Apostolicæ Sedis

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Apostolicæ Sedis was a Papal Constitution promulgated by Pope Pius IX on 12 October 1869.

It was a constitution relating to Canon law, clarifying the procedure regarding censure. It changed some Canons and establishes a new list of censures.^[1] Some authorities state the document relates to Freemasonry,^[2] but it is unavailable in English translation.^[3]

[edit] History

Although its founder, Christ, is deemed divine, the Church is composed of members who are human, with human passions and weaknesses. Hence the need of laws for their direction and legal penalties for their correction. In the course of centuries these penal statutes accumulated to an enormous extent, confirming, modifying or abrogating others which had been already made. They were simplified by the Council of Trent (1545-63). But afterwards new laws had to be enacted, some altered and some abrogated as before. Thus these penal statutes became again numerous and complicated, and a cause of confusion to canonists, of perplexity to moralists, and often a source of hesitation to the faithful.

Pius IX, therefore, simplified them again for the three hundred years of accumulation, by the Bull "Apostolicae Sedis Moderationi". In quoting the more solemn papal decrees, the practice is to entitle them from their initial words (See Bulls and Briefs.) The words of this title are the first words of the document. The Bull "Apostolicae Sedis" left all canonical penalties and impediments (deposition, degradation, deprivation of benefice, irregularity etc.) as they were, except those with which it expressly deals. And it deals expressly with those penalties only, the direct purpose of which is the reformation rather than the punishment of the person on whom they are inflicted: censures (excommunication, suspension and interdict). Moreover, it deals only with a certain class of censures.

Although a censure is merely a medicinal penalty, the chief purpose of which is the reformation of the person who has incurred it, het it does not cease of itself merely by one's reformation. It has to be taken away by the power that inflicts it. It remains, therefore, to consider briefly those of the Bull "Apostolicae Sedis" with respect toe the power by which one may be absolved from any of them. They are classified in that respect by Pius IX in the Bull itself. Any priest who has jurisdiction to absolve from sin can also absolve from censures, unless a censure be reserved, as a sin might be reserved; and some of the censures named in the Bull "Apostolicae Sedis" are not reserved.

Some censures of the "Apostolicae Sedis" are reserved to bishops; so that bishops, within their own jurisdiction, or one specially delegated by them, can absolve from censures so reserved. Some are reserved to the Pope, so that not even a bishop can absolve from these without a delegation from the Pope. Finally, the Bull "Apostolicae Sedis" gives a list of twelve censures which are reserved in a special manner (speciali modo) to the Pope; so that to absolve from any of these, even a bishop requires a special delegation, in which these are specifically named. These twelve censures, except the one numbered X, were taken from the Bull "In Coena Domini" (so called because from 1364 to 1770 it was annually published at Rome, and since 1567 elsewhere on Holy Thursday ceased to be, except as an historical document. Of these eleven canonical offences, five refer to attacks on the foundation of the Church: on its faith and constitution. Three refer to attacks on the power of the Church and on the free exercise of that power. The other three refer to attacks on the spiritual or temporal treasures of the Church.

The first censures enacted since the Bull "Apostolicae Sedis" was published are usually mentioned and interpreted in the published commentaries on that Bull. The commentary by Avanzini and Pennacchi (Rome, 1883), the learned editors of the "Acta Sanctae Sedis", is the most complete. That issued (Prato, 1894) by the late Cardinal D'Annibale, however, is of all others recommended for conciseness and accuracy combined.

[edit] References

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. [1]

^ Papal Pronouncements, A Guide, 1740 - 1978, 2 Vols., by Claudia Carlen, IHM, (The Pierian Press, 1990), cited in ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH LAW REGARDING FREEMASONRY, by REID McINVALE, Texas Lodge of Research
^ "The action of the Church is summed up in the papal pronouncements against Freemasonry since 1738, the most important of which are:" ... "Pius IX, Const. "Apostolicæ Sedis", 12 October, 1869;" Masonry (Freemasonry) in the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913
^ From Apostolicae Sedis Moderatoni, 12 October 1869 in ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH LAW REGARDING FREEMASONRY by REID McINVALE, Texas Lodge of Research