Can any priest annull a private vow?

  • Thread starter Thread starter needadvice
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
N

needadvice

Guest
Hello,
I’m overly scrupulous about vows and I was wondering something about anullment of vows. I already made a another topic explaining that I made many promises to God out of scrupulosity and that I wanted them annulled since they were ruining my life.
It’s wroten in canon law that a priest can annull a vow but does it have to be the priest of my village? I used to go to church in another village and I can only lean on this priest(the one from another village) since I know him very well. I can’t even think to go to the priest of my village since I don’t know him at all and my promises are very sensitive things I could only tell to the priest I know well.
Canon law says that:

Can. 1196 In addition to the Roman Pontiff, the following can dispense from private vows for a just cause provided that a dispensation does not injure a right acquired by others:

1/ the local ordinary and the pastor with regard to all their subjects and even travelers;

2/ the superior of a religious institute or society of apostolic life if it is clerical and of pontifical right with regard to members, novices, and persons who live day and night in a house of the institute or society;

3/ those to whom the Apostolic See or the local ordinary has delegated the power of dispensing.

So what do you think? Can any priest remove my vows? Can I be seen as a “traveler”?

edit: FrDavid96 Excuse-me father, when you say "any attempt at a vow, made “out of scrupulosity” is absolutely null and utterly void.

There is nothing to be dispensed.

Canon 1191.

can I ask you which part(paragraph) of canon 1191 are you referring to?
 
Last edited:
Talk to your priest and listen to him.
And stop with the vows. ESPECIALLY since yu have scruples.
God wants you to do your best for love of Him.
He requires no vow except obedience and love.
 
As discussed on the other thread, you should speak to a priest and you should also seek mental health help for your scruples.

Given your mental state, it is questionable whether the promises you made even rise to the level of “vows”. You should do as the other person said and stop making these promises and also discuss with a priest, not on this forum.
 
needadvice said:
… I already made a another topic explaining that I made many promises to God out of scrupulosity .
…
Click to expand...
Any attempt at a vow, made “out of scrupulosity” is absolutely null and utterly void.

There is nothing to be dispensed.

Canon 1191.
 
Last edited:
Thanks a lot for your answer. I guess you meant “there is nothing to be dispensed”?
 
needadvice said:
Thanks a lot for your answer. I guess you meant “there is nothing to be dispensed”?
Click to expand...
If a typo is really that important, I would go for a psychological check. Not to offend, but this seems to me like a kind of psychotic thinking at the end of nervous fearful thoughts. Like some kind of magical thinking (“if the sentence isn´t correct, it´s not potent enough to help me”, like a spell or something similar).
Don´t be offended by this post, I write this because you seem to be desperately under pressure. Talk to a priest and a professional, I wish you all the best!
 
needadvice said:
Thanks a lot for your answer. I guess you meant “there is nothing to be dispensed”?
Click to expand...
Which means there was never a vow to begin with. The typo should be easy to figure out.

Please get a spiritual director ASAP if you are scrupulous.
[/quote]

I fixed it…
 
@needadvice Best answer …
Tis_Bearself said:
As discussed on the other thread, you should speak to a priest and you should also seek mental health help for your scruples.

Given your mental state, it is questionable whether the promises you made even rise to the level of “vows”. You should do as the other person said and stop making these promises and also discuss with a priest, not on this forum.
Click to expand...
Understand that your vows are null and void because you are not under the direction of a qualified spiritual director who would not have allowed you to take them on in the first place. So seek mental health help and discuss with a priest.
 
Last edited:
FrDavid96 said:
40.png
needadvice:
Thanks a lot for your answer. I guess you meant “there is nothing to be dispensed”?
Click to expand...
Which means there was never a vow to begin with. The typo should be easy to figure out.

Please get a spiritual director ASAP if you are scrupulous.
Click to expand...
I fixed it…
[/quote]

thanks to all for your understanding ;). I figured it out but everything makes me doubt… It’s exhausting… Sometimes I feel like I want to make these promises too… I guess it’s the scrupulosity that makes me think that since after I feel awful but are they still void and null in these cases? I mean I didn’t make them out of pure fear but because I couldn’t help but think of them. It’s not even properly said, it’s just a feeling that I whispered or something like this.
 
FrDavid96 Excuse-me father, when you say "any attempt at a vow, made “out of scrupulosity” is absolutely null and utterly void.

There is nothing to be dispensed.

Canon 1191.

can I ask you which part(paragraph) of canon 1191 are you referring to?
 
Last edited:
needadvice said:
FrDavid96 Excuse-me father, when you say "any attempt at a vow, made “out of scrupulosity” is absolutely null and utterly void.

There is nothing to be dispensed.

Canon 1191.

can I ask you which part(paragraph) of canon 1191 are you referring to?
Click to expand...
By all means:

Can. 1191 §1. A vow, that is, a deliberate and free promise made to God about a possible and better good, must be fulfilled by reason of the virtue of religion.

§2. Unless they are prohibited by law, all who possess suitable use of reason are capable of making a vow.

§3. A vow made out of grave and unjust fear or malice is null by the law itself.

Just as it would be an invalid attempt at marriage if the father of the bride holds a shotgun to the groom, so too a vow made “out of scrupulosity” (the exact words used by the OP) is not binding because it does not meet the definition of “a deliberate and free promise.” It is null and void.

No one can make a vow without having the free will to make it.

An act cannot be “deliberate and free” while at the same time being "out of scrupulosity."

Does that help?
 
thanks a lot father David! Sometimes, I feel like a part of me want it. By exemple, after confessing and annulling my promises by my priest, I often find myself worrying because of some detail. Yesterday, I worried after confessing because I was afraid he didn’t hear me correctly because I spoke a little lower at a moment. A few hours later, at home, I felt like I wanted to make that promise again so I could convince myself to go back to the priest and annull the same promise another time. At this moment, I felt like my lips were moving again and that I was making the same promise again. Does it still count like a non free promise for you?
 
Last edited:
needadvice said:
thanks a lot father David! Sometimes, I feel like a part of me want it. By exemple, after confessing and annulling my promises by my priest, I often find myself worrying because of some detail. Yesterday, I worried after confessing because I was afraid he didn’t hear me correctly because I spoke a little lower at a moment. A few hours later, at home, I felt like I wanted to make that promise again so I could convince myself to go back to the priest and annull the same promise another time. At this moment, I felt like my lips were moving again and that I was making the same promise again. Does it still count like a non free promise for you?
Click to expand...
You need to trust your confessor.

You should not be looking for advice on the internet. That’s part of what is bothering to you.

You won’t find any peace if you go looking to the internet for answers–you’ll only get more confused.

Trust your priest-confessor.

I can tell you with absolute certainty that whatever vows you think you are making are not valid vows. You’re not bound by them at all. I should not say anything more beyond that because I run the danger of interfering with your own priest-confessor. Please, trust him.

And please stop looking for answers on the internet. I can assure you that doing this will only feed the scrupulosity.
 
needadvice said:
thanks a lot father David! Sometimes, I feel like a part of me want it. By exemple, after confessing and annulling my promises by my priest, I often find myself worrying because of some detail. Yesterday, I worried after confessing because I was afraid he didn’t hear me correctly because I spoke a little lower at a moment. A few hours later, at home, I felt like I wanted to make that promise again so I could convince myself to go back to the priest and annull the same promise another time. At this moment, I felt like my lips were moving again and that I was making the same promise again. Does it still count like a non free promise for you?
Click to expand...
@FrDavid96 another question father… If I change my sentence “sometimes I feel like a part of me want it” by "sometimes I feel like I want and agree to make a promise… does it change something to your answer? Can you read the full message again completely with this change please? I hope I don’t take too much advantage of your kindness to me…
 
Last edited:
needadvice said:
@FrDavid96 another question father… If I change my sentence “sometimes I feel like a part of me want it” by "sometimes I feel like I want and agree to make a promise… does it change something to your answer? Can you read the full message again completely with this change please? I hope I don’t take too much advantage of your kindness to me…
Click to expand...
No. it does not change anything.

You are seeking to affirm your scrupulosity here on the internet. I don’t blame you for that. It’s a symptom of the spiritual affliction that you are suffering. I don’t blame you, instead I want to support you. The best support I can give is to repeat that you should not be asking such questions on the internet.
 
IN all charity dear one…this last query is exactly why you need to meet with your priest about this and get off the internet, Not because people are unsympathetic, but that the internet and this forum is not going to give you the relief you seek.
Peace.
 
pianistclare said:
IN all charity dear one…this last query is exactly why you need to meet with your priest about this and get off the internet, Not because people are unsympathetic, but that the internet and this forum is not going to give you the relief you seek.
Peace.
Click to expand...
Exactly. The internet is going to do the exact opposite of help the OP overcome scrupulosity.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top