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Religion : First Communion

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Students in the second grade make their first communion. The existing legislation with regard to the Communion of children has been definitely settled by the Fourth Lateran Council, which was afterwards confirmed by the authority of the Council of Trent. According to its provisions children may not be admitted to the Blessed Eucharist until they have attained to years of discretion, but when this period is reached then they are bound to receive this sacrament.

Communion of Children
      The duty of preparing candidates for First Communion is the most important that can fall to the lot of a pastor (O'Kane, Rubrics of Rom. Rit., p. 391). This is amply recognized by the Church in every country, for almost every diocese has its statutes regulating with scrupulous exactness all the preliminaries of this sacred and solemn event (cf. Decr. of III Plen. Balt., no. 217, 218, etc.). A long course of religious instruction is usually prescribed while the moral training and virtuous formation of the mind is also urgently insisted upon.
   
Documents on First Confession / First Communion
  Magisterial texts on the obligation of First Confession before First Communion and the efforts of the Holy See over a period of two decades to end abuses of the rights of children and of sacramental discipline
   
First Confession and First Communion
  Document from the Holy See regarding these rites.
   

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