Ecclesiastical Letters

ECCLESIASTICAL LETTERS. — These are public documents by reason of their destination and of the authority from which they emanate, whose purpose is to attest to a decree issued by the Ordinary or to some other instruction or provision of his. They have various designations, the principal ones being:

I. L. OF AGGREGATION: these contain the formula for the aggregation of a confraternity or pious union to an archconfraternity or primary union. The formula must be drawn up in accordance with the provision of the statutes and in perpetuity (can. 723, 4°). If the statutes do not contain a prescribed formula, validity requires at least that the association being aggregated, the primary association to which the aggregation is made, and the person carrying it out be specified. Under the current legislation it is not required that the norms given by Clement VIII (Quacumque, 7 Dec. 1604) be observed, nor that the ancient formula of aggregation be followed (S. C. Indicii Decreta authentica, p. 468).

Letters of aggregation must be issued entirely free of charge, nor may any payment be accepted, even if it is offered; in the event of transgression, the aggregation is null. Only necessary expenses are excepted (can. 723, 5), and these must include not only the value of the material used but also its artistic worth. From the scutatum aureum of Paul V (S. Congregation of the Index, 6 March 1608), the amount had risen, before the CIC, to 30 lire or francs. Today it could reach as much as 2,000 lire. Offerings made spontaneously after the act of aggregation do not invalidate the aggregation itself, any more than offerings made independently of the aggregation for the purposes of the archconfraternity invalidate II.
II. L. OF RECOMMENDATION: these are authentic letters signed by the Ordinary, attesting that the priest who bears them has incurred no crime, irregularity, censure, or other penalty or impediment and may therefore be admitted to the celebration of Holy Mass. Possession of this document grants the priest the right to celebrate, except where, after its issuance, he has committed some grave offense that is morally certain and public.

Letters of recommendation may be granted absolutely or with some condition. The competent authorities are the bishop, the vicar general, the capitular vicar, the apostolic administrator, and the apostolic prefect; for religious, the major superior and, in urgent cases, also the local superior; for Easterners, the S. Congregation for the Oriental Church; and for officials of the SS. Congregations, the respective major officials. The bishop may require that priests from outside the diocese not be admitted to the celebration of Holy Mass until their letters of recommendation have been authenticated by the Curia; regulars are likewise obliged to observe this provision, except when the priest is a religious of their own order (can. 804, 3). This rule could cause complaints and inconvenience; consequently, Ordinaries require it only when the priest remains in the place for more than two or three days. These letters have no legal value with regard to preaching or penitential jurisdiction.

III. L. OF ERECTION: these are documents by which the erection of a new association of the faithful is approved. They must be granted free of charge, a condition that has no irritative effect (can. 686, 5); it is permissible only to exact the necessary expenses. Those competent to grant them are the Supreme Pontiff, the Ordinary of the place, and all those to whom this faculty has been granted by an apostolic privilege. A special mandate is required for the vicar general, whereas the capitular vicar is incompetent. Those who possess the privilege of erection must, for validity, request the written consent of the Ordinary of the place (can. 686, 2, 3, 4).

IV. L. OF EXPECTANCY: these were letters by which an office not yet vacant was granted. Such grants, widely disseminated in the Middle Ages, were prohibited by Boniface VIII (c. 3 de concessione praebendae et Ecclesiae non vacantis, III, 7 in VI°), reserving dispensation exclusively to the Holy See. Nevertheless, the abuses were not completely eradicated. The Supreme Pontiffs themselves, because of the difficult circumstances of the Holy See and out of necessity, were forced to grant letters of expectancy. The Council of Trent (c. 19 Sess. XXIV de ref.) abolished these grants, with certain reservations (c. 7 Sess. XXV de ref.); nevertheless, the abuses

continued until the French Revolution. Today they are entirely abolished (can. 150, 1).

V. L. PASTORAL: these are documents that bishops address to all the faithful of the diocese in order to instruct them in revealed truths. In the first centuries of the Church they were also called encyclical letters; since 1740 they have received this specific name, as if to indicate one of the bishop’s most eminent offices, namely, instructing the people. They generally deal with matters of faith and morals that have a particular bearing on the problems of the diocese; they often also contain instructions on the liturgy for the proper conduct of the sacred rites. It is an ancient custom to issue pastoral letters during Lent, because during this period the life of the faithful, purified through austerity of conduct, may become ever more firmly established in the truths of faith and the practice of virtue. The CIC contains no mention of such letters: it is a customary norm that leaves their necessity and content to the discretion of the bishop. In Rome, the cardinal vicar issues only instructions, which are called notifications. Parish priests are obliged to read the pastoral letters to the people on the days determined by the Ordinary himself.

VI. L. OF REQUEST: these are letters by which the various ecclesiastical tribunals provide one another with mutual assistance in the administration of justice. They are distinguished as remissorial, when sent to a tribunal of the same degree; imperative, when issued by a higher tribunal; and supplicatory, when issued by a lower tribunal. The norm established in the CIC is entirely general and applies to all tribunals: its basis lies in the legal provision obliging all tribunals to assist one another (can. 1570, 2); where there is a particular agreement, this mutual assistance may also exist between ecclesiastical and civil tribunals (cf. Concordato austriaco, art. 7, 5). The subject of these letters may be any procedural act, the enumeration made by the CIC being merely illustrative. After briefly describing the case and indicating the purpose of his request, the requesting judge enumerates the procedural acts required, giving the names and addresses of the persons to be questioned, the interrogatories prepared by the promoter of justice, the defender of the bond, or the parties, and appending the necessary instructions. Upon receiving the letter, the tribunal arranges for its execution after examining the legitimacy of the request. In carrying out the individual acts, the norms of common law and those of the particular law of the tribunal in which the acts are performed must be observed; the acts are drawn up in accordance with the law of that tribunal, and the same rule applies to expenses. If the requesting tribunal has granted free legal aid, it is advisable that the requested tribunal grant it as well.
Giuseppe Damizia

VII. TESTIMONIAL LETTERS

1. Testimonial letters for aspirants to religious life. — These may be postulants or novices of Congregations and Religious Orders in which the postulancy is not required beforehand. Canon 544 § 1 requires them to provide testimonial letters of the Baptism and Confirmation they have received; § 2 further establishes that aspirants, if men, must present testimonial letters from the Ordinary of their place of origin and of every other place where they have remained for more than one morally continuous year after completing their fourteenth year. Under § 3, testimonial letters are required from the rector of the seminary or college, who must first consult the Ordinary of the place when the aspirant has previously been in some seminary or college; testimonial letters are required instead from the major superior of the religious institute when the candidate has already been an aspirant in another religious institute.

However, § 4 allows the testimonial of ordination and the testimonial letters of the Ordinaries of the dioceses in which such clerics may have remained, after ordination, for more than one morally continuous year to suffice for aspirants who are already clerics, without prejudice to the provision of § 3. § 5 notes that, if a religious transfers to another religious institute by apostolic indult, the testimony of the former superior suffices. § 6 leaves superiors the right to require other certificates in addition to those indicated above, if they deem this necessary or opportune. § 7 concerns only female postulants and orders that they may not be received without diligent investigations first having been made concerning their character and conduct, with observance of § 3.

The testimonial letters must be given to religious superiors (not to the aspirants) free of charge, within three months of the request, sealed, and, when they concern seminarians residing in a college or aspirants to another religious institute, under oath. However, if, for grave reasons, the person who must provide the testimonial letters judges that he ought not to answer, he is required, within three months, to communicate the reason to the Holy See. If the person who must provide the testimonial letters replies that he does not know the aspirant sufficiently, the religious superior shall make up for this through another diligent inquiry; if he does not reply at all, the requesting superior must inform the Holy See (can. 545 §§ 1-3).

After diligent inquiry, including through information gathered secretly, the person who must provide the testimonial letters is bound, by a grave obligation of conscience, to answer for the truthfulness of the statements made concerning the aspirant’s birth, conduct, intellect, life, reputation, status, completed studies, any censures, irregularities, canonical impediments, and family circumstances. If the person concerned is a student who has left or been dismissed from the seminary, college, postulancy, or novitiate of some Congregation or Religious Order, the reason for this must be indicated. All who receive such information are bound to secrecy concerning the information received and the persons who provided it (cann. 545 § 4, 546).

The CIC further establishes that superiors who receive a candidate into the novitiate without the testimonial letters required by can. 544 are to be punished according to the gravity of the offense, not excluding deprivation of office (can. 2411).

2. Testimonial letters for a candidate for ordination. — These are certificates from the Ordinary of the place, who attests that the candidate for ordination has incurred no impediment or irregularity. They must be issued by the Ordinary of the place where the candidate has remained, after reaching puberty, for six months, or, if he is a soldier, for three months. It should be noted that they must be granted by that same Ordinary (including the vicar general) for the specific purpose of permitting the recipient to receive Orders (thus testimonial letters issued for another purpose, e.g., examinations to be taken, do not serve as testimonial letters for ordination). The ordaining bishop may, for reasons whose assessment is entrusted to his prudence, request testimonial letters covering a shorter period or even the period preceding puberty.

If the Ordinary of the place does not know, or cannot sufficiently know, the candidate for ordination either personally or through others, or if the candidate has wandered through so many dioceses that it is very difficult to obtain all the testimonial letters, the Ordinary may safeguard himself by imposing a supplementary oath on the candidate for ordination. If, after the testimonial letters have been received but before ordination, the candidate remains in the same territory, new testimonial letters from the Ordinary of the place are required. A non-exempt religious must present, together with the testimonial letters of the Ordinary of the place, the testimonial letters of his own major superior, whereas an exempt religious must present only the testimonial letters of his religious superior, in which the candidate’s apparent suitability and profession in his religious family, his completed studies, and the other matters required in the testimonial letters of the Ordinary of the place are attested (cann. 993-95).

Anyone who ordains his own subject, after the latter has remained elsewhere for a period sufficient to incur canonical impediments, without having obtained the testimonial letters or the supplementary oath, immediately incurs suspension from conferring Orders for one year, reserved to the Holy See (can. 2373).

n. 2). Anyone who maliciously receives Orders without testimonial letters may be punished with severe penalties (can. 2374).