Communicatio in sacris - VII - Under persecution.

Tomb of Pope Clement XIII

An example of Communicatio in sacris permitted
to those who lived under tyranny in the Ottoman Empire
is the Instruction of 6 August, 1764,
from the
Congregation of the Propaganda of the Faith.

A Christian family in the Ottoman Empire.
(1898 - 1914)

The Instruction authorised the Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo,
in Northern Syria,
to allow the faithful, if in danger of persecution,
to have their children baptized by schismatic or heretical priests,
to marry before a non-Catholic minister,
and to have him bury their dead.

The reason for this was that the Ottoman Empire
recognised only certain Non-Catholic communities of Christians.
There was no protection for a minority of newly converted Catholics.

If they were not to be forced to become Muslims
they had to have recognised certificates of Baptism and Marriage.
Valid death certificates were also issued by the recognised religious leaders.

Therefore, these isolated Catholics were permitted
Baptism, Marriage and Burial by Non-Catholics.

(Source: R. De Martinis, luris Pontificii de Propaganda Fide, Pars 11 (Rome, 1909), p. 342, n. 615.)

Communicatio in sacris - VI - Armenian Catholic priests

Pope Clement VI
(1342-1352).

An Armenian priest.

Pope Clement VI
gave a very general permission
to Armenian priests
who had returned to the Catholic Church
to administer the sacraments among the schismatics,
not in approval of their schism,
- this is stated -
but to lead them back to obedience to the true Church.

(Source: Codificazione Canonica Orientale, Fonti, Serie III, Vol., IX, p. 150, n. 309).

Communicatio in sacris - V - The same permission many times

These posts help to establish that

Communicatio in sacris
among heretics and schismatics
is something that has been permitted in the past
by the authority of the Popes.

It should be noted that
the only reasons for permitting it were
either
to help souls to come into the Church
or
to protect them in times of persecution.

Pope Innocent IV giving documents to
Dominican and Franciscan Missionaries.

In 1244
Pope Innocent IV
permitted the Dominican missionaries
among the (Non-Catholic) Jacobites and Nestorians
to share with them
“in verbis, officio et cibo”
(literally in words, offices and food;
better english: in speech, in offices, in meals).

In 1245 he gave the same permission to Franciscan Missionaries.
From the context it is obvious that the words
“in officio” is are equivalent to “in sacris”
(in sacred things).

The following Popes,
Nicholas IV (1288),
John XXII (1316-34), and
Benedict XII (1334-42)
gave the missionaries
the same permission many times
as can be verified in the books of the
Sources of the Codification of Oriental Canon Law
published by the Vatican in 1943.

[Reference: Codificazione Canonica Orientale, Fonti, Serie III, Vol. IV, 1, p. 11, nn. 25- 27; p. 37, n. 72; Vol. V, 2, p. 142, n. 300; VII, 1, p. 26, n. 69; VII, 2, p. 22, n. 27, p. 95, n. 155, p. 151, n. 252, p. 173, n. 289; VIII, p. 62, n. 154; etc].

Communicatio in sacris - IV - Don't shoot the messenger!

This series of posts on
Communicatio in sacris with heretics and schismatics
(literally: communicatio in sacris - sharing in sacred things)
grew from blog comments condemning Pope Benedict XVI
for sharing in sacred things at Westminster Abbey.

Again and again the condemnation
of such a kind of

Communicatio in sacris
reaches such a degree of condemnation by traditionalists
-faithful and priests alike-
that it is said to be against the Divine Law of God Himself.

The question arises:
Is that true?
It either is or is not true.
We must find the facts and work with them.

We all have strict opinions on this matter
of Communicatio in sacris
but we have to base our opinions on the facts.
Failure to do so discredits our traditional cause.
Without the facts....
shooting in the dark...
uninformed judgments...
Who wants to remember the days
when traditionalists 'discovered the truth'
by comparing the different photos of Paul VI's ears and nose?
Let us work with the facts.
Don't shoot the messenger.

Pope Benedict XIV
(A Pope universally considered to have been
a great authority in Canon Law.)

We have a further clarification to hand:

The judgment

on Communicatio in sacris
given by Pope Benedict XIV
in the 24 February, 1752,
session of the Holy Office
was precisely:

"Communicationem in divinis cum haereticis non posse nec debere tam facile ac tam generaliter pronuntiari in omni penitus circumstantia de iure vetitam."

Which is to say:
"Communicatio in divinis with heretics cannot and should not be so readily and so generally pronounced forbidden in absolutely every circumstance."

The reference for the quote is:
De Martinis, luris Pontificii de Propaganda Fide, Pars II (Rome, 1909), p. 324.

That judgment sets out the strictest limitation of prohibition against Communicatio in sacris among heretics. The legitimacy of the matter depends on the judgment of the Pope.

Whatever opinion we each may have,
we must accept this fact and go with it.
Shooting the messenger will change nothing.

"Communicationem in divinis cum haereticis non posse nec debere tam facile ac tam generaliter pronuntiari in omni penitus circumstantia de iure vetitam."

Benedict XIV 24 February, 1752.
Communicatio in divinis with heretics cannot and should not be so readily and so generally pronounced forbidden in absolutely every circumstance.

Communicatio in sacris - III - Blessed Urban V to St Peter Thomas

Blessed Pope Urban V

1362 - 1370

Blessed Urban V's cultus
was approved by
Blessed Pope Pius IX (1846–78)
in 1870.

Blessed Urban V gave his legate in the East,
St Peter Thomas, Latin Patriarch of Constantinople,
permission to share with non-Catholics "in divinis",
with this limitation,
that the permission did not extend
to those excommunicated by name.

St. Peter Thomas
Latin Patriarch of Constantinople.

Born about 1305 in southern Perigord in France,
Peter Thomas entered the Carmelites when he was twenty-one.
He was chosen by the Order as its procurator general to the Papal Court
at Avignon in 1345.
After being made bishop of Patti and Lipari in 1354,
he was entrusted with many papal missions
o promote peace and unity with the Eastern Churches.
He was translated to the see of Corone in the Peloponnesus
in 1359 and made Papal Legate for the East.
In 1363 he was appointed Archbishop of Crete
and
364 Latin Patriarch of Constantinople.
He won a reputation as an apostle of church unity
before he died at Famagosta on Cyprus in 1366.

Communicatio in sacris - II - "Tollerari posse"

St. Pius X
The Pope of Anti-modernism.

We have the following from
the Servant of God, Andrew Szeptycki:

This document permits the saintly Archbishop
and his priests to dispense the laity
from the Church law forbidding
Communicatio in sacris
with the Orthodox.

It was given by Pope St. Pius X
in his own hand.

Translation

Copy

Rome 17.02.1908

Most Blessed Father!
Andrew Szeptycki, Metropolitan of Halycz, Metropolitan
of Kiev and Administrator of all Russia at the foot of
His Holiness most humbly asks that faculties may be conceded
to himself and also to confessors in communion (capable of being communicated)
for dispensing secular faithful
from the law which forbids communicatio in sacris with the Orthodox
as many times as they will judge it in conscience to be opportune.

Our Most Holy Father Pope Pius X
deigned to sign with his own hand
this document written by me
with the words "May be tolerated".



The Servant of God
Andrew Szeptycki