to receive the sacrament of penance, if possible. Mortal sins, however, which have been thus forgiven through perfect contrition must afterwards be submitted to the Church's tribunal in the sacrament of penance, in the same manner as one who has been reconciled with God by the baptism of desire is not exempted from the grave obligation of receiving the sacrament of baptism.

Besides the sins themselves, penance also remits the eternal punishment due to mortal sin. It restores sanctifying grace if lost, and increases it if it already exists. In fact, sin is remitted by the infusion of sanctifying grace; whence it follows that the same sin may be repeatedly submitted to, and be effectually absolved by, the power of the keys. For in each absolution of a sin sufficient grace is infused to cancel its guilt. Another fruit of penance is that peace of soul which gives to the reconciled sinner strength in temptation and courage to brave all the difficulties of salvation. Penance, finally, not only delivers the sinner from his sins, but also preserves him from relapse (Trid. Sess. XIV. c. 3).

193. The power of forgiving sins granted to the Church implies the necessity of self-accusation on the part of the sinner; whence confession is of divine origin.

1. The power of forgiving sins bestowed on the apostles is a judicial power and its exercise is a judicial act (189). A judicial act necessarily supposes that the judge is cognizant of the case in which he is to pronounce sentence. But the matter on which he is to pronounce sentence is sin; therefore he must know the sin or sins of the penitent. But how is he to know them? Though in some cases he may possibly obtain a knowledge of them from others, yet this cannot always be the case, nor can this be the manner of process intended by Christ. For while secular tribunals pass judgment only on certain actions which are public, the most secret thoughts and de ires, not merely external actions, form the subject-matter of the tribunal of penance. But internal thoughts and desires can be learned only by self-accusation. Self-accusation was, therefore, intended by Christ. Besides, in all tribunals some punishment is inflicted on the guilty as an atonement, which must be in some way proportioned to the offence. But how could a judge inflict a punishment proportioned to the offence

unless he nad cognizance of the offence itself? And how is he to obtain this necessary information unless by the selfaccusation of the penitent?

2. From the different monuments of tradition it is manifest that confession has always been in use in the Church of God, and has been considered necessary for the forgiveness of sins.

As in other doctrines, so also in regard to confession, those Oriental sects who apostatized from the Church in the early ages agree with the Western Church in the doctrine on confession; which alone suffices to prove that the obligation of confession was not first imposed by Innocent III. in the Fourth Council of the Lateran, as some Protestants assert. Pope Innocent enforced the obligation of confessing at least once a year. And, in fact, it would have been impossible for any pope to introduce such an innovation without encountering the strongest opposition on the part of the Church. of such a fact there is no trace in Church history.

But

Confession is mentioned also in the ancient councils. One held at Rheims (A.D. 625) prescribes that during Lent no priest except their own pastor was to hear the confessions of the faithful. În early historical records, particularly in the lives of saints, we find frequent mention of confession. Now it is described with what humility the saints themselves confessed their sins in order to obtain absolution, now how they administered this sacrament to others. Pope Leo I. (died 461) rebuked certain bishops for compelling sinners, contrary to the apostolic canons, to confess all their sins publicly, as private confession to the priest was sufficient (ep. 168 ad episcop. Campan.). The fathers frequently speak of confession. Thus St. Gregory the Great (hom. 26, in Evang.) says: "Christ said to Lazarus: Come forth,-as if He addressed Himself to one dead in sin and said: Why hidest thou thy guilt in thy conscience? Let the dead man, then, come forth; let the sinner confess his guilt. After he [the sinner] has come forth, the disciples loose him, when the pastors of the Church absolve him from the punishment he deserved, because he is not ashamed to confess his deeds." St. Augustine (Serm. 392 [al. 49]) says: "Let no one among you say: I do penance in secret, and before God; God, who knows that I repent in my heart, will forgive me. Was it said to no purpose, then: Whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven? Was it to no purpose that the Church received the keys of the kingdom of heaven?" St. Basil (Reg. brev. 288) says: "We must confess our sins to those who are appointed the dispensers of the divine mysteries." Similar passages are to be found in the writings of the earlier fathers and ecclesiastical writers, Origen, St. Cyprian, Tertullian, St. Irenæus. The author of the work entitled The Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles (c. IV.), writes: "In the assembly of the faithful confess thy sins; and come not to thy prayer with a bad conscience."

3. The Council of Trent (Sess. XIV. can. 6) defined the doctrine of the Church on confession against the innovators of the sixteenth century. "If any one deny that sacramental confession is of divine institution, or that it is necessary for salvation; let him be anathema."

It was altogether in keeping with the divine wisdom and with the perfection of the Christian religiou that confession should be made a condition of obtaining forgiveness of sin. For, in the first place, confession is of itself most beneficial to the individual. If we consider it from a natural standpoint, in the first place, it gives relief to the sinner; for, as we know from experience, nothing relieves the burdened heart more than to communicate its troubles to a trusted friend. Regarded from a supernatural standpoint, the self-abasement attending confession cannot fail to be productive of abundant graces. Confession, moreover, preserves us from relapsing into sin, partly because the confessor prescribes suitable remedies for us, partly because the necessity of undergoing the shame of self-accusation strengthens us in temptation. Finally, confession is of the greatest advantage to the family, and to society at large. It secures the right of property by enforcing honesty and the restitution of ill-gotten goods; it checks sinful relations, since the confessor must insist on the necessity of avoiding the proximate occasions of sin, even under denial of absolution. Society at large finds a powerful support in confession for the maintenance of morality and the restraint of the most dangerous human passions. We may, therefore, easily understand why even under the Old Law sin-offering, and by this very fact confession of sin, was prescribed (Lev. v. 6, 7).

194. The acts of the penitent,-contrition, confession, and satisfaction,-in order to be valid matter of the sacrament of penance, must be endowed with certain qualities.

The

1. Contrition is a detestation of, and sorrow for, the sins committed, combined with the firm purpose to sin no more. necessity of contrition is inculcated in all those passages of Scripture wherein the sinner is exhorted to do penance in order to obtain pardon of his sins. "Rend your hearts, and not your garments" (Joel ii. 13). "Do penance. . . for the remission of your sins" (Acts ii. 38). If the sinner is to be converted, to return again to God, he must turn away with horror from that which separates him from God; he must have true sorrow for that which is the greatest of evils, and makes him hateful to God. By this sorrow and detestation he crushes, as it were, the innate pride contained in every re

volt against God; whence the names contrition and attri tion.

Contrition must include the purpose of amendment—the earnest will to amend one's life and sin no more; for what one hates and detests he likewise shuns and flees. Purpose of amendment, therefore, includes also the will to avoid the proximate occasion of sin, i.e., every occasion in which one is likely to sin. For he who desires the end desires also the means; therefore he who wishes to avoid sin will, as a necessary means, also avoid the proximate occasion.

The sorrow, or contrition, for sin required for the worthy reception of the sacrament of penance, and also the purpose of amendment, must be: (a) internal and sincere; it must be not merely on the lips, but in the heart; (b) universal, i.e., it must extend at least to all mortal sins; for, as long as the heart clings to one mortal sin, or is not determined to avoid all mortal sins, it cannot turn to God. It is not necessary, however, explicitly to elicit sorrow for every sin in particular, since each sin is contained in all. As contrition is absolutely necessary for the sacrament of penance its reception would be invalid, and consequently sacrilegious, without it. This is also the case with a confession of only venial sins, if one is sorry for none of them. Hence it is advisable for those who have only venial sins to confess since their last confession to add one or more sins already confessed for which they are certainly sorry; (c) contrition must be supernatural, i.e., it must proceed from grace, and rest on the supernatural motives of faith. Such motives are the loss of sanctifying grace and of the friendship of God, the fear of hell or purgatory, not the merely natural consequences of sin (e.g., the loss of temporal goods, honor, health).

Supernatural contrition may be either perfect or imperfect, according as the motive from which one detests and abhors sin as the greatest evil is the perfect love of God for His own sake or the fear of the punishments due to sin. Contrition, though proceeding from the most perfect motive of the love of God, may, however, be imperfect, if it is not efficacious to make us detest sin above all things. Hence contrition may be perfect in its motive but imperfect in its efficacy. On the other hand, contrition which is imperfect in its motive may be perfect in its efficacy as far as the detestation of sin above all things is concerned, but not in the sense that it suffices of itself for the justification of the sinner.

Perfect contrition is not required for the valid reception of the sacrament of penance. For, since perfect contrition is sufficient of itself for the remission of sin (164), if it were still necessary for the worthy reception of the sacrament, the sacrament would only increase sanctifying grace, never confer the first grace upon the sinner, and therefore could never have that efficacy given to it by Christ. For, as baptism is the sacrament which confers super

natural life, so penance is that which restores this supernatural life if lost. Therefore the Council of Trent (Sess. XIV. c. 4) teaches that "imperfect contrition, though it cannot of itself, without the sacrament of penance, justify the sinner, yet disposes him to receive divine grace in the sacrament of penance. With regard to the preparation for justification in general, the same council (Sess. VI. c. 6) teaches that sinners are disposed to obtain justification in baptism, while they turn from the fear of God's justice to the consideration of His mercy, conceive hope, and thus begin to love God as the source of all justice" (cf. 149). But such disposition does not include perfect contrition; therefore perfect contrition is not required as a disposition for the sacrament of penance.

2. Confession must be (a) entire; i.e., it must extend to all mortal sins, according to their number and species. "If any one assert that in the sacrament of penance it is not necessary, by divine institution, for the remission of sins, to confess each and every mortal sin which one can remember after due and careful examination, also secret sins and those against the two last commandments of God, and those circumstances which alter the nature of a sin; let him be anathema" (Trid. Sess. XIV. can. 7). As the confessor is to pass judg ment he must have cognizance of the nature of the sin of which he has to judge. The nature of a sin is determined by the species to which it belongs. Sins against the same commandinent may belong to different species. The confessor must also know the number of sins; for the number greatly influences the sentence of a judge. God, however, does not exact impossibilities, and, consequently, when completeness is hardly possible it is sufficient to give the probable number since the last good confession, or within a given time. Confession must be (b) sincere, i.e., the penitent must have the will to confess all those sins which he knows that he is bound to confess. By this sincerity or good-will confession, though it be not materially complete,—actually extending to each and every sin, is formally complete, i.e., extending to the number and specics of one's sins as far as it is morally possible under the circumstances. A sincere confession becomes a comparatively easy matter from the fact that the confessor is bound by the strictest laws, both divine and human, to the mcst rigid secrecy by the seal of confession. Finally, confes