Intercessores or Interventores was the name of officers peculiar to the African Church, who acted as temporary incumbents of a vacant bishopric, and for the time being peribrmed the episcopal functions. It was their duty to take measures for the immediate ajjpoint- ment of a bishop. To prevent abuses, which had be- come prevalent by either choosing incompetent success- ors or by protracting the election of a new prelate, a Council of Carthage in 401 forbade the tenure to con- tinue longer than one year, and ako any succession to the temporary occupant. See Farrar, Theol. Diet. s. v. ; Walcott, Sacred A i-ehccoloc/y, s. v. ; Riddle, Christ. A ntiq. p. 223.
Interdict (interdictum, sc. celebrationis dirini offi- cii, a prohihUion of religious offices) is an ecclesiastical censure or penalty in the Roman Catholic Church, con- sisting in the withdrawal of the administration of certain sacraments, of the celebration of public worship, and of the solemn burial service. There are three kinds of in- terdicts: local, which affect a particular place, and thus comprehend all, without distinction, who reside therein ; personal, which only affect a person or persons, and which reach this person or persons, and these alone, no matter where found; and mixed, which affect both a place and its inhabitants, so that the latter would be bound by the interdict even outside of its jiurely local limits. But, as the interdict is oftentimes inflicted on the clergy alone, it is always strictly interpreted, so that one imposed on a parish, etc., does not take effect also on the clergy, and vice versa (compare Ferraris, art. ii, v). The interdict, like the ban (q. v.), may be in- flicted by legal order (interdictum a jure'), or procured by ecclesiastical judges (ah homine). The reasons for inflicting this ecclesiastical penalty are various: most generally they are the abolition of Church immunities, disrespect towards ecclesiastical authority or commands, and the effects are generally the prohibition of adminis- tering the sacraments, of holding public worship, and
the denial of Christian burial ; yet various modifications have been frequent. Thus Alexander HI permitted in 1173 the administration of the sacrament of baptism to children, and that of penitence to the dying (c. 11, X. De .<iponsalibus, iv, 1 ; comp. c. 11, X. De panit. et remiss. V, 38; c. 24, De sententia excomm. vi; v, 11). Innocent HI allowed confirmation and preaching (c. 43, X. De sent, excomm. v, 39, a. 1208), as also penitence, with some restrictions (c. 11, X. Depanit, v, 38, a. 1214; comp. c. 24, De sent, excomm. in vi), the silent burial of the cler- gy (c. 11, X. cit. V, 38^, and to convents the observance of the canonical hours, without singing, and the reading of a low mass, which was in the following year extend- ed also to the bishops (c. 25, X. De privilegiis, v, 33, a. 1215). But to this was appended the condition that the parties under excommunication or interdict should not be present, that the doors of the churches should remain locked, and no bells be allowed to ring. Boni- face VIII went further, and allowed the celebration of public worship with open doors, ringing of bells, and in the presence of the excommunicated parties on the oc- casions of the Nativity, Easter, Pentecost, and the As- cension of the Virgin. Yet such of the interdicted and excommunicated as did not come to the altar were to be excluded (c. 24, De sent, excomm. in vi [v, 11]). Martin ' V and Eugene IV extended this to the whole octave of the Corpus Christi (Const. IneJJ'aUle, an. 1429, and Const, Kxcellentissimum, an. 1433, in Bidlar. Maejnum, i, 308, 323); and Leo X to the octave of the festival of the Holy Conception. There were, moreover, other special regulations made for the benefit of the Franciscans and other orders of monks (Ferraris, art. vi, no. 15). In the xxvth Session of the Council of Trent (cap. 12, De rerju- larihus) it was decided that the regulars generally were to observe the interdict, as had already been command- ed by Clement V (c. 1, Clem. De sent, excomm. v, 10, Conch. Vienn. 1311).
The right of pronouncing the interdict is vested in the pope, the provincial synod, the bishop, with the as- sent of the chapter, and even without it (c. 2, X. De his qucp flint a viajori parte capitidi, iii, 11, Ccelestin HI, an. 1 190 ; Clem. 1, De sent. exc. cit. Cone. Trid. cit. See Gonzalez Tellcz, c. 5, X. De consuet. no. 4). The inter- dict can be withdrawn by any confessor when it is par- ticular and personal, not reserved, but applying to minor points (c. 29, X. De sent. exc. v, 39, Innocent III, anno 1199) ; other interdicts are to be withdrawn by those who pronounced them, their successors, delegates, or superiors (see F'erraris, article viii). The fundamental principles of the interdict are yet in vigor in the Roman Church (see Benedict XIV, De synod, dioec. lib. x, cap. 1, § 3 sq.), but it has not been exercised to its fidl ex- tent since the 17th century. As late as 1606 Paul V pronounced it against the Republic of Venice (see Rieg- ger. Diss, de panitentiis et poenis eccl. Vienn. 1772, § 76 ; and Schmidt, Thesaurus juris eccl. vii, 172), and partic- ular interdicts are still in frequent use, as, for instance, the interdictio inr/ressus in ecclesiam, the defense for lay- men to enter the Church (c. 48, X. De sent, excomm. v, 39, Innocent III, an. 1215; c. 20, eod. in vi; v, 11, Bon- iface VIII, etc. ). The Council of Trent (Sess. vi, cap. 1, info), de re/.} pronounced this punishment against the bishops and archbishops who neglected the command to reside in their diocese. To it belongs also the ctssa- tio a dirviis, touching the use of the bells and organ (c. 55, X. De appellat. ii, 28, Innocent III, an. 1213; c. 13, § 1, X. De officio jiidicis ord. i, 31, Innocent III, an. 1215; c. 2, eod. in vi, and i, 16, Gregor. X, an. 1274; c. 8, eod. Bonifac. VIII), as a public mourning of the Church (c. 18, De sent, excomm. in vi, 1, ib. Bonifac. A'lII).