IRREGULARITY
172
IRREGULARITY
exercise orders while under censure, i. e. while excom-
municated or suspended. It apphes equally to all
clerics whether in major or minor orders and to the ex-
communicate vitandi and tolerandi. But to incur it,
the incriminating act must be one of order, not juris-
diction, and it must be performed ex officio, with full
knowledge and temerity. Abuse of Ordination. —
Those who in bad faith receive Sacred orders from
bishops who are under censure become irregular and
incur suspension from the order received. If the de-
fect be principally in the one ordained, however, he is
suspended, but probably does not incur an irregular-
ity. Heresy, Apostasy, and Schism. — Heretics in
general are irregular, whether they were born in heresy
or lapsed into it ficiin tlie Catholic Faith. This irreg-
ularity also includes the children of heretics to the .sec-
ond degree in the paternal line, ami to the first tlegree
in the maternal. If the parents embrace the Catholic
Faith, their offspring is no longer irregular. Those
born of Jews and pagans are not comprehended under
this irregularity. Children are held irregular if born
after their parents have fallen into heresy, and if the
parents the in heresy. Some older canonists held that
in countries where Cathohcs and non-Catholics live
mixed together this irregularity was not contracted.
A decree of the Holy Office (9 July, 1884), however,
declares that the cliildren of those who die in heresy
are irregular, even in countries where heresy is ram-
pant and unchecked. A schismatic is not irregular,
unless he be at the same time a heretic. Such scliis-
matics, however, where heresy is conjoined, even after
restoration to the unity of the Church, remain irregu-
lar, as do also heretics after abjuration and apostates
after penance. Defect of Fame, or Infamy. — This is
defined by canonists as a state of lowered dignity, or a
privation or diminution of the esteem of men. It is
called infamia juris when the law declares one to be
infamous either ipso facto or after judicial sentence.
To the first class of infames belong those who are
guilty of marriage with a prostitute, who attack car-
dinals, commit rape, engage in duels, embrace heresy.
Children of those who commit high treason or lay
hands on a cardinal are also infamous. If civil laws
intend to brand a guilty person with infamy he is held
as infamous by canon law. To the second class, or
those who are held infamous only after judicial sen-
tence, belong all convicted of certain crimes expressed
in law or who have been condemned to very degrading
punishment. Defect of fame is called infamia facti
when one perpetrates any crime which forfeits the
good opinion of the community. When one's good
name is lost only through a widespread suspicion tliis
is deemed sufficient to impede the reception of Sacred
orders. In ancient times certain classes of people,
such as hangmen, actors, and others, were considered
infamous by their very employment, but at present
the actual opinion of the community must be con-
sulted.
(2) Irregularities ex Defectu or on Account of Defect: — Proper Age. — The Church has prescribed a certain age at which the various ecclesiastical orders may be lic- itly received (see Ohdeks, Holy). Defect of Birth. — In primitive times illegitimacy was no bar to ordina- tion. In 655 the Ninth Council of Toledo decreed that illegitimate sons of clerics in major orders should be held as serfs of the Church and not be admitted to Holy orders unless first manumitted by the bishop. In the ninth and tenth centuries those Ijorn of violated virgins or of incest began to be held as irregular. Vari- ous canons were also formed concerning different de- tails of illegitimacy, until finally a general prohibition against all spurious children being admitted to orders was enacted, on the ground that the stain of birth would be a stain on the sacred ministry. At present, therefore, all illegitimate |)ers()ns are irregular unless they have been legitimated by the subsequent mar- riage of their parents or by profession in a religious or-
der or by papal rescript. Foundlings of unknown par-
entage should receive conditional dispensation. Those
also are held to be irregular who, though sprung from
valid marriage, were born while their parents were
bound by solemn vow or after the reception of Sacred
orders. Defect of Liberty. — Slaves are irregular un-
less liberated by their masters. The same irregularity
affects those who are responsible to the civil govern-
ment for the administration of certain offices or
duties, as judges, magistrates, guardians, administra-
tors, soldiers. These are not to be ordained until they
have freed themselves from their civil duties and dis-
pelled any suspicion of fraudulent dealings. Those,
however, who administer charitable funds or have the
care of the poor or orphans are not included. Owing
to defect of liberty a husband cannot receive orders
during the lifetime of his wife, unless she enter religion
or make a vow of chastity. Defect of Matrimony, or
Bigamy. — In canonical phraseology, bigamy may be
of three kinds. It is called true bigamy when a man
has contracted a second marriage after the death of
his first wife. Such a person is considered irregular
for Sacred orders, because according to Innocent III a
second marriage does not signify the union of Christ
with His Church in the same manner as does a first
marriage. Hence this irregularity is technically
called defectus sacramenti (i. e. matrimonii) . The im-
pediment is not contracted, however, if either the first
or second marriage had not l^een consummated. Big-
amy is called inter pretaiii^e, when, by fiction of law, a
person is accounted as having had two wives, when in
reality he had but one. This is the condition of a man
who marries a widow or one corrupted by another.
Similitudinary bigamy is contracted by a person who,
bound by solemn religious vows or by Sacred orders,
enters into a so-called marriage. Such a one is con-
sidered to have contracte.il two marriages, the one
valid and spiritual with Christ, the other carnal and
invalid with his guilty partner.
Defect of Mildness. — This impediment, termed in Latin defectus Icnitatis, makes those persons irregular who voluntarily, actively, and proximately take part with sanction of pulilic authority in the lawful killing or mutilating of another. The reason of this irregu- larity is that since Christ was the gentlest of men, and priests are His representatives, they should likewise be models of mildness. This irregularity may be con- tracted in war. Canonists hold generally that in an unjust war all those soldiers who take part in it fall under this impediment if any of the enemy be killed or mutilated. In a just offensive war, both clerics and laics who personally kill or mutilate others become ir- regular, but not those who exhort others to action, without taking part in the fighting themselves. In a just defensive war, some canonists say that no one contracts irregularity, not even a cleric who person- ally serves in the ranks and slays others when laymen are not in sufficient numbers to repel the enemy. Other canonists, however, hold that such a cleric would incur irregularity, and this opinion seems more in accordance with Roman decrees (S. C. C, 13 Jan., 170.3; 17 Feb., 1816). Irregularity is not, however, contracted by the mere fact of a person's entering military service. Defect of mildness also constitutes an irregularity for those concerned in legal capital punishment, as judges pronouncing sentences of death, witnesses, accusers, clerks writing out the sentence, and those who carry it into actual execution. As jurymen with us are really judges, they would seem to contract this irregularity likewise. The law is so strict that a judge who decrees a death sentence which was not carried out remains irregular for the reception of Sacred orders. Clerics who jirosecute a layman be- fore a court for injuries done to theni.selves must pro- test, according to Boniface VIII, that they do not de- sire sentence of capital punishment, if they wish to keep clear of irregularity. Similar protestation must
