IMPEDIMENTS. — From the Latin *impedimentum* (the verb *impedio* expresses the action by which the feet are entangled), the term *impedimentum* in general and in the abstract signifies everything by which someone is hindered from completing what they desire: everything that produces delay or obstacle.
OUTLINE:
I. Various meanings of the term *impedimentum*
II. Matrimonial impediments
III. Impediments to the sacrament of Holy Orders.I. VARIOUS MEANINGS OF THE TERM *IMPEDIMENTUM*
Not everything that constitutes an impediment in the physical order or within the sphere of vegetative or sensitive life holds ethical or juridical interest, but only that which creates an obstacle to the free development of ethical and juridical life, i.e., within the sphere of human acts. Anything can be an impediment to a human act when it obstructs knowledge or free will. The impediment may arise from nature, be imposed by law, or proceed from the intervention of another. In this last case, the impediment may be illegitimate and synonymous with injury (*v.* INJURY) and the effect of violence; or it may be legitimate, in which case it is the just prohibition of a superior or of anyone exercising lawful dominative power.Law, whether natural or positive, in creating the obstacle, may merely declare the act illicit and the person unauthorized, or it may go so far as to declare the act invalid when performed in violation of a precise legal provision, or otherwise disable the person with regard to certain acts. In such cases, one is dealing with irritant (*v.* LAW) or disabling law.
When the term *impedimentum* is used ordinarily, attention is not so much directed to those existing by law against the assumption of certain offices by certain persons, but rather to the field of theology or sacramental law, and particularly to two sacraments, Holy Orders and Matrimony, and indirectly, as it were by reflection, to whatever obstructs the various degrees of admission to the religious life. What is an obstacle to the principal effect of the sacraments, grace, is more properly called an *obex* (*v.*), while the term *impedimentum* remains to signify the obstacles placed in the way of admission to Matrimony itself and to the sacrament of Holy Orders, in relation to which perpetual impediments are designated by a special term: irregularities (*v.*). Here, we intend to treat of matrimonial impediments and those simple impediments concerning the sacrament of Holy Orders.
For impediments to the religious life, *v.* the individual entries corresponding to the various degrees thereof: NOVITIATE; RELIGIOUS.
IMOLA, DIOCESE OF — Gothic portal (14th cent.) of the church of S. Domenico.
THE MOLO, OF — Gothic portal (14th cent.) of the church of S. Domenico.
THE MOLO, OF — Gothic portal (14th, 17th, 18th cents.) of the church of S. Domenico.
THE MOLO, OF
II. MATRIMONIAL IMPEDIMENTS
1. Notion and divisions
Under the name of matrimonial impediments are designated circumstances which render one or both spouses incapable of contracting Matrimony, with the result that in the particular case the marriage contract is either null or illicit.The effects dependent upon these circumstances are established by Him who instituted Matrimony in the natural economy, namely, by God or by those to whom He has given the mandate to regulate it, that is, by competent legitimate authority. For Christians, even if non-Catholic, this authority is solely the Church, since Jesus Christ elevated the marriage contract between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament; for non-Christians, it is the civil or religious authority that regulates their customs.
Matrimonial impediments are therefore: a) of natural law, when established by God Himself by the law of nature; b) of positive divine law, if established by God’s free will in addition to the law of nature; c) of ecclesiastical law, when established by the Church for its subjects, in addition to natural and positive divine law; d) of merely civil law, when dealing with marriages between unbaptized persons.
A matrimonial impediment that is irritant, i.e., renders Matrimony null, is said to be diriment, and if known to the contracting parties, renders the act also gravely illicit. An impedient impediment, on the other hand, is one that renders the act only illicit but not null.
For an impediment to have its proper effect, it must be certain; if, instead, there is grave reason for doubt, it is said to be doubtful, and in such a case it is either disregarded or a dispensation is granted by way of precaution (“ad cautelam, quaenus opus sit”). Doubt concerning the very existence of the law or its applicability to a certain fact is called doubt of law (*dubium iuris*); if, instead, it concerns the fact, i.e., if it is doubted whether the fact has truly occurred as contemplated by the law, it is a doubt of fact (*dubium facti*). An impediment is said to be public if it arises from a fact which by its nature is public, or which can be proven in an external forum (e.g., consanguinity), or which is known to many; if, instead, it cannot be proven in an external forum, it is said to be occult (e.g., certain species of the so-called impediment of crime). There are impediments that concern both contracting parties (e.g., consanguinity), others that proceed from only one of them (e.g., impotence); absolute impediments, which prevent marriage with anyone, and relative ones if they prevent marriage only with certain persons. Some impediments are temporary, i.e., they may cease either with time (e.g., age) or by a change of circumstances (e.g., tatoo, mixed religion); the others are perpetual.
Impediments are said to be indispensable when the Church cannot (because they are of natural or positive divine law) or does not usually dispense from them (on account of their exceptional gravity), dispensable when they are otherwise, although not without a certain rigor. The latter are divided into two categories: of lesser degree when they involve limited gravity, of greater degree when they require for dispensation causes of a certain importance.
The impediments of divine law (natural or positive) are: impotence, bond of marriage, consanguinity in the direct line, and, by common conviction, that in the first degree of the collateral line.
According to current legislation, the following are impediments of ecclesiastical law: consanguinity in the second and third degrees of the collateral line (not beyond), affinity in the direct or collateral line not beyond the second degree, public honesty in the direct line up to the second degree, age, disparity of worship, mixed religion, sacred Orders, solemn profession, crime in its special forms, spiritual relationship, a vow, and where it is also a civil impediment, legal relationship. Affiliation is not an impediment borrowed from civil law, as is adoption.
Impediments of lesser degree are: consanguinity in the third degree of the collateral line, equal or mixed with the second, affinity in the second degree of the collateral line, equal, public honesty in the second degree, spiritual relationship, and crime of the first two species. The other impediments are of greater degree (for the individual impediments, *v.* the individual entries).
In the legislation preceding the decree *Ne temere*, certain causes of nullity of marriage, such as error, condition, etc., were also called impediments, but in the new legislation the term *impedimentum* is used in a strict sense.
Indispensable are the impediments of divine law or those considered as such. They are also called indispensable those ecclesiastical impediments from which the Church does not usually grant dispensation, namely, affinity in the direct line, sacred Orders, and crime with conjugicide. Temporarily indispensable may be abduction.
In antiquity, bishops too established impediments for marriage within their own territories, but subsequently it was determined that diriment impediments were the exclusive competence of the Holy See, while bishops retained the power to establish particular and temporary prohibitions, which in practice amount to impediments.
Civil authority cannot interfere in the validity of marriage between Christians, and any law to that effect is an usurpation of right; it is competent only regarding the purely civil effects of marriage.
2. Dispensation from impediments
Dispensation from ecclesiastical impediments may be obtained for more or less grave reasons, depending on the category or degree to which they belong (for dispensation in general V. LEGGE).Regarding dispensation from matrimonial impediments, however, it is advisable to note some particularities.
The first arises from the nature of the impediment, namely the distinction between those that impede and those that invalidate. For the celebration of marriage, therefore, dispensation may be necessary either for validity or for liceity.
Moreover, for diriment impediments, when dealing with those of a higher degree, dispensation is not valid if the cause is not one recognized as proportionate ("canonical cause") and if this is not true at the time of granting the dispensation. For impediments of a lower degree, any cause suffices, even if not actually true. Dispensation from a diriment impediment is null if at the same time another diriment impediment stands un-dispensed, unless it concerns consanguinity or affinity and the other impediment is not of the same kind and of equal or lesser degree. If a public impediment, from which a lower authority may dispense by indult, concurs with another from which it cannot dispense, recourse must be had to the Holy See for both. When dealing with doubtful impediments, if the doubt is negative, it is not taken into account; if positive, dispensation is requested and granted ad cautelam, except for the impediment of consanguinity in the first collateral degree.
The petition for dispensation from a matrimonial impediment, in addition to the elements required for any other dispensation, must also include a genealogical tree when dealing with consanguinity, affinity, or public honesty, and must indicate the economic condition of the petitioners. The parish priest must send the petition to his Ordinary with all necessary information; the latter, having examined the case, provides for the granting of the dispensation. Normally, matrimonial dispensations are granted by the Holy See. For occult impediments in the internal forum, the Apostolic Penitentiary grants dispensation; for disparity of cult and mixed religion, the Holy Office; for other impediments, the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments. But for Catholics in the missions, the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide provides, and for those of the Eastern rite, the respective Sacred Congregation.
In extraordinary circumstances, other ecclesiastical persons may grant dispensations, either by special concession of the Holy See or by provision of the law. Special and precise faculties are granted to nuncios and apostolic delegates and to some Ordinaries, especially of foreign or distant dioceses from Rome: such faculties are always temporary and renewable. Special faculties may also be granted in certain extraordinary circumstances.
In danger of death, the Code of Canon Law grants the faculty to dispense from almost all matrimonial impediments to Ordinaries, parish priests, confessors, and those priests who are present at marriages celebrated in the absence of the parish priest according to can. 1098. Likewise, in cases where the impediment is discovered when everything is ready for the celebration of the marriage, so that it cannot be postponed without grave harm.
In these circumstances, only the Ordinary can dispense from all impediments as in danger of death, while others are authorized only for occult cases and when there is not time to have recourse to the Ordinary. These limitations are to be strictly interpreted. Moreover, the Ordinary, as a general rule, may dispense in doubtful cases and even when, having recourse to the Holy See, while awaiting the reply, serious and urgent reasons arise that do not permit delay, provided that it concerns dispensations which the Holy See is accustomed to grant.
When petitioning the Holy See for a dispensation, the so-called testimony must be complete and exhaustive; it must contain all the information relating to and required by the case, since each impediment differs from the others, has its own aspects, and requires information that the granting authority must know, so that no null act may be performed, the necessary particular guarantees may be obtained, and appropriate clauses may be added. In the granting of matrimonial dispensations, the causes are of paramount importance, both because it is a canonical norm not to grant derogations to laws without a just and reasonable cause, and because, for impediments of a higher degree, if the cause is false, the dispensation is null.
It is the constant practice of the Holy See to require for matrimonial dispensations so-called canonical causes, namely those explicitly listed in the past by the dicasteries such as the Holy Office, the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, and the Apostolic Datary. In later times, however, other causes of equal gravity were admitted alongside these, so that a list of causes has been formed, some of which are admitted as motives, therefore necessary for impediments of a higher degree, while others are merely impulsive and serve to strengthen the motives or for impediments of a lower degree. The general criterion is that the causes must exist on the part of the bride; only subordinately are others admitted for the benefit of others. Causes that do not entail any prejudice to the honor of the spouses are called honest, otherwise they are called infamous: the former are preferred to the latter. The criteria of the Holy See on this entire matter must also be followed by those who enjoy the faculty to dispense. In listing the causes admitted for the granting of matrimonial dispensations, the criterion of gravity will be followed, and therefore the motives will be mentioned before the impulsive ones.
3. Motives and causes for dispensation
a) Narrowness of place. — This is said to exist, and is absolute, when the place where the petitioner resides does not exceed 1,500 inhabitants or 300 families, and her kinship is so extensive that she cannot find a man of equal standing to marry except a blood relative or an affine, and it would be difficult for her to leave her domicile. Relative narrowness of place exists when, because of wars or epidemics, there is a scarcity of men, or in centers where there are few Catholics and many non-Catholics. b) Superadult age of the petitioner. — In curial language, a woman is called superadult when she has passed the age of 24 but not 50, and has not yet found a husband. This cause therefore applies to spinsters and not to widows; but if the widow is still young and exposed to the danger of incontinence, her young age (up to about 30) or still flourishing age (up to about 40) may be adduced as a cause. c) Lack or insufficiency of dowry. — When the bride is without dowry or does not have the dowry required to marry a stranger of equal standing. The cause applies if the relative or affine is willing to provide for it by marrying her; but it does not apply to widows. d) Poverty of a widow burdened with numerous children. — Mere poverty is not a sufficient cause unless it concerns a widow with many children, who is being sought in marriage by a groom willing to provide for their needs. e) Pacification to be achieved (bonum pacis). — When by the marriage of two blood relatives or affines serious quarrels, enmities, or hatreds between families are extinguished. f) Condition of orphanhood of both parents. — The gravity of this cause, which is not strictly canonical, is evident. g) Deformity, infirmity, or defective condition of the bride. — It is clear that for a woman in such a condition, marriage with a relative or affine is a fitting remedy. h) Validation of a marriage contracted in good faith. — This occurs when the two parties, in good faith, have contracted invalidly without the necessary dispensation from an impediment. i) Imminence of marriage. — When the impediment is discovered late or, through negligence, not dispensed before, and at the same time the marriage cannot be postponed without serious material or moral harm. l) Mutual assistance in advanced age. — When both contracting parties have passed the age of 50 and need mutual help or assistance. m) Rumor of an intended marriage. — When the planned marriage is known to others and, if it does not take place, defamatory suspicions might arise. Some indicate this cause with the expression: infamia oratricis vitanda. n) Merits of the petitioners. — This exists when the petitioners have highly merited the Church or the diocese. The merits must be outstanding; otherwise, this cause remains merely impulsive. o) Good of the children (bonum prolis). — This occurs when the woman or both parties are widowed with children, and by marriage provision can be made for the support, education, or assistance of the minor orphans. p) Excessive, suspicious, and dangerous familiarity. — This is not to be confused with the proper cordiality and natural mutual affection between blood relatives. These are three different aspects of familiarity, which may also be found together. q) Infamy of the woman arising from suspicion. — When suspicions have arisen, due to the engagement, which could leave the petitioner defamed and unable to marry. r) Cohabitation under the same roof, which cannot easily be prevented. — This must be a necessary cohabitation that could lead to incest or scandal; but if the cohabitation is honest and does not give rise to suspicion, the cause does not apply. s) Persistence of the betrothed in their intention. t) Danger of incestuous concubinage. — These last two causes are similar and have the same value. u) Danger of civil marriage. — However, when this cause is adduced as a threat of blackmail, it is rejected. The same applies to the following two causes. v) Civil lawsuit already obtained or requested; w) Civil marriage already contracted. — In this case, however, in Italy, after the Concordat, the two Catholic contracting parties must be treated as public sinners. x) Danger of a mixed marriage or one to be celebrated before a non-Catholic minister. — Provided it is not extortionate, this is an accepted cause to avoid serious scandal and the fear of the perversion of both the spouses and their future offspring. y) Intercourse already occurred between the betrothed, pregnancy, necessity of legitimizing the offspring. — Three distinct causes requiring reparation, especially when the act was done with the intention of more easily obtaining the dispensation. z) Resolution of serious scandal. a') Cessation of public concubinage. — This cause resembles and is equivalent to the previous one. b') Loss of virginity of the bride already occurred through someone other than the betrothed. c') Illegitimacy of birth of the bride. — These last two are defamatory causes, admitted only for the woman. d') Consensual elopement of the betrothed. — This cause is admitted provided that afterward the woman is placed in a safe place and is able to give her consent to the marriage freely.4. Impulsive causes for dispensation
a) The undertaking of lawsuits over matters of succession. — If the petitioner must sustain a serious lawsuit over a substantial inheritance and only the groom is willing to bear the expense, or if the lawsuit is settled by the marriage. b') Need on the part of the groom for that particular woman to meet his specific needs. — This occurs when she is needed to care for his children, to help in the household, or to assist him in illness. c) Good morals of both spouses. d) Partial suitability of the marriage for particular advantage. e) Hope of conversion of the party. — This motive applies in cases of impediments of disparity of cult or mixed religion, excluding any form of pressure, even moral. f) Good of needy parents. — This occurs when the marriage benefits the parents of one of the spouses who are sick, elderly, or in need of assistance.The granting of a matrimonial dispensation usually takes place by means of a rescript in commissory form. For it to have effect, therefore, it is necessary that the document reach the executor, who, having verified that everything is in order, must execute it in writing for the purpose of proof in the external forum (v. RESCRITTO). Moreover, to limit dispensations and almost as a penalty for the petitioners, and at the same time as a sign of homage to the Holy See for the benefit received, a tax or composition is imposed on every dispensation, proportionate to the importance and the economic condition of the petitioners. This differs from other dispensations, for which a uniform tax is established for all. For those who are truly indigent, the dispensation is granted free of charge.
III. ON THE SACRAMENT OF ORDER
Before the Code of Canon Law, the concept of *impediments* and of *irregularities* was not clearly defined: some distinguished irregularities from impediments, while most writers, without making any such distinction, indiscriminately referred to all impediments—whether temporary or perpetual—as irregularities.The same lack of consensus was evident in the enumeration of impediments. For example, Gasparri, who accepted the above distinction, listed twelve impediments (*Tractatus de sacra ordinatione*, I, Paris 1883, nos. 477 ff.), whereas other authors provided longer or shorter lists.
The Code of Canon Law, by drawing a clear distinction between irregularities and impediments, reduces the latter to seven in number. A simple impediment, insofar as it is distinct from an irregularity, may be defined as a temporary impediment established by ecclesiastical law that produces the same effects as an irregularity. The specific difference between an irregularity and a simple impediment is that the former is inherently perpetual, whereas a simple impediment is always temporary. Irregularities are divided into those arising from defect (*ex defectu*) and those arising from delict (*ex delicto*), whereas a simple impediment does not admit of such a distinction. An irregularity can be introduced only by common law; a simple impediment, however, may also arise from particular law. The impediments and irregularities share certain effects: the primary effect is to prevent the lawful conferral of the first tonsure and of Orders; the secondary effect is to prohibit the exercise of Orders already received (cf. can. 968). Generally, impediments are understood as antecedent to the reception of Orders, even though they may persist thereafter. Their origin varies: for some, they arise from a freely undertaken personal act (e.g., a marriage contracted of one’s own accord); for others, they stem from an external fact or a particular condition of things sanctioned by law (e.g., military service, servitude, or the persistent heresy of one’s non-Catholic relatives).
The following are simply impeded (can. 987):
1. “The children of non-Catholics, as long as their parents persist in their error.” In ancient law, even grandchildren were considered irregular; in current law, the impediment applies only to descendants of non-Catholics in the first degree of the direct line. The impediment exists even if only one parent is non-Catholic and does not cease even if a mixed marriage was contracted with the necessary dispensation and the prescribed guarantees were given. Despite some contrary opinions, it should be held that the term “non-Catholics” (apostates, heretics, schismatics, atheists) does not include non-believers. This impediment, established to counter the presumption against the children of non-Catholics regarding the stability of their faith, ceases either through the effective conversion of the parents or of the non-Catholic parent to the faith, or—more likely—through their death, even if they persist in their error.
2. “Those who are married.” In ancient times, this impediment and the next two were called *ex defectu liberatis*. Under the old law, even if the marital bond persisted, the impediment ceased if the wife entered religious life or took a vow of chastity while remaining in the world (Benedict XIV, *De synodo dioecesana*, bk. XIII, 12, no. 13 ff.). Under current law, however, marriage is an absolute impediment to receiving Orders, and it ceases only either through the dissolution of the marital bond in any manner or through a dispensation from the Holy See, which is granted only with the free consent of the wife and after all possible difficulties have been addressed.
3. “Those who exercise an office or administration prohibited to clerics and for which they must render account, until they have resigned the office and administration and rendered a proper account.” What is prohibited to clerics is clearly stated in can. 139; conversely, many offices and administrations are not forbidden to clerics, such as administering the goods of churches or pious places, serving as a municipal councilor, etc.
4. “Slaves in the strict sense of the term, before obtaining their freedom.” The slaves referred to here and in can. 1083 § 2, in full conformity with ancient law, are those who, according to the law of nations and contrary to natural liberty, are subjected to the dominion of another. This deplorable condition, always reproved by the Church, no longer exists in Europe or among civilized peoples, though it may still occur in mission territories among uncivilized peoples.
5. “Those who, according to civil law, are obligated to perform ordinary military service, before having fulfilled this obligation.” Ordinary military service is that which young men, called to arms for the first time according to the laws of their nation, must perform for one or more years (*decreto Inter reliquas*, 1 Jan. 1911, art. 1); it does not matter to which corps they are assigned. Also impeded are those who, though they may be called later, have not yet been summoned to arms either due to age or because they were declared temporarily unfit for military service at the draft (*Commission Interpretationis authentica*, 2 June 1918). Those who, after active service, remain obligated to annual exercises are not impeded.
6. “Neophytes, until, in the judgment of the Ordinary, they have been sufficiently tested.” Neophytes are those who, converted in adulthood, received baptism absolutely. Thus, excluded are heretics who, having retracted their errors, are conditionally rebaptized. Before the Code, admission of a neophyte to Orders generally required recourse to the Holy See; can. 987, 6, entrusts the Ordinary with the judgment of whether the candidate is sufficiently grounded in the faith and Christian morality.
7. “Those who labor under an infamy of fact, as long as it persists, in the judgment of the Ordinary.” This impediment is incurred by anyone who, either through a crime committed or through bad morals, has lost the good reputation among upright and serious faithful; it is for the Ordinary to judge this (can. 2293 § 3). The impediment ceases when the person regains good reputation in accordance with can. 2295.
For excusing causes from impediments and the multiplication of impediments, V. IRREGOLARITÀ.
Since all impediments are by their nature temporary, they cease first of all in the manner indicated for each one—that is, through the cessation of the cause from which they originate. Thus, for example, the first impediment ceases with the conversion of the parents to the true faith; the second, with the dissolution of the marital bond, etc. They also cease if the particular law from which they may have originated is abrogated.