Person (Catholic canon law)
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In the
Physical persons
By baptism, a natural person is incorporated into the church and is constituted a person in the same. All the validly baptized, called Christifideles, have the status of physical persons under Catholic canon law.[citation needed]
Age of reason
The age of reason, sometimes called the age of discretion, is the age at which children attain the use of reason and begin to have moral responsibility. On completion of the seventh year, a minor is presumed to have the use of reason,[3] but intellectual disability can prevent some individuals from ever attaining the use of reason. The term "use of reason" appears in the 1983 Code of Canon Law 17 times, but "age of reason" does not appear.[4] However, the term "age of reason" is used in canon law commentaries such as the New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law published by Paulist Press in 2002.
Children who do not have the use of reason and the mentally disabled are sometimes called "innocents" because of their inability to commit sins: even if their actions are objectively sinful, they sometimes lack the capacity for subjective guilt.[citation needed]
In the
Age of majority
The age of majority in the Latin Catholic Church is 18[7] though, until the entry into force of the 1983 Code of Canon Law in 1983, the age of majority was 21.[8]
Juridic persons
In simple terms, a juridic person is an artificial construct under canon law that allows a group of persons or things to function and be treated under canon law as a single unit. The 1917 Code of Canon Law referred to all juridic persons as "moral persons",[9] while the 1983 Code of Canon Law uses the term "moral person" solely to designate the Apostolic See and the Catholic Church itself.[10]
Kennedy gives a more thorough definition: "A juridic person […] is an artificial person, distinct from all natural persons or material goods, constituted by competent ecclesiastical authority for an apostolic purpose, with a capacity for continuous existence and with canonical rights and duties like those of a natural person […] conferred upon it by law or by the authority which constitutes it and to which it is also accountable under canon law."[11][12]
The
Canonical age
The canonical age in
Each of these human acts requires the development of mind, body, or spirit appropriate to its free and voluntary acceptance and adequate knowledge of, and capability for, the duties and obligations attached. The ages prescribed by canon law differ, as do the privileges, offices, and dignities to which they apply.[14]
Sacraments
- Baptism: the sacrament can be validly administered regardless of age.
- age of reason.
- age of reason. Children in danger of death, capable of committing and confessing to mortal sin, and distinguishing heavenly from ordinary food when desirous of receiving Holy Communion, must not be denied, although they may not have achieved the minimum age prescribed.
- age of reason. After reaching the age of reason, each member of the faithful is obliged to confess faithfully their grave sins at least once a year. (CIC can. 989)
- Anointing of the Sick: the sacrament is to be administered to any Catholic who desires it (normally it is the sick or older person who suffers from infirmity) or who is in mortal danger
- Holy Orders: the sacrament can be received at the earliest at 23 years (deacons), 25 years (priest), or 35 years (bishop), according to canon 1031 CIC. The Apostolic Seecan grant dispensations.
- Conference of bishopsis free to establish a higher age for the licit celebration of marriage.
All Catholics are bound to attend
at the bestowal of baptism and confirmation, a Catholic must be confirmed and must normally be 16 years old (canon 874 CIC). The days of abstinence are to be respected by Catholics of at least 14 years of age; the law of fasting from 18 to the beginning of the sixtieth year (canon 1252 CIC).Priesthood, orders, and clerical office
The ancient discipline was neither universal nor fixed but varied with circumstances of time and locality. The requisite age, according to Gratian, for tonsure and the first three minor orders, those of doorkeeper, reader, and exorcist, was seven, and for acolyte, twelve years.[citation needed]
The Council of Trent fixed the ages of 21 years and 1 day for
For admission to the canonical
Generals, provincials, abbots, and other regular prelates having quasi-episcopal jurisdiction must, according to many constitutions, have completed their thirtieth year before an election; according to others, their 25th year. However, various orders and congregations have rules for the requisite ages for inferior offices and dignities.
The
References
- ^ Canon 96, 1983 Code of Canon Law
- ^ Canon 113 §2, 1983 Code of Canon Law
- ^ Code of Canon Law, can. 97 §2
- ^ Code of Canon Law, concordance of the word "reason"
- ^ Code of Canon Law, canon 889 §2
- ^ a b Code of Canon Law, canon 913
- ^ 1983 Code of Canon Law, can. 97
- ^ 1917 Code of Canon Law, can. 88
- ^ The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary, pg. 80 (commentary on Book I, Title IV, Chapter II: Juridic Persons)
- ^ The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary, pg. 80 (commentary on Canon 113 §1)
- ^ Robert T. Kennedy, "Juridic Persons" in New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, ed. John P. Beal et al. (New York/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2000) 155. Italic text added.
- ^ Gray, Jason A., References to Statutes in the Code of Canon Law; available from http://www.jgray.org/docs/statute_canons.html; Internet; accessed 1 January 2006.
- ^ John Dewey, "The Historic Background of Corporate Legal Personality", Yale Law Journal, vol. XXXV, April 1926, p. 655-673
- ^ a b "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Canonical Age". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ "Definition of CANONICAL AGE". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
- ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, II. The Precepts of the Church, 2042
- ^ Code of Canon Law can. 1031
Bibliography
- James A. Coriden, Thomas J. Green, Donald E. Heintschel (eds), The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary, Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1985.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Canonical Age". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Further reading
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Canonical Age (of historical value only)