Interdict
(Latin interdictum, from inter and dicere).
Originally in Roman law, an interlocutory edict of the praetor,
especially in matter affecting the right of possession; it still
preserves this meaning in both Roman and canon law. In present
ecelesiastical use the word denotes, in general, a prohibition. In
addition to the definite meaning it has when referring to the
object of this article, the term is often loosely employed in a
wider and rather untechnical sense. We speak of a priest, a
church, or a practice of devotion being interdicted, to denote a
suspended priest, one who either by canon law or by the stricture
of his ordinary is forbidden to exercise his sacerdotal functions,
a church building that has been secularized, or one in which
Divine service is temporarily suspended, because the edifice has
incurred "pollution" or lost its consecration, finally,
extraordinary practices of devotion are said to be interdicted.
But, strictly speaking, interdict is applied only to persons and
churches affected by the penal measure or censure called
"interdict", and it is exclusively in this sense of the word that
the subject is treated here. After explaining its nature and
effects we shall mention the interdicts in force by common
canonical law.
An interdict is a censure, or prohibition, excluding the faithful
from participation in certain holy things. These holy things are
all those pertaining to Christian worship, and are divided into
three classes:
� the Divine offices, in other words the Liturgy, and in general
all acts performed by clerics as such, and having reference to
worship
� the sacraments, excepting private administrations of those that
are of necessity;
� ecclesiastical burial, including all funeral services.
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 (arg. cap. xvi, "De sent.
excomm." in VI). Local interdicts, like personal interdicts, may
be general or particular. 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, of a community; a particular personal interdict is one
affecting certain individuals as such, for instance, a given
bishop, a given cleric. Finally, the interdict is total if the
prohibition extends to all the sacred things mentioned above;
otherwise it is called partial. A special kind of partial
interdict is that which forbids one to enter a church, interdictum
ab ingressu ecclesiae mentioned by certain texts. 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 Christian
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 clerics, inasmuch as they are
clerics, while the interdict affects the rights of the faithful as
such, and does not directly affect clerics 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 imperilling 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 vindictive 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. Consequently the interdicts still in
vogue in virtue of the Constitution "Apostolicae Sedis" and the
Council of Trent are censures; whilst the interdict recently
(1909) placed by Pius X on the town of Adria for fifteen days was
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. If a chapter incur an
interdict (Const. "Apost. Sedis", interd., n. 1) for appealing to
a future general council, the canons who did not vote for the
forbidden resolution are, notwithstanding, obliged to observe the
interdict. And 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.
Who have the power of imposing an interdict, and how does it
cease? In general, the reader may be referred to CENSURES,
ECCLESIASTICAL, and Excommunication. We shall add a few brief
remarks.
Any prelate having jurisdiction in foro externo can impose an
interdict on his subjects or his territory. 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.
(1)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 Christian life. Examples of it exist as
early as the ninth century, under the name of excommunication (see
in particular the Council of Limoges of 1031). Innocent III gave
this measure the name of interdict and made vigorous use of it. It
will suffice to recall the interdict imposed in 1200 on the
Kingdom of France, when Philip II Augustus repudiated Ingeburga to
marry Agnes of Meran; and that on the Kingdom of England in 1208,
to support the election of Stephen Langton to the See of
Canterbury against John Lackland, which lasted till the submission
of that king in 1213. It was a dangerous weapon, but its severity
was mitigated little by little, and at the same time it was less
frequently employed. The last example of a general interdict
launched by the pope against a whole region seems to have been
that imposed by Paul V in 1606 on the territory of Venice, it was
raised in the following year. A quite recent example of a general,
local, and personal interdict, but of a purely penal nature, is
the interdict placed by Pius X on the town and suburbs of Adria in
Northern Italy, by decree of the Sacred Congregation of the
Consistory, on 30 September, 1909, to punish the population of
Adria for a sacrilegious attack made on the bishop, Mgr. Boggiani,
in order to prevent him from transferring his residence to Rovigo.
The interdict was to last for fifteen days, and contained the
following provisions: "Prohibited are: (a) the celebration of the
Mass and all other liturgical ceremonies; (b) the ringing of
bells; (c) the public administration of the sacraments; (d) solemn
burial. The following alone are permitted: (a) the baptism of
children, the administration of the other sacraments and of the
Viaticum to the sick, (b) the private celebration of marriages;
(c) one Mass each week for the renewal of the Holy Eucharist." It
was recalled that the violation of this interdict constitutes a
mortal sin for all and imposed an irregularity on clerics (Acta
Ap. Sedis, 15 Oct., 1909, p. 765).
To return to the subject of a general local interdict, but non-
personal in kind, the law authorizes the private celebration of
Mass and the choir office, the doors of the church being closed
(c. lvii, "De sent. exc.", and c. xxiv, eod. in VI), and also the
administration of confirmation; on the other hand canonical
authors did not allow extreme unction for the sick, but Pius X
permits it. To these relaxations must be added the exceptions made
in time of interdict for the celebration of the great feasts of
Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, the Assumption, Corpus Christi, and
its octave.
(2)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 (Const. Ap. Sedis,
interd., n. 2); and any cleric who knowingly celebrates any Divine
office in a place interdicted by name becomes irregular (C. xviii,
"De sent. excomm." in VI), but not if he administers a sacrament
to an interdicted individual, as the law has not legislated for
such a case.
(3) 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.
(4) 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
cleric violating the interdict becomes irregular.
(5) 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.
(6) 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 clerics 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 ordinary when and
under the conditions that he judges suitable.
In the twentieth century, before the Second Vatican Council, there
were five interdicts latae sententiae, two of which are mentioned
in the Constitution "Apostolicae Sedis", two decreed by the
Council of Trent, and one added by the Constitution "Romanus
Pontifex" of 23 August, 1873:
1."Universities, colleges, and chapters, whatsoever be their name,
that appeal from the ordinances or mandates of the reigning Roman
pontiff to a future general council, incur an interdict specially
reserved to the Roman pontiff." This interdict is imposed for the
same crime as the specially reserved excommunication no. 4 [see
EXCOMMUNICATION, VII, A, (a)], 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. 2."Those who knowingly celebrate or cause to be
celebrated the Divine offices in places interdicted by the
ordinary 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,which is borrowed, except for a few minor
modifications, from c. viii, "De privilegiis", in VI of Boniface
VIII, is therefore reserved to the competent prelate. Its object
is to ensure the observance, on the one hand, of the local
interdict, and, on the other, of excommunication by name (see
EXCOMMUNICATION, vol. V, p. 680, subtitle Vitandi and Tolerati).
3.The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, cap. i, "De Ref.") imposes on
bishops the duty of residence; it prescribes that those who absent
themselves without a sufficient reason for six continuous months
are to be deprived of a quarter of their annual revenue; then of
another quarter for a second six months' absence; after which, the
council continues, "as their contumacy increases . . . the
metropolitan will be bound to denounce to the Roman pontiff, by
letter or by messenger, within three months, his absent suffragan
bishops, and the senior resident suffragan bishop will be obliged
to denounce his absent metropolitan, under penalty of interdict
against entering the church, incurred eo ipso. The obligation of
denouncing begins, therefore, only after an entire year's absence,
and the interdict is incurred only if the denunciation has not
been made within the next three months. 4.The Council of Trent
(Sess. VII, cap. x, "De Ref.") forbids chapters, during the
vacancy of a see, to grant dimissory letters within a year dating
from the vacancy, unless to clerics who are arctati, i.e. obliged
to obtain ordination on account of a benefice; this prohibition
carries with it the penalty of interdict. The Council of Trent
having later (Sess. XXIV, cap. xvi, "De Ref.") obliged the chapter
to name a vicar capitular within eight days, the interdict can be
incurred by the chapter only for dimissory letters granted during
these eight days. It is disputed whether or not the vicar
capitular would incur the interdict for this fault (Pennacchi in
Const. "Ap. Sedis", IT. 469). 5.The Constitution "Romanus
Pontifex" aims at preventing those who are elected by the chapters
or named by the civil authorities from undertaking the
administration of their church under the name or title of vicar
capitular. Besides the excommunication incurred by the chapters
and the person elected (see EXCOMMUNICATION, sub-title
Excommunications Pronounced or Renewed Since the Constitution
"Apostolica Sedis"), Pius IX imposes on "those among them who have
received the episcopal order a suspension from the exercise of
their pontifical powers and the interdict against entering the
church, pleno jure and without any declaration."
A. BOUDINHON
Transcribed by Tomas Hancil
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc.
Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
editor of the New Advent Catholic Website. If you would like to
contribute to this worthwhile project, you can contact him by e-
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