# The Catechism of the Council of Trent/Part 2: Penance

ON THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE.
As the frailty and weakness of human nature are universally known and felt, no one can be ignorant of the paramount necessity of the Sacrament of Penance. If, therefore, in the exposition of the different matters of instruction, we are to measure the assiduity of the pastor by the weight and importance of the subject, we must come to the conclusion that, in expounding this Sacrament, he can never be sufficiently assiduous. Its exposition demands an accuracy superior to that of baptism. Baptism is administered but once, and cannot be repeated; penance may be administered and becomes necessary, as often as we may have sinned after baptism, according to the definition of the Fathers of Trent. " For those who fall into sin after baptism," say they, " the sacrament of penance is as necessary to salvation, as is baptism for those who have not been already baptized." On this subject the words of St. Jerome, which say, that penance is " a second plank," are universally known, and highly commended by all who have written ​on this Sacrament. As he who suffers shipwreck has no hope of safety, unless, perchance, he seize on some plank from the wreck; so he that suffers the shipwreck of baptismal innocence, unless he cling to the saving plank of penance, may abandon all hope of salvation. These instructions, however, are intended not only for the benefit of the pastor, but also for that of the faithful at large, whose attention they may awaken, lest they be found culpably negligent in a matter of all others the most important. Impressed with a just sense of the frailty of human nature, their first and most earnest desire should be, to advance, with the divine assistance, in the ways of God, flying sin of every sort. But should they, at any time, prove so unfortunate as to fall, then, looking at the infinite goodness of God, who like the good shepherd binds up and heals the wounds of his sheep, they should have immediate recourse to the sacrament of penance, that by its salutary and medicinal efficacy their wounds may be healed.
But to enter more immediately on the subject, and to avoid all error to which the ambiguity of the word may give rise, its different meanings are first to be explained. By penance some understand satisfaction; whilst others, who wander far from the doctrine of the Catholic faith, supposing penance to have no reference to the past, define it to be nothing more than newness of life. The pastor, therefore, will teach that the word (poanitentia) has a variety of meanings. In the first place, it is used to express a change of mind; as when, without taking into account the nature of the object, whether good or bad, what was before pleasing, is now become displeasing to us. In this sense the Apostle makes use of the word, when he applies it to those, " whose sorrow is according to the world, not according to God; and therefore, worketh not salvation, but death." In the second place, it is used to express that sorrow which the sinner conceives for sin, not however for sake of God, but for his own sake. A third meaning is when we experience interior sorrow of heart, or give ,exterior indication of such sorrow, not only on account of the sins which we have committed, but also for sake of God alone whom they offend. To all these sorts of sorrow the word (poenitentia) properly applies.
When the Sacred Scriptures say that God repented, the expression is evidently figurative: when we repent of any thing, we are anxious to change it; and thus, when God is said to ​change any thing, the Scriptures, accommodating their language to our ideas, say that he repents. Thus we read that " it repented him that he had made man," and also that it repented him to have made Saul king.
But an important distinction is to be made between these different significations of the word: to repent, in its first meaning, argues imperfection — in its second, the agitation of a disturbed mind — in the third, penance is a virtue and a sacrament, the sense in which it is here used.
We shall first treat of penance as a virtue, not only because it is the bounden duty of the pastor to form the faithful, with whose instruction he is charged, to the practice of every virtue; but also, because the acts which proceed from penance as a virtue, constitute the matter, as it were, of penance as a sacrament; and if ignorant of it in this latter sense, impossible not to be ignorant also of its efficacy as a sacrament. The faithful, there fore, are first to be admonished and exhorted to labour strenuously to attain this interior penance of the heart, which we call a virtue, and without which exterior penance can avail them very little. This virtue consists in turning to God sincerely and from the heart, and in hating and detesting our past transgressions, with a firm resolution of amendment of life, hoping to obtain pardon through the mercy of God. It is accompanied with a sincere sorrow, which is an agitation and affection of the mind, and is called by many a passion, and if accompanied with detestation, is, as it were, the companion of sin. It must, how ever, be preceded by faith, for without faith no man can turn to God. Faith, therefore, cannot on any account be called a part of penance. That this inward affection of the soul is, as we have already said, a virtue, the various precepts which enforce its necessity prove; for precepts regard those actions only, the performance of which implies virtue. Besides, to experience a sense of sorrow at the time, in the manner, and to the extent which are consonant to reason and religion, is no doubt an exercise of virtue: and this sorrow is regulated by the virtue of penance. Some conceive a sorrow which bears no proportion to the enormity of their crimes: " There are some," says Solomon, " who are glad when they have done evil;" whilst others, on the contrary, consign themselves to such morbid melancholy and to such a deluge of grief, as utterly to abandon all hope of salvation. Such perhaps was the condition of Cain when he exclaimed: " My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon:" such certainly was the condition of Judas, who, " repenting," hanged himself in despair, and thus sacrificed soul and body. Penance, therefore, considered as a ​virtue, assists us in restraining within the bounds of moderation our sense of sorrow.
That penance is a virtue may also be inferred from the ends which the penitent proposes to himself. The first is to destroy sin and efface from the soul its every spot and stain; the second, to make satisfaction to God for the sins which he has committed, and this is an act of justice towards God. Be tween God and man, it is true, no relation of strict justice can exist, so great is the distance between the Creator and the creature; yet between both there is evidently a sort of justice, such as exists between a father and his children, be tween a master and his servants. The third end is, to rein state himself in the favour and friendship of God whom he has offended, and whose hatred he has earned by the turpitude of sin. That penance is a virtue, these three ends which the penitent proposes to himself, sufficiently prove.
We must also point out the steps, by which we may ascend to this divine virtue. The mercy of God first prevents us and converts our hearts to him; this was the object of the prophet's prayer: " Convert us, O Lord! and we shall be converted." Illumined by this celestial light the soul next tends to God by faith: " He that cometh to God," says the Apostle, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him." A salutary fear of God's judgments follows, and the soul, contemplating the punishments that await sin, is recalled from the paths of vice: "As a woman with child," says Isaias, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain and crieth out in her pangs; so are we become in thy presence, O Lord!" We are also animated with a hope of obtaining IV mercy from God, and cheered by this hope we resolve on a change of life. Lastly, our hearts are inflamed by charity; and V. hnce we conceive that filial fear which a dutiful and ingenuous child experiences towards a parent. Thus, dreading only to affend the majesty of God in any thing, we entirely abandon the ways of sin. These are, as it were, the steps by which we ascend to this most exalted virtue, a virtue altogether heavenly and divine, to which the Sacred Scriptures promise the inherience of heaven: " Do penance," says the Redeemer, " for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand:" " If," says the prophet Ezekiel, " the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die:" " I desire not, saith the Lord, the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live;" words which are evidently understood of eternal life.
With regard to external penance, the pastor will teach that it is that which constitutes the sacrament of penance: it consists of certain sensible things significant of that which passes inte​riorly in the soul; and the faithful are to be informed, in the first place, why the Redeemer was pleased to give it a place among the Sacraments. His object was, no doubt, to remove, in a great measure, all uncertainty as to the pardon of sin promised by our Lord when he said: " If the wicked do penance for all his sins, which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die." Pronouncing upon his own actions, every man has reason to question the accuracy of his own judgment, and hence, on the sincerity of interior penance the mind must be held in anxious suspense. To calm this our solicitude, the Redeemer instituted the sacrament of penance, in which we cherish a well founded hope, that our sins are forgiven us by the absolution of the priest, and the faith which we justly have in the efficacy of the Sacraments, has much influence in tranquillizing the troubled conscience and giving peace to the soul. The voice of the priest, who is legitimately constituted a minister for the remission of sins, is to be heard as that of Christ himself, who said to the lame man: " Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee."
Moreover, as salvation is unattainable but through Christ and the merits of his passion, the institution of this sacrament was in itself accordant to the views of divine wisdom, and pregnant with blessings to the Christian. Penance is the channel through which the blood of Christ flows into the soul, washes away the stains contracted after baptism, and calls forth from us the grateful acknowledgment, that to the Saviour alone we are indebted for the blessing of a reconciliation with God.
That penance is a sacrament the pastor will not find it difficult to establish: baptism is a sacrament because it washes away all, particularly original sin: penance also washes away all sins of thought or deed committed after baptism; on the same principle, therefore, penance is a sacrament. Again, and the argument is conclusive, a sacrament is the sign of a sacred thing, and what is done externally, by the priest and penitent, is a sign of what takes place, internally, in the soul: the penitent unequivocally expresses, by words and actions, that he has turned away from sin: the priest, too, by words and actions, gives us easily to understand, that the mercy of God is exercised in the remission of sin: this is, also, clearly evinced by these words of the Saviour: " I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, whatever sins you loose on earth, shall be loosed, also, in heaven." The absolution of the priest, which is expressed in words, seals, therefore, the remission of sins, which it accomplishes in the soul, and thus is penance in vested with all the necessary conditions of a sacrament, and is, therefore, truly a sacrament.
That penance is not only to be numbered amongst the sacra​ments, but also amongst the sacraments that may be repeated, the faithful are next to be taught. To Peter, asking if sin may be forgiven seven times, our Lord replies: " I say, not seven times, but seventy times seven." Whenever, therefore, the ministry of the priest is to be exercised towards those who seem to diffide in the infinite goodness and mercy of God, the zealous pastor will seek to inspire them with confidence, and to reanimate their hopes of obtaining the grace of God. This he will find it easy to accomplish by expounding the preceding words of our Lord, by adducing other texts of the same import, which are to be found numerously scattered throughout the Sacred Volume; and by adopting those reasons and arguments which are supplied by St. Chrysostome in his book " on the fallen," and by St. Ambrose in his treatise on penance.
As, then, amongst the sacraments there is none on which the faithful should be better informed, they are to be taught, that it differs from the other sacraments in this: the matter of the other sacraments is some production of nature or art; but the acts of the penitent, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, constitute, as has been defined by the Council of Trent, the matter as it were (quasi materia) of the sacrament of penance. They are called parts of penance., because required in the penitent, by divine institution for the integrity of the Sacrament and the full and entire remission of sin. When the holy synod says, that they are " the matter as it were," it is not because they are not the real matter, but because they are not, like water in baptism and chrism in confirmation, matter that may be applied externally. With regard to the opinion of some, who hold that the sins themselves constitute the matter of this sacrament, if well weighed, it will not be found to differ from what has been already laid down: we say that wood which is consumed by fire, is the matter of fire; and sins which are destroyed by penance, may also be called, with propriety, the matter of penance.
The form, also, because well calculated to excite the faithful, to receive with fervent devotion the grace of this sacrament, the pastor will not omit to explain. The words that compose the form are: " I ABSOLVE THEE," as may be inferred not only from these words of the Redeemer: " Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven;" but also from the same doctrine of Jesus Christ, as recorded by the Apostles. That this is the perfect form of the sacrament of penance, the very nature of the form of a sacrament proves. The form of a sacrament signifies what the sacrament accomplishes: these words "I absolve thee" signify the accomplishment of absolution from sin through the instrumentality of this sacrament; they there fore constitute its form. Sins are, as it were, the chains by ​which the soul is fettered, and from the bondage of which it is "loosed" by the sacrament of penance. This form is not less true, when pronounced by the priest over him, who by means of perfect contrition, has already obtained the pardon of his sins. Perfect contrition, it is true, reconciles the sinner to God, but his justification is not to be ascribed to perfect contrition alone, independently of the desire which it includes of receiving the sacrament of penance. Many prayers accompany the form, not because they are deemed necessary, but in order to remove every obstacle, which the unworthiness of the penitent may op pose to the efficacy of the sacrament. Let then the sinner pour out his heart in fervent thanks to God, who has invested the ministers of his Church with such ample powers! Unlike the authority given to the priests of the Old Law, to declare the leper cleansed from his leprosy, the power with which the priests of the New Law are invested, is not simply to declare that sins are forgiven, but, as the ministers of God, really to absolve from sin; a power which God himself, the author and source of grace and justification, exercises through their ministry.
The rites used in the administration of this sacrament, also demand the serious attention of the faithful. They will enable them to form a more just estimate of the blessings which it be stows, recollecting that as servants, they are reconciled to the best of masters, or rather, as children, to the tenderest of fathers. They will, also, serve to place in a clearer point of view, the duty of those who desire, and desire every one should, to evince their grateful recollection of so inestimable a favour. Humbled in spirit, the sincere penitent casts himself down at the feet of the priest, to testify, by this his humble demeanour, that he acknowledges the necessity of eradicating pride, the root of all those enormities which he now deplores. In the minister of God, who sits in the tribunal of penance as his legitimate judge, he venerates the power and person of our Lord Jesus Christ; for in the administration of this, as in that of the other sacraments, the priest represents the character and dis charges the functions of Jesus Christ. Acknowledging him self deserving of the severest chastisements, and imploring the pardon of his guilt, the penitent next proceeds to the confession of his sins. To the antiquity of all these rites St. Denis bears the most authentic testimony.
To the faithful, however, nothing will be found more advantageous, nothing better calculated to animate them to frequent the sacrament of penance with alacrity, than the frequent exposition of the inestimable advantages which it confers. They will then see, that of penance it may be truly said: that " its root is bitter, but its fruit sweet." The great efficacy of penance is, therefore, that it restores us to the favour of God, and unites ​us to him in the closest bonds of friendship. From this reconciliation with God, the devout soul, who approaches the sacrament with deep sentiments of piety and religion, sometimes experiences the greatest tranquillity and peace of conscience, a tranquillity and peace accompanied with the sweetest spiritual joy. There is no sin, however grievous, no crime however enormous or however frequently repeated, which penance does not remit: " If," says the Almighty, by the mouth of his prophet, " the wicked do penance for all his sins, which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment and justice, living he shall live and shall not die; I will not remember all his iniquities which he hath done." " If," says St. John, " we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins;" and a little after he adds: " If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the just; and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." If, therefore, we read in the pages of inspiration, of some who earnestly implored the mercy of God, but implored it in vain, it is because they did not repent sincerely and from their hearts. When we also meet in the Sacred Scriptures and in the writings of the Fathers, pas sages which seem to say, that some sins are irremissible, we are to understand such passages to mean, that it is very difficult to obtain the pardon of them. A disease may be said to be incurable, when the patient loathes the medicine that would accomplish his cure; and, in the same sense, some sins may be said to be irremissible, when the sinner rejects the grace of God, the proper medicine of salvation. To this effect St. Augustine says: " When, after having arrived at a knowledge of God, through the grace of Jesus Christ, any one opposes the fellow ship of the faith, and maliciously resists the grace of Jesus Christ, so great is the enormity of his crime, that, although his guilty conscience obliges him to acknowledge and declare his guilt, he cannot submit to the humiliation of imploring pardon."
To return to penance, to it belongs, in so special a manner, the efficacy of remitting actual guilt, that without its intervention we cannot obtain or even hope for pardon. It is written: " Unless you do penance, you shall all perish." These words of our Lord are to be understood of grievous and deadly sins, although, as St. Augustine observes, venial sins also require some penance: " If," says he, " without penance, venial sin could be remitted, the daily penance, performed for them by the Church, would be nugatory."
But as, on matters which, in any degree, affect moral actions, three it is not enough to convey instruction in general terms, the pas​tor will be careful to expound, severally, all those particulars which may give the faithful a knowledge of that penance, which is unto salvation. To this sacrament, then, it is peculiar that, besides matter and form, which are common to all the sacraments, it has, also, as we said before, what are called integral parts of penance, and these integral parts are contrition, confession, and satisfaction. " Penance," says St. Chrysostome, " induces the sinner cheerfully to undergo every rigour; his heart is pierced with contrition; his lips utter the confession of his guilt; and his actions breathe humility, and are accepted by God as a satisfaction." These component parts of penance are such as we say are necessary to constitute a whole. The human form, for instance, is composed of many members, of hands, of feet, of eyes, &c. of which, if any are wanting, man is justly deemed imperfect, and if not, perfect. Analogous to this, penance consists of the three parts which we have already enumerated; and although, as far as regards the nature of penance, contrition and confession are sufficient for justification, yet, if unaccompanied with satisfaction, something is still wanting to its integrity. So connected then are these parts one with the other, that contrition and a disposition to satisfaction precede confession, and contrition and confession precede satisfaction. Why these are integral parts of penance may be thus explained We sin against God by thought, word, and deed: when recurring to the power of the keys, we should, therefore, endeavour to appease his wrath, and obtain the pardon of our sins, by the very same means, by which we offended his supreme majesty. In further explanation we may also add, that penance is, as it were, a compensation for offences, which proceed from the free will of the person offending, and is appointed by the will of God, to whom the offence has been offered. On the part of the penitent, therefore, a willingness to make this compensation is required, and in this willingness chiefly consists contrition. The penitent must also submit himself to the judgment of the priest, who is the vicegerent of God, to enable him to award a punishment proportioned to his guilt; and, hence, are clearly understood the nature and necessity of confession and satisfaction.
But as the faithful require instruction on the nature and efficacy of these parts of penance, we shall begin with contrition, a subject which demands to be explained with more than ordinary care; for as often as we call to mind our past transgressions, or offend God anew, so often should our hearts be pierced with contrition. By the Fathers of the Council of Trent, contrition is denned: " A sorrow and detestation of past sin, with a purpose of sinning no more." Speaking of the motion of the will to contrition, the Council, a little after, adds: " if joined with a confidence in the mercy of God, and an earnest desire ​of performing whatever is necessary to the proper reception of the Sacrament, it thus, at length, prepares us for the remission of sin." From this definition, therefore, the faithful will perceive that contrition does not simply consist in ceasing to sin, purposing to enter, or having actually entered, on a new life: it supposes, first of all, a hatred of sin, and a desire of atoning for past transgressions. This, the cries of the holy Fathers of antiquity, which are poured out in the pages of inspiration, sufficiently prove: "I have laboured in my groaning;" says David, "every night I will wash my bed;" and again, " The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping." " I will recount to thee all my years," says the prophet Isaias, "in the bitterness of my soul." These and many other expressions of the same import, were called forth by an intense hatred and a lively detestation of past transgressions.
But, although contrition is defined "a sorrow," the faithful are not thence to conclude, that this sorrow consists in sensible feeling: contrition is an act of the will, and as St. Augustine observes, sorrow is not penance, but the accompaniment of penance. By " sorrow " the Fathers of Trent understood a hatred and detestation of sin; because, in this sense, the Sa cred Scriptures frequently make use of the word: "How long," says David, " shall I take counsels in my soul, sorrow in my heart all the day?" and also because from contrition arises sorrow in the inferior part of the soul, which, in the language of the schools, is called the seat of concupiscence. With propriety, therefore, is contrition defined a " sorrow," because it produces sorrow, a sorrow so intense that in other days, peni tents, to express its intensity, changed their garments, a practice to which our Lord alludes when he says; " Wo to thee, Corozain; wo to thee, Bethsaida: for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, they had done penance, long since, in sackcloth and ashes." To signify the intensity of this sorrow, the " detestation of sin," of which we speak, is properly expressed by the word " contrition," a word which, literally understood, means the breaking into small parts by means of some harder substance, and which is here used metaphorically, to signify that our hearts, hardened by pride, are subdued and reduced by penance. Hence no other sorrow, not even that which is felt for the death of parents, or children, or for any other visitation however calamitous, is called contrition: the word is exclusively employed to express the sorrow with which we are overwhelmed by the forfeiture of the grace of God and of our own innocence. It is, however, often designated by other names: sometimes it is called " contrition of heart," because the word "heart" is frequently used in Scripture to express the will, for as the heart is the principle, which originates the motion of the human system; so, the will ​is the faculty which governs and controls the other powers of the soul. By the holy Fathers it is also called " compunction of heart," and hence the works written by them on contrition they prefer inscribing, treatises on "compunction of heart;" for, as imposthumes are cut with a lancet in order to open a passage to the virulent matter accumulated within; so the heart of the sinner is, as it were, pierced with contrition, to enable it to emit the deadly poison of sin which rankles within it. Hence, contrition is called by the Prophet Joel, a rending of the heart: "Be converted to me," says he, "with all your hearts in fasting, in weeping, in mourning, and rend your hearts."
That for past transgressions the sinner should experience the row should deepest sorrow, a sorrow not to be exceeded, will easily appear from the following considerations. Perfect contrition is an act of charity, emanating from what is called filial fear: the measure of contrition and charity should, therefore, it is obvious, be the same: but the charity which we cherish towards God, is the most perfect love; and, therefore, the sorrow which contrition inspires, should also be the most perfect. God is to be loved above all things; and whatever separates us from God is, there fore, to be hated above all things. It is, also, worthy of observation, that to charity and contrition the language of Scripture assigns the same extent: of charity it is said: " Thou shall love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart:" of contritrition: "Be converted with thy whole heart." Besides, if it is true, that of all objects which solicit our love, God is the supreme good, and no less true, that of all objects which deserve our execration sin is the supreme evil; the same principle which prompts us to confess that God is to be loved above all things, obliges us also of necessity to acknowledge that sin is to be hated above all things. That God is to be loved above all things, so that we should be prepared to sacrifice our lives rather than offend him, these words of the Redeemer declare: " He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me:" " He that will save his life shall lose it." As charity, it is the observation of St. Bernard, recognises neither measure nor limit, or to use his own words, as " the measure of loving God is to love him without measure," so the measure of hating sin should be, to hate sin without measure. Besides, our contrition should be supreme not only in degree, but also in intensity, and thus perfect, excluding all apathy and indifference, according to these words of Deuteronomy: " When thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shall find him: yet so if thou seek him with all thy heart, and all the affliction of thy soul;" and of the prophet Jeremiah: " thou shalt seek me and shalt find me, when thou shalt seek me with all thy heart; and I ​will be found by thee, saith the Lord." If, however, our contrition be not perfect, it may, nevertheless, be true and efficacious; for as things which fall under the senses frequently touch the heart more sensibly than things purely spiritual, it will sometimes happen that persons feel more intense sorrow for the death of their children, than for the grievousness of their sins. Our contrition may also be true and efficacious, although unaccompanied with tears. That sorrow for his sins bathe the offendler in tears, is, however, much to be desired and commended. On this subject the words of St. Augustine are admirable: " The spirit of Christian charity," says he, " lives not within you, if you lament the body from which the soul has departed, but lament not the soul from which God has departed." To the same effect are the words of the Redeemer above cited: " Wo to thee, Corozain, wo to thee, Bethsaida, for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, they had long since done penance, in sack cloth and ashes." Of this, however, we have abundant illustration in the well known examples of the Ninevites, of David, of the woman caught in adultery, and of the Prince of the Apostles, all of whom obtained the pardon of their sins, imploring the mercy of God with abundance of tears.
The faithful are most earnestly to be exhorted to study to direct their contrition specially to each mortal sin into which they may have had the misfortune to fall: " I will recount to thee," says Isaias, " all my years in the bitterness of my soul:" as if he had said, " I will count over all my sins severally, that my heart may be pierced with sorrow for them all." In Ezekiel, also, we read: " If the wicked do penance for all his sins, he shall live." In this spirit, St. Augustine says: " Let the sinner consider the quality of his sins, as affected by time, place, variety, person." In the work of conversion, however, the sinner should not despair of the infinite goodness and mercy of God: he is most desirous of our salvation; and, therefore, refuses not to pardon, but embraces, with a father's fondness, the prodigal child, the moment he returns to a sense of his duty, and is converted to the Lord, detesting his sins, which he will afterwards, if possible, recall, severally, to his recollection, and abhor from his inmost soul. The Almighty himself, by the mouth of his prophet, commands us to hope, when he says: " The wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness."
To convey a knowledge of the most important qualities of true contrition, what has been said will be found sufficiently comprehensive. In these the faithful are to be accurately instructed, that each may know the means of attaining, and may have a fixed standard by which to determine how far he may be ​removed from the perfection of this virtue. We must, then, in the first place, detest and deplore all our sins: if our sorrow and detestation extend only to some, our repentance cannot be sincere or salutary: " Whosoever shall keep the whole law," says St. James, " but offend in one point, is become guilty of all." In the next place, our contrition must be accompanied with a desire of confessing and satisfying for our sins: dispositions of which we shall treat in their proper place. Thirdly, the penitent must form a fixed and firm purpose of amendment of life, according to these words of the prophet: " If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die: I will not remember all his iniquities which he hath done;" and a little after; " Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities, and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make yourselves a new heart." To the woman caught in adultery the Redeemer himself imparts the same lesson of instruction: " Go thy way, and sin no more," and also to the lame man whom he cured at the pool of Bethsaida: " Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more." That a sorrow for sin, and a firm purpose of avoiding sin for the future, are indispensable to contrition, is the dictate of unassisted reason. He who would be reconciled to a friend, must regret to have injured or offended him; and the tone and tenor of his conduct must be such that the charge of violating the duties of friendship cannot, in future, justly attach to his character. These are principles to which man is bound to yield obedience; the law to which man is subject, be it natural, divine, or human, he is bound to obey. If, therefore, by force or fraud, the penitent has injured his neighbour in his property, he is bound to restitution: if, by word or deed he has injured his honour or reputation, he is under an obligation of repairing the injury, according to the well known maxim of St. Augustine: " the sin is not forgiven unless what has been taken away is restored." In the fourth and last place, and the condition is no less important, true contrition must be accompanied with forgiveness of the injuries which we may have sustained from others. This our Lord emphatically declares and energetically inculcates, when he says: " If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences; but if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences." These are the conditions which true contrition requires. There are other accompaniments which, although not essential, contribute to render contrition more perfect in its kind, and which will reward, without fatiguing the industry of the pastor.
It will conduce in an eminent degree, to the spiritual interests ​of the faithful, if the pastor press frequently upon their attention, the efficacy and importance of contrition. To make known the truths of salvation should not be deemed a full discharge of the duty of the pastor: his zeal should be exerted to persuade them to the adoption of these truths as their rule of conduct through life, as the governing principle of all their actions. Other pious exercises, such as alms, fasting, prayer, and the like, in them selves holy and commendable, are sometimes, through human infirmity, rejected by Almighty God; but contrition can never be rejected by him, never prove unacceptable to him: " A con trite and humbled heart, O God!" exclaims the prophet, "thou wilt not despise." Nay more, the same prophet declares that, as soon as we have conceived this contrition in our hearts, our sins are forgiven: " I said, I will confess my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin." Of this we have a figure in the ten lepers, who, when sent by our Lord to the priests, were cured of their leprosy, before they had reached them; to give us to understand, that such is the efficacy of true contrition, of which we have spoken above, that through it we obtain from God the immediate pardon of our sins.
To excite the faithful to contrition, it will be found very salutary if the pastor point out the spiritual exercises conducive to contrition. This is to be accomplished by admonishing them, frequently to examine their consciences, in order to ascertain if they have been faithful in the observance of those things which God and his Church require; and should any one be conscious of crime, he should immediately accuse himself, humbly solicit pardon from God, and implore time to confess, and satisfy for his sins. Above all, let him supplicate the aid of divine grace, by which he may be fortified against a relapse into those crimes, the commission of which he now penitently deplores. The faithful are also to be excited to a hatred of sin, arising from the consideration of its baseness and turpitude, and of the evils and calamities of which it is the poisoned source, estranging us, as it does, from the friendship of God, to whom we are already indebted for so many invaluable blessings, and from whom we might have expected to receive gifts of still higher value, and consigning us to eternal death, to be the unhappy victims of the most excruciating torments.
Having said thus much on contrition, we now come to confession, which is another part of penance. The care and exactness which its exposition demands, must be at once obvious, if we only reflect, that whatever of piety, of holiness, of religion, has been preserved to our times in the Church of God, is, in the general opinion of the truly pious, to be ascribed in a great measure, under divine Providence, to the influence of Confession. It cannot, therefore, be matter of surprise, that the enemy of the human race, in his efforts to level to its foundation the ​fabric of Catholicity, should, through the agency of the ministers of his wicked designs, have assailed, with all his might, this bulwark of Christian virtue. The pastor, therefore, will teach, in the first place, that the institution of confession is most useful and even necessary.
Contrition, it is true, blots out sin; but who is ignorant, that to effect this, it must be so intense, so ardent, so vehement, as to bear a proportion to the magnitude of the crimes which it effaces? This is a degree of contrition which few reach, and hence, through perfect contrition alone, very few indeed could hope to obtain the pardon of their sins. It, therefore, became necessary, that the Almighty, in his mercy, should afford a less precarious and less difficult means of reconciliation, and of salvation; and this he has done, in his admirable wisdom, by giving to his Church the keys of the kingdom of heaven. According to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, a doctrine firmly to be believed and professed by all her children, if the sinner have recourse to the tribunal of penance with a sincere sorrow for his sins, and a firm resolution of avoiding them in future, although he bring not with him that contrition which may be sufficient of itself to obtain the pardon of sin; his sins are for given by the minister of religion, through the power of the keys. Justly, then, do the Holy Fathers proclaim, that by the keys of the Church, the gate of heaven is thrown open; a truth which the decree of the Council of Florence, declaring that the effect of penance is absolution from sin, renders it imperative on all, unhesitatingly to believe.
To appreciate the advantages of confession, we should not lose sight of an argument which has the sanction of experience. To those who have led immoral lives, nothing is found so useful towards a reformation of morals, as sometimes to disclose their secret thoughts, their words, their actions, to a prudent and faithful friend, who can guide them by his advice, and assist them by his co-operation. On the same principle must it prove most salutary to those, whose minds are agitated by the consciousness of guilt, to make known the diseases and wounds of their souls to the priest, as the vicegerent of Jesus Christ, bound to eternal secrecy by every law human and divine. In the tribunal of penance they will find immediate remedies, the healing qualities of which will not only remove the present malady, but also prove of such lasting efficacy as to be, in future, an anti dote against the easy approach of the same moral disease.
Another advantage, derivable from confession, is too important to be omitted: confession contributes powerfully to the preservation of social order. Abolish sacramental confession, and, that moment, you deluge society with all sorts of secret crimes - crimes too, and others of still greater enormity, which men, once that they have been depraved by vicious habits, will ​not dread to commit in open day. The salutary shame that attends confession, restrains licentiousness, bridles desire, and coerces the evil propensities of corrupt nature.
Having explained the advantages of confession, the pastor will next unfold its nature and efficacy. Confession, then, is defined " A sacramental accusation of one's self, made to obtain pardon by virtue of the keys." It is properly called " an accusation," because sins are not to be told as if the sinner boasted of his crimes, as they do, " who are glad when they have done evil;" nor are they to be related as idle stories or passing occurrences, to amuse: they are to be confessed as matters of self-accusation, with a desire, as it were, to avenge them on ourselves. But we confess our sins with a view to obtain the pardon of them; and, in this respect, the tribunal of penance differs from other tribunals, which take cognizance of capital offences, and before which a confession of guilt is sometimes made, not to secure acquittal but to justify the sentence of the law. The definition of confession by the Holy Fathers, although different in words, is substantially the same: " Confession," says St. Augustine, " is the disclosure of a secret disease, with the hope of obtaining a cure;" and St. Gregory; " confession is a detestation of sins:" both of which accord with, and are contained in the preceding definition.
The pastor will next teach, with all the decision due to a revealed truth, a truth of paramount importance, that this Sacrament owes its institution to the singular goodness and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ordered all things well, and solely with a view to our salvation. After his resurrection, he breathed on the assembled Apostles, saying: " Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." By in vesting the sacerdotal character with power to retain as well as to remit sins, he thus, it is manifest, constitutes them judges in the causes on which this discretionary power is to be exercised. This he seems to have signified when, having raised Lazarus from the dead, he commanded his Apostles to loose him from the bands in which he was bound. This is the interpretation of St. Augustine: " they," says he, " the priests, can now do more: they can exercise greater clemency towards those who confess, and whose sins they forgive. The Lord by the hands of his Apostles delivered Lazarus, whom he had already raised from the dead, to be loosed by the hands of his disciples; thus giving us to understand that to priests was given the power of loosing." To this, also, refers the command given by our Lord to the lepers cured on the way, to show themselves ​to the priests, and subject themselves to their judgment. In vested, then, as they are, by our Lord with power to remit and retain sins, priests are, evidently, appointed judges of the matter on which they are to pronounce; and as, according to the wise admonition of the Council of Trent, we cannot form an accurate judgment on any matter, or award to crime a just proportion of punishment, without having previously examined, and made ourselves well acquainted with the cause; hence arises a necessity, on the part of the penitent, of making known to the priest, through the medium of confession, each and every sin. This doctrine, a doctrine defined by the holy synod of Trent, the uniform doctrine of the Catholic Church, the pastor will teach. An attentive perusal of the Holy Fathers will present innumerable passages throughout their works, proving in the clearest terms that this Sacrament was instituted by our Lord, and that the law of sacramental confession, which, from the Greek, they call " exomologesis," and " exagoreusis," is to be received as evangelical. That the different sorts of sacrifices, which were offered by the priests for the expiation of different sorts of sins, seem, beyond all doubt, to have reference to sacramental confession, an examination of the figures of the Old Testament will also evince.
Not only are the faithful to be taught that confession was instituted by our Lord; but they are also to be reminded that, by authority of the Church, have been added certain rites and solemn ceremonies, which, although not essential to the Sacrament, serve to place its dignity more fully before the eyes of the penitent, and to prepare his soul, now kindled into devotion, the more easily to receive the grace of the Sacrament. When, with uncovered head, and bended knees, with eyes fixed on the earth, and hands raised in supplication to heaven, and with other indications of Christian humility not essential to the Sacrament, we confess our sins, our minds are thus deeply impressed with a clear conviction of the heavenly virtue of the Sacraments, and also of the necessity of humbly imploring and of earnestly importuning the mercy of God.
Nor let it be supposed that confession, although instituted by our Lord, is not declared by him necessary for the remission of sin: the faithful must be impressed with the conviction, that he who is dead in sin, is to be recalled to spiritual life by means of sacramental confession, a truth clearly conveyed by our Lord himself, when, by a most beautiful metaphor, he calls the power of administering this sacrament, "the keys of the kingdom of heaven." To obtain admittance into any place, the concurrence of him to whom the keys have been committed is necessary, and therefore, as the metaphor implies, to gain admission ​into heaven, its gates must be opened to us by the power of the keys, confided by Almighty God to the care of his Church. This power should otherwise be nugatory: if heaven can be entered without the power of the keys, in vain shall they to whose fidelity they have been intrusted, assume the prerogative of prohibiting indiscriminate entrance within its portals. This doctrine was familiar to the mind of St. Augustine: " Let no man," says he, "say within himself; I repent in secret with God; God, who has power to pardon me, knows the inmost sentiments of my heart: was there no reason for saying: whatsoever you loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven; no reason why the keys were given to the Church of God?" The same doctrine is recorded by the pen of St. Ambrose, in his treatise on penance, when refuting the heresy of the Novatians, who asserted that the power of forgiving sins belonged solely to God: " Who," says he, " yields greater reverence to God, he who obeys or he who resists his commands? God commands us to obey his ministers; and by obeying them, we honour God alone. "
As the law of confession was, no doubt, enacted and established by our Lord himself, it is our duty to ascertain, on whom, at what age, and at what period of the year, it becomes *" obligatory. According to the canon of the Council of Lateran, which begins: " Omnis utriusque sexus," no person is bound by the law of confession until he has arrived at the use of reason, a time determinable by no fixed number of years. It may, however, be laid down as a general principle, that children are bound to go to confession, as soon as they are able to discern good from evil, and are capable of malice; for, when arrived at an age to attend to the work of salvation, every one is bound to have recourse to the tribunal of penance, without which the sinner cannot hope for salvation. In the same canon the Church has defined the period, within which we are bound to discharge the duty of confession: it commands all the faithful to confess their sins at least once a year. If, however, we consult for our eternal interests, we will certainly not neglect to have recourse to confession as often, at least, as we are in danger of death, or undertake to perform any act incompatible with the state of sin, such as to administer or receive the sacraments. The same rule should be strictly followed when we are apprehensive of forgetting some sin, into which we may have had the misfortune to fall: to confess our sins, we must recollect them; and the remission of them we can only obtain through the sacrament of penance, of which confession is a part.
But as, in confession, many things are to be observed, some of which are essential, some not essential to the sacrament, the faithful are to be carefully instructed on all these matters; and the pastor can have access to works, from which such instructions ​may easily be drawn. Amongst these matters, he will, on no account, omit to inform the faithful, that to a good confession integrity is essential. All mortal sins must be revealed to the minister of religion: venial sins, which do not separate us from the grace of God, and into which we frequently fall, although as the experience of the pious proves, proper and profitable to be confessed, may be omitted without sin, and expiated by a variety of other means. Mortal sins, as we have already said, although buried in the darkest secrecy, and also sins of desire only, such as are forbidden by the ninth and tenth commandments, are all and each of them to be made matter of confession. Such secret sins often inflict deeper wounds on the soul, than those which are committed openly and publicly. It is, however, a point of doctrine defined by the Council of Trent; and as the holy Fathers testify, the uniform and universal doctrine of the Catholic Church: " Without the confession of his sin," says St. Ambrose, " no man can be justified from his sin." In confirmation of the same doctrine, St. Jerome, on Ecclesiastes, says; " If the serpent, the devil, has secretly and without the knowledge of a third person, bitten any one, and has infused into him the poison of sin; if unwilling to disclose his wound to his brother or master, he is silent and will not do penance, his master who has power to cure him, can render him no service." The same doctrine we find in St. Cyprian, in his sermon on the lapsed: " Although guiltless," says he, " of the heinous crime of sacrificing to idols, or of having purchased certificates to that effect; yet. as they entertained the thought of doing so, they should confess it with grief, to the priest of God." In fine, such is the unanimous voice, such the unvarying accord of all the Doctors of the Church. In confession we should employ all that care and exactness which we usually bestow upon worldly concerns of the greatest moment, and all our efforts should be directed to effect the cure of our spiritual maladies and to eradicate sin from the soul. With the bare enumeration of our mortal sins, we should not be satisfied; that enumeration we should accompany with the relation of such circumstances as considerably aggravate or extenuate their malice. Some circumstances are such, as of them selves to constitute mortal guilt; on no account or occasion whatever, therefore, are such circumstances to be omitted. Has any one imbrued his hands in the blood of his fellow man? He must state whether his victim was a layman or an ecclesiastic. Has he had criminal intercourse with any one? He ​must state whether the female was married or unmarried, a relative or a person consecrated to God by vow. These are circumstances which alter the species of the sins: the first is called simple fornication; the second adultery; the third incest; and the fourth sacrilege. Again, theft is numbered in the catalogue of sins; but if a person has stolen a guinea, his sin is less grievous than if he had stolen one or two hundred guineas, or a considerable sum; and if the stolen money were sacred, the sin would be still aggravated. To time and place the same observation equally applies; but the instances in which these circumstances alter the complexion of an act, are so familiar and are enumerated by so many writers, as to supersede the necessity of a lengthened detail. Circumstances such as these are, When therefore, to be mentioned; but those, which do not considerably aggravate, may be lawfully omitted.
So important, as we have already said, is integrity to confession, that if the penitent wilfully neglect to accuse himself of some sins which should be confessed, and suppress others, he not only does not obtain the pardon of his sins, but involves himself in deeper guilt. Such an enumeration cannot be called sacramental confession: on the contrary, the penitent must repeat his confession, not omitting to accuse himself of having, peated. under the semblance of confession, profaned the sanctity of the sacrament. But should the confession seem defective, either because the penitent forgot some grievous sins, or because although intent on confessing all his sins, he did not explore the recesses of his conscience with extraordinary minuteness, he is not bound to repeat his confession: it will be sufficient, when he recollects the sins which he had forgotten, to confess them to a priest on a future occasion. We are not, however, to examine our consciences with careless indifference, or evince such negligence in recalling our sins to our recollection, as if we were unwilling to remember them; and should this have been the case, the confession must be reiterated.
Our confession should also be plain, simple, and undisguised, not clothed in that artificial language with which some invest it, who seem more disposed to give an outline of their general manner of living, than to confess their sins. Our confession should be such as to reflect a true image of our lives, such as we ourselves know them to be, exhibiting as doubtful that which is doubtful, and as certain that which is certain. If, then, we neglect to enumerate our sins, or introduce extraneous matter, our confession, it is clear, wants this quality.
Prudence and modesty in explaining matters of confession are also much to be commended, and a superfluity of words is to be carefully avoided: whatever is necessary to make known the nature of every sin, is to be explained briefly and modestly.
Secrecy should be strictly observed as well by penitent as priest, and, hence, because in such circumstances secrecy must be insecure, no one can, on any account, confess by messenger or letter.
​But above all, the faithful should be most careful to cleanse their consciences from sin by frequent confession: when oppressed by mortal guilt, nothing can be more salutary, so precarious is human life, than to have immediate recourse to the tribunal of penance; but could we even promise ourselves length of days, yet should not we who are so particular in whatever relates to cleanliness of dress or person, blush to evince less concern in preserving the lustre of the soul pure and unsullied from the foul stains of sin.
We now come to treat of the minister of this sacrament - That the minster of the sacrament of penance must be a priest possessing ordinary or delegated jurisdiction, the laws of the church sufficiently declare: whoever discharges this sacred function must be invested, not only with the power of orders, but also with that of jurisdiction. Of this ministry we have an illustrious proof in these words of the Redeemer, recorded by St. John: " Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain they are retained;" words addressed not to all but to the Apostles only, to whom, in this function of the ministry, priests succeed. This admirably accords with the economy of religion, for as the grace imparted by this sacrament emanates from Christ the head, and is diffused through his members, they who alone have power to consecrate his true body, should alone have power to administer this sacrament to his mystical body, the faithful; particularly as they are qualified and disposed by means of the sacrament of penance, to receive the Holy Eucharist. The scrupulous care which, in the primitive ages of the Church, guarded the right of the ordinary priest, is very intelligible from the ancient decrees of the Fathers, which provided, "that no bishop or priest, except in case of necessity, presume to exercise any function in the parish of another without the authority of the ordinary;" a law which derives its sanction from the Apostle, when he commanded Titus to ordain priests in every city, to administer to the faithful the heavenly food of doctrine and of the sacraments. But in case of imminent danger of death, when recourse cannot be had to the proper priest, that none may perish, the Council of Trent teaches that, according to the ancient practice of the Church of God, it is then lawful for any priest, not only to remit all sorts of sins, whatever faculties they might otherwise require, but also to absolve from excommunication.
Besides the power of orders and of jurisdiction, which are of absolute necessity, the minister of this sacrament, holding as he does, the place at once of judge and physician, should also be gifted with knowledge and prudence. As judge, his knowledge, it is evident, should be more than ordinary, for by it he is to examine into the nature of sins, and, amongst the various sorts of sins, to judge which are grievous and which are not, keeping in view the rank and condition of the person. As physician, ​he has also occasion for consummate prudence, for to him it Prudence, belongs to administer to the distempered soul those sanative medicines, which will not only effect the cure of her present malady, but prove preservatives against its future contagion. The faithful, therefore, will perceive the great importance to be attached to the choice of a confessor, and will use their best endeavours to choose one who is recommended by integrity of life, by learning and prudence, who is deeply impressed wit the awful weight and responsibility of the station which he holds, who understands well the punishment due to every sin, and can also discern who are to be loosed and who to be bound.
But as all are anxious, that their sins should be buried in eternal secrecy, the faithful are to be admonished that there is no reason whatever to apprehend, that what is made known in confession will ever be revealed by any priest, or that by it the penitent can, at any time, be brought into danger or difficulty of any sort. All laws human and divine guard the inviolability of the seal of confession, and against its sacrilegious infraction the Church denounces her heaviest chastisements. "Let the priest," says the great Council of Lateran, " take especial care, neither by word nor sign, nor by any other means whatever, to betray, in the least degree, the sacred trust confided to him by the sinner."
Having treated of the minister of this sacrament, the order of our matter requires, that we next proceed to explain some general heads, which are of considerable practical importance with regard to confession. Many, to whom, in general, no time seems to pass so slowly as that which is appointed by the laws of the Church for the duty of confession, so far from giving due attention to those other matters, which are obviously most efficacious in conciliating the favour and friendship of God, are placed at such a distance from Christian perfection, as scarcely to recollect the sins, which are to be the matter of their confession. As, therefore, nothing is to be omitted, which can assist the faithful in the important work of salvation, the priest will be careful to observe, if the penitent be truly contrite for his sins, and deliberately and firmly resolved to avoid sin for the future. If the sinner is found to be thus disposed, he is to be admonished and earnestly exhorted, to pour out his heart in gratitude to God for this invaluable blessing, and supplicate unceasingly the aid of divine grace, shielded by which he may securely combat the evil propensities of corrupt nature. He should also be taught, not to suffer a day to pass, without devoting a portion of it to meditation on some mystery of the passion, in order to excite himself to an imitation of his great model, and inflame his heart with ardent love for his Redeemer. The fruit of such meditation will be, to fortify him more and more, every day, against all the assaults of the devil; for, what ​other reason is there, why our courage sinks, and our strength fails, the moment the enemy makes even the slightest attack on us, but that we neglect by pious meditation, to kindle within us the fire of divine love, which animates and invigorates the soul? But, should the priest perceive, that the penitent gives equivocal indications of true contrition, he will endeavour to in spire him with an anxious desire for it, inflamed by which he may resolve to ask and implore this heavenly gift from the mercy of God.
The pride of some, who seek by vain excuses to justify or extenuate their offences, is carefully to be repressed. If, for instance, a penitent confesses that he was wrought up to anger, and immediately transfers the blame of the excitement to another, who, he complains, was the aggressor; he is to be reminded, that such apologies are indications of a proud spirit, and of a man who either thinks lightly of, or is unacquainted with the enormity of his sin, whilst they serve rather to aggravate than extenuate his guilt. He, who thus labours to justify his conduct, seems to say, that then only will he exercise patience, when no one injures or offends him, a disposition than which nothing can be more unworthy of a Christian. A Christian should lament the state of him who inflicted the injury, and, yet, regardless of the grievousness of the sin, he is angry with his brother: having had an opportunity of honouring God by his exemplary patience, and of correcting a brother by his Christian meekness, he converts the very means of salvation into the means of injuring his own soul.
Still more pernicious is the conduct of those, who yielding to a foolish bashfulness, cannot induce themselves to confess their sins. Such persons are to be encouraged by exhortation, and to be reminded, that there is no reason whatever why they should yield to such false delicacy; that to no one can it appear surprising, if persons fall into sin, the common malady of the human race, and the natural appendage of human infirmity.
There are others who, either because they seldom approach the tribunal of penance, or because they have bestowed no care or attention on the examination of their consciences, know not well how to begin or end their confession. Such persons deserve to be severely rebuked, and are to be taught that before any one approaches the tribunal of penance, he should employ every diligence to excite himself to contrition for his sins, and that this he cannot do without endeavouring to know and recollect them severally. Should then the confessor meet persons of this class, entirely unprepared for confession, he should dismiss them without harshness, exhorting them in the kindest terms, to take some time to reflect on their sins, and then return; but, should they declare that they have already done every thing in their power to prepare, as there is reason to apprehend, that, if sent away, they may not return, their confession is to be heard, particularly if they manifest some disposition to amend their lives, and can be induced to accuse their own negligence, and promise ​to atone for it at another time, by a diligent and accurate scrutiny of conscience. In such cases, however, the confessor will proceed with caution. If, after having heard the confession, he is of opinion that the penitent did not want diligence in examining his conscience, or sorrow in detesting his sins, he may absolve him; but if he has found him deficient in both, he will, as we have already said, admonish him to use greater care in his examination of conscience, and will dismiss him in the kind est manner.
But as it sometimes happens, that females, who may have forgotten some sin in a former confession, cannot bring themselves to return to the confessor, dreading to expose themselves to the suspicion of having been guilty of something grievous, or of looking for the praise of extraordinary piety, the pastor will frequently remind the faithful, both publicly and privately, that no one is gifted with so tenacious a memory, as to be able to recollect all his thoughts, words, and actions, that the faithful, therefore, should they call to mind any thing grievous, which they had previously forgotten, should not be deterred from returning to the priest. These and many other matters of the same nature, demand the particular attention of the confessor in the tribunal of penance.
We now come to the third part of penance, which is called satisfaction. We shall begin by explaining its nature and efficacy, because the enemies of the Catholic Church have hence taken ample occasion, to sow discord and division amongst Christians, to the no small injury of the Christian Commonwealth. Satisfaction, then, is the full payment of a debt, for when satisfaction is made, nothing remains to be supplied. Hence, when we speak of reconciliation by grace, to satisfy is the same as to do that which may be sufficient to atone to the angered mind for an injury offered; and thus, satisfaction is nothing more than " compensation for an injury done to another." Hence theologians make use of the word " satisfaction," to signify the compensation made by man to God, by doing something in atonement for the sins which he has committed.
This sort of satisfaction, embracing, as it does, many degrees, admits of many acceptations. The first degree of satisfaction, and that which stands pre-eminently above all the rest, is that by which whatever is due by us to God, on account of our sins, is paid abundantly, although he should deal with us according to the strictest rigour of his justice. This, we say, has appeased God and rendered him propitious to us, and for it we are indebted to Christ alone, who, having paid the price of our sins on the cross, offered to his Eternal Father a superabundant satisfaction. No created being could have paid so heavy a debt for us: " He is the propitiation for our sins," says St. John, " and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." This satisfaction, therefore, is full and superabundant, commen​surate to all sorts of sins perpetrated by the human race: it gives to man's actions merit before God; without it they could avail him nothing to eternal life. This David seems to have had in view, when, having asked himself, " what shall I render to the Lord, for all the things that he hath rendered to me?" and finding nothing worthy of such blessings but this satisfaction, which he expressed by the word " chalice," he replies: " I will take the chalice of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord."
There is another sort of satisfaction, which is called canonical, and is performed within a certain fixed period of time. Hence, according to the most ancient practice of the Church, when penitents are absolved from their sins, some penance is imposed, the performance of which is commonly called " satisfaction."
Any sort of punishment endured for sin, although not imposed by the priest, but spontaneously undertaken by the sinner, is also called by the same name: it belongs not, however, to penance as a sacrament: the satisfaction which constitutes part of the sacrament is, as we have already said, that which is imposed by the priest, and which must be accompanied with a deliberate and firm purpose carefully to avoid sin for the future. To satisfy, as some define it, is to pay due honour to God, and this, it is evident, no person can do, who is not resolved to avoid sin. To satisfy is also to cut off* all occasions of sin, and to close every avenue of the heart against its suggestions. In accordance with this idea of satisfaction, some have considered it a cleansing, which effaces whatever defilement may remain in the soul from the stains of sin, and which exempts us from the temporal chastisements due to sin.
Such being the nature of satisfaction, it will not be found difficult to convince the faithful of the necessity imposed on the penitent, of satisfying for his sins: they are to be taught that sin carries in its train two evils, the stain which it affixes, and the punishment which it entails. The punishment of eternal death is, it is true, forgiven with the sin to which it was due, yet, as the Council of Trent declares, the stain is not always entirely effaced, nor is the temporal punishment always remit ted. Of this the Scriptures afford many evident examples, as we find in the third chapter of Genesis, in the twelfth and twenty-second of Numbers, and in many other places. That of David, however, is the most conspicuous and illustrious. Already had Nathan announced to him: " The Lord also hath taken away thy sin, thou shalt not die;" yet the royal penitent voluntarily subjected himself to the most severe penance, imploring, night and day, the mercy of God, in these words: " Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I know my iniquity and my sin is always before ​me." Thus did he beseech God to pardon not only the crime, but also the punishment due to it, and to restore him, cleansed from the stains of sin, to his former state of purity and integrity. This is the object of his most earnest supplications to the throne of God, and yet the Almighty punishes his transgression with the death of his adulterous offspring, the rebellion and death of his beloved son Absalom, and with the other heavy chastisements with which his vengeance had already threatened him. In Exodus too the Almighty, although yielding to the importunity of Moses, he had spared the idolatrous Israelites, threatens the enormity of their crime with heavy chastisement; and Moses himself declares, that the Lord will take vengeance on it, even to the third and fourth generation. That such was at all times the doctrine of the Fathers, a reference to their writings will place beyond the possibility of doubt.
Why in the sacrament of penance, as in that of baptism, the punishment due to sin is not entirely remitted, is admirably explained in these words of the Council of Trent: " Divine justice seems to require, that they who through ignorance sinned before baptism, should recover the friendship of God in a different manner from those, who, freed from the thraldom of sin and the slavery of the devil, and having received the gifts of the Holy Ghost, dread not knowingly to violate the temple of God and grieve the Holy Spirit. It also consists with the divine mercy not to remit our sins without satisfaction, lest, taking occasion hence, and imagining our sins less grievous than they are, injurious, as it were, and contumelious to the Holy Ghost, we fall into greater enormities, treasuring up to ourselves wrath against the day of wrath. These satisfactory penances have, no doubt, great influence in restraining from sin, in bridling, as it were, the passions, and rendering the sinner more vigilant and cautious for the future." Another advantage resulting from them is, that they serve as public testimonies of our sorrow for sin, and atone to the Church who is grievously insulted by the crimes of her children: " God," says St. Augustine, " despises not a contrite and humble heart, but, as heartfelt grief is gene rally concealed from others, and is not communicated by words or other signs, wisely, therefore, are penitential times appointed by those who preside over the Church, in order to atone to the Church, in which sins are forgiven." Besides, the example presented by our penitential practices, serves as a lesson to others, how to regulate their lives, and practise piety: seeing the punishments inflicted on sin, they must feel the necessity of using the greatest circumspection through life, and of correcting their former evil habits. The Church, therefore, with great wisdom ​ordained, that those who by their scandalous disorders may have given public disedification, should atone for them by public Church. penance, that others may be thus deterred from their commission. This has sometimes been observed even with regard to secret sins, when marked by peculiar malignity. But with regard to public sinners, they, as we have already said, were never absolved until they had performed public penance. Mean while, the pastor poured out his prayers to God for their salvation, and ceased not to exhort them to do the same. This salutary practice gave active employment to the zeal and solicitude of St. Ambrose; many, who came to the tribunal of penance hardened in sin, were by his tears softened into true contrition. But in process of time the severity of ancient discipline was so relaxed, and charity waxed so cold, that in our days many seem to think inward sorrow of soul and grief of heart unnecessary, and deem the semblance of sorrow sufficient.
Again, by undergoing these penances we are made like unto the image of Jesus Christ our head, inasmuch as he himself suffered and was tempted, 3 and, as St. Bernard observes, "nothing can appear so unseemly as a delicate member under a head crowned with thorns." To use the words of the Apostle, "we are joint-heirs with Christ, yet so if we suffer with him;" and again: " If we be dead with him, we shall live also with him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him."
St. Bernard also observes, that sin produces two effects in the soul; the one, the stain which it imparts, the other, the wound which it inflicts; that the turpitude of sin is removed through the mercy of God, whilst to heal the wound inflicted the medicinal care applied by penance is most necessary; for as after a wound has been healed, some scars remain which demand attention, so with regard to the soul, after the guilt of sin is forgiven, some of its effects remain, from which the soul requires to be cleansed. St. Chrysostome also fully confirms the same doctrine, when he says: " Not enough that the arrow has been extracted from the body, the wound which it inflicted must also be healed: so with regard to the soul, not enough that sin has been pardoned, the wound which it has left, must also be healed by penance." St. Augustine, also, frequently teaches that penance exhibits at once the mercy and the justice of God, his mercy by which he pardons sin, and the eternal punishment due to sin, his justice by which he exacts temporary punishment from the sinner.
Finally, the punishment which the sinner endures, disarms the vengeance of God, and prevents the punishments decreed ​against us, according to these words of the Apostle: " If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged; but whilst we are judged, we are chastised by the Lord, that we be not condemned with this world." These matters, if explained to the faithful, must have considerable influence in exciting them to penance.
Of the great efficacy of penance we may form some idea, if we reflect that it arises entirely from the merits of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ: it is his passion that imparts to our good actions the two-fold quality of meriting the rewards of eternal life, so that a cup of cold water given in his name shall not be without its reward, and, also, of satisfying for our sins. Nor does this derogate from the most perfect and superabundant satisfaction of Christ, but, on the contrary, renders it still more conspicuous and illustrious; the grace of Jesus Christ appears to abound more, inasmuch as it communicates to us not only what he alone merited, but also what, as head, he merited and paid in his members, that is, in holy and just men. This it is that imparts such weight and dignity to the good actions of the pious Christian; for our Lord Jesus Christ continually infuses his grace into the devout soul united to him by charity, as the head to the members, or as the vine through the branches, and this grace always precedes, accompanies, and follows our good works: without it we can have no merit, nor can we at all satisfy God. Hence it is that nothing seems wanting to the just: by their works done by the power of God, they fulfil the divine law, as far as is compatible with our present condition, and can merit eternal life, to the fruition of which they shall be admit ted, if they depart this life adorned with divine grace: " He," says the Redeemer, " that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever; but the water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting."
In satisfaction two things are particularly required; the one, that he who satisfies be in a state of grace, the friend of God: works done without faith and charity cannot be acceptable to God: the other, that the works performed be such as are of their own nature painful or laborious. They are a compensation for past sins, and, to use the words of St. Cyprian, " the redeemers, as it were, of sins," and must, therefore, be such as we have described. It does not, however, always follow Note that they are painful or laborious to those who undergo them: the influence of habit or the intensity of divine love frequently renders the soul insensible to things the most difficult to be endured. Such works, however, do not, therefore, cease to be satisfactory: it is the privilege of the children of God to be so inflamed with his love, that whilst undergoing the most cruel tortures for his sake, they are either entirely insensible to them, ​or at least bear them not only with fortitude but with the great est joy.
The pastor will teach that every species of satisfaction is included under these three heads, prayer, fasting, and alms-deeds, which correspond with these three sorts of goods, those of the soul, of the body, and what are called external goods, all of which are the gifts of God. Than these three sorts of satisfaction, nothing can be more effectual in eradicating sin from the soul. Whatever is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the " lust of the eyes, or pride of life," and fasting, alms-deeds, and prayer are, it is obvious, most judiciously employed as antidotes to neutralize the operation of these three causes of spiritual disease; to the first is opposed fasting; to the second, alms-deeds; to the third, prayer. If, moreover, we consider those whom our sins injure, we shall easily perceive why all satisfaction is referred principally to God, to our neighbour, and to our selves; God we appease by prayer, our neighbour we satisfy by alms, and ourselves we chastise by fasting.
But, as this life is checkered by many and various afflictions, the faithful are to be particularly reminded, that afflictions coming from the hand of God, if borne with patience, are an abundant source of satisfaction and of merit; but, if borne with reluctant impatience, far from being the means of atoning for past sins, they are rather the instruments of the divine wrath, taking just vengeance on the sinner.
But in this the mercy and goodness of God shine conspicuous, and demand our grateful acknowledgments, that he has granted to our frailty the privilege that one may satisfy for an other. This, however, is a privilege which is confined to the satisfactory part of penance alone, and extends not to contrition and confession: no man can be contrite or confess for another; whilst those who are gifted with divine grace may pay through others what is due to the divine justice, and thus we may be said in some measure to bear each other's burdens. This is a doctrine on which the faithful cannot for a moment entertain a doubt, professing, as we do, in the Apostle's Creed, our belief in the " Communion of Saints." Regenerated, as we all are, to Christ in the same cleansing waters of baptism, partakers of the same sacraments, and, above all, of the same heavenly food, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are all, it is manifest, members of the same mystical body. As then the foot does not perform its functions solely for itself, but also for sake of the other members, and as the other members perform their respective functions, not only for their own, but also for the common good; so works of satisfaction are common to all the members of the Church. This, however, is not universally true in reference to all the advantages to be derived from works of satisfaction: of these works some are also medicinal, and are so many specific remedies prescribed to the penitent, to heal ​the depraved affections of the heart; a fruit which, it is evident, they alone can derive from them, who satisfy for themselves. Of these particulars touching the three parts of penance, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, it is the duty of the pastor to give an ample and clear exposition.
The confessor, however, will be scrupulously careful, before N he absolves the penitent whose confession he has heard, to insist that ii he has been really guilty ot having injured his neighbour in property or character, he make reparation for the injury: promised no person is to be absolved until he has first faithfully promised to repair fully the injury done; and, as there are many who, although free to make large promises to comply with their duty in this respect, are yet deliberately determined not to fulfil them, they should be obliged to make restitution, and the words of the Apostle are to be strongly and frequently pressed upon upon their minds: " He that stole,, let him now steal no more; but rather let him labour working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him that suffereth need."
But, in imposing penance, the confessor will do nothing arbitrarily; he will be guided solely by justice, prudence, and piety; and in order to follow this rule, and also to impress more deeply on the mind of the penitent the enormity of sin, he will find it expedient to remind him of the severe punishments inflicted by the ancient penitential canons, as they are called, for certain sins. The nature of the sin, therefore, will regulate the extent of the satisfaction: but no satisfaction can be more salutary than to require of the penitent to devote, for a certain number of days, a certain portion of time to prayer, not omit ting to supplicate the divine mercy in behalf of all mankind, and particularly for those who have departed this life in the Lord. Penitents should, also, be exhorted to undertake of their own accord, the frequent performance of the penances usually imposed by the confessor, and so to order the tenor of their future lives that, having faithfully complied with every thing which the sacrament of Penance demands, they may never cease studiously to practise the virtue of penance. But, should it be deemed proper sometimes to visit public crimes with public penance, and should the penitent express great reluctance to submit to its performance, his importunity is not to be readily yielded to: he should be persuaded to embrace with cheerfulness that which is so salutary to himself and to others. These things, which regard the sacrament of Penance and its several parts, the pastor will teach in such a manner as to enable the faithful not only to understand them perfectly, but, also, with the Divine assistance, piously and religiously to reduce them to practice.
* ↑ Sess. 6. de Just. rap. 14. et Sess. 14. de poenit. cap. 3. in 3 cap.
* ↑ Hieron. ad haec verba, Ruit Hierusalem, et epistola 8.
* ↑ Ezech. xxxiv. 16. De Poenitentia e patribus antiquis scripserunt Tertul. librura unum. Cypr. epistolas plures et unum lib. de Lapsis, Pacianus lib- unum et duas epistolas ad Symproniam, ac de poenit. et confession, seu paran. ad pocnit. Ambros. libros duos poenit. Chrysost. Homilias 10. et sermon, de poenit. Ephrem. lib. et ser mon, de poenit. Fulgentius lib. 2. de remission, peccatorum ad Euthymiurn, et sess. 14. de poenit. cap. 3. Greg. Nyssenus orationem de poenit. Basil, homil. imam quse est postrema variarum, Augustin. denique lib. unum de vera et falsa poeni tentia, et librum insignem de poenitentise medicina. His adde Marcum Eremitam cujus extat de poenitent. liber unus, sed caute legendus: de eo vide Bellarmin. de Script Eccles. Qui non habet Patres supra citatos, videat in Decreta Gratiani de poenitent. 7. distinctiones.
* ↑ 2 Cor, vii. 10.
* ↑ Gen. vi.6. 1 Kings xv. 11. Ps. cv. 45. Jer. xxvi. 3.
* ↑ Gen. vL 6.
* ↑ 1 Kings xv. 11.
* ↑ Vide Amb. in sermone de pcen. et citatur. de poenit. dist. 3. cap. poenitentm. Aug. lib. de vera et felsa poen. c. 8. et habetur de pcen. 3. c. 4. Greg. horn. 34. in Kvang. et lib. 9. Kegist. Epist. 39.
* ↑ Trid. Sess. 14. de poen. c. 3, can. 4.
* ↑ Prov. ii. 14.
* ↑ Gen. iv. 13.
* ↑ Matt. xxvii. 3.
* ↑ Jerem. xxxi. 18.
* ↑ Heb. xi. 6.
* ↑ Isa. xxvi. 17
* ↑ Matt iv. 17.
* ↑ Ezek. xviii. 21.
* ↑ Ezek. xxxiii. 11.
* ↑ Ezek. xviii. 21.
* ↑ Matt. ix.2. Vid. Cone. Trid. sess. xiv. c. 1. in noc. 1. Epist. 91 inter epist Aug.
* ↑ Matt. xvi. 19.
* ↑ Matt, xviii. 22.
* ↑ Chrys. 1. 5. lib. de laps, repar. et habetur de poenit. dist. 3. c. talis. Amb. de pcenit. lib. 1. c, 1. et 2. vid. et Aug. lib. de vera et falsa poenit. c. 5. citatur de poe nit. dist c. 3. adhuc instant.
* ↑ Sess. 24. de poenit. c. 3. et can 4
* ↑ Matt, xviii. 18.
* ↑ Levit. xiii. 9. et xiv. 2.
* ↑ In epist ad Demoph. Vid. et Tertul. lib. de poenit c. 9.
* ↑ Cone. Trid sess. 14. can. 3, &c. 1. de pcenitent.
* ↑ Ezek. xviii. 21, 22.
* ↑ 1 John i. 9.
* ↑ 1 John ii. 1,2.
* ↑ 2 Mach. ix. 13.
* ↑ Lib. 1. de sermon. Domini in monte, c. 42. et 44. et retract, lib. c. 8, 19. Aug. term. 1. de verhis Domini, et epist. 50. ad Bonif.
* ↑ Luke xiii. 3. 5.
* ↑ Aug. lib. 50. horn. 50. item epist. 168. et Ench. cap. 71.
* ↑ Hom. 11. quae est de pcenit. Vid. cone. Trid. 14. de poenit, cap. 3. et can. 4. Item, cone. Flor. in doctrin. de Sacram.
* ↑ Ead. sess. 14.
* ↑ Vid. de pcenit. dist. 1. c. et venit, et ibid. dist. c. tutnm.
* ↑ Ps. vi. 7-9
* ↑ Isa. ixxviii. 15.
* ↑ Homil. 50.
* ↑ Ps. xii. 2.
* ↑ Matt xi. 21.
* ↑ Chrysost. de compunct cordis. Triden. de summo bono, lib. 2. c. 12.
* ↑ Joel ii. 12.
* ↑ 1 John iv. 7.
* ↑ Deut. vi. 5.
* ↑ Joel ii. 12
* ↑ Matt. x. 37.
* ↑ Matt. xvi. 25. Mark vii. 35.
* ↑ Lab. de diligendo Deo circa med.
* ↑ Deut iv. 29.
* ↑ Jer. xxix. 13.
* ↑ Ser. 41. de sanctis.
* ↑ Matt. xi. 21.
* ↑ Jonas iii. 6.
* ↑ Ps. 6 and 50.
* ↑ Luke vii. 37. 48. 51.
* ↑ Luke xxii. 62.
* ↑ Isa. xxxviii. 15.
* ↑ Ezek. xviii. 21.
* ↑ Lib. de vera et falsa relig. cap.
* ↑ Ezek. xxxiii. 12
* ↑ James ii. 10.
* ↑ Ezek. xviii. 21, 22.
* ↑ John viii. 11
* ↑ John v. 14
* ↑ Epist. v. 4.
* ↑ Matt vi. 14.
* ↑ Ps. 1. 19.
* ↑ Ps. xxxi. 5.
* ↑ Luke xvii. 14.
* ↑ Ambr. serin. 1, de quadrag. citatur de poenit, dist. 1. c. ecce nunc. August, lib. 2 de adul. conjug. 59. Chrysost de sacerdot. lib. 3.
* ↑ Flor. Cone, in decreto Eugenii. IV. de poenit. dist. 6. c. sacerdos.
* ↑ Prov. ii. 14.
* ↑ Chrysost. 20, in Genes.
* ↑ Aug. ser. 4, de verbis Domini.
* ↑ Greg. hom. 40. in Evangel.
* ↑ Vid. Trid. sess. 14. de poenit. e. 5. et can. 0. Aug. lib. 50. horn, homil. 64, et citatur de poenit. dist. 1. c. agite. Orig. horn. 1. in Psal. 37. Chrysost. de sacerd. lib. 3
* ↑ John xx. 22, 23.
* ↑ John xi. 44.
* ↑ De vera et lalsa pcenit. c. 1C. et serm. 8, de verbis Domini.
* ↑ Luke xvii. 14.
* ↑ Sess. 14. c. 5. et can. 7. de poenit. Sacerdotes *sse pecatorum judices docent August, lib. 20. de civil. Dei, c. 9. Hieron. epist. 1. ad Heliod. Chrysost. lib. 3. de Sacerd. et hom. 5. de verbis Isaise. Greg. hom. 26. in Evang. Ambr. lib. 2. de Cain, . Greg. cap. 4. Trid. sess. 14. de poenit. c. 5. can. 7.
* ↑ Matt. xvi. 19.
* ↑ Lib. 50. hom. 49.
* ↑ Matt, xviii. 18.
* ↑ Lib. 1. de poen. 2.
* ↑ Lat. conc. cap. 22.
* ↑ Lat. conc. cap. 21.
* ↑ Quomodo venialia dimittantur vide Aug. in Ench. cap. 71. citatur de poenit. dist- 3. c, de quotidianis, et in Cone. Tolet. 4. cap. 9.
* ↑ Sess. 14. de poenit. c. 5. et can. 7.
* ↑ Lib. de Paradiso, c. 4. c. 1. super illud: si mordeat serpens.
* ↑ Circa finem.
* ↑ Singula percata mortalia confiteri oportere decent August, lib. de vera el falsa poenit. cap. 10. Gregor. homil. 10. super Ezekiel. Ambr. lib. de pared, cap. 14. Hieron. in Ecclesiast. c. 10. Cypr. de lapsis circa finem. Vid. et de posnit. dist. 3. cap. sunt plures, &c. pluit et ibid. dist. 1. c. quern pcen. et ibid, pass
* ↑ John xx. 23.
* ↑ Tit. i. 5.
* ↑ Sess. 14. c. 6. de poenit.
* ↑ Ex Basil, in reg. brevibus, q. li. 29.
* ↑ Ex Leonis Papse episL 80.
* ↑ Cap. 21.
* ↑ 1 John ii. 2.
* ↑ Ps. cxv. 12.
* ↑ cxv. 13.
* ↑ Sess. 14. c. 8. can. 12 et 14.
* ↑ Gen. iii. 17.
* ↑ Num. xii. 14. 22. 33, 34.
* ↑ 2 Kings xii. 13
* ↑ Ps. 1. 4, 5.
* ↑ Exod. xxxii. 8, 9.
* ↑ Vide Aug. lib. 2. de peccat. merit, et remiss, cap. 34. et contra Faust, lib. 22. cap. 66. et prsesertim in Joan, tractat. 124. paulo ante med. Greg. lib. 9. moral, cap. 24. Chrysost. horn. 8. ad pop. Antioch. Interum. Aug. Ench. cap. 30. Ambr. de poen. lib. 2, cap. 5. vide item canones pcenitentiales apud Anton. Aug. vel in actis Eo.cl. Mediolan.
* ↑ Sess. 14. de poenit. cap. 8.
* ↑ Vide Aug. lib. 5, de civit. Dei cap. 26. et ep. 54. et lib. 50. horn. 49. et de vera et falsa poen. passim. Ambr. lib. 2. de pcenit. c. 10. et citatur de poen. dist. 3. cap. reperiuntur. Cypr. de lapsis multis in locis. Cone. Agath. cap. 35. et citatur. dist. 50. cap. poenitentes.
* ↑ Heb. ii. 17.
* ↑ Serm. 5. de omn. sanct
* ↑ Rom. viii. 17.
* ↑ 2 Tim. ii. 11, 12.
* ↑ Serm. 1. in cocna Domini. Horn. 80. ad Pop. Antioch.
* ↑ In Ps. 1. ad haec verba, ECCE EMM VENIT.
* ↑ 1 Cor. xi. 31, 32.
* ↑ Matt x. 42.
* ↑ Vid. de poenit. sess 14. cap. 8. et can. 13, 14. et sess. 6. de justific. c. 18.
* ↑ John iv. 14.
* ↑ Lib. 1. Epist. 3, post. med.
* ↑ John ii. 16.
* ↑ Gal. vi. 2.
* ↑ Ephes. iv. 28.