PASCHAL, PRECEPT. - It is the obligation incumbent on all the faithful who have reached the age of discretion to approach Holy Communion within the so-called paschal time.
I. NATURE OF THE EASTER PRECEPT
Imposed by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1251 (can. 21; Denz-U, 437; for the earlier historical part v. COMUNIONE EUCARISTICA, III, vii), it was confirmed by the Council of Trent (sess. XIII, cap. 9, de ref.) and taken up again by the CIC (can. 859 § 1), which made it more explicit, declaring Communion obligatory once a year, at least at Easter. As expressed, the precept is virtually twofold; it imposes primarily annual Communion and secondarily Easter Communion, in the sense that one who has not wished or been able to receive Communion at Easter is bound to Communion during the year, that is, at least before the following Easter.
II. EASTER TIME
The suitability of Easter time for the obligatory Communion is given both by the fact that this Sacrament was instituted by Jesus Christ during the Passover and by its character as a commemoration of the Lord's Passion. In fixing the period available for fulfilling the precept, the CIC conforms to the constitution of Eugene IV Fide digna (can. 859 § 2). However, diocesan Ordinaries are granted the faculty to bring forward and extend the deadline, whenever there are just reasons, for the benefit of some, or even of all their faithful, and specifically to extend it from the Fourth Sunday of Lent to the feast of the Most Holy Trinity. A legitimate custom that extends this period even further is also admitted, provided that the limits of the civil or paschal year are not exceeded. Parish priests and confessors, in cases of necessity or benefit of individuals, may grant only that the deadline for fulfilling the precept be postponed, never brought forward.
III. OBLIGATION
The ecclesiastical precept of annual Communion is a determination of the divine precept to nourish oneself with the Eucharist; it therefore obliges, under pain of grave sin, all the faithful of both sexes and of every age, including children who have not yet completed their seventh year, provided they have reached the use of reason (can. 859 § 1). According to Trent (sess. XXI, chap. 4) and the decree Quam singulari (S. Congr. of the Sacraments, 8 Aug. 1910), those capable of reasoning are those who can sufficiently discern good from evil and can commit mortal sin. Once such capacity is reached, the obligation to satisfy the precept begins, with the faculty of deferring its fulfillment to a suitable time, ordinarily however not beyond a year from when the use of reason was acquired.
When it is publicly known that "for a long time" someone has not fulfilled the p. p., he is to be considered a public sinner and as such loses, among other things, the right to ecclesiastical burial, should he not have given some sign of repentance before his death (can. 1240).
In accordance with can. 860 the Easter precept falls, with respect to children, also upon parents, guardians and teachers, upon the confessor and upon the parish priest.
IV. PLACE
It is not obligatory to receive Easter Communion in one's own parish, but for the common edification it is good that the faithful preserve this praiseworthy custom or at least notify the parish priest if they have communicated elsewhere. Thus the purpose of the ancient prescription remains intact, which was to note in the book de statu animarum the parishioners who had fulfilled the precept.
The state of Grace is naturally required for the Easter precept, so that the law is not satisfied in the case of a sacrilegious Communion (can. 861).
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Luigi Fini