Interdict
From LanceaSanctum
Written by Father General de La Cruz
Contents |
Definition
An interdict is a censure, or prohibition, excluding the faithful from participation in certain holy things. These holy things are all those pertaining to Lancea Sanctum worship, and are divided into three classes: the Divine offices (in other words the Liturgy, and in general all acts performed by priests as such, and having reference to worship), the sacraments (excepting private administrations of those that are of necessity) and ecclesiastical burial, including all funeral services.
Types of Interdicts
This prohibition varies in degree, according to the different kinds of interdicts to be enumerated:
First, interdicts are either local or personal; the former affect
territories or sacred buildings directly, and persons indirectly; the latter directly affect persons. Canonical authors add a third kind, the mixed interdict, which affects directly and immediately both persons and places; if, for instance, the interdict is issued against a town and its inhabitants, the latter are subject to it, even when they are outside of the town. Local interdicts, like personal interdicts, may be general or particular.
A general local interdict is one affecting a whole territory, district, town, etc.; a particular local interdict is one affecting, for example, a particular church. A general personal interdict is one falling on a given body or group of people as a class, e.g. on a chapter, the clergy or people of a town, of a community; a particular personal interdict is one affecting certain individuals as such, for instance, a given bishop, a given priest. Finally, the interdict is total if the prohibition extends to all the sacred things mentioned above; otherwise it is called partial. There is also a special kind of partial interdict is that which forbids one to enter a church, *interdictum ab ingressu ecclesiae*. Omitting the mixed interdict,which does not form a distinct class, we have therefore:
- the general local interdicts;
- particular local interdicts;
- general personal interdicts;
- particular personal interdicts;
- prohibitions against entering a church.
We may add the prohibition obliging the clergy to abstain from celebrating the Divine offices, *cessatio a divinis*, a measure somewhat akin to a particular local interdict, only that it is not imposed on account of any crime on the part of those whom it affects.
This short account shows us that under the same name are grouped penal measures rather different in nature, but having in common a prohibition of certain sacred things.
Interdict differs from excommunication, in that it does not cut one off from the communion of the faithful or from Lancea Sanctum society, though the acts of religion forbidden in both cases are almost identical. It differs from suspension also in this respect: the latter affects the powers of priests, inasmuch as they are priests, while the interdict affects the rights of the faithful as such, and does not directly affect priests as such but only as members of the Church. Of course, it follows that the clergy cannot exercise their functions towards those under interdict, or in interdicted places or buildings, but their powers are not directly affected, as happens in case of suspension; their jurisdiction remains unimpaired, which allows of a guilty individual being punished, without imperiling the validity of his acts of jurisdiction. This shows that an interdict is more akin to excommunication than to suspension.
Whereas excommunication is exclusively a censure, intended to lead a guilty person back to repentance, an interdict, like suspension, may be imposed either as a censure or as a punishment. In both cases there must have been a grave crime; if the penalty has been inflicted for an indefinite period and with a view to making the guilty one amend his evil ways it is imposed as a censure; if, however, it is imposed for a definite time, and no reparation is demanded of the individuals at fault, it is inflicted as a punishment. Strictly speaking, only the particular personal interdict is in all cases a perfect censure, because it alone affects definite persons, while the other interdicts do not affect the individuals except indirectly and inasmuch as they form part of a body or belong to the interdicted territory or place.
That is also the reason why only particular personal interdicts, including the prohibition to enter a church suppose a personal fault. In all other cases, on the contrary, although a fault has been committed, and it is intended to punish the guilty persons or make them amend, the interdict may affect and does affect some who are innocent, because it is not aimed directly at the individual but at a moral body, e. g. a chapter, a monastery, or all the inhabitants of a district or a town. The general local interdict suppressing all the Divine offices in a town will evidently fall on the innocent as well as the guilty. Such interdicts are therefore inflicted for the faults of moral bodies, of public authorities as such, of a whole population, and not for the faults of private individuals.
Any bishop having jurisdiction *in foro externo* can impose an interdict on parishes in his diocese. It may be provided for in the law and then, like other censures (q.v.), can be *ferendae* or *latae sententiae*. A particular personal interdict is removed by absolution, other interdicts are said to be "raised", but this does not imply any act relative to the individuals under interdict; when imposed as a punishment these interdicts may cease on the expiration of a definite time.
General local interdict
A general local interdict is -- for a whole population, town, province, or region -- the almost complete suspension of the liturgical and sacramental Lancea Sanctum practice. A general local interdict authorizes the private celebration of Mass and the choir office, the doors of the church being closed, and also the administration of anointing. To these relaxations must be added the exceptions made in time of interdict for the celebration of Quadragisema, the Feast of Longinus, Good Friday, and the Gran Ballo.
The particular local interdict
The particular local interdict has the same effects, but they are limited to the interdicted place or church. The above-mentioned mitigations, however, are not allowed. Whoever knowingly celebrates or causes to be celebrated the Divine offices in an interdicted place incurs *ipso facto* the prohibition against entering the church until he has made amends; and any priest who knowingly celebrates any Divine office in a place interdicted by name becomes irregular.
The general personal interdict
The general personal interdict, which, we have seen, may be combined with the local interdict, has the same effects for all the persons who form or will form part of the group, community, or moral person under interdict: all the canons of a chapter, all the religious of a convent, all the inhabitants of a town, all those domiciled in the place, etc. They, however, escape from the interdict who are not members or who cease to be members of the body affected, e. g. a canon appointed to another benefice, a stranger who leaves the town, etc. But the mere change of locality has no liberating effect, and the interdict follows the individual members of the body wherever they may go.
The particular personal interdict
The particular personal interdict, which is a real censure, affects individuals much in the same way as excommunication. They may not assist at the Divine offices or at Mass, and if they are interdicted by name they should be put out, however, if they refuse to withdraw it is not necessary to suspend the service since, after all, the interdict does not deprive them of the communion of the faithful. They may not demand to receive the sacraments, except Penance and the Viaticum, and it is not lawful to administer them. They are to be deprived of ecclesiastical burial, but Mass and the ordinary prayers may be said for them. A priest violating the interdict becomes irregular.
The interdict against entering the church
The interdict against entering the church is a real censure, intended to bring about the amendment of the erring one; it prohibits him from taking part in Divine service in the church and from being accorded a burial service in it. But outside the church he is as if he had not incurred any censure, he can attend Divine service and receive the sacraments in a private oratory and pray in the church when service is not being held in it. The individual is absolved after due satisfaction for his fault.
The cessation from Divine service
The cessation from Divine service, *cessatio a divinis*, follows the rules of the local interdict, from which it differs, not in its effects, but only because the fault for which it is imposed is not the fault of the priests who are prohibited from celebrating the Divine service. It forbids the holding of Divine service and the administration of the sacraments in a given sacred place. It is a manifestation of sorrow and a kind of reparation for a grievous wrong done to a holy place. This *cessatio a divinis* is not imposed *ipso facto* by the law; it is imposed by the bishop when and under the conditions that he judges suitable.
The two interdicts *latae sententiae*
- Monasteries, abbeys, and chapters, whatsoever be their name, that appeal from the ordinances or mandates of the reigning bishop to a future general Synod, incur an interdict specially reserved to the bishop. This interdict is imposed for the same crime as the specially reserved excommunication, but the excommunication falls on the individuals, and the interdict on the group, or moral persons, by whatever name they be called, and who cannot be excommunicated as such.
- Those who knowingly celebrate or cause to be celebrated the Divine offices in places interdicted by the bishop or his delegate, or by the law; those who admit persons excommunicated by name to the Divine offices, the sacraments of the Church, or to ecclesiastical burial, incur *pleno jure*the interdict against entering the church, until they have made amends sufficient in the opinion of him whose order they have contemned. This interdict is therefore reserved to the competent bishop. Its object is to ensure the observance, on the one hand, of the local interdict, and, on the other, of excommunication by name of either *vitandi* or *tolerati*.
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