How do i get excommunicated from the catholic church

Effects of excommunication If we consider only its nature, excommunication has no degrees: it simply deprives clerics and laymen of all their rights in Christian society , which total effect takes on a visible shape in details proportionate in number to the rights or advantages of which the excommunicated cleric or layman has been deprived.

The effects of excommunication must, however, be considered in relation also to the rest of the faithful. From this point of view arise certain differences according to the various classes of excommunicated persons. These differences were not introduced out of regard for the excommunicated, rather for the sake of the faithful. The latter would suffer serious inconveniences if the nullity of all acts performed by excommunicated clerics were rigidly maintained.

They would also be exposed to grievous perplexities of conscience if they were strictly obliged to avoid all intercourse, even profane, with the excommunicated. Hence the practical rule for interpreting the effects of excommunication: severity as regards the excommunicated, but mildness for the faithful.

We may now proceed to enumerate the immediate effects of excommunication. The sacraments are of course validly administered by excommunicated persons , except those penance and matrimony for whose administration jurisdiction is necessary ; but the reception of the sacraments by excommunicated persons is always illicit.

The licit administration of the sacraments by excommunicated ecclesiastics hinges upon the benefit to be derived by the faithful. Ecclesiastics excommunicated by name are forbidden to administer the sacraments except in cases of extreme necessity; apart from this necessity penance and matrimony administered by such ecclesiastics are null Decret.

Excommunicated ecclesiastics tolerati, however, may licitly administer the sacraments to the faithful who request them at their hands, and the acts of jurisdiction thus posited are maintained by reason of the benefit accruing to the faithful , most frequently also because of common error error communis , i.

The faithful, on their side, may, without sin , ask tolerated excommunicated ecclesiastics to administer sacraments to them; they would, however, sin grievously in making this request of the vitandi, except in case of urgent necessity. Ritus Hereby are meant the Mass, the Divine Office , and other sacred ceremonies. An excommunicated person may not and should not assist at these ceremonies. If he be a toleratus, his presence need not be taken into account, and the service can be continued.

If he be a vitandus he must be warned to retire, and in case of refusal he must be forcibly compelled to withdraw; but if he still persists in remaining, the service must be discontinued, even the Mass, unless the Canon has been commenced.

Benedict XIV , De sacr. Nevertheless, since the condition of an excommunicated person , even a vitandus, is no worse than that of an infidel, he may assist at sermons, instructions, etc. The excommunicated cleric is not released from any of his obligations in regard to the Divine Office and, if bound to it, must recite it, but privately and not in the choir. A toleratus may be admitted to the choir, but a vitandus must be expelled therefrom.

All excommunicated clerics are prohibited from celebrating Mass and performing other strictly liturgical functions, under penalty of the irregularity ex delicto for violation of the censure; participation in the liturgical acts performed by an excommunicated cleric is a forbidden communicatio in sacris; however, no censure would result from it except in the case of clerics voluntarily communicating in sacris with those whom the pope had excommunicated by name Const.

Sedis", II, In each case the fault should be estimated according to circumstances. Communio These are, properly speaking, the public suffrages of the Church , official prayers , Indulgences , etc. But they are not excluded from the private suffrages i. Crypta This word signifies ecclesiastical burial, of which the excommunicated are deprived.

In chapter xii, de sepulturis lib. III, tit. VI, cap. However this does not mean that the tolerati can always receive ecclesiastical burial; they may be deprived of it for other reasons, e. Apropos of this leniency, it must be remembered that it is not the excommunicated the Church wishes to favour, but rather the faithful for whose sake communion with the tolerati is allowed in the matter of burial as well as in other matters.

The interment of a toleratus in a consecrated cemetery carries with it no longer the desecration of said cemetery; this would follow, however, in the case of the vitandi.

Potestas Potestas signifies ecclesiastical jurisdiction , of which both the passive and the active use, to speak canonically, are forbidden the excommunicated. Jurisdiction is used passively when a person is the object of one of its acts, of a concession. Now, ecclesiastical authority has no official relations with the exile unless, at his request, it negotiates the conditions for his return to society.

Connected with this discipline is the rule forbidding the excommunicated to receive from the pope any kind of rescript of grace or justice , except in regard to their excommunication, under pain of nullity of such rescript c. I, tit. Hence the custom of inserting in papal rescripts the so-called ad effectum absolution from censures, intended solely to ensure the value of the rescript , but affecting in no wise the excommunication, if already existent.

Jurisdiction is used actively when exercised by its depositaries. It is easy to understand that the Church cannot leave her jurisdiction in the hands of those whom she excludes from her society. In principle, therefore, excommunication entails the loss of jurisdiction both in foro externo and in foro interno and renders null all acts accomplished without the necessary jurisdiction.

However, for the general good of society , the Church maintains jurisdiction , despite occult excommunication, and supplies it for acts performed by the tolerati. But as the vitandi are known to be such, this merciful remedy cannot be applied to them except in certain cases of extreme necessity, when jurisdiction is said to be "supplied" by the Church. The excommunicated ecclesiastic is incapable of acquiring a benefice , and his presentation to it would be legally null.

A benefice already held is not forfeited at once, even when to the censure the law adds privation of benefice ; this is carried into effect only through a sentence which must be at least declaratory and issue from a competent i.

Nevertheless, from the very first the excommunicated beneficiary loses those fruits of his benefice belonging to choir service, provided he is bound thereunto. Moreover, should he live a year in the state of excommunication, he can be deprived of his benefice through judicial sentence.

The aforesaid effects do not result from occult excommunication. Forum The excommunicated person is an exile from ecclesiastical society , consequently from its tribunals; only inasmuch, however, as they would be to his advantage. On the other hand, if he be summoned before them to satisfy a third party he is obliged to appear. Hence he cannot appear as plaintiff, procurator , or advocate; he may be the defendant, or the party accused. At this point the difference between the vitandi and the tolerati consists in this, that the former must be prevented from introducing any legal action before an ecclesiastical tribunal , whereas the latter can be debarred from so doing only when the prosecutor alleges and proves excommunication as already incurred.

It is a question here only of public excommunication and before ecclesiastical tribunals. Civilia jura Civilia jura, i. This privation, affecting particularly the person excommunicated, is no longer imposed on the faithful except in regard to the vitandi.

The medieval canonists enumerated the prohibited civil relations in the following verse: Os, orare, vale, communio, mensa negatur, namely: a conversations, exchange of letters, tokens of benevolence osculum ; b prayer in common with the excommunicated; c marks of honour and respect; d business and social relations; e meals with the excommunicated.

But at the same time they specified the reasons that rendered these relations licit: Utile, lex humilis, res ignorata, necesse, that is to say: a both the spiritual and the temporal benefit of the excommunicated and of the faithful; b conjugal law; c the submission owed by children, servants, vassals, and subordinates in general; d ignorance of excommunication or of the prohibition of a particular kind of intercourse; e finally, any kind of necessity, as human law, is not binding to this degree.

Remote effects All the effects that we have just enumerated are the immediate results of excommunication, but it also causes remote effects, which are not a necessary consequence and are only produced when the person censured occasions them. They are three in number: 1 The cleric who violates excommunication by exercising one of the liturgical functions of his order, incurs an irregularity ex delicto. XXV, cap. Ferraris , s. Effects of invalid or unjust excommunication An excommunication is said to be null when it is invalid because of some intrinsic or essential defect, e.

Excommunication is said to be unjust when, though valid, it is wrongfully applied to a person really innocent but believed to be guilty. It is admitted by all that a null excommunication produces no effect whatever, and may be ignored without sin cap. But a case of unjust excommunication brings out in a much more general way the possibility of conflict between the forum internum and the forum externum, between legal justice and the real facts. In chapter xxviii, de sent.

Some persons , he says, may be free in the eyes of God but bound in the eyes of the Church ; vice versa, some may be free in the eyes of the Church but bound in the eyes of God : for God's judgment is based on the very truth itself, whereas that of the Church is based on arguments and presumptions which are sometimes erroneous. He concludes that the chain by which the sinner is bound in the sight of God is loosed by remission of the fault committed, whereas that which binds him in the sight of the Church is severed only by removal of the sentence.

Consequently, a person unjustly excommunicated is in the same state as the justly excommunicated sinner who has repented and recovered the grace of God ; he has not forfeited internal communion with the Church , and God can bestow upon him all necessary spiritual help.

However, while seeking to prove his innocence, the censured person is meanwhile bound to obey legitimate authority and to behave as one under the ban of excommunication, until he is rehabilitated or absolved. Such a case seems practically impossible nowadays. Absolution from excommunication Apart from the rare cases in which excommunication is imposed for a fixed period and then ceases of itself, it is always removed by absolution.

It is to be noted at once that, though the same word is used to designate the sacramental sentence by which sins are remitted and that by which excommunication is removed, there is a vast difference between the two acts.

The absolution which revokes excommunication is purely jurisdictional and has nothing sacramental about it. It reinstates the repentant sinner in the Church ; restores the rights of which he had been deprived, beginning with participation in the sacraments ; and for this very reason, it should precede sacramental absolution , which it thenceforth renders possible and efficacious. After absolution from excommunication has been given in foro externo, the judge sends the person absolved to a confessor, that his sin may be remitted; when absolution from censure is given in the confessional, it should always precede sacramental absolution , conformably to the instruction in the Ritual and the very tenor of the formula for sacramental absolution , It may be noted at once that the principal effect of absolution from excommunication may be acquired without the excommunicated person's being wholly reinstated in his former position.

Thus, an ecclesiastic might not necessarily recover the benefice which he had lost; indeed he might be admitted to lay communion only. Ecclesiastical authority has the right to posit certain conditions for the return of the culprit, and every absolution from excommunication calls for the fulfilment of certain conditions which vary in severity, according to the case. Excommunication, it must be remembered, is a medicinal penalty intended, above all, for the correction of the culprit; therefore his first duty is to solicit pardon by showing an inclination to obey the orders given him, just as it is the duty of ecclesiastical authority to receive back the sinner as soon as he repents and declares himself disposed to give the required satisfaction.

This satisfaction is often indicated in the law itself; for instance, usurpers of ecclesiastical property are excommunicated until such time as they make restitution Council of Trent, Sess.

XXII, c. Besides expiatory practices habitually known as "penance", such satisfaction exacts opportune measures for the reparation of the past, as well as guarantees for the future.

It is not always necessary that these measures be executed prior to absolution , which is frequently granted on the solemn promise of the excommunicated party either to accomplish a specified act, such as coming to an agreement with the Church for the property usurped, or simply to abide by the orders of ecclesiastical authority standi mandatis ecclesi. In such cases absolution is not unusually given under pain of "reincidence" ad reincidentiam , i.

However, this clause of reincidence is not to be presumed; when occasion requires, it is inserted in the sentence of absolution or in the indult granted for that purpose.

The formula of absolution from excommunication is not strictly determined, and, since it is an act of jurisdiction , it suffices if the formula employed express clearly the effect which it is desired to attain. The formula for remitting the excommunication in foro externo should be such as to absolve validly from public excommunication. Similarly, an excommunication imposed by judicial sentence is to be revoked by an absolution in the same form; occult excommunication may be revoked in the confessional by the sacramental formula.

The Roman Ritual tit. LII, c. Who can absolve from excommunication? The answer is given in the customary rules of jurisdiction. The right to absolve evidently belongs to him who can excommunicate and who has imposed the law , moreover to any person delegated by him to this effect, since this power, being jurisdictional, can be delegated.

First, we must distinguish between excommunication ab homine, which is judicial, and excommunication a jure, i. For the former, absolution is given by the judge who inflicted the penalty or by his successor , in other words by the pope , or the bishop ordinary , also by the superior of said judge when acting as judge of appeal. Ordinary power is determined by the law itself, which indicates to what authority the censure is reserved in each case. Delegated power is of two kinds: that granted in permanency and set down in the law and that granted or communicated by personal act, e.

Of this second kind of delegation there is no need to speak, as it belongs to each one to verify the power faculties that he possesses. Delegation of the first kind carries with it the power to absolve from excommunication without special request or particular faculties. Such power is in this case conferred by the law itself.

Nevertheless this power is subject to the general law that governs delegation and is valid only for the cases and under the conditions mentioned in the concession. Thus faculties granted for the forum internum cannot be extended to the forum externum, nor can those granted for specially reserved excommunications be used for simply reserved cases, and so on. However, the faculties proceeding from both kinds of delegation may be "cumulated", i.

These principles admitted, we must remember that with reference to reservation or the right to absolve, excommunications are divided into four classes: excommunications specially reserved to the pope ; excommunications simply reserved to the pope ; excommunications reserved to the bishop ordinary ; and, finally, excommunications that are not reserved nemini reservat.

According to this classification, as a general rule, only the pope can absolve from the first two kinds of excommunication, although his power extends to the others; bishops ordinaries , but not other priests , can remove excommunications of the third class; finally, those of the fourth class, and those only, can be revoked by any approved priest , without further special delegation. At this point, however, must be considered certain concessions of the law that may be grouped in three categories: the permanent faculties of bishops ; concessions for urgent cases; and concessions for the point of death.

The faculties of bishops The Council of Trent Sess. Your Faith. Share this story. Dear Fr. Joe: What do you have to do to be excommunicated?

So, what are these acts? Why would she automatically excommunicate someone? The Code of Canon Law attaches the penalty of automatic excommunication to the following actions: Apostates, heretics, and schismatics can.

The individual must know that his action was a violation of Church law. The individual must have acted freely without threat of force or grave fear, have the use of reason, and not have acted mistakenly.

Enjoying this content? In order to administer the sacrament validly, the minister must decide each particular case; accordingly, he also acts as judge in the tribunal of Penance. Sacramental absolution is a judicial act. Before the judge can pass the verdict of worthiness or unworthiness of forgiveness, he must make a decision regarding the proper dispositions of the penitent. Furthermore, he must pass a just sentence and impose a suitable or proportionate penance.

However, the desire and object of the judge is the reform and pardon of the sinner rather than his punishment. And since the confessor, as judge, dispenses pardon and mercy in the name of Jesus Christ, the tribunal of Penance is more fittingly called the tribunal of mercy.

To appreciate the attitude of mercy on the part of Christ's ministers, read the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin as recorded in Luke 15, Besides functioning as minister and judge, the confessor has the duties of a physician of souls.

He has spent years of study to prepare himself for his priestly duties. He understands the human mind and heart and has knowledge of the ills of the human soul. It is his duty to diagnose the cause of sin or sinful habits and to apply fitting remedies.

This very duty implies the confession of sins. A doctor cannot prescribe for the cure of bodily diseases unless they are revealed to him. Neither can the priest, the physician of souls, prescribe spiritual remedies unless the penitent reveals to him the symptoms of his spiritual ill health-his sins. Therefore, the confessor has the right to question the penitent, when the revelation has been insufficient or lacking in some point necessary to his judgment of the case.

The advice of the confessor and the penance he imposes are medicinal means of building up the supernatural strength and health lost by sin. The confessor is also a teacher. It is his duty to see to it that his penitents know all that they ought to know so as to receive the sacrament worthily. Should he discover that a penitent is deficient in knowledge concerning necessary matters of faith or morals, he must instruct him.

Again, the confessor has years of study and training behind him. Moreover, he has the grace of the sacrament of Holy Orders. For this reason, we should not hesitate to make use of his learning and experience by asking questions in case of doubts or problems relating to temptations, sin, or our progress in Christ-likeness.

Above all, however, the confessor is a father. This is his best loved and the most consoling of his titles. It really includes all his titles and duties. For, as a father, it is his duty to judge and correct or punish his spiritual children. As a father, it is his duty to teach, encourage, suggest, advise, command, and console.