**AMMONITION** (Lat. *monitio*). — A term used in canon law to designate the more or less solemn act by which an ecclesiastical superior calls someone to observe their duties.
Without considering the so-called *patema* admonition (which essentially amounts to a mere exhortation devoid of strictly juridical character) and focusing on canonical admonition proper, we note that it occurs in various circumstances, with different purposes and effects.
I. In the system of censures or medicinal penalties (*V. CENSURE*), admonition constitutes an indispensable condition for the occurrence of contumacy (*v.*) and, consequently, for the application of the penalty (*CIC*, can. 2233, § 2). It consists in the formal intimation to obey the command of the law or the superior, accompanied by a threat of censure in case of non-compliance. Authors distinguish between *monitio ab homine* and *monitio a iure*. The former occurs when the censure is not expressly provided for by the law or penal precept, or is provided only as a penalty to be imposed by sentence, and the superior or judge threatens to apply it if the offender does not desist from their unlawful conduct or does not repair the consequences of the committed delict. Unlike the decretal law, which generally required three admonitions to be given at intervals of several days (*cf.* c. 9, *de sententia excommunicationis, suspensionis et interdicti*, V, 11, in *VI*), the current *CIC* prescribes only one, leaving to the prudent discretion of the judge or superior the determination, according to the circumstances, of a reasonable term “for repentance.”
*Monitio a iure* occurs whenever a *latae sententiae* censure is expressly threatened by the law or penal precept. In this case, the mere transgression of the law or precept suffices to incur the censure, as it is said, *lex interpellat pro homine*.
2. Admonition is sometimes required before imposing a vindictive penalty.
For example, with regard to apostates, heretics, and schismatics, the Code provides that they shall be deprived of any benefice, office, or pension they may hold, and shall moreover incur a declaration of infamy, only if, after being duly admonished, they have shown no signs of repentance; if the offender is a cleric, before imposing the penalty of deposition, a twofold admonition must be given (*can.* 2314, § 1, n. 2). Similar provisions are found in *can.* 2315 (suspicion of heresy), 2340 (a cleric’s persistence in a censure of suspension), 2379 (violation of the obligation to wear ecclesiastical dress), 2394, n. 2 (arbitrary occupation of an office), etc.
3. Canonical admonition also constitutes a necessary formality for the execution of those disciplinary proceedings which, previously regulated by the decree *Maxima cura* of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation dated 20 August 1910, now find their arrangement in Part III of Book IV of the Code, under the title *De modo procedendi in nonnullis expedendi negotiis vel sanctissimis poenalibus applicandi*. It is particularly prescribed as the first procedural act when measures are to be taken against a beneficiary who fails to fulfill the obligation of residence (*can.* 2168), against a cleric suspected of immoral conduct (*can.* 2176), and against a negligent parish priest (*can.* 2182).
In proceedings for the dismissal of religious (*can.* 649 ff.), two distinct admonitions are prescribed, under penalty of nullity, to be carried out by the immediate major superior or a delegate. Between the first and second, if the religious is accused of a continuous or permanent delict, an interval of at least three days must elapse; and after the second, at least six days must pass before the instruction of the process can proceed.
4. Admonition may also take on the character of a penal remedy (*v.*), i.e., a measure aimed at preventing rather than repressing a delict. As such, it is imposed by the ordinary or a delegate against those who are in imminent danger of committing a delict or against those reasonably suspected of having committed a crime (*can.* 2307). If, within a suitable period, the person admonished does not show signs of accepting the superior’s warning or in some way dispels the suspicion cast upon them, the admonition may be repeated (*can.* 2309, § 6); and a formal precept, accompanied by a sanction for non-compliance, may follow (*can.* 2310).
5. Admonition is generally carried out: a) either verbally, in the presence of the chancellor or another curial official, or in the presence of two witnesses; b) or in writing, by means of a registered letter with return receipt (*can.* 2143, § 1; *can.* 2308, § 2). In both cases, an authentic document must be kept on record to prove that the admonition took place (*can.* 2143, § 2). When used as a penal remedy, admonition may also be given in secret (*can.* 2309, § 1), provided that a record of it is kept in the secret archive of the curia (*can.* 2309, § 5).
6. In Italian law, admonition is a police measure (*arts.* 164–176 of the Consolidated Text of Public Safety Laws, 18 June 1931), which targets idlers, vagrants, socially dangerous persons, and those defamed for crimes, and which, depending on the case, more or less severely restricts the freedom of those subjected to II.
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