P. M. J. Rock

“ Abduction by seduction, as defined is held by Roman law to be abduction by violence inasmuch as violence can be offered to the woman and her parents simultaneously, or to the woman alone, or to the parents and guardians alone; and in the elopement, while no violence is done to the woman, violence is done to the parents or guardians. ”

“ Abduction.—Abduction may be considered as a public crime and a matrimonial diriment impediment. Viewed as a crime, it is a carrying off by force, physical or moral, of any virtuous woman, or even man, from a free and safe place to another place morally different and neither free nor safe from the captor's power, with intent to marry her or to gratify lust. ”

“ Some deny, however, that the raptor in this case is guilty of abduction, saying that he has a right to his betrothed. He has, indeed, a right to compel her to fulfil her engagement by public authority, not, however, by private authority. His carrying off of the woman against her will is the exercise of private authority, and therefore violence to her rights. ”

“ Benefices.—No special age was fixed by ancient canons for collation of a simple benefice (see Benefice, Collation) , i.e. without any cure of souls attached. The Council of Trent required the fourteenth year inchoate, but it said nothing about the age for benefices whose foundation permitted a lesser age. For such seven years sufficed. The same age was sufficient in the case of canons upon whom collectively, not singly, the cure of souls devolved, as also of recipients of cathedral half-portions and pensions arising from benefices. ”

“ Hence the Church prescribes that age at which one is generally supposed to have the necessary qualifications. It is evident that a lesser development of body and mind is necessary to the reception of baptism than is required for either matrimony or the priesthood, and greater qualifications for the higher than for the lower offices. Hence, the canonical age necessarily varies as do the privileges, offices, dignities, etc. The three states, ecclesiastical, religious, and laic, embrace all the ecclesiastical enactments concerning age. ”

“ On the other hand, the impediment is of wider import than the crime in as far as it includes all women, chaste as well as unchaste, while the crime excludes the corrupt. This difference arises from the fact that the State aims to suppress the public crime as a menace to the safety of the commonwealth, while the Church cares, directly and immediately, for the freedom and the dignity of the Sacrament of Marriage. ”

“ Physical transference from one place to another, however, is absolutely necessary to constitute raptus; virtual transference does not suffice. Should a woman be forcibly removed from a place to which she went willingly to another where she is detained against her will with matrimonial intent, it is abduction. ”

“ The ecclesiastical Abbreviators are officials of the Holy See, inasmuch as they are among the principal officials of the Apostolic Chancery, which is one of the oldest and most important offices in the Roman Curia. The scope of its labour, as well as the number of its officials, has varied with the times. Up to the twelfth or thirteenth century, the duty of the Apostolic, or Roman, Chancery was to prepare and expedite the pontifical letters and writs for collation of church dignities and other matters of grave importance which were discussed and decided in Consistory. ”

“ The abduction of a man by a woman is not included in the Tridentine law. The contrary opinion (De Justis and other earlier authors) is at variance with the language of the Council, which always speaks of the raptor, but nowhere of the raptrix. A woman can be guilty of the crime of raptus; but the question here is not about crime, but about the Tridentine impediment. She may be an agent or accomplice of the abductor and, as such, incur the penalties decreed by the Council ”

“ Four elements are essential in an abduction in order to induce thereby the Tridentine diriment impediment, to wit: (1) a woman; (2) change of locality; (3) violence; (4) matrimonial intent.
(1) Any woman, whether moral or immoral, maid or widow, betrothed or not, even a public woman, may be the object of a violent Abduction inducing the Tridentine impediment and punishment. Lessius, Avancini, and others hold that a man is not guilty of abduction who carries off his betrothed. The Council of Trent makes no exception, hence we should not. ”

“ Then one of the prelates of the upper bar made an abstract, and another prelate of the same bar revised it. Prelates of the upper bar formed a quasi-tribunal, in which as a college they decided all doubts that might arise about the form and quality of the letters, of the clauses and decrees to be adjoined to the apostolic letters, and sometimes about the payment of the emoluments and other contingencies. Their opinion about questions concerning chancery business was held in the highest estimation by all the Roman tribunals. ”

“ Consequently, a mature age is desired.—Dispensation from the canonical age is a relaxation of the canon law; hence the pope alone can dispense. He rarely does so in the case of age requisite for subdeaconship or deaconship. But on account of recent military laws in certain European countries, he has dispensed with the age prescribed for candidates for Subdeaconship. Though a cleric who has not completed his thirtieth year cannot be elected; he can be postulated for. (see Election, Postulation) as bishop. The Holy Father Ordinarily refuses unless the cleric is fully twenty-seven years old. ”

“ The marriage law in nearly every part of the United States requires the consent of parents before license is granted to minors. Such statutes are merely directive, and do not render void marriages without the parents' consent ("American and English Encyclopedia of Law/Marriage) . Neither in England is a marriage declared void for want of parental consent (Brown, Hist. Matr. Inst., II, 191) . ”

“ Children of seven years complete are bound by the laws of abstinence and of hearing Mass. They can also be sponsors in the conferring of baptism and confirmation; but the Roman Ritual (tit. II, n. 24) says that it is more expedient that they should be fourteen years old and also confirmed. The Congregations of Propaganda (4 May, 1774) and the Holy Office (1 July, 1882) forbid children under fourteen years of age to act as sponsors at confirmation. Only those who have completed their twenty-first year are bound to fast. Betrothals [sponsalia] require seven full years in the contracting parties. ”

“ It marks a distinct departure from the Tridentine law, both as to the necessary age and other requirements for admission of men to solemn vows in orders, congregations, and institutes, old and new, in which solemn vows are prescribed. ”

“ Abbreviators of the lower presidency before their suppression were simple clerics, and according to permission granted by Sixtus IV (loc. cit.) might be even married men. These offices becoming vacant by death of the Abbreviator, no matter where the death take place, are reserved in Curia. The prelates could resign their office in favour of others. Formerly these offices as well as those of the other chancery officers from the Regent down were occasions of venality, which many of the popes, especially Benedict XIV and Pius VII, laboured most strenuously to abolish. ”

“ The marriageable age in France, Italy, Belgium, and Roumania is eighteen for men, and fifteen for women (France requires also, under penalty of nullity, the consent of parents) ; Holland, Switzerland, Russia (Caucasian Provinces excepted) , fifteen and thirteen; and Hungary fixes the age at eighteen and sixteen; Austria, fourteen for both parties; Denmark, twenty and sixteen; Germany, twenty-one (minors set free by parents at eighteen) and sixteen years respectively. Marriages contracted in Germany below the ages aforesaid are valid but illicit. In India natives marry under canonical age. ”

“ Each and every one of these, being a human act, requires a development of mind and body proportioned to the free and voluntary acceptance of these gifts and privileges, also an adequate knowledge of, and capability for, the duties and obligations attached. ”

“ As a consequence, the labour was immensely augmented, and the number of Abbreviators necessarily increased. To regulate the proper expedition of these reserved benefices, Pope John XXII instituted the rules of chancery to determine the competency and mode of procedure of the Chancery. Afterwards the establishment of the Dataria and the Secretariate of Briefs lightened the work of the Chancery and led to a reduction in the number of Abbreviators. ”

“ A vicar-general must be twenty-five, and a penitentiary, or diocesan confessor, forty years inchoate. For cathedral canons there was no fixed decretal age. Clement V, however, decreed that canons not having at least subdeaconship should have no vote in the chapter, and those possessing a prebend to which a major order was affixed should receive that order within a year, under forfeiture of half the daily distributions and of a vote in chapter. ”

“ Jurists define it as "that period of life at which the law allows persons to do acts and discharge functions which, for want of years, they were prohibited from doing or undertaking before" (Bouvier's Law Dict.) . They divide the years of a man into seven ages, to wit: infancy, from the day of birth, not baptism (Sacr. Congr. Conc., 4 December, 1627) , to the seventh year; childhood, 7–14; puberty, 14–25; majority (young manhood) , 25–40; manhood, 40–50 or 60; old age, 60–70; decrepitude, 70–100, or death. The terminal year in each of the above ages must be complete. Canonical age is the year. ”

“ Mere importunities, fair words, sweet phrases, gifts, and promises are not sufficient to constitute the moral force requisite for abduction. It is immaterial whether the principal, of and by himself, or through his agents and accomplices, uses this force, moral or physical. Women as the agents of the principal, may exercise it, and not infrequently do so.
(4) Matrimonial Intent.—The intention or motive of the criminal act is all important. To induce the impediment the intent must be to marry the abducted woman. Were the motive other than marriage, e.g. ”

“ In case of a large castle, or mansion, or tenement-house, where many families dwell, the violent transference of a reluctant woman from a part where her family dwells to another remote part where a different family lives would constitute sufficient change of locality. ”

“ In the fourth century, as men grew more audacious, the number of wife-captors became exceedingly numerous. To check this, the Church in several particular councils, besides the punishment of service, confiscation of goods, and public penance, decreed sentence of excommunication (to be judicially pronounced) against laics, and deposition from ecclesiastical rank against clerics, who had violently carried off, or helped to carry off, women. ”

“ The Pope says that, nevertheless, novices had been admitted to solemn profession without the three years' simple vows, thereby giving great cause for doubt concerning the validity of said solemn profession ”

“ He also empowered them to confer (today within strict limitations) the degree of Doctor, with all university privileges, create notaries (now abrogated) , legitimize children so as to make them eligible to receive benefices vacated by their fathers (now revoked) , also to ennoble three persons and to make Knights of the Order of St. ”

“ This applies to regular as well as secular candidates. (Holy Office, 29 January, 1896) ; (b) with fourteen months in the case of deacons, also regular and secular candidates for the priesthood (Formula C, art. 3; etc.) . The Canadian bishops are empowered (Formula T, art. 1) to dispense with eighteen months in case of fifteen deacons (regular and secular) about to be ordained priests. These dispensations do not apply to candidates for subdeaconship or deaconship. ”