Chapter 8

AURICULAR CONFESSION--A sacrament inseparable from that of 152 communion--Obligatory on all once a year--Plan of discovering defaulters--How punished--Evils of confession--Power of the priest--Four evils pointed out--Discoveries in the Inquisition in 1820--Facility of obtaining absolution--Louis XIV.--Robbers and assassins--The confessional--Practice, how conducted--Expiatory acts--Refusal of absolution--A husband disguised as his wife's confessor--The injunction of secrecy on part of confessor--Advantages of the knowledge he gains--Jesuits advocate the confessional--No fees for confession, but gratuities are generally given