How were interdicts used?

Answer 1

Catholic AnswerAn interdict is a Church censure that may be general, local, or personal. An interdict forbids the celebration of some of the sacraments, although it does not affect Church membership or duties or other rights of the Catholics affected. The most recent cases of interdicts have been personal. A Texas bishop inflicted a pro-abortion politician with an interdict. A Wisconsin bishop is having problems with liberal parishioners who are being served by two more traditionally minded priests. The Bishop threatened the parish with interdict if they didn't calm down. In Italy at the beginning of the 20th century, a Bishop was instructed to move the Cathedral and seat of his diocese to a more prominent town. The parishioners of the Cathedral parish pelted the Bishop with stones, and Pope Pius X placed the entire parish under interdict. In 1955 white parishioners refused to allow a black priest to enter their chapel to celebrate Mass, and their bishop placed them under interdict. Pope Innocent III place the entire country of England under interdict for five years in the beginning of the 13th century when the King refused to accept his appointment of a bishop as Archbishop of Canterbury.

from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980

Interdict. A censure forbidding the faithful, while still remaining in communion with the Church, the use of certain sacred privileges, such as Christian burial, some of the sacraments, and attendance at liturgical services. It does not exclude from Church membership, nor does it necessarily imply a personal fault of any individual affected by the interdict. When imposed for a fixed period, it is a vindictive penalty because of some grave act done against the common good of the Church by one or more parishes. Usual religious services are curtailed, but sacraments may be given to the dying, marriages celebrated, and Holy Communion administered if the interdict is general or local (not personal). A general interdict may be inflected only by the Holy See. Parishes or persons may be interdicted only by the local ordinary.

Answer 2

Interdict is a Catholic Church's punishment of a region, involving closing churches and withholding sacraments. They were used against rulers who didn't follow the Canon law.