et laboribus, divina id exigente justitia, pervenire nequaquam possumus, ut merito poenitentia laboriosus quidam baptismus a sanctis patribus dictus fuerit. Est autem hoc sacramentum poenitentiæ lapsis post baptismum ad salutem necessarium, ut nondum regeneratis ipse baptismus. entireness, however, we are no ways able to arrive by the sacrament of Penance, without many tears and great labors on our parts, the divine justice demanding this; so that penance has justly been called by holy Fathers a laborious kind of baptism. And this sacrament of Penance is, for those who have fallen after baptism, necessary unto salvation; as baptism itself is for those who have not as yet been regenerated. Caput III. Chapter III. De partibus et fructibus hujus sacramenti. On the parts and on the fruit of this sacrament. Docet præterea sancta synodus, sacramenti poenitentiæ formam, in qua præcipue ipsius vis sita est, in illis ministri verbis positam esse: Ego te absolvo, etc. Quibus quidem de Ecclesiæ sanctæ more preces quædam laudabiliter adjunguntur; ad ipsius tamen formæ essentiam nequaquam spectant, neque ad ipsius sacramenti administrationem sunt necessariæ. Sunt autem quasi materia hujus sacramenti ipsius poenitentis actus, nempe contritio, confessio, et satisfactio. Qui quatenus in poenitente ad integritatem sacramenti, ad plenamque et perfectam peccatorum remissionem ex Dei institutione requiruntur, The holy Synod doth furthermore teach, that the form of the sacrament of Penance, wherein its force principally consists, is placed in those words of the minister: I absolve thee, etc.; 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 for 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, by God's institution, required in the penitent for the integrity of the sacrament, and for the full and perfect
hac ratione poenitentiæ partes dicuntur. Sane vero res et effectus hujus sacramenti, quantum ad ejus vim et efficaciam pertinet, reconciliatio est cum Deo, quam interdum in viris piis, et cum devotione hoc sacramentum percipientibus, conscientiæ pax ac serenitas cum vehementi spiritus consolatione consequi solet. Hæc de partibus et effectu hujus sacramenti sancta synodus tradens, simul eorum sententias damnat, qui poenitentiæ partes incussos conscientiæ terrores et fidem esse contendunt. remission of sins, are for this reason called the parts of penance. But the thing signified indeed, and the effect of this sacrament, as far as regards its force and efficacy, is reconciliation with God, which sometimes, in persons who are pious and who receive this sacrament with devotion, is wont to be followed by peace and serenity of conscience, with exceeding consolation of spirit. The holy Synod, whilst delivering these things touching the parts and the effect of this sacrament, condemns at the same time the opinions of those who contend that the terrors which agitate the conscience, and faith, are the parts of penance. Caput IV. Chapter IV. De Contritione. On Contrition. Contritio, quæ primum locum inter dictos poenitentis actus habet, animi dolor ac detestatio est de peccato commisso, cum proposito non peccandi de cetero. Fuit autem quovis tempore ad impetrandam veniam peccatorum hic contritionis motus necessarius, et in homine post baptismum lapso ita demum præparat ad remissionem peccatorum, si cum fiducia divinæ misericordiæ et voto præstandi reliqua conjunctus sit, quæ ad rite suscipiendum Contrition, which holds the first place amongst the aforesaid acts of the penitent, is a sorrow of mind, and a detestation for sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning for the future. This movement of contrition was at all times necessary for obtaining the pardon of sins; and, in one who has fallen after baptism, it then at length prepares for the remission of sins, when it is united with confidence in the divine mercy, and with the desire of performing the other things which are required for rightly receiving this sacrament.
hoc sacramentum requiruntur. Declarat igitur sancta synodus, hanc contritionem non solum cessationem a peccato et vitæ novas propositum et inchoationem, sed veteris etiam odium continere, juxta illud: Projicite a vobis omnes iniquitates vestras, in quibus prævaricati estis, et facite vobis cor novum et spiritum novum. Et certe, qui illos sanctorum clamores consideraverit: Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci; Laboravi in gemitu meo, lavabo per singulas noctes lectum meum. Recogitabo tibi omnes annos meos in amaritudine animæ meæ; et alios hujus generis, facile intelliget, eos ex vehementi quodam anteactæ vitæ odio et ingenti peccatorum detestatione manasse. Docet præterea, etsi contritionem hanc aliquando caritate perfectam esse contingat, hominemque Deo reconciliare, priusquam hoc sacramentum actu suscipiatur, ipsam nihilominus reconciliationem ipsi contritioni sine sacramenti voto, quod in illa includitur, non esse adscribendam. Illam vero contritionem imperfectam, quæ attritio dicitur, Wherefore the holy Synod declares, that this contrition contains not only a cessation from sin, and the purpose and the beginning of a new life, but also a hatred of the old, agreeably to that saying: Cast away from you all your iniquities, wherein you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. [212] And assuredly he who has considered those cries of the saints: To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee; [213] I have labored in my groaning, every night I will wash my bed; [214] I will recount to thee all my years, in the bitterness of my soul; [215] and others of this kind, will easily understand that they flowed from a certain vehement hatred of their past life, and from an exceeding detestation of sins. The Synod teaches moreover, that, although it sometimes happens 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, independently of the desire of the sacrament which is included therein. And as to that imperfect contrition, which is called attrition, because
quoniam vel ex turpitudinis peccati consideratione vel ex gehennæ et poenarum metu communiter concipitur, si voluntatem peccandi excludat cum spe veniæ, declarat non solum non facere hominem hypocritam et magis peccatorem, verum etiam donum Dei esse et Spiritus Sancti impulsum, non adhuc quidem inhabitantis, sed tantum moventis, quo poenitens adjutus viam sibi ad justitiam parat. Et quamvis sine sacramento poenitentiæ per se ad justificationem perducere peccatorem nequeat, tamen eum ad Dei gratiam in sacramento poenitentiæ impetrandam disponit: hoc enim timore utiliter concussi Ninivitæ, ad Ionæ prædicationem, plenam terroribus poenitentiam egerunt et misericordiam a Domino impetrarunt. Quamobrem falso quidam calumniantur Catholicos scriptores, quasi tradiderint, sacramentum poenitentiæ absque bono motu suscipientium gratiam conferre, quod numquam Ecclesia Dei docuit, neque sensit; sed et falso docent, contritionem esse extortam et coactam, non liberam et voluntariam. that it is commonly conceived either from the consideration of the turpitude of sin, or from the fear of hell and of punishment, it declares that if, with the hope of pardon, it exclude the wish 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] can not of itself, without the sacrament of Penance, conduct the sinner to justification, yet does it dispose him to obtain the grace of God in the sacrament of Penance. For, smitten profitably with this fear, the Ninivites, at the preaching of Jonas, did fearful penance, and obtained mercy from the Lord. Wherefore falsely do some calumniate Catholic writers, as if they had maintained that the sacrament of Penance confers grace without any good motion on the part of those who receive it: a thing which the Church of God never taught, or thought; and falsely also do they assert that contrition is extorted and forced, not free and voluntary.
Caput V. Chapter V. De Confessione. On Confession. Ex institutione sacramenti poenitentiæ jam explicata universa Ecclesia semper intellexit, institutam etiam esse a Domino integram peccatorum confessionem, et omnibus post baptismum lapsis jure divino necessariam existere, quia Dominus noster Iesus Christus, e terris ascensurus ad coelos, sacerdotes sui ipsius vicarios reliquit, tamquam præsides et judices, ad quos omnia mortalia crimina deferantur, in quæ Christi fideles ceciderint, quo, pro potestate clavium, remissionis aut retentionis peccatorum sententiam pronuncient. Constat enim, sacerdotes judicium hoc incognita causa exercere non potuisse, nec æquitatem quidem illos in pænis injungendis servare potuisse, si in genere tumtaxat, et non potius in specie, ac sigillatim sua ipsi peccata declarassent. Ex his colligitur, oportere a poenitentibus omnia peccata mortalia, quorum post diligentem sui discussionem conscientiam habent, in confessione recenseri, etiam si occultissima illa sint et tantum adversus duo ultima decalogi præcepta commissa, quæ nonnunquam animum From the institution of the sacrament of Penance, as 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 for 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, unto whom all the mortal crimes, into which the faithful of Christ may have fallen, should be carried, in order that, in accordance with the power of the keys, they may pronounce the sentence of forgiveness or retention of sins. For it is manifest that priests could not have exercised this judgment without knowledge of the cause; neither indeed could they have observed equity in enjoining punishments, if the said faithful should have declared their sins in general only, and not rather specifically, and one by one. Whence it is gathered that all the mortal sins, of which, after a diligent examination of themselves, they are conscious, must needs be by penitents enumerated in confession, even though those sins be most hidden, and committed only against the two last precepts of the
gravius sauciant, et periculosiora sunt iis, quæ in manifesto admittuntur. Nam venialia, quibus a gratia Dei non excludimur et in quæ frequentius labimur, quamquam recte et utiliter citraque omnem præsumptionem in confessione dicantur, quod piorum hominum usus demonstrat, taceri tamen citra culpam multisque aliis remediis expiari possunt. Verum, cum universa mortalia peccata, etiam cogitationis, homines iræ filios et Dei inimicos reddant, necessum est, omnium etiam veniam cum aperta et verecunda confessione, a Deo quærere. Itaque dum omnia, quæ memoriæ occurrunt, peccata Christi fideles confiteri student, procul dubio omnia divinæ misericordiæ ignoscenda exponunt. Qui vero secus faciunt et scienter aliqua retinent, nihil divinæ bonitati per sacerdotem remittendum proponunt. Si enim erubescat ægrotus vulnus medico detegere, quod ignorat, medicina non curat. Colligitur præterea, etiam eas circumstantias in confessione explicandas esse, quæ speciem peccati mutant, quod sine illis peccata ipsa neque a poenitentibus decalogue,--sins which sometimes wound the soul more grievously, and are more dangerous, than those which are committed outwardly. For venial sins, whereby we are not excluded from the grace of God, and into which we fall more frequently, although they be rightly and profitably, and without any presumption, declared in confession, as the custom of pious persons demonstrates, yet may they be omitted without guilt, and be expiated by many other remedies. But, whereas all mortal sins, even those of thought, render men children of wrath, [216] 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 of Christ are careful to confess all the sins which occur to their memory, they without doubt lay them all bare before the mercy of God to be pardoned: whereas they who act otherwise, and knowingly keep back certain sins, such set nothing before the divine bounty to be forgiven through the priest; for if the sick be ashamed to show his wound to the physician, his medical art cures not that which it knows not of. We gather, furthermore, that those circumstances which change the species