Code of Canon Law (1983) — Book IV

⁸⁵¹The celebration of baptism must be prepared properly; consequently: 1/ an adult who intends to receive baptism is to be admitted to the catechumenate and is to be led insofar as possible through the various stages to sacramental initiation, according to the order of initiation adapted by the conference of bishops and the special norms issued by it; 2/ the parents of an infant to be baptized and those who are to undertake the function of sponsor are to be instructed properly on the meaning of this sacrament and the obligations attached to it. The pastor personally or through others is to take care that the parents are properly instructed through both pastoral advice and common prayer, bringing several families together and, where possible, visiting them.

⁸⁵³Apart from a case of necessity, the water to be used in conferring baptism must be blessed according to the prescripts of the liturgical books.

⁸⁵⁵Parents, sponsors, and the pastor are to take care that a name foreign to Christian sensibility is not given.

⁸⁵⁷§1. Apart from a case of necessity, the proper place of baptism is a church or oratory. §2. As a rule an adult is to be baptized in his or her parish church and an infant in the parish church of the parents unless a just cause suggests otherwise.

⁸⁵⁹If because of distance or other circumstances the one to be baptized cannot go or be brought to the parish church or to the other church or oratory mentioned in can. 858, §2 without grave inconvenience, baptism can and must be conferred in another nearer church or oratory, or even in another fitting place.

CHAPTER II. THE MINISTER OF BAPTISM

⁸⁶¹§1. The ordinary minister of baptism is a bishop, a presbyter, or a deacon, without prejudice to the prescript of can. 530, n. 1. §2. When an ordinary minister is absent or impeded, a catechist or another person designated for this function by the local ordinary, or in a case of necessity any person with the right intention, confers baptism licitly. Pastors of souls, especially the pastor of a parish, are to be concerned that the Christian faithful are taught the correct way to baptize.

⁸⁶³The baptism of adults, at least of those who have completed their fourteenth year, is to be deferred to the diocesan bishop so that he himself administers it if he has judged it Expedient. . THOSE TO BE BAPTIZED

⁸⁶⁵§1. For an adult to be baptized, the person must have manifested the intention to receive baptism, have been instructed sufficiently about the truths of the faith and Christian obligations, and have been tested in the Christian life through the catechumenate. The adult is also to be urged to have sorrow for personal sins. §2. An adult in danger of death can be baptized if, having some knowledge of the principal truths of the faith, the person has manifested in any way at all the intention to receive baptism and promises to observe the commandments of the Christian religion.

⁸⁶⁷§1. Parents are obliged to take care that infants are baptized in the first few weeks; as soon as possible after the birth or even before it, they are to go to the pastor to request the sacrament for their child and to be prepared properly for it. §2. An infant in danger of death is to be baptized without delay.

⁹¹³§1. The administration of the Most Holy Eucharist to children requires that they have sufficient knowledge and careful preparation so that they understand the mystery of Christ according to their capacity and are able to receive the body of Christ with faith and devotion. §2. The Most Holy Eucharist, however, can be administered to children in danger of death if they can distinguish the body of Christ from ordinary food and receive communion reverently.

⁹¹⁵Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion.

⁹¹⁷A person who has already received the Most Holy Eucharist can receive it a second time on the same day only within the eucharistic celebration in which the person participates, without prejudice to the prescript of can. 921, §2.

⁹¹⁹§1. A person who is to receive the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion from any food and drink, except for only water and medicine. §2. A priest who celebrates the Most Holy Eucharist two or three times on the same day can take something before the second or third celebration even if there is less than one hour between them. §3. The elderly, the infirm, and those who care for them can receive the Most Holy Eucharist even if they have eaten something within the preceding hour.

⁹²¹§1. The Christian faithful who are in danger of death from any cause are to be nourished by holy communion in the form of Viaticum. §2. Even if they have been nourished by holy communion on the same day, however, those in danger of death are strongly urged to receive communion again. §3. While the danger of death lasts, it is recommended that holy communion be administered often, but on separate days.

⁹²³The Christian faithful can participate in the eucharistic sacrifice and receive holy communion in any Catholic rite, without prejudice to the prescript of can. 844. . THE RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION

⁹²⁵Holy communion is to be given under the form of bread alone, or under both species according to the norm of the liturgical laws, or even under the form of wine alone in a case of necessity.

⁹²⁷It is absolutely forbidden, even in extreme urgent necessity, to consecrate one matter without the other or even both outside the eucharistic celebration.

⁹²⁹In celebrating and administering the Eucharist, priests and deacons are to wear the sacred vestments prescribed by the rubrics.

⁹³¹The celebration and distribution of the Eucharist can be done at any day and hour except those which the liturgical norms exclude.

⁹⁷⁷The absolution of an accomplice in a sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue is invalid except in danger of death.

⁹⁷⁹In posing questions, the priest is to proceed with prudence and discretion, attentive to the condition and age of the penitent, and is to refrain from asking the name of an accomplice.

⁹⁸¹The confessor is to impose salutary and suitable penances in accord with the quality and number of sins, taking into account the condition of the penitent. The penitent is obliged to fulfill these personally.

⁹⁸³§1. The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason. §2. The interpreter, if there is one, and all others who in any way have knowledge of sins from confession are also obliged to observe secrecy.

⁹⁸⁵The director of novices and his associate and the rector of a seminary or other institute of education are not to hear the sacramental confessions of their students residing in the same house unless the students freely request it in particular cases.

CHAPTER III. THE PENITENT

⁹⁸⁷To receive the salvific remedy of the sacrament of penance, a member of the Christian faithful must be disposed in such a way that, rejecting sins committed and having a purpose of amendment, the person is turned back to God.

⁹⁸⁹After having reached the age of discretion, each member of the faithful is ob-liged to confess faithfully his or her grave sins at least once a year.

⁹⁹¹Every member of the Christian faithful is free to confess sins to a legitimately approved confessor of his or her choice, even to one of another rite. . INDULGENCES

⁹⁹³An indulgence is partial or plenary insofar as it partially or totally frees from the temporal punishment due to sins.

⁹⁹⁵§1. In addition to the supreme authority of the Church, only those to whom this power is acknowledged in the law or granted by the Roman Pontiff can bestow indulgences. §2. No authority below the Roman Pontiff can entrust the power of granting indulgences to others unless the Apostolic See has given this expressly to the person.

¹⁰⁴¹The following are irregular for receiving orders: 1/ a person who labors under some form of amentia or other psychic illness due to which, after experts have been consulted, he is judged unqualified to fulfill the ministry properly; 2/ a person who has committed the delict of apostasy, heresy, or schism; 3/ a person who has attempted marriage, even only civilly, while either impeded personally from entering marriage by a matrimonial bond, sacred orders, or a public perpetual vow of chastity, or with a woman bound by a valid marriage or restricted by the same type of vow; 4/ a person who has committed voluntary homicide or procured a completed abortion and all those who positively cooperated in either; 5/ a person who has mutilated himself or another gravely and maliciously or who has attempted suicide; 6/ a person who has placed an act of orders reserved to those in the order of episcopate or presbyterate while either lacking that order or prohibited from its exercise by some declared or imposed canonical penalty.

¹⁰⁴³If the Christian faithful are aware of impediments to sacred orders, they are obliged to reveal them to the ordinary or pastor before the ordination.

¹⁰⁴⁵Ignorance of the irregularities and impediments does not exempt from them.

¹⁰⁴⁷§1. Dispensation from all irregularities is reserved to the Apostolic See alone if the fact on which they are based has been brought to the judicial forum. §2. Dispensation from the following irregularities and impediments to receive orders is also reserved to the Apostolic See: 1/ irregularities from the public delicts mentioned in can. 1041, nn. 2 and 3; 2/ the irregularity from the delict mentioned in can. 1041, n. 4, whether public or occult; 3/ the impediment mentioned in can. 1042, n. 1. §3. Dispensation in public cases from the irregularities from exercising an order received mentioned in can. 1041, n. 3, and even in occult cases from the irregularities mentioned in can. 1041, n. 4 is also reserved to the Apostolic See. §4. An ordinary is able to dispense from irregularities and impediments not reserved to the Holy See.

¹⁰⁴⁹§1. Petitions to obtain a dispensation from irregularities or impediments must indicate all the irregularities and impediments. Nevertheless, a general dispensation is valid even for those omitted in good faith, except for the irregularities mentioned in can. 1041, n. 4, and for others brought to the judicial forum, but not for those omitted in bad faith. §2. If it is a question of the irregularity from voluntary homicide or a procured abortion, the number of the delicts also must be mentioned for the validity of the dispensation. §3. A general dispensation from irregularities and impediments to receive orders is valid for all the orders. . THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTS AND INVESTIGATION

¹⁰⁵¹The following prescripts regarding the investigation about the qualities required in the one to be ordained are to be observed: 1/ there is to be a testimonial of the rector of the seminary or house of formation about the qualities required to receive the order, that is, about the sound doctrine of the candidate, his genuine piety, good morals, and aptitude to exercise the ministry, as well as, after a properly executed inquiry, about his state of physical and psychic health; 2/ in order to conduct the investigation properly, the diocesan bishop or major superior can employ other means which seem useful to him according to the circumstances of time and place, such as testimonial letters, public announcements, or other sources of information.

CHAPTER III. THE NOTATION AND TESTIMONIAL OF ORDINATION CONFERRED

¹⁰⁵³§1. After an ordination has taken place, the names of those ordained and of the ordaining minister and the place and date of the ordination are to be noted in a special register to be kept carefully in the curia of the place of ordination; all the documents of individual ordinations are to be preserved carefully. §2. The ordaining bishop is to give to each of the ordained an authentic testimonial of the reception of ordination; if a bishop other than their own promoted them with dimissorial letters, they are to show the testimonial to their own ordinary for notation of the ordination in a special register to be kept in the archive.

TITLE VII. MARRIAGE (Cann. 1055 - 1165)

¹⁰⁵⁵§1. The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring, has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the baptized. §2. For this reason, a valid matrimonial contract cannot exist between the baptized without it being by that fact a sacrament.

¹⁰⁵⁷§1. The consent of the parties, legitimately manifested between persons quali-fied by law, makes marriage; no human power is able to supply this consent. §2. Matrimonial consent is an act of the will by which a man and a woman mutually give and accept each other through an irrevocable covenant in order to establish marriage.

¹⁰⁵⁹Even if only one party is Catholic, the marriage of Catholics is governed not only by divine law but also by canon law, without prejudice to the competence of civil authority concerning the merely civil effects of the same marriage.

¹¹⁰⁵§1. To enter into a marriage validly by proxy it is required that: 1/ there is a special mandate to contract with a specific person; 2/ the proxy is designated by the one mandating and fulfills this function personally. §2. To be valid the mandate must be signed by the one mandating and by the pastor or ordinary of the place where the mandate is given, or by a priest delegated by either of them, or at least by two witnesses, or it must be made by means of a document which is authentic according to the norm of civil law. §3. If the one mandating cannot write, this is to be noted in the mandate itself and another witness is to be added who also signs the document; otherwise, the mandate is invalid. §4. If the one mandating revokes the mandate or develops amentia before the proxy contracts in his or her name, the marriage is invalid even if the proxy or the other contracting party does not know this.

¹¹⁰⁷Even if a marriage was entered into invalidly by reason of an impediment or a defect of form, the consent given is presumed to persist until its revocation is established. . THE FORM OF THE CELEBRATION OF MARRIAGE

¹¹⁰⁹Unless the local ordinary and pastor have been excommunicated, interdicted, or suspended from office or declared such through a sentence or decree, by virtue of their office and within the confines of their territory they assist validly at the marriages not only of their subjects but also of those who are not their subjects provided that one of them is of the Latin rite.

¹¹¹¹§1. As long as they hold office validly, the local ordinary and the pastor can delegate to priests and deacons the faculty, even a general one, of assisting at marriages within the limits of their territory. §2. To be valid, the delegation of the faculty to assist at marriages must be given to specific persons expressly. If it concerns special delegation, it must be given for a specific marriage; if it concerns general delegation, it must be given in writing.

¹¹¹³Before special delegation is granted, all those things which the law has established to prove free status are to be fulfilled.

¹¹¹⁵Marriages are to be celebrated in a parish where either of the contracting parties has a domicile, quasidomicile, or month long residence or, if it concerns transients, in the parish where they actually reside. With the permission of the proper ordinary or proper pastor, marriages can be celebrated elsewhere.

¹¹¹⁷n The form prescribed above must be observed if at least one of the parties contracting the marriage was baptized in the Catholic Church or received into it, without prejudice to the provisions of can. 1127 § 2.

¹¹¹⁹Outside the case of necessity, the rites prescribed in the liturgical books approved by the Church or received by legitimate customs are to be observed in the celebration of a marriage.

¹¹²¹§1. After a marriage has been celebrated, the pastor of the place of the celebration or the person who takes his place, even if neither assisted at the marriage, is to note as soon as possible in the marriage register the names of the spouses, the person who assisted, and the witnesses, and the place and date of the celebration of the marriage according to the method prescribed by the conference of bishops or the diocesan bishop. §2. Whenever a marriage is contracted according to the norm of can. 1116, a priest or deacon, if he was present at the celebration, or otherwise the witnesses in solidum with the contracting parties are bound to inform as soon as possible the pastor or local ordinary about the marriage entered into. §3. For a marriage contracted with a dispensation from canonical form, the local ordinary who granted the dispensation is to take care that the dispensation and celebration are inscribed in the marriage registers of both the curia and the proper parish of the Catholic party whose pastor conducted the investigation about the free status. The Catholic spouse is bound to notify as soon as possible the same ordinary and pastor about the marriage celebrated and also to indicate the place of the celebration and the public form observed.

¹¹²³Whenever a marriage is either convalidated in the external forum, declared null, or legitimately dissolved other than by death, the pastor of the place of the celebration of the marriage must be informed so that a notation is properly made in the marriage and baptismal registers. . MIXED MARRIAGES

¹¹⁶⁹§1. Those marked with the episcopal character and presbyters permitted by law or legitimate grant can perform consecrations and dedications validly. §2. Any presbyter can impart blessings except those reserved to the Roman Pontiff or bishops. §3. A deacon can impart only those blessings expressly permitted by law.

¹¹⁷¹Sacred objects, which are designated for divine worship by dedication or blessing, are to be treated reverently and are not to be employed for profane or inappropriate use even if they are owned by private persons.

TITLE II. THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (Cann. 1173 - 1175)

¹¹⁷³Fulfilling the priestly function of Christ, the Church celebrates the liturgy of the hours. In the liturgy of the hours, the Church, hearing God speaking to his people and recalling the mystery of salvation, praises him without ceasing by song and prayer and intercedes for the salvation of the whole world.

¹¹⁷⁵In carrying out the liturgy of the hours, the true time for each hour is to be observed insofar as possible. . ECCLESIASTICAL FUNERALS (Cann. 1176 - 1185)

CHAPTER I. THE CELEBRATION OF FUNERALS

¹¹⁷⁷§1. A funeral for any deceased member of the faithful must generally be celebrated in his or her parish church. §2. Any member of the faithful or those competent to take care of the funeral of a deceased member of the faithful are permitted to choose another church for the funeral rite with the consent of the person who governs it and after no-tification of the proper pastor of the deceased. §3. If a death occurred outside the person’s own parish, and the body was not transferred to it nor another church legitimately chosen for the funeral rite, the funeral is to be celebrated in the church of the parish where the death occurred unless particular law has designated another church.

¹¹⁷⁹The funerals of religious or members of a society of apostolic life are generally to be celebrated in their own church or oratory by the superior if the institute or society is clerical; otherwise by the chaplain.

¹¹⁸¹Regarding offerings on the occasion of funeral rites, the prescripts of can. 1264 are to be observed, with the caution, however, that there is to be no favoritism toward persons in funerals and that the poor are not deprived of fitting funerals.

CHAPTER II. THOSE TO WHOM ECCLESIASTICAL FUNERALS MUST BE GRANTED OR DENIED

¹¹⁸³§1. When it concerns funerals, catechumens must be counted among the Christian faithful. §2. The local ordinary can permit children whom the parents intended to baptize but who died before baptism to be given ecclesiastical funerals. §3. In the prudent judgment of the local ordinary, ecclesiastical funerals can be granted to baptized persons who are enrolled in a non-Catholic Church or ecclesial community unless their intention is evidently to the contrary and provided that their own minister is not available.

¹¹⁸⁵Any funeral Mass must also be denied a person who is excluded from ecclesiastical funerals. . THE VENERATION OF THE SAINTS, SACRED IMAGES, AND RELICS (Cann. 1186 - 1190)

¹¹⁸⁷It is permitted to reverence through public veneration only those servants of God whom the authority of the Church has recorded in the list of the saints or the blessed.

¹²³³Certain privileges can be granted to shrines whenever local circumstances, the large number of pilgrims, and especially the good of the faithful seem to suggest it.

CHAPTER IV. ALTARS

¹²³⁵§1. An altar, or a table upon which the eucharistic sacrifice is celebrated, is called fixed if it is so constructed that it adheres to the floor and thus cannot be moved; it is called movable if it can be removed. §2. It is desirable to have a fixed altar in every church, but a fixed or a movable altar in other places designated for sacred celebrations.

¹²³⁷§1. Fixed altars must be dedicated, and movable altars must be dedicated or blessed, according to the rites prescribed in the liturgical books. §2. The ancient tradition of placing relics of martyrs or other saints under a fixed altar is to be preserved, according to the norms given in the liturgical books.

¹²³⁹§1. An altar, whether fixed or movable, must be reserved for divine worship alone, to the absolute exclusion of any profane use. §2. A body is not to be buried beneath an altar; otherwise, it is not permitted to celebrate Mass on the altar. . CEMETERIES

¹²⁴¹§1. Parishes and religious institutes can have their own cemetery. §2. Other juridic persons or families can also have a special cemetery or tomb, to be blessed according to the judgment of the local ordinary.

¹²⁴³Particular law is to establish appropriate norms about the discipline to be observed in cemeteries, especially with regard to protecting and fostering their sacred character. --- cic_lib4-cann1244-1253_en.html --- . FUNCTION OF THE CHURCH . SACRED TIMES (Cann. 1244 - 1253) . Feast Days . Days of Penance . SACRED TIMES (Cann. 1244 - 1253) . Feast Days . Days of Penance . SACRED TIMES (Cann. 1244 - 1253)

¹²⁴⁵Without prejudice to the right of diocesan bishops mentioned in can. 87, for a just cause and according to the prescripts of the diocesan bishop, a pastor can grant in individual cases a dispensation from the obligation of observing a feast day or a day of penance or can grant a commutation of the obligation into other pious works. A superior of a religious institute or society of apostolic life, if they are clerical and of pontifical right, can also do this in regard to his own subjects and others living in the house day and night. . Feast Days

¹²⁴⁷On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are obliged to participate in the Mass. Moreover, they are to abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.

CHAPTER II. Days of Penance

¹²⁴⁹The divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way. In order for all to be united among themselves by some common observance of penance, however, penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and charity, and deny themselves by fulfilling their own obligations more faithfully and especially by observing fast and abstinence, according to the norm of the following canons.

¹²⁵¹Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.