Ecclesiastical Letters

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

I. LETTERS OF AGGREGATION: these bear the formula of the aggregation of a confraternity or a pious union to an archconfraternity or to a primary union. The formula must be drawn up according to the determination of the statutes and in perpetuity (cann. 723, 4°). If the statutes do not contain a determined formula, for validity it must at least be specified which association is being aggregated, to which primary association the aggregation is made, and by which person it is carried out. In present-day legislation it is not required that the norms given by Clement VIII (const. 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 tribute be accepted, even if it is offered; in case of transgression the aggregation is null. Only the necessary expenses are excepted (cann. 723, 5), in the computation of which must be included not only the value of the material used but also its artistic worth. From the scutatum aureum of Paul V (S. Congreg. of the Index, 6 March 1608) one passed, before the CIC, to 30 lire or francs. Today a sum of 2000 lire could even be reached. Offerings spontaneously made after the act of aggregation do not invalidate the validity of the aggregation itself, just as they do not invalidate it if made, independently of the aggregation, for the purposes of the archconfraternity.

II. COMMENDATORY LETTERS: they are authentic letters signed by the Ordinary, in which it is attested that the priest who bears them has not incurred any crime, irregularity, censure or other penalties or impediments and can therefore be admitted to the celebration of Holy Mass. The possession of such a document grants the priest the right to celebrate, except in the case that he, after the concession, has committed some grave fault that is morally certain and public.

Commendatory letters can be granted absolutely or with some condition. The competent authorities are the bishop, the vicar general, the capitular vicar, the apostolic administrator, the apostolic prefect; for religious, the major superior and, in urgent cases, also the local superior; for Orientals, the S. Congreg. for the Eastern Church; for the officials of the Holy Congregations, their respective major officials. The bishop can require that outside priests not be admitted to the celebration of Holy Mass unless the commendatory letters have been authenticated by the Curia; regulars too are obliged to observe this provision, except in the case that it concerns a religious of their own order (cann. 804, 3). Such a norm could give rise to complaints and inconveniences, and therefore Ordinaries do not require it except in the case in which the priest stays in the place more than two or three days. These letters have no juridical value for preaching and penitential jurisdiction.

III. LETTERS OF ERECTION: they 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 invalidating effect (cann. 686, 5); it is permitted only to require 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. For the vicar general a special mandate is required, whereas the capitular vicar is incompetent. Those who have the privilege of erection must, for validity, request in writing the consent of the Ordinary of the place (cann. 686, 2, 3, 4).

IV. LETTERS OF EXPECTATION: they were those by which an office not yet vacant was granted. Such concessions, widely diffused in the Middle Ages, were forbidden by Boniface VIII (c. 3 de concessione praebendae et Ecclesiae non vacantis, III, 7 in VI°), reserving the dispensation solely to the Holy See. But nevertheless the abuses were not totally eradicated. The supreme pontiffs themselves, on account of the sad conditions of the Holy See and out of necessity, were constrained to grant letters of expectation. The Council of Trent (c. 19 Sess. XXIV de ref.) abrogated, with certain reservations (c. 7 Sess. XXV de ref.), these concessions, yet the abuses remained until the French Revolution. Today they are totally abolished (can. 150, 1).

V. PASTORAL LETTERS: they are documents that bishops address to all the faithful of the diocese to instruct them in the revealed truths. In the first centuries of the Church they were also called encyclical letters; since 1740 they have received this specific name, almost to indicate one of the most eminent offices of the bishop, which is that of instructing the people. Generally they treat subjects of faith and morals that have a particular bearing on the problems of the diocese; often they also contain instructions on the liturgy for the correct conduct of the sacred rites. It is an ancient custom to issue pastoral letters during the Lenten season, because in that period the life of the faithful, purified by austerity of morals, is consolidated ever more in the truths of faith and in the exercise of the virtues. In the CIC there is no mention of such letters: it is a customary norm that leaves their necessity and their content to the discretion of the bishop. In Rome the cardinal vicar issues only instructions, which are given the name of notifications. Parish priests are obliged to read the pastoral letters to the people on the days determined by the Ordinary himself.

VI. ROGATORY LETTERS: they are those by which the various ecclesiastical tribunals lend one another mutual collaboration in the administration of justice. They are distinguished into remissorial, if they are sent to a tribunal of the same grade, imperative if issued by a superior tribunal, supplicatory if by an inferior tribunal. The norm established in the CIC is very general and holds for all tribunals: its foundation is in the legal provision that obliges all tribunals to help one another (can. 1570, 2); if there is a particular convention, this mutual help can also exist between ecclesiastical and civil tribunals (cf. Austrian Concordat, art. 7, 5). The object of these letters can be all procedural acts, the enumeration made by the CIC being merely illustrative. The requesting judge, after having summarily described the case and indicated the purpose of his request, enumerates the procedural acts requested, notifying the name and domicile of the persons to be interrogated, the interrogatories prepared by the promoter of justice, by the defender of the bond or by the parties, and adding the necessary instructions. The tribunal, having received the letter, sees to its execution, after having examined the legitimacy of the request. In the execution of the individual acts, the norms of common law and those of the particular law of the tribunal in which the acts are executed must be observed, and the acts are drawn up according to the law of the tribunal; this norm also holds for the expenses. If the requesting tribunal has granted free legal aid, it is fitting that the requested tribunal also grant it.

Giuseppe Damizia

VII. TESTIMONIAL LETTERS

These are attestations issued by the competent ecclesiastical authority concerning the uprightness of aspirants to the religious state and of ordinands.

1. Testimonial letters for aspirants to religious life

These may be postulants or novices of religious Congregations and Orders, where the postulancy is not required beforehand. Canon 544 § 1 requires for them testimonial letters of the Baptism and Confirmation received; in § 2 it is further established that aspirants, if men, must present testimonial letters from the Ordinary of origin and from every other place where they have remained for more than one morally continuous year, after having completed their 14th year. In § 3 testimonial letters are required from the rector of the seminary or college, who must first consult the local Ordinary, when the aspirant has previously been in some seminary or college; instead, testimonial letters are required from the major superior of the religious order, should the candidate have already been an aspirant of some other religious order.

However, § 4 allows that for aspirants who are already clerics, the attestation of ordination and the testimonial letters of the Ordinaries of the dioceses in which such clerics had remained, after ordination, for more than one morally continuous year, suffice, without prejudice to what is prescribed in § 3. § 5 notes that if a religious, by apostolic indult, passes to another religious order, the attestation of the previous superior is sufficient. In § 6 the right is left to superiors to be able to require also other attestations, besides those indicated above, if they should deem it necessary or opportune. § 7 concerns only postulants, and ordains that they may not be received without diligent investigations having first been made regarding their character and morals, in observance of § 3.

Testimonial letters must be given to the religious superiors (not to the aspirants) free of charge, within three months of the request, sealed, and, when it is a question of collegiate seminarians or aspirants of another religious order, under oath. However, if, for grave reasons, the one who must give the testimonial letters should judge that he ought not to reply, within three months he is bound to manifest the reason to the Holy See. If the one who must give the testimonial letters replies that he does not know the aspirant sufficiently, the religious superior shall make up for it with other diligent inquiry; if then he does not reply at all, the requesting superior must inform the Holy See (can. 545 §§ 1-3).

After diligent inquiry, including information secretly gathered, the one who must give the testimonial letters is bound, by grave obligation of conscience, to vouch for the truthfulness of the matters asserted regarding birth, morals, intelligence, life, reputation, condition, studies completed, any censures, irregularities, canonical impediments and family status. If it is a question of pupils who have left or been dismissed from a seminary, college, postulancy or novitiate of some religious Congregation or Order, the reason for this must be indicated. All those who receive such information are bound to secrecy concerning the information received and the persons who supplied it (can. 545 § 4, 546).

The CIC further decrees 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 fault, not excluding deprivation of office (can. 2411).

2. Testimonial letters for the ordinand

These are attestations from the local Ordinary, who assures that the ordinand has contracted no impediment or irregularity. They must be issued by the local Ordinary of the place where the ordinand has remained, after the age of puberty, for six months, or indeed, if a soldier, for three months. It should be noted that they must be granted by the same Ordinary (also by the vicar general) for the specific purpose of permitting the reception of Orders (therefore testimonial letters given for another purpose, e.g., examinations to be taken, do not count as testimonial letters for ordination). The ordaining bishop may, for reasons whose evaluation is left to his prudence, require testimonial letters for a shorter period or even for the period preceding the age of puberty.

If the local Ordinary does not know, or cannot know, the ordinand sufficiently, either personally or through others, or if the ordinand has wandered through so many dioceses that it is very difficult to obtain all the testimonial letters, the Ordinary may safeguard himself by means of a supplementary oath imposed on the ordinand. If, after the testimonial letters have been received but before ordination, the ordinand resides in the same territory, new testimonial letters from the local Ordinary are required. A non-exempt religious must present, together with the testimonial letters of the local Ordinary, the testimonial letters of his own major superior, while an exempt religious must present only the testimonial letters of his own religious superior, in which attestation is made of the ordinand's appearance and of his profession in his own religious family, of the studies completed and of the other matters required in the testimonial letters of the local Ordinary (can. 993-95).

One who ordains his own subject, who has resided elsewhere for a time sufficient to contract canonical impediments, without having obtained the testimonial letters or the supplementary oath, incurs forthwith suspension from the conferral of Orders for one year, reserved to the Holy See (can. 2373).

n. 2). One who receives Orders without testimonial letters maliciously, can be punished with grave penalties (can. 2374).

Giuseppe Sirna