Part 111, Chapter III(*): Science of the Confessor

Science of the Confessor

THE PRIEST who does not possess the science necessary to exercise the ministry of confession is culpable i n the eyes of God and is incapable of discharging this great duty.

Imagine a doctor seeking to practise medicine without sufficient training. He would be a murderer, who, instead of healing his patients, would soon destroy them. Yet, the priest, who is in truth the physician of souls, can become their destroyer if he is not fitted for the work of the confessional.

As an ignorant judge would do irreparable harm in attempting to dispense the law, even more so the priest lacking a thorough familiarity with theology would be guilty of criminal negligence. He would cause innumerable sins, making false consciences, obliging people to make restitution when they are not bound, refusing absolution when it should be given, granting it when it should be withheld. Truly, the Scripture says: lf the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit" (Matt. 15, 14).

Science is, therefore, the second qualification for the confessor, and this science supposes eight requisites:

1. The priest must be thoroughly familiar with the extent of his jurisdiction. 2. He must understand the matter and form of the Sacrament and must know what makes it valid or invalid. 3. He should have a complete knowledge of sins against the commandments of God and the precepts of the Church. 4. He must be able to distinguish between sins, mortal and venial, and must know the circumstances that change (*) The chapter dealing with the judiciary power of the priest, which appears in Oeuvres COMPLÈTES, Vol. IV, P. 203 ff., is omitted in this edition.

the nature or increase the gravity of each sin. 5. He should know the ordinary censures and irregularities.

6. He should know the impediments of marriage. 7. He should be able to make sinners realize the horror of sin, and by his direction and guidance lead them to contrition and a firm purpose of amendment. 8. He must be able to suggest remedies for each soul; he must be able to point out the duties and obligations of every state in life and to give persons suitable penances.

To acquire this science, it is necessary that the priest study moral theology and that he be conversant with the best standard works(1) on the administration of the Sacrament of Penance. (1). St. John Eudes recommends several works on confession that arc not available today. Father Cousin, editor of the 1732 French edition of The Good Confessor, adds to the list of books given by the Saint "the second and third parts of the Summa Theologica." There is undoubtedly no better handbook on moral theology than these parts of the Summa. 149-