Father Ignacio Gordon, S.J. zealously served the Church as a proceduralist, teaching procedural law for about 25 years in the Pontifical Gregorian University’s Faculty of Canon Law and advising dicasteries of the Roman Curia about it. Among his main contributions in this area are included his promotion of the ongoing formation of ministers of justice, attention to the best methods of teaching procedural law, his emphasis on the ecclesial character of procedural law, his concerns about the celerity of trials in the Church, and the need for the judicial protection of marriage. He offered a particularly indefatigable service to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, which was also a special object of his scientific investigation.

This article retraces the thought of Fr. I. Gordon, S.J. on the contentious administrative litigation that was inaugurated in 1967 in the Sectio Altera of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura with the Apostolic Constitution of Paul VI Regimini Ecclesiae universae. In particular, the coherence of the position and the development of the reasons in support of an interpretation of this new vehicle of canonical administrative justice, free of any formalism and in favor of a competence regarding subjective rights, are both highlighted. The steps taken by legislation, jurisprudence, and praxis towards the interpretation proposed by Fr. Gordon are briefly commented upon.

The purpose of this text is to render justice to the activity of Father Ignacio Gordon in the field of the causes of canonization. Although his initial contribution has been gradually supplanted by a legislation that is far from the initial project, it is possible to find in the most recent normative a reference to the juridical rigor desired by the Jesuit Father. The article also describes his particular contribution to the theology of martyrdom.

The scant use in jurisprudence of canon 1095, 1° leads to the questioning of its effective normative content. After an examination of the occurrences in the current Code of the term usus rationis and of the sources indicated for canon 1095, 1°, some summary indications of a historical nature are given. The analysis continues with a look at some annotated editions of the Code as well as noted reference works, but it concentrates above all on the presentations of the subject offered in various textbooks, ordered according to the three prevalent lines of interpretation that emerge from them. The analysis of rotal jurisprudence after the promulgation of the 1983 CIC confirms how miniscule in number are the decisions wherein can. 1095, 1° is not only referred to obiter, in the motivations in iure, but above all applied to concrete cases in the motivations in facto. Some relevant considerations on the relationship between can. 1095, 1° and the processus brevior as well as some conclusions conclude this re. By the latter, indications are given as to the content of the lack of sufficient use of reason in relation to matrimonial consent and as to the definition of an adequate proof of the same.

One of the canonical principles underpinning the concrete prescription of law in the canonical system is periculum mortis. The intent of this article is to examine systematically this canonical principle, highlighting its meaning and application vis-à-vis the sanctifying, governing, and teaching offices of the Church.