A decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, 8 August, 1910, on the age at which children are to be
admitted to first Communion, officially promulgated 15 August, 1910 (Acta Apost. Sedis, 15 August, 1910). The
historical facts narrated in the "Quam singulari" prove that:
* it is not a decree inaugurating a new discipline, but one restoring the ancient and universal law of the
Church, wherever it has not been observed (Pius X to Card. Abp. of Cologne, 31 December, 1910);
* the custom of giving Holy Communion to infants immediately after baptism, and frequently before the beginning
of their rational life, has been modified but never condemned; it is even approved to-day among the Greeks and
Orientals;
* the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215, can. xxi) has never been revoked or modified, and in virtue
of it all are obliged, as soon as they arrive at the years of discretion, to receive both the Sacraments of Penance
and Holy Communion at Easter time;
* the "testimony of the greatest authority, St. Thomas Aquinas", interpreting the Council, states
that the Lateran decree obliges "children when they begin to have some use of reason" (also Ledesma,
Vasquez, St. Antoninus);
* the Council of Trent confirmed the Lateran decree pronouncing anathema against all who deny "that the
faithful of both sexes who have attained the use of reason are obliged to receive Holy Communion every year,
at least at Easter time" (Sess. XIII, de Euch., c. viii, can. ix).
Errors condemned by the "Quam singulari"
* A greater discretion is required for first Communion than for first Confession.
* To receive Holy Communion a more, complete knowledge of the articles of Faith is required. This erroneous
opinion, demanding with Jansenism (1) extraordinary preparation, thereby deferring Communion "for the riper
age" of twelve, fourteen, or even older ("absolutely forbidden"), makes (2) "the Holy Eucharist
a reward and not a remedy for human frailty", which is contrary to the teaching of the Council of Trent that
Holy Communion is "an antidote by which we are freed from our daily faults and preserved from mortal sins".
The error assumes (3) what may be false -- that riper years and more complete instruction give better dispositions
than the innocence and candour of more tender years. As first Communion is not essentially different from any
other Communion the extraordinary preparation heretofore demanded is (4) contrary to the "Sacra Tridentina",
which for daily communicants, including children, requires only the state of grace and a good intention.
Abuses following from errors
* Depriving the child from the beginning of its rational life of the right of living in Christ through Holy
Communion, a right given by baptism;
* Causing the loss of angelic first innocence in many by those years of deprivation of Christ and of graces,
years for many the seed-time for snares and vices, all of which might have been avoided;
* causing, by the custom of some places, children to live in the state of sin by not allowing them to go to
confession until the age determined for first Communion, or of denying them absolution when they confessed ("absolutely
condemned" and "to be done away with by ordinaries as the law permits");
* denying the Viaticum to dying children who had not received their first Communion, and burying these as
infants, thereby depriving them of the suffrages of the Church, to which they were entitled ("utterly detestable",
"ordinaries to proceed severely against these").
Conditions for first Confession and first Communion
* The age of discretion, which applies equally to both sacraments. This may be judged (1) by the first indication
of the child using its reasoning powers; (2) by the child knowing what is right from wrong. No determined age
is placed as a condition; the age of seven is mentioned because the majority of children arrive at the years of
discretion, that is, begin to reason, about this period, some sooner, some later.
* A knowledge such as a child just beginning to reason can have about one God, Who rewards the good and punishes
the wicked, and about the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation. It is not necessary that the child should
commit to memory accurate theological definitions, which may convey no idea to the little mind just beginning
to unfold.
* A child must be able to distinguish the Eucharistic from the common bread; that is, to know that what looks
like bread is not bread, but contains the real, living Body and Blood of Christ.
* Children should be taught to receive Holy Communion devoutly.
* Children should be instructed on the necessity of being in the state of grace and of having a good intention,
also
* of fasting from midnight before Communion.
Obligation of admitting children to first Communion
When children begin to reason, the obligation of receiving Holy Communion is Divine as well as ecclesiastical.
The subject-matter of the decree:
* is therefore a grave one obliging under serious sin, (1) children themselves if they know of and maliciously
neglect their obligation; (2) those responsible for the children: father, mother, instructors, rectors of colleges,
principals of schools, superiors of communities and children's asylums, all who have parental responsibility,
confessors, and pastors.
* A grave obligation devolving on all above mentioned is to encourage children after first Communion to approach
the altar frequently, even daily, if possible.
* Those responsible for children should regard as "their most important duty" that the incomplete
instruction given before first Communion be continued afterwards by sending the children to the public catechetical
instructions, or by supplying their religious instruction in some other way. The formal admission of the child
to first Communion rests with the father, or the one taking his place, and with the confessor. The decree supposes
these to act together, and when they agree on the admission no one may interfere. Where the parents are negligent
or indifferent or opposed to their children's first Communion, the confessor can assume the entire responsibility.
Should the confessors oppose the admission of children whose parents know they have begun to reason, the prudent
course in practice is to present the children to another confessor, for every confessor has a right to admit a
child to private first Communion.
General Communion
A public ceremony devolving not on the confessor but on the parish priest, who is required to have yearly one
or several of these general Communions, which may be simple or solemn. The simple:
* will admit the (1) little children making their first Communion, also (2) those who have previously approached
the Holy Table. The decree requires some days of instruction and preparation for both classes of children when
they receive in a body. This can be given as conditions and circumstances permit, attention being paid to the
spirit and substance of this provision.
* Every pastor can arrange a solemn ceremony in which those would participate who had completed a course in
Christian Doctrine. Every year during the time the faithful can satisfy their Easter duty, the "Quam singulari"
must be read to the people in the vernacular. Every five years in their ad limina, ordinaries will be obliged
to report the observance of the decree to the Holy See.
GENNARI in Il Mon. Ecc. (Aug., Sept., 1910); VERMEERSCH, De Prima Puerorum Communione; BESSON in Nouvelle Revue
Th ologique (Nov., Dec., 1910); FERRERES in Raz n y Fe (Dec., 1910); CANB in The Sentinel (March, 1911-); Ecclesiastical
Review (Oct., 1910); ZULUETA, Early First Communion; The Child Prepared for First Communion (New York, 1911);
LUCAS, The Decree "Quam singulari" and the Age for First Communion; MALONEY in The Catholic World (Feb.,
1911); NERI, La Prima Cumunione dei fancuilli; LINTELO, Il Decreto sull' Eta della Prima Comunione; MACCONO, La
Prima Comunione; P dagogische Bedeutung des Dekrets ber Erst-Kommunion (Hildesheim, 1911); Die Kommunion der
Kinder (Mainz, 1911); See also current Catholic, especially foreign, reviews, Sept, to Dec., 1910; also many pastoral
letters of bishops of United States and Europe.