ad normam ecclesiasticae disciplinae, spiritualia bona et potissimum adiumenta ad salutem necessaria (similar declaration in New Code Canon 213).

The spiritual goods spoken of here are the ordinary suffrages, Sacramentals, indulgences, ecclesiastical burial, etc., while the necessary means of salvation referred to are the Sacraments, especially those necessary for salvation necessitate medii vel praecepti.

This right is conferred partly by the divine law in reference to the necessary means of salvation, especially the Sacraments; and partly by ecclesiastical law, as regards the Sacramentals, Sacraments not necessary by divine precept, etc.

Again and again throughout this study we find the practical application of the axiom Salus animarum est suprema lex. Translated to a concrete juridical reality by Canon 2261, this means that by their Baptism the faithful have the right to receive all services required for the good of their souls; and that the priests have the duty to administer them.

Some texts to complete, explain and confirm:

* García Barberena, Comentarios al Código de Derecho Canónico, 1964, IV, # 406: The interdiction for a priest to administer the Sacraments is mitigated when the faithful, using their right, ask for the Sacraments. The excommunicated administers licitly the Sacraments and the Sacramentals ratione censurae, since the law suspends the censure for these exceptional acts.

The minister has the obligation to put himself into the state of grace if he is not already in it, according to the rules of the moralists.

The exceptions are established not in favor of the excommunicated but in favor of the faithful, and therefore the act will be licit only when it answers a legitimate request; the excommunicated cannot take the initiative.

If the minister is an excommunicated tolerated, he can administer every time he is asked reasonably. The mere fact that the faithful ask for the Sacrament in good faith is sufficient cause to justify the request. To eliminate doubts and anxieties, the legislator expresses that the minister excommunicated does not have to investigate whether or not the faithful ask with a sufficient cause. Many authors believe that the request can be implicit.

* Prummer, Manuale Iuris Canonici, 1933, # 571: Fideles enim possunt ex qualibet iusta causa ab excommunicato sacramenta et sacramentalia petere, maxime si alii ministri desunt, et tunc excommunicatus requisitus potest eadem administrare neque tenetur percontari causam a requirente. Excipiuntur tamen excommunicati vitandi et alii excommunicati post sententiam condemnatoriam aut declaratoriam. Ab his enim fideles in solo mortis periculo possunt petere tam absolutionem sacramentalem, quam etiam, si alius deest minister, cetera sacramenta.

* Roberti, De Delictis et Poenis, 1944, # 330: Confectio et ministratio sacramentorum et sacramentalium per excommunicatos generatim est valida. Sacramenta enim cum sint a Christo instituta, nequeunt poenis ecclesiasticis mutari. Sacramentalia dependent ab Ecclesia, sed Codex eadem non declarat invalida (c. 2261,1). Nihilominus confectio et ministratio sive sacramentirum sive sacramentalium prohibentur generatim excommunicatis, sed fideles possunt intra certos limites ea ab iisdem petere, quo in casu excommunicati generatim licite ministrant... Requisitio fidelium potest esse etiam implicita, e.g., si sacerdotem expectent ad audiendas confessiones, ad celebrandam Missam, ad impertiendam benedictionem, etc.

6.3. APPLICATION TO OUR CASE

We present this Canon simply as an argument ad hominem, being well aware of the state of mind of our opponents, and forcing them to take the logical conclusions of their positions concerning the legal status of the Society of Saint Pius X.

For us there is no doubt that the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, erected canonically as a Pia Unio by the Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, November 1, 1970, and praised by an official letter of the Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy, February 18, 1971 was illegally suppressed by the same Bishop. It is a fact that the action of Paul VI in order to validate such suppression did not constitute a confirmation in forma specifica, and that therefore the suppression remains invalid in law. The refusal of the Supreme Apostolic Signature to judge our case constitutes still now a scandal and an injustice of immense proportions.

We believe that the permissions to incardinate different religious in the Society given directly from Rome in the first years of the Society, well before it developed at an international level, authorizes our institute to continue to incardinate its members, and that our ordinations are perfectly legal.

However, for the sake of argumentation, let us accept for a moment the opinion of our opponents, and let us apply to our case the doctrine of Canon 2261 (New Code Canon 1335).

If the priests of the Society of Saint Pius X are under any canonical censure, be it an excommunication or a suspension, since the censure has not been declared, the faithful have the right to ask from them any Sacrament, Sacramental or act of jurisdiction, for any just cause whatsoever including the simple good of their soul. The priests will act both validly and licitly, without having any need to scrutinize the reasons of the faithful.

Please note the extremely important addition of the New Code: ACTUM REGIMINIS, AN ACT OF THE POWER OF GOVERNANCE (same as power of jurisdiction, see the terminology in New Code Canon 129). This includes any legislative, executive and judiciary act which may be necessary for the good of the faithful’s soul.

Founded on the PRINCIPLES upon which this extraordinary concession is granted for the good of the faithful, the Society of Saint Pius X has created, for the present situation of emergency in the Church, a Canonical Commission which thoroughly investigates and answers the legitimate requests of traditional Catholic faithful in matters concerning vows, marriage cases, etc.

Against all law and right, the faithful are denied the essential right of having access to the pure sources of salvation by a Modernist clergy, which tyrannically imposes on them a New Mass, New Sacraments and Sacramentals, a New Catechism and a New Bible, a new conception of the Church and the world. They come to us asking for a service which we cannot refuse. We answer their just call, making ours the last words of the New Code, Canon 1752: "having before our eyes the salvation of the souls, which is always the supreme law of the Church."