# Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent/Session XIV/Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Unction

SESSION THE FOURTEENTH,
Being the fourth under the Sovereign Pontiff Julius III., celebrated on the twenty-fifth of November, 1551.
DOCTRINE TOUCHING THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENTS OF PENANCE AND EXTREME UNCTION.
The sacred and holy, œcimienical and general Synod of Trent, lawfully assembled in the Holy Ghost, the same legate and nuncios of the holy Apostolic See presiding therein,—although, in the decree touching justification, there has been, through certain reasons of necessity, arising from the connection of the subjects, much discourse introduced touching the sacrament of penance; so great, nevertheless, in these our days, is the multitude of different errors concerning this sacrament, that it will be of no small public utility to have delivered a more exact and fuller definition thereof, wherein all errors, under the protection of the Holy Ghost, having been pointed out and extirpated. Catholic truth may be rendered clear and distinct; which this holy synod doth now set before all Christians to be perpetually retained.
CHAPTER I.
Of the Necessity and Institution of the Sacrament of Penance.
If, in all the regenerate, such were their gratitude towards God as that they constantly preserved the righteousness received in baptism by His bounty and grace; there would not have been need that another sacrament, besides that of baptism itself, should be instituted for the remission of sins. ​But because God, rich in mercy, knoweth our frame, he hath bestowed a remedy of life even upon those who, after baptism, may have delivered themselves up to the servitude of sin and the power of the devil, the sacrament, to wit, of penance, by which the benefit of Christ's death is applied to those who have fallen after baptism. Penitence was indeed ever necessary, in order to attain to grace and justice, for all men who had defiled themselves by any deadly sin, even for those who had begged to be washed by the sacrament of baptism; that so, their perverseness cast aside and amended, they might, with a hatred of sin and a pious sorrow of mind, detest so great an offence of God. Whence the prophet saith: Be turned and do penance from all your iniquities, and iniquity shall not be your ruin. The Lord also said,— Except ye do penance, ye shall all likeeise perish. And Peter, the prince of the apostles, recommending penitence to sinners who were about to be initiated by baptism, said. Do penance, and he baptized every one of you. Nevertheless, neither before the coming of Christ was penitence a sacrament, nor is it such, since his coming, to any one previously to baptism. But the Lord then especially instituted the sacrament of penance, when, being raised from the dead, He breathed upon His disciples, saying, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins ye shall remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose sins ye shall retain, they are retained, By which action so signal, and words so clear, the consent of all the fathers has ever understood, that the power of remitting and retaining sins was communicated to the apostles and their lawful successors, unto the reconciling of the faithful who have fallen after baptism. And the Novatians, who of old pertinaciously denied the power of forgiving, the Catholic Church with great reason repudiated, and condemned as heretics ; wherefore this holy synod, approving and receiving as most true this meaning of those words of our Lord, condemns the laboured interpretations of those who,, contrary to the institution of this sacrament, falsely wrest those words to ​the power of preaching the word of God, and of announcing the Gospel of Christ.
CHAPTER II.
On the Difference between the Sacrament of Penance and that of Baptism.
But this sacrament is clearly perceived to be different from baptism, for many reasons. For, besides that it is very far different indeed in matter and form, by which the essence of a sacrament is made up, it is certainly known that the minister of baptism need not be a judge, since the Church exercises judgment on no one who has not first entered therein through the gate of baptism. For, What have I, saith the Apostle, to do to judge them that are without? It is otherwise with those who are of the household of faith, whom Christ our Lord has once, by the laver of baptism, made the members of His own body. For these, it they should afterwards have defiled themselves by any crime. He would no longer will that they be cleansed by a repetition of baptism, that being nowise lawful in the Catholic Church, but be placed as criminal before this tribunal; so that, by the sentence of the priests, they might be freed, not once only, but as often as, being penitent, they should, from their sins committed, flee thereunto. Furthermore, one is the fruit of baptism, and another that of penan6e. For, by baptism putting on Christ, we are therein made entirely a new creature, obtaining a full and entire remission of all sins; unto which newness and entireness, however, we are in no wise able to arrive by the sacrament of penance, without many tears and labours on our part, the divine justice demanding this; so that penance has with reason been styled by holy fathers a laborious kind of baptism. And this sacrament of penance is necessary unto salvation for those who have fallen after baptism; even as baptism itself is for those who have not as yet been regenerated.
CHAPTER III.
On the Parte and Fruits of this Sacrament.
The holy synod furthermore teacheth, that the form of the sacrament of penance, in which its force chiefly consists, ​18 placed in those words of the minister, I absolve thee &c.; to which words indeed certain prayers are, according to the custom of holy Church, laudably joined; which, nevertheless, by no means regard the essence of that form, neither are they necessary unto the administration of the sacrament itself. But the acts of the penitent himself, to wit, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, are as it were the matter of this sacrament. Which acts, inasmuch as they are, from God's institution, required in the penitent for the integrity of the sacrament, and for the full and perfect remission of sins, are for that reason called the parts of penance. But the thing indeed, and the effect of this sacrament, as far as appertains to its force and efficacy, is reconciliation with God, which sometimes, in pious persons, who receive this sacrament with devotion, is wont to be accompanied by peace and serenity of conscience, with earnest consolation of spirit. The holy synod, delivering these matters touching the parts and the effect of this sacrament, at the same time condemns the opinions of those who contend, that, the terrors which smite the conscience,. and faith, are the parts of penance.
CHAPTER IV.
On Contrition,
Contrition, which possesses the first place amongst the aforesaid acts of the penitent, is a sorrow of mind, and a detestation for the sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning for the future. Now this movement of contrition was at every time necessary for obtaining the pardon of sins; and, in a man who has fallen after baptism, it thus at length prepares for the remission of sins, if it be united with confidence in the divine mercy, and with the desire of performing the other things which are required for rightly receiving this sacrament. The holy synod therefore declares, that this contrition not only contains a cessation from sin, and the purpose and beginning of a new life, but also a hatred of the old, according to that saying: 'Cast away from you all your iniquities in which you have transgressed and make to your selves a new heart and a new spirit.And assuredly he who ​has considered those cries of the saints: Against thee only have I sinned, and have done evil in thy sight, I am weary with my groaning, every every night I will wash my bed, I will recount to thee all my years, in the bitterness of my soul; and others of this kind, will easily understand that they flowed from a certain vehement hatred of their past life, and from a great detestation of sins. [The synod] teaches furthermore, that, although it may sometimes happen that this contrition is perfect through charity, and reconciles man with God before this sacrament be actually received, the said reconciliation, nevertheless, is not to be ascribed to that contrition, without the desire of the sacrament which is included therein. And to that imperfect contrition, which is called attrition, because it is commonly conceived either from the consideration of the turpitude of sin, or from the fear of hell and of punishments, it declares that if, with the hope of pardon, it exclude the will to sin, it not only does not make a man a hypocrite, and a greater sinner, but that it is even a gift of God, and an impulse of the Holy Ghost, who does not indeed as yet dwell in the penitent, but only moves him, whereby the penitent being assisted, prepares a way for himself unto justice. And although this [attrition] cannot of itself, without the sacrament of penance, bring the sinner unto justification, yet does it dispose him to obtain the grace of God in the sacrament of penance. For, profitably stricken with this fear, the Ninevites, at the preaching of Jonah, did penance full of terror, and obtained mercy from the Lord. Wherefore falsely do some calumniate Catholic writers, as though they had stated that the sacrament of penance confers grace without good motion on the part of those who receive it: a thing which the Church of God never taught or thought. Aad falsely also do they teach that contrition is extorted and compelled, not free and voluntary.
CHAPTER V.
On Confesion.
From the institution of the sacrament of penance already explained, the universal Church has always understood, that ​the entire confession of sins was also instituted by the Lord, and is of divine right necessary to all who have fallen after baptism; because that our Lord Jesus Christ, when about to ascend from earth to heaven, left priests His own vicars, as presidents and judges, before whom all the mortal crimes, into which the faithful of Christ may have fallen, should be brought, to the end that, according to the power of the keys, they may pronounce the sentence of remission or retention of sins. For it is certain, that priests could not have exercised this judgment, the cause being unknown; neither indeed could they have observed equity in enjoining punishments, if they should have declared their sins in general only, and not rather specifically, and singly. Hence it is gathered that all the deadly sins, of which, after a diligent examination of themselves, they have consciousness, must needs be enumerated by penitents in confession, even though those sins be most hidden, and committed only against the two last precepts of the decalogue; which sometimes wound the soul more grievously, and are more dangerous, than those which are committed outwardly, For venial sins, by which we are not excluded from the grace of God, and into which we more frequently fall, although they be rightly and profitably, and without any presumption declared in confession, as the custom of pious persons shows, yet may be passed over without guilt, and be expiated by many other remedies. But whereas, all mortal sins, even those of thought, render men children of wrath, and enemies of God, it is necessary to seek also for the pardon of them all from God, with an open and modest confession" Wherefore, while the faithful oi Christ are anxious to confess all the sins which occur to their memory, they without doubt lay them all open before the mercy of God to be forgiven. But they who act otherwise, and knowingly keep back certain [sins], set nothing before the divine bounty to be remitted through the priest. For if the sick be ashamed to display his wound to the physician, his medical art cures not that which it knows not. It is furthermore inferred, that those circumstances also, which change the species of the sin, are to be explained in confession, because that, without ​them, the sins are neither entirely set forth by the penitents, nor are they known [fully] to the judges; and it cannot be that they can rightly estimate the grievousness of the crimes, and impose on the penitents the penalty which ought to be inflicted, on account of them. Whence it is unreasonable to teach that these circumstances have been devised by idle men; or, that one circumstance only is to be confessed, to wit, that one has sinned against a brother. But it is also impious to say, that confession, enjoined to be made in this manner, is impossible, or to call it a slaughterhouse of consciences: for it is certain, that in the Church nothing else is required of penitents, but that, after each has examined himself diligently, and examined all the folds and recesses of his conscience, he confess those sins by which he shall remember that he has in a deadly manner offended his Lord and God: whilst the other sins, which do not occur to him after diligent considering, are understood to be included as a whole in that same confession; for which sins we confidently say with the prophet: From my secret [faults] cleanse me O Lord. Now the very difficulty of such a confession, and the shame of laying bare one's sins, might indeed seem grievous, if it were not alleviated by the so many and so great advantages and consolations, which are most assuredly conferred by absolution upon all who worthily approach this sacrament. But, as to the manner of confessing secretly to a priest alone, although Christ has not forbidden that a person may, in punishment of his own sins, and for his own humiliation, as well for an example unto others as for the edification of the offended Church, confess his sins publicly; nevertheless this is not commanded by a divine precept, neither would it be altogether prudent if it should be enjoined by any human law, that sins, especially such as are secret, should be laid open by a public confession. "Wherefore, whereas the secret sacramental confession, the Holy Church hath used from the beginning, and doth still also use, has always been commended by the most holy and the most ancient fathers with great and unanimous consent, the vain calumny is manifestly refuted of those, who are not ashamed to teach, that confession is ​alien from the divine command, and is a human invention, and that it took its rise from the fathers assembled in the Council of Lateran: for the Church did not, through the Council of Lateran, ordain that the faithful of Christ should confess, a thing which it knew to be necessary, and instituted of divine right, but that the precept of confession should be fulfilled, at least once a year, by all and each, when they should have attained to years of discretion. Whence, throughout the universal Church, to the great benefit of the souls of the faithful, the salutary custom is now observed of confessing at that most sacred and most acceptable time of Lent, which custom this holy synod most highly approves and embraces, as pious, and with reason to be retained.
CHAPTER VI.
Touching the Ministry of this Sacrament, and Absolution.
But, as respects the minister of this sacrament, the holy synod declares all these doctrines to be false, and utterly alien from the truth of the Gospel, which perniciously extend the ministry of the keys to any other men soever, besides bishops and priests; supposing that those words of our Lord, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall he bound also in heaven, and whatever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven; and, Whose sins ye shall remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose sins ye shall retain, they are retained; were in such wise addressed indifferently and indiscriminately to all the faithful of Christ, as that every one has the power of remitting sins, contrary to the institution of this sacrament, public sins, to wit, by rebuke, provided he that is rebuked shall acquiesce, but secret sins by a voluntary confession made to any person soever. It also teaches, that even priests, who are held in deadly sins, through the virtue of the Holy Ghost bestowed in ordination, exercise the function of remitting sins, as the ministers of Christ; and that they think erroneously who contend that this power exists not in bad priests. But although the absolution of the priests is the dispensation of another's bounty, yet is it not a bare ministry only, whether ​of announcing the Gospel, or of declaring that sins are remittedy but is after the manner of a judicial act, which by sentence is pronounced by the priest as by a judge. And therefore the penitent ought not so to flatter himself concerning his own personal faith, as to think that, even though there be no contrition on his part, or no intention on the part of the priest acting seriously and absolving truly, he is, neVertheless, truly, and in the eyes of God absolved, on account of his faith alone. For neither would faith without penance bestow any remission of sins; nor would he be otherwise than most negligent of his own salvation, who should know that a priest but absolved him in jest, but should not earnestly seek for another who would, act in earnest.
CHAPTER VII.
On the Reervation of Cases.
Since, therefore, the nature and character of a judgment require this, that sentence be passed only on those who are subject thereunto, it has ever been a persuasion in the Church of God, and this synod confirms it as a thing most true, that that absolution, which a priest pronounces upon one over whom he has not either an ordinary or a sub-delegated jurisdiction, ought to be of no moment soever. And to our most holy Fathers it hath seemed to appertain greatly to the discipline of the Christian people, that certain more atrocious and more grievous crimes should be absolved, not by all priests, but only by the highest: whence the Sovereign Pontiffs, by virtue of the supreme power delivered to them in the universal Church, were, with reason, able to reserve certain more grievous cases of crimes for their special judgment. Since, moreover, all things that are from God are well ordered, it is not to be doubted, but that this same may lawfully be done by all bishops, each in his own diocese, unto edification, however, not unto destruction, by virtue of the authority, above that of the other inferior priests, delivered to them over their subjects, especially as for as concerns those crimes to which the censure of excommunication is annexed. But it is consonant to the divine authority, that this reservation of cases should have effect, not merely in external polity,, but also in the sight of God. Nevertheless, ​lest any should perish on this very account, it has always been very piously observed in the said Churcb of God, that there be no reservation at the point of death, and therefore, that all priests may [then] absolve all penitents whatsoever from all manner soever of sins and censure: and whereas, save only at that point [of death], priests have no influence in reserved cases, let them endeavour to persuade penitents to this alone, to repair to superior and lawful judges for the benefit of absolution.
CHAPTER VIII.
On the Necessity and Fruit of Satisfaction.
Lastly, as concerns satisfaction, which as it has, above all the parts of penance, been at all times recommended to the Christian people by our Fathers, so is it the one especially which in our age is, under the highest pretext of piety, impugned by those, who have a form of godliness, but have denied the power thereof; the holy synod declares, that it absolutely false, and alien from the word of God, that the guilt is never remitted by the Lord, without the whole punishment also being pardoned. For clear and distinct examples are found in the sacred writings, by which, besides by divine tradition, this error is refuted in the plainest manner possible. And, in good truth, the nature of divine justice seems to demand, that in one manner, they, who through ignorance have sinned before baptism, be received into grace; and in another, those who, after having been freed from the servitude of sin and of the devil, and having received the gift of the Holy Ghost, have not feared, knowingly to defile the temple of God and to grieve the Holy Spirit. And it becomes the divine clemency, that sins be not in such wise remitted unto us without any satisfaction, as that, occasion being obtained, thinking sins less grievous, ​we, having done as it were an insult and a despite unto the Holy Ghost, should fall into more grievous sins, treasuring up torath against the day of wrath For, without doubt, these satisfactory punishments greatly recall from sin, and restrain as it were with a bridle, and make penitents more cautious and watchful for the future; they also furnish remedies for the remains of sin, and, by opposite acts of the virtues, they remove the vicious habits acquired by evil living. Neither indeed was there any way ever in the Church of God accounted surer to turn away the punishment impending at the hands of the Lord, than that men should, with true sorrow of mind, frequently practise these works of penitence. It adds further to these things, that, whilst we, by making satisfaction, suffer for our sins, we are made conformable to Christ Jesus, who satisfied for our sins, from whom all our sufficiency is; thence, having also a most sure pledge, that if we suffer with him, we shall also he glorified with him. But neither is this satisfaction, which we discharge for our sins, so much our own, as not to be through Jesus Christ. For we who can do nothing of ourselves, as of ourselves, can do all things. He co-operating, who strengthens us. Thus, man has not wherein he should glory, but all our glorying is in Christ: in whom we live; in whom we merit; in whom we satisfy; bringing forth fruits worthy of penance, which from him derive their virtue; by him are offered unto the Father; and through him are accepted by the Father. Therefore the priests of the Lord ought, as far as the Spirit and prudence shall suggest, to enjoin salutary and fitting satisfactions, according to the quality of the crimes and the ability of the penitents; lest, if by chance they connive at sins, and deal too indulgently with penitents, by enjoining certain very light works for the most grievous crimes, they be made partakers of other men's sins. But let them have before their eyes, that the satisfaction which they impose be not only unto the presentation of a new life, and a medicine for infirmity, but also unto the avenging and punishing of past sins. For likewise, the ​ancient fathers both believe and teach, that the keys of the priests were given, not to loose only, but also to bind. But not, therefore, did they suppose that the sacrament of Penance is a court of wrath or of punishments; even as no Catholic ever thought, that, by this kind of satisfactions on our part, the virtue of the merit and of the satisfaction of our Lord Jesus is either obscured, or to any extent lessened: which, while the innovators wish to understand, they in such wise teach that a new life is the best penance, as to take away the entire virtue and use of satisfaction.
CHAPTER IX.
Concerning Works of Satisfaction,
[This synod] teaches furthermore, that so great is the liberality of the divine munificence, that we are enabled through Jesus Christ to make satisfaction with God the Father, not only by punishments voluntarily undertaken of ourselves for the punishment of sin, or by those imposed at the discretion of the priest, according to the measure of our delinquency; but also, which is the greatest proof of love, by the temporal scourges inflicted of God, and endured patiently by us.
* ↑ Ps. cii. 14 (ciii. 14).
* ↑ Ezek. xviii. 80.
* ↑ Luke xiii. 5. I may observe that all these passages are misrepresented, "penance" being substituted for "repentance."
* ↑ Acts ii. 38.
* ↑ John xx. 22, sq.
* ↑ Sep Euseb. Hist. Eccl. vi. 8.
* ↑ 1 Cor. V. 12.
* ↑ Gal. vi. 10.
* ↑ ' Cf. 1 Cor. xii. 12, sq.
* ↑ Gal. iii. 27.
* ↑ Incussos conscientiæ
* ↑ Ezek. xviii. 31.
* ↑ Ps. l. 6 (li. 4).
* ↑ Ps. vi. 6.
* ↑ Is. xxxviii. 15, "recogitabo tibi omnes annos meos in amaritudine animæ meæ."
* ↑ See Jonah iii. 5.
* ↑ See Deut. v. 21.
* ↑ Ephes. ii. 8.
* ↑ Sinus
* ↑ Ps. xviii. 13 (xix. 12).
* ↑ Matt. xviii. 18.
* ↑ John xx. 23.
* ↑ 2 Tim. iii. 5.
* ↑ The phrase "aliter ab eo" followed by "aliter vero," seems extraordinary Latinity even for the middle ages. I cannot help thinking that the reading should be "aliter a Deo." A similar mistake has occurred twice in the Benedictine and other editions of St. Gregory's Homilies on the Gospels, but I have not my translation at hand, and cannot point out the precise passages.
* ↑ 1 Cor. iii. 17.
* ↑ Ephes. iv, 80.
* ↑ Heb. x. 29.
* ↑ Rom. ii. 5.
* ↑ Cf. 1 John ii. 2.
* ↑ 2 Cor. iii. 5.
* ↑ Rom. viii. 17.
* ↑ Cf. 2 Cor. iii. 5 ; Phill. iv. 13.
* ↑ Acts xvii. 28.
* ↑ Matt. iii. 18.
* ↑ Forum.