AMMONIZIONE (Latin monitio). — A term used in canon law to designate the more or less solemn act by which an ecclesiastical superior calls someone to the observance of his duties.
Leaving aside the so-called paternal a. (which amounts, essentially, to a mere exhortation, lacking a strictly juridical character) and considering the canonical monitio properly so called, we shall note that it occurs in various circumstances, with different purposes and effects.
1. In the system of censures or medicinal penalties (v. CENSURA), the monitio contumacy (v.) to arise and, consequently, for the application of the penalty (CIC, can. 2233, § 2). It consists in a formal injunction to obey the command of the law or of the superior, together with the simultaneous threat of a censure in the event of disobedience. Authors distinguish the monitio ab homine from the monitio a iure. The former occurs when, since the censure is not expressly provided for by the law or by the penal precept, or is provided for only as a penalty ferendae sententiae, the superior or judge threatens to apply it to the offender if he does not desist from his unlawful conduct or remedy the consequences of the offence committed. Unlike decretal law, which as a rule required three a. to be carried out at intervals of several days (cf. c. 9, de sententia excommunicationis, suspensionis et interdicti, V, 11, in VI), the present CIC prescribes only one, leaving it to the prudent discretion of the judge or superior to establish, according to the circumstances, a reasonable period «ad resipiscendum».
The monitio a iure occurs whenever a censure latae sententiae is explicitly threatened by the law or by the penal precept. In this case, the mere transgression of the law or precept is sufficient to cause the offender to incur the censure, because, as the saying goes, «lex interpellat pro homine».
2. The a. is sometimes also required in order for a vindictive penalty to be imposed.
Thus, for example, with regard to apostates, heretics, and schismatics, the Code provides that they are to be deprived of the benefice, office, and pension they may happen to enjoy, and that they are also to incur a declaration of infamy, only if, after being duly admonished, they have given no signs of repentance; if the culprit is a cleric, then, before inflicting the penalty of deposition, a double monitio must be carried out (can. 2314, § 1, n. 2). Analogous provisions are found in cann. 2315 (suspicion of heresy), 2340 (a cleric’s persistence under the censure of suspension), 2379 (violation of the obligation to wear ecclesiastical dress), 2394, n. 2 (arbitrary occupation of office), etc.
3. The monitio canonica also constitutes a formality necessary for the implementation of those disciplinary proceedings which, formerly regulated by the decree Maxima cura of the S. Congr. Consistorial dated 20 August 1910, are today systematized in Part Three of Book IV of the Code, under the title De modo procedendi in nonnullis expedendis negotiis vel sanctionibus poenalibus applicandis. It is particularly prescribed as the first procedural act when measures are to be taken against a beneficiary who fails to comply with the obligation of residence (can. 2158), against a cleric suspected of immoral conduct (can. 2176), and against a negligent parish priest in the fulfilment of his office (can. 2182).
In proceedings for the dismissal of religious (can. 649 ff.), two distinct a. are prescribed under pain of inadmissibility, to be carried out by the immediate major superior or his delegate. Between the first and the second, when the religious is accused of committing a continuing or permanent offence, an interval of at least three days must elapse; and after the second, at least six days must in every case be allowed to pass before the instruction of the proceedings may begin.
4. The a. may finally take the form of a penal remedy (v.), that is, a measure intended to prevent rather than repress an offence. In this capacity, it is imposed by the ordinary or his delegate upon one who is in the proximate occasion of committing an offence or who may reasonably be suspected of having committed one (can. 2307). If, within a suitable period, the person admonished does not show that he accepts the superior’s warning or does not in some way remove the suspicion that has fallen upon him, the a. may be repeated (can. 2309, § 6); and it may be followed by a formal precept, accompanied by a sanction in the event of non-compliance (can. 2310).
5. The notification of the monitio is ordinarily carried out: a) either orally, before the chancellor or another official of the curia, or in the presence of two witnesses; b) or in writing, by registered letter with return receipt (can. 2143, § 1; can. 2308, § 2). In both cases, an authentic document attesting that the a. has taken place must be preserved in the records (can. 2143, § 2). When used as a penal remedy, the monitio may also be carried out secretly (can. 2309, § 1), provided that a record of it remains in the secret archive of the curia (can. 2309, § 5).
6. In Italian law, the a. is a police measure (arts. 164–176 of the Consolidated Text of Public Security Laws, 18 June 1931), directed against idlers, vagrants, socially dangerous persons, and persons defamed for offences, and which, depending on the circumstances, limits to a greater or lesser extent the freedom of the person subject to II.