PHẦN II. CÁC VIỆC PHỤNG TỰ KHÁC (Điều 1166-1204)

Sacramentals are sacred signs which in a sense imitate the sacraments. They signify certain effects, especially spiritual ones, and they achieve these effects through the intercession of the Church.

§1 Only the Apostolic See can establish new sacramentals, or authentically interpret, suppress or change existing ones.
§2 The rites and the formulae approved by ecclesiastical authority are to be accurately observed when celebrating or administering sacramentals.

The minister of the sacramentals is a cleric who has the requisite power. In accordance with the liturgical books and subject to the judgement of the local Ordinary, certain sacramentals can also be administered by lay people who possess the appropriate qualities.

§1 Consecrations and dedications can be validly carried out by those who are invested with the episcopal character, and by priests who are permitted to do so by law or by legitimate grant.
§2 Any priest can impart blessings, except for those reserved to the Roman Pontiff or to Bishops. [See the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s Declaration Fiducia supplicans, 18.XII.2023]
§3 A deacon can impart only those blessings which are expressly permitted to him by law.

While blessings are to be imparted primarily to Catholics, they may be given also to catechumens and, unless there is a prohibition by the Church, even to non-Catholics.

Sacred objects, set aside for divine worship by dedication or blessing, are to be treated with reverence. They are not to be made over to secular or inappropriate use, even though they may belong to private persons.

§1 No one may lawfully exorcise the possessed without the special and express permission of the local Ordinary.
§2 This permission is to be granted by the local Ordinary only to a priest who is endowed with piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life.

In fulfilment of the priestly office of Christ, the Church celebrates the liturgy of the hours, wherein it listens to God speaking to his people and recalls the mystery of salvation. In this way, the Church praises God without ceasing, in song and prayer, and it intercedes with him for the salvation of the whole world.

§1 Clerics are obliged to recite the liturgy of the hours, in accordance with can. 276
§2, n. 3; members of institutes of consecrated life and of societies of apostolic life are obliged in accordance with their constitutions.
§2 Others also of Christ’s faithful are earnestly invited, according to circumstances, to take part in the liturgy of the hours as an action of the Church.

In carrying out the liturgy of the hours, each particular hour is, as far as possible, to be recited at the time assigned to it.

§1 Christ’s faithful who have died are to be given a Church funeral according to the norms of law.
§2 Church funerals are to be celebrated according to the norms of the liturgical books. In these funeral rites the Church prays for the spiritual support of the dead, it honours their bodies, and at the same time it brings to the living the comfort of hope.
§3 The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burial be retained; but it does not forbid cremation, unless this is chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching. [See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo, 15.VIII.2016, regarding the burial of the deceased and the conservation of the ashes in the case of cremation; see also Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Two questions about the preservation of the ashes of the deceased following cremation, 9.XII.2023]

§1 The funeral of any deceased member of the faithful should normally be celebrated in the church of that person’s proper parish.
§2 However, any member of the faithful, or those in charge of the deceased person’s funeral, may choose another church; this requires the consent of whoever is in charge of that church and a notification to the proper parish priest of the deceased.
§3 When death has occurred outside the person’s proper parish, and the body is not returned there, and another church has not been chosen, the funeral rites are to be celebrated in the church of the parish where the death occurred, unless another church is determined by particular law.

The funeral ceremonies of a diocesan Bishop are to be celebrated in his own cathedral church, unless he himself has chosen another church.

Normally, the funerals of religious or of members of a society of apostolic life are to be celebrated in their proper church or oratory: by the Superior, if the institute or society is a clerical one; otherwise, by the chaplain.

§1 If a parish has its own cemetery, the deceased faithful are to be buried there, unless another cemetery has lawfully been chosen by the deceased person, or by those in charge of that person’s burial.
§2 All may, however, choose their cemetery of burial unless prohibited by law from doing so.

The provisions of can. 1264 are to be observed in whatever concerns the offerings made on the occasion of funerals. Moreover, care is to be taken that at funerals there is to be no preference of persons, and that the poor are not deprived of proper funeral rites.

After the burial an entry is to be made in the register of the dead, in accordance with particular law. ALLOWED OR DENIED

§1 As far as funeral rites are concerned, catechumens are to be reckoned among Christ’s faithful.
§2 Children whose parents had intended to have them baptised but who died before baptism, may be allowed Church funeral rites by the local Ordinary.
§3 Provided their own minister is not available, baptised persons belonging to a non-Catholic Church or ecclesial community may, in accordance with the prudent judgement of the local Ordinary, be allowed Church funeral rites, unless it is established that they did not wish this.

§1 Church funeral rites are to be denied to the following, unless they gave some signs of repentance before death:1° notorious apostates, heretics and schismatics;2° those who for anti-Christian motives chose that their bodies be cremated;3° other manifest sinners to whom a Church funeral could not be granted without public scandal to the faithful.
§2 If any doubt occurs, the local Ordinary is to be consulted and his judgement followed.

Any form of funeral Mass is also to be denied to a person who has been excluded from a Church funeral. RELICS

To foster the sanctification of the people of God, the Church commends to the special and filial veneration of Christ’s faithful the Blessed Mary ever-Virgin, the Mother of God, whom Christ constituted the Mother of all. The Church also promotes the true and authentic cult of the other Saints, by whose example the faithful are edified and by whose intercession they are supported.

Only those servants of God may be venerated by public cult who have been numbered by ecclesiastical authority among the Saints or the Blessed.

The practice of exposing sacred images in churches for the veneration of the faithful is to be retained. However, these images are to be displayed in moderate numbers and in suitable fashion, so that the Christian people are not disturbed, nor is occasion given for less than appropriate devotion.

The written permission of the Ordinary is required to restore precious images needing repair: that is, those distinguished by reason of age, art or cult, which are exposed in churches and oratories to the veneration of the faithful. Before giving such permission, the Ordinary is to seek the advice of experts.

§1 It is absolutely wrong to sell sacred relics.
§2 Distinguished relics, and others which are held in great veneration by the people, may not validly be in any way alienated nor transferred on a permanent basis, without the permission of the Apostolic See.
§3 The provision of
§2 applies to images which are greatly venerated in any church by the people. [See Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, Instruction Relics in the Church: authenticity and preservation, 8.XII.2017, on the canonical procedure to follow in order to verify the authenticity of relics and mortal remains, to guarantee their preservation and to promote the veneration of relics]

§1 A vow is a deliberate and free promise made to God, concerning some good which is possible and better. The virtue of religion requires that it be fulfilled.
§2 Unless they are prohibited by law, all who have an appropriate use of reason are capable of making a vow.
§3 A vow made as a result of grave and unjust fear or of deceit is by virtue of the law itself invalid.

§1 A vow is public if it is accepted in the name of the Church by a lawful Superior; otherwise, it is private.
§2 It is solemn if it is recognised by the Church as such; otherwise, it is simple.
§3 It is personal if it promises an action by the person making the vow; real, if it promises some thing; mixed, if it has both a personal and a real aspect.

Of its nature a vow obliges only the person who makes it.

A vow ceases by lapse of the time specified for the fulfilment of the obligation, or by a substantial change in the matter promised, or by cessation of a condition upon which the vow depended or of the purpose of the vow, or by dispensation, or by commutation.

A person who has power over the matter of a vow can suspend the obligation of the vow for such time as the fulfilment of the vow would affect that person adversely.

Besides the Roman Pontiff, the following can dispense from private vows, provided the dispensation does not injure the acquired rights of others;1° the local Ordinary and the parish priest, in respect of all their own subjects and also of peregrini;2° the Superior of a religious institute or of a society of apostolic life, if these are clerical and of pontifical right, in respect of members, novices and those who reside day and night in a house of the institute or society;3° those to whom the faculty of dispensing has been delegated by the Apostolic See or by the local Ordinary.

What has been promised by private vow can be commuted into something better or equally good by the person who made the vow. It can be commuted into something less good by one who has authority to dispense in accordance with can. 1196.

Vows taken before religious profession are suspended as long as the person who made the vow remains in the religious institute.

§1 An oath is the invocation of the divine Name as witness to the truth. It cannot be taken except in truth, judgement and justice.
§2 An oath which is required or accepted by the canons cannot validly be taken by proxy.

§1 A person who freely swears on oath to do something is specially obliged by the virtue of religion to fulfil that which he or she asserted by the oath.
§2 An oath extorted by deceit, force or grave fear is by virtue of the law itself invalid.

§1 A promissory oath is determined by the nature and condition of the act to which it is attached.
§2 An act which directly threatens harm to others or is prejudicial to the public good or to eternal salvation, is in no way reinforced by an oath sworn to do that act.

§1 The obligation of a promissory oath ceases:1° if it is remitted by the person in whose favour the oath was sworn;2° if what was sworn is substantially changed or, because of altered circumstances, becomes evil or completely irrelevant, or hinders a greater good;3° if the purpose or the condition ceases under which the oath may have been made;4° by dispensation or commutation in accordance with can. 1203.

Those who can suspend, dispense or commute a vow have, in the same measure, the same power over a promissory oath. But if dispensation from an oath would tend to harm others and they refuse to remit the obligation, only the Apostolic See can dispense the oath.

An oath is subject to strict interpretation, in accordance with the law and with the intention of the person taking the oath or, if that person acts deceitfully, in accordance with the intention of the person in whose presence the oath is taken.