PASCHAL PRECEPT. — It is the obligation incumbent upon all the faithful who have reached the age of discretion to receive Holy Communion within the so-called Easter period.
I. NATURE OF THE P. P. — Imposed by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1251 (can. 21; Denz-U, 437; for the earlier historical background V. COMUNIONE EUCARISTICA, III, vii), it was confirmed by the Council of Trent (sess. XIII, chap. 9, de ref.) and taken up by the CIC (can. 859 § 1), which made it more explicit, declaring Communion obligatory once a year, at least at Easter. As formulated, the precept is virtually twofold: it primarily imposes annual Communion and secondarily Easter Communion, in the sense that anyone who has been unwilling or unable to receive Communion at Easter is obliged to receive it during the year, that is, at least before the following Easter.
II. THE EASTER SEASON
The suitability of the Easter season for obligatory Communion derives both from the fact that this Sacrament was instituted by Jesus Christ during Easter and from its character as a commemoration of the Passion of the Lord. In establishing the period allowed for fulfilling the precept, the CIC follows the constitution of Eugene IV, Fide digna (can. 859 § 2). Diocesan Ordinaries are nevertheless empowered to bring forward or extend the deadline whenever there are just reasons, for the benefit of some or even all of their faithful, specifically extending it from the Fourth Sunday of Lent to the feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Legitimate custom that extends this period still further is likewise admitted, provided that the limits of the civil or liturgical year are not exceeded. Parish priests and confessors, in cases of individual necessity or advantage, may grant only a postponement, never an anticipation, of the period allowed for fulfilling the precept.III. OBLIGATION
The ecclesiastical precept of annual Communion is a determination of the divine precept to receive the Eucharist; it therefore binds under pain of grave sin all the faithful of both sexes and of every age, including children who have not yet completed seven years, provided that they have attained the use of reason (can. 859 § 1). According to the Council of Trent (sess. XXI, chap. 4) and the decree Quam singulari (S. Congregation of the Sacraments, 8 Aug. 1910), those are capable of reasoning who can sufficiently discern good from evil and are able to commit mortal sin. Once this capacity has been attained, the obligation to fulfil the precept begins, with the possibility of deferring its fulfilment until a suitable time, ordinarily, however, not beyond the year from the acquisition of the use of reason.When it is publicly known that “for a long time” someone has not fulfilled the p. p., he is to be regarded as a public sinner and, as such, loses, among other things, the right to ecclesiastical burial, unless he has given some sign of repentance before his death (can. 1240).
According to can. 860, the paschal precept also binds, with regard to children, parents, guardians and teachers, as well as the confessor and the parish priest.
IV. PLACE
It is not obligatory to receive Easter Communion in one’s own parish, but for the sake of common edification it is fitting that the faithful preserve this praiseworthy custom, or at least inform the parish priest if they have received Communion elsewhere. Thus the purpose of the ancient prescription remains safeguarded, namely, to record in the book de statu animarum the parishioners who had fulfilled the precept.Naturally, the state of grace is required for the Easter precept, so that the law is not fulfilled in the case of a sacrilegious Communion (can. 861).