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Suspension, in canon law, is usually defined as a censure by which acleric is deprived, entirely or partially of the use of the power of orders, office, orbenefice. Although ordinarily called a censure because it is generally a medicinal punishment inflicted after admonitions and intended to amend the delinquent, yet it is not necessarily so for it is occasionally employed as a chastisement for past offences, As early as the time ofSt. Cyprian (died 258), we read ofclerics deprived of the income of their charges and also of suspension from the determined functions for which one had beenordained. Weknow also thatclerics were sometimes temporarily deprived of Communion (Can. Apost., 45; Conc. Illib c. 21). The Council of Neocæsarea (Can. 1) in 315 decrees perpetual suspension from all functions for certain misdemeanours, while the FourthCouncil of Carthage (can. 68), by forbidding a delinquentbishop to ordain, gives an example of partial suspension. Again, the Third Council ofOrléans (can. 19) in 538 decrees suspension from orders but not from stipend, and the Council of Narbonne (can. 11) suspends certainclerics from receiving the fruits of theirbenefices.
When a suspension is total, acleric is deprived of the exercise of every function and of everyecclesiastical right. When it is partial, it may be only from the exercise of one'ssacred orders, or from his office which includes deprivation of the use of orders andjurisdiction, or from hisbenefice which deprives him of both administration and income. When a suspension is decreed absolutely and without limitation, it is understood to be a total suspension. A partial suspension deprives acleric of the use of that power only which is expressed in the sentence. A cleric does not incur an irregularity when he violates a suspension imposed for a former transgression, because then there is no violation of a censure. The same holds good if he has been suspended for some defect of mind or body not blameworthy. Irregularity is contracted when acleric performs a solemn act ofsacred orders, from the use of which he had been suspended. Thus, if abishop forbidden to celebrateMass pontifically were to perform such a function, he would not incur irregularity because he does not thereby exercise any substantial act of episcopal orders. As theChurch can not deprive a suspended cleric of the power ofsacred orders, but only forbids their use, it follows that acts ofsacred orders remain valid after suspension. On the other hand, acts ofjurisdiction become null and void after a suspended cleric has been denounced by name, because theChurch has power to deprive one totally ofjurisdiction. Suspensionex informata conscientia has the same effect as a formal suspension, but it is not inflicted by judicial sentence, but as an extraordinary remedy, without the canonical monitions beingnecessary, and it is imposed for occult but grave crimes.
When acleric has been suspended from the income of hisbenefice, it is not theChurch's desire that he be reduced to actual want. Consequently sufficient support is to be given to him, provided he have no means of his own and be willing to amend. Even when he does not turn from hisevil ways, theclerical dignity requires that he be not suffered to fall into extreme want or danger of starvation. The principal grounds on which suspension is incurredipso facto in the presentdiscipline of the Church are found in the Decrees of theCouncil of Trent and in the Constitution"Apostolicæ Sedis Moderationi", though a few others have been added. A cleric is relieved of suspension, if it was a censure, by theabsolution of him to whom it was reserved in case of reservation. When it was inflicted for a definite time or under a certain condition, it ceases of itself when the limitation is fulfilled. If the suspension was perpetual and decreed on account of a former crime, it may be removed by meredispensation of the proper authority.
TAUNTON,The Law of the Church (London, 1906), s.v.; SMITH,The New Procedure in Criminal and Disciplinary Causes (New York, 1890); SLATER-MARTIN,Manual of Moral Theology, II (New York, 1908).
APA citation.Fanning, W.(1912).Suspension (in Canon Law). InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14345b.htm
MLA citation.Fanning, William."Suspension (in Canon Law)."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 14.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1912.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14345b.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter.Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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