VALID ADMINISTRATION 113 



In applying this rule attention must be paid to the dis- 

 tinction between public and private sinners and to the 

 nature of the request made. If the priest knows of the 

 unworthiness of an applicant only by his official position, 

 i. e., through the confessional, he is obliged to administer 

 the Sacrament asked for, e. g., Holy Communion, be- 

 cause the preservation of the seal and the good name 

 of the recipient are more important than regard for the 

 sanctity of the Sacrament. Hence if a person who is 

 guilty of secret sin should publicly demand a Sacrament, 

 his demand must not be refused if there is danger of 

 public defamation or grave scandal. The case is differ- 

 ent with public sinners and secret offenders who apply 

 privately to the priest. To such (extra periculum mor- 

 tis) no Sacrament should be administered except Penance 

 and, under certain conditions, Matrimony. 



To simulate a Sacrament, e. g., by administering an un- 

 consecrated host, is never allowed, not even for the pur- 

 pose of preventing sacrilege or saving one's life. 10 To 

 bless or pray over a penitent not properly disposed, in 

 order to protect the secret of the confessional or the good 

 name of the sinner, is not a simulatio or fictio sacramenti, 

 and therefore permitted. 11 



Readings. — St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, 3a, qu. 60-90. — 

 St. Alphonsus, Theologia Moralis, 1. VI, tr. 1-5 (ed. Gaude, 

 Vol. III). — P. Schanz, Die Lehre von den hi. Sakramenten, 

 Freiburg 1893, pp. 161 sqq. — N. Gihr, Die hi. Sakramente der 

 kath. Kirche, Vol. I, 2nd ed., Freiburg 1902, pp. 140 sqq. — Chr. 

 Pesch, S.J., Praelectiones Dogmaticae, Vol. VI, 3rd ed., pp. 98 

 sqq. — P. Pourrat, Theology of the Sacraments, 2nd ed., St. Louis 



Sacr., tit. 4, c. i, n. 8-9. — Chr. was condemned by Pope Innocent 



Pesch, Praelect. Dogmaticae, Vol. XI {Prop. Damnat., n. 29; Denz.- 



VI, 3rd ed., pp. 126 sqq. Bannwart, n. 11 79). 



10 The proposition: "Urgens me- 11 H. Noldin, S.J., Summa Theot. 



tus gravis est causa iusta sacramen- Mor., Vol. Ill, nth ed., pp. 40 sq. 

 torum administrationem simulandi" 



