STOLE, Rights of. - I. - By rights of the stole or stole fees (iura stolae) are meant the payments owed by the non-poor to parish priests on the occasion of the administration of certain Sacraments (Baptism, Matrimony) and sacramentals (blessings, processions, etc.) or on the occasion of funerals; the former take the name of rights of the white stole, the latter of the black stole.
They form part of the endowment of the benefice (can. 1410). Their amount is determined by tariffs fixed by the provincial Council and by the bishop with the approval of the Holy See (cann. 1507, 1234), or by legitimate custom (cann. 463, 831). The parish priest is forbidden to demand more, and where he does so he is bound to restitution, besides being liable to a grave pecuniary penalty and, in case of relapse, to suspension or removal from office (can. 2408). For the poor, moreover, the parish priest may demand nothing (cann. 463 § 4, 1235 § 2).
The matter relating to rights of the black stole is regulated by particular norms (cann. 1234-38), so that the amount of the charges for the various classes of funerals may be determined with moderation, thus avoiding occasion for disputes or scandals, that full freedom may be left to choose the class one desires, and that in every case the poor may be assured of the gratuitousness of the funeral service and of burial, with all the obsequies prescribed by the liturgy. In the case that the funeral does not take place in the church proper to the deceased (as must as a rule happen, if the deceased himself has not chosen another church: can. 1216), the so-called parochial portion (v.) is owed to the proper parish priest.
II. - As to their juridical nature, it is to be noted that, in coherence with the fundamental principle of canon law that no thing intrinsically spiritual or inseparably annexed to such may be made the object of purchase or sale for a temporal price (and to do so constitutes simony of divine right: can. 727 § 1), and in particular given the specific prohibition made to every priest to demand or request anything, whether directly or indirectly, for the administration of the Sacraments (can. 736), rights of the stole cannot be considered as a price or compensation for the acts of spiritual ministry performed by the parish priest, but as a payment, made on the occasion of such acts, on the basis of a just title recognized by law or by legitimate custom (can. 730). Just titles are, for example, that of stipend for the honest support of the cleric, or that of extrinsic work, that is, performed outside the sacred work and separable from it. A logical consequence of this concept is not only that the parish priest always has the duty to perform the ministry gratuitously for those who are unable to pay what is due, but also that the parish priest cannot require payment in advance, nor can he deny the Sacraments or the funeral even when the legitimate emolument, adequate to the economic capacity of the faithful or of those acting on his behalf, is refused him. There remains firm, however, for these the obligation to pay the due fee, under threat of canonical penalties at the prudent discretion of the bishop (can. 2349).
Given this obligatory character, although at times rights of the stole are also designated by the name of oblations or alms (cf. cann. 736, 1234), they must be distinguished from the oblations constituted by the free and spontaneous offerings of the faithful (v. OBLATIONS) precisely because a true juridical obligation is attached to them. Their canonical juridical nature, therefore, is more properly that of a tribute or tax which the Church, by virtue of her power of empire and of the right she claims to demand from the faithful, independently of the civil power, what is necessary for divine worship and the maintenance of the clergy (can. 1490), imposes upon the subjects who form part of her organization, to be paid on the occasion of the request for determined ecclesiastical services.
III. - In the Italian state legal system, despite some disagreement over their definition from the civil-law point of view, an action for the payment of stole fees is recognized, in the amount of the tariffs established by ecclesiastical authority. Funeral expenses in particular enjoy a general privilege over movable property (art. 2751 of the Civil Code). For tax purposes, stole fees are included among the incomes subject to the tax on movable wealth. They are further taken into consideration as incidental income for the purpose of determining the congrua (v.).
Bibliography
Arnaldo Bertola