InCatholiccanon law,aninterdict(/ˈɪntərdɪkt/) is anecclesiasticalcensure,or ban that prohibits certain persons or groups from participating in particularrites,or that the rites and services of the church are prohibited in certain territories for a limited or extended time.
Definition
editAn interdict is a censure, or prohibition, excluding the faithful from participation in certain holy things, such as theLiturgy,thesacraments(excepting private administrations of those that are of necessity), and ecclesiastical burial, including all funeral services.[1]
The prohibition varies in degree, according to the different kinds of interdicts. Interdicts are either local or personal. The former affect territories or sacred buildings; the latter directly affect persons. A general local interdict is one affecting a whole territory, district, town, etc., and this was the ordinary interdict of the Middle Ages; 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, or a community; a particular personal interdict is one affecting certain individuals as such, for instance, a given bishop, a given cleric.[1]
Interdict differs fromexcommunication,in that it does not cut one off from the communion of the faithful. It differs from suspension also in that the latter affects the faculties of clerics, while the interdict affects the access of the faithful to religious rites. While the clergy cannot exercise their functions towards those under interdict, or in interdicted places or buildings, their powers are not directly affected, as happens in case of suspension.[1]
1917 Code of Canon Law
editDistinctions
editOnly theHoly Seewas empowered to impose a general interdict on adioceseor State or a personal interdict on the people of a diocese or country, but bishops too could impose a general interdict on aparishor on the people of a parish or a particular interdict on a place (such as a church ororatory,analtaror acemetery) or a person.[2]
Effects
editA local interdict forbade general public celebration of sacred rites. Exceptions were madefor the dying,and local interdicts were almost entirely suspended on five feasts of the year:Christmas Day,Easter Sunday,Pentecost,Corpus Christiand theAssumption of Mary.[1]
Those who were under personal interdict were forbidden to be at any religious rite except preaching of the word of God. While mere attendance by them did not require that they be expelled, those well-known to be under interdict were to be prevented from taking any active part.[3]
1983 Code of Canon Law
editAn interdict today has the effect of forbidding the person concerned to celebrate or receive any of thesacraments,including theEucharist,or to celebrate thesacramentals.One who is under interdict is also forbidden to take any ministerial part (e.g., as areaderif alaypersonor as adeaconor priest if a clergyman) in the celebration of theEucharistor of any other ceremony of public worship.[4]
These are the only effects for those who have incurred alatae sententiaeinterdict, namely, one incurred automatically at the moment of committing the offence for which canon law imposes that penalty. For instance, a priest may not deny Holy Communion publicly to those who are under merely automatic interdict, even if he knows they have incurred this kind of penalty[5]– unless the reason for the interdict is known publicly and is persistent, in which case (though not technically due to the interdict) the concerned people are to be denied Holy Communion by force of can. 915.
However, in the case of aferendae sententiaeinterdict, one incurred only when imposed by a legitimate superior or by sentence of anecclesiastical court,[6]those affected are barred from Holy Communion[7](seecanon 915), and if they violate the prohibition against taking a ministerial part in celebrating the Eucharist or some other ceremony of public worship, they are to be expelled or the sacred rite suspended, unless there is a grave reason to the contrary.[4]In the same circumstances, localordinariesandparish priestslose their right to assist validly at marriages.[8]
An automatic (latae sententiae) interdict is incurred by anyone using physical violence against abishop,[9]a person who, not being anordained priest,attempts to celebrate Mass, or who, though unable to give valid sacramentalabsolution,attempts to do so, or hears a sacramentalConfession.[10] Automatic interdict is also incurred by anyone falsely accusing apriestof soliciting sexual favours in connection withConfession[11]or attempting to marry while having a perpetualvowofchastity.[12]
An interdict is also the censure that canon law says should be imposed on someone who, because of some act of ecclesiastical authority or ministry, publicly incites to hatred against theHoly Seeor theOrdinary,or who promotes or takes up office in an association that plots against the Church,[13]or who commits the crime ofsimony.[14]
Notable local canonical interdicts
editNorway
edit- Pope Innocent IIIplaced the Kingdom ofNorwayunder interdict in October 1198. AlthoughKing Sverreforged letters to show the interdict had been lifted, he and his subjects technically remained under interdict until Sverre's death in 1202.
England
edit- Pope Innocent IIIalso placed the kingdom ofEnglandunderan interdictfor six years between March 1208 and July 1214, afterKing Johnrefused to accept the pope's appointeeStephen LangtonasArchbishop of Canterbury.[15]
Scotland
edit- Following the rejection byRobert the Bruce(crownedKing of Scotlandin 1306) of papal mediation betweenEnglandandScotland,Pope John XXIIplaced Scotland under interdict in 1317[16]or 1318 because of continuing Scots raids into England; in 1328 the same Pope lifted the interdict in the light of theTreaty of Edinburgh–Northampton.[17]
Hungary
edit- The town ofBudawas placed under interdict by papal legateNiccolò Boccasiniin 1303, who was sent there to build support forCharles of Anjou,Pope Boniface VIII's favoured candidate for theHungarian Crown.The burghers of Buda retaliated byexcommunicating the Popeand all his loyal bishops and priests.[18]
Italy
edit- Rome itself was placed under interdict byPope Adrian IVin 1155 a result ofa rebellionled by the preacher,Arnold of Brescia.
- Pope Gregory XIplaced the city ofFlorenceunder interdict in March 1376 during theWar of the Eight Saints.
- Pope Sixtus IVdecreed an interdict against theRepublic of Florencein 1478 in response to the hanging of BishopFrancesco Salviatiin response to his involvement in thePazzi conspiracy.
- On 23 June 1482,Pope Sixtus IVdecreed an interdict against theRepublic of Venice,unless it abandoned within 15 days its siege ofFerrara.The Venetians managed to evade it by an appeal to a future council.[19]
- On 27 April 1509, as he entered theWar of the League of Cambrai,aiming to recover papal control of theRomagna,where Venice had seized several cities in 1503,Pope Julius IIplaced Venice under interdict until it accepted peace terms on 14 February 1510, when it was lifted.
- TheVenetian Interdictof 1606–1607 is a better-known and more lengthy case.Pope Paul Vplaced theRepublic of Veniceunder interdict in 1606 after the civil authorities jailed two priests.[20]
- In 1909, the town ofAdriain Italy was placed under interdict for 15 days after a local campaign against the move of a bishop.[21]
Malta
editInterdiction featured in 20th-century Maltese politics. Between 1930 and 1933, those who voted for the progressive Compact parties (Constitutional Party,Labour Party) were interdicted and refused burial in sacred grounds.[22]Once again, between 8 April 1961 and 4 April 1969,[23]the National Executive of the Malta Labour Party was interdicted and voting Labour became a mortal sin;[24][25]the leadership of the Malta Labour Party, readers, advertisers and distributors of Party papers as well as its voters were interdicted by the local bishop.[23]In both cases, theNationalist Partywon elections while its opponents were interdicted.[26]
France
edit- Pope Innocent IIIput the wholeKingdom of Franceunder interdict on 13 January 1200 to forcePhilip II of Franceto take his wifeIngeborg of Denmarkback. After a reconciliation ceremony, the interdict was lifted on 12 September 1200.
United States
edit- In 1955, white parishioners hadrefuseda black priest entry to a chapel about 20 miles fromNew Orleans.ArchbishopJoseph Rummelplaced that chapel under interdict.[27]
Notable personal canonical interdicts
editBishopRené Henry GracidaofCorpus Christi, Texas,interdicted a Roman Catholic politician in the late 20th century for supporting legal abortion; the unnamed individual died under interdict.[28]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^abcdBoudinhon, Auguste. "Interdict." The Catholic EncyclopediaVol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 26 January 2023
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
- ^1917 Code of Canon Law, canons 2269 §1 and 2272
- ^1917 Code of Canon Law, canon 2275
- ^ab1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 1332
- ^Edward McNamara, "Denying Communion to Someone"
- ^"Code of Canon Law, canon 1314".Vatican.va.Retrieved2012-04-03.
- ^1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 915
- ^Code of Canon Law, canon 1109
- ^1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 1370 §2
- ^1083 Code of Canon Law. canon 1378 §2
- ^1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 1390 §1
- ^1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 1394 §2
- ^Code of Canon Law, canons 1373-1374
- ^1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 1380
- ^Bartlett, RobertEngland Under the Norman and Angevin Kings: 1075–1225Oxford:Clarendon Press 2000ISBN0-19-822741-8pp. 404–405
- ^The Encyclopædia Britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences, and..., Volume 5 By Thomas Spencer Baynes, p. 729
- ^Scotland in the Hundred Years' War
- ^The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle(ch. 190.134), p. 143.
- ^David Chambers, Brian Pullan, Jennifer Fletcher (editors),Venice: A Documentary History, 1450–1630(University of Toronto Press 2001ISBN978-0-8020-8424-8), pp. 219–220
- ^Rao, John C. Rao (21 September 2004)."The Venetian Interdict of 1606–1607".Seattle Catholic.Retrieved2021-01-16.
- ^CNS Story: Holding public figures accountable to church: centuries of precedent
- ^Sciberras, S. (2010)."Maltese History: Church – State Relations"(PDF).stbenedictcollege.org.Retrieved13 March2013.
- ^ab"The Unholy War"(PDF).Malta Today.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on January 7, 2006.RetrievedMarch 13,2005.
- ^Grech, Herman; Sansone, Kurt (10 April 2011)."Bricked by interdiction".Times of Malta.Retrieved13 March2013.
- ^"Interdict for Church Critics".Catholic Herald.1961.Retrieved27 February2014.
- ^Mitchell, Jon P. (2006), Behr, Hartmut (ed.),"Church and State in Malta",Politik und Religion in der Europäischen Union: Zwischen nationalen Traditionen und Europäisierung,Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, pp. 341–358,doi:10.1007/978-3-531-90517-4_16,ISBN978-3-531-90517-4,retrieved2021-01-16
- ^R. Bentley Anderson,Black, White, and Catholic(Vanderbilt University Press 2005ISBN978-0-8265-1483-7), p. 146
- ^Catholic World News: US bishop imposed interdict on pro-abortion politician
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Interdict".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.
External links
edit- "A Medieval Glossary of Terms".Renaissance Magazine.Archived fromthe originalon 2006-06-21.Retrieved2006-06-03.