Theory and practice of the confessional

At all times penance has been the necessary means (_necessitate medii ad salutem_) of obtaining pardon for those who had committed mortal sin. “If we do not do penance, we shall...

Every man who has fallen into formal sin after Baptism is capable of receiving the Sacrament of Penance. Whoever, therefore, has not yet been baptized, or, having been baptized,...

We must investigate more closely the _essence_ of this contrition. Contrition is a hearty _sorrow_; this sorrow is interior; hence the prophet speaks of a rending of the heart (...

According to the decision of the Council of Trent, as we have seen above, the resolution to amend as well as contrition is required for the valid reception of the Sacrament. Wit...

Though contrition is the most important of the dispositions which a penitent must bring to the Sacrament, the confessing of the sins is the most prominent feature to ordinary ob...

There is no question here of satisfaction in the wider sense which includes the restitution to be made for the infliction of spiritual or temporal loss. The subject which we pro...

In the preceding chapters which dealt with the _actus pœnitentis_, we have already had occasion to consider the office of the minister of the Sacrament. The functions of the con...

I. The Pope has _jurisdictio ordinaria_ over the whole Church. This requires no proof. The Vatican Council decreed that the jurisdiction of the Pope is a real episcopal jurisdic...

The Church has received from Christ the power to remit or to retain all sins without exception. No sin is withheld from the cognizance of its judicial authority or the power of...

An exalted, indeed a divine, power has God conferred upon priests, in authorizing them, as judges of souls in His stead, to remit or to retain sins. This power has been conferre...

As a judge, it is the priest’s duty rightly to understand the matter—that is the sin—upon which he has to pass a sentence, to investigate the dispositions of the penitent, and t...

The essential office of the confessor is the judicial office. It is of the highest significance. Connected with it are other supplementary duties of equal importance. They refer...

The confessor has certain duties to perform after the confession. These are principally two, one of which is always and _per se_ incumbent upon him, viz.: the _preservation of t...

Sinful habits, and the immediate occasions of sin, are the nets with which the arch-enemy of mankind ensnares and holds innumerable souls. Especially in our own times have the o...

The confessor must devote special care to the confessions of children, for this is a matter of much importance.[936] As with adults, so with children, confession exercises a gre...

punishes lying (Eccles. vii. 14); that men also detest a liar, for one who has once lied is not trusted again; that lying brings a child no good, as everything comes to light so...

As the grace of perseverance and eternal salvation depends upon a good death, as a bad death can never be remedied, and as man’s helplessness is never greater than in that terri...