Chapter VI: On the Confessor's Practice Regarding the Matter of Lust

227. As to the questions to be asked, the rule admitted by all must be carefully observed: "In the matter of lust it is much better to be deficient in many things than to abound excessively in one thing by reason of the integrity of confession." Therefore, in doubt whether in such a case you can or ought to question, one must always stand for the negative part; for it is a lesser evil that something be lacking to the integrity of confession than to create scandal for the penitent, or even for oneself. G. 616.; Sporer 661.; Tamburini, Tr. 2. de 2. Eccl. praec. cap. 17, Monitio, etc.; Ithur. Cas. 38. n. 4.; Lugo, de Poenit. D. 16. n. 595. Hence St. Alphonsus, Hom. Apost. Tract. ult. c. unic. p. IV. n. 37: "Let him beware," he says, "that is, the confessor, of inquiring from girls or from boys whether emission of semen was present; for with these it is better that there be deficiency in the material integrity of confession than that he be the cause that they apprehend things which they have not yet known, or be placed in curiosity of learning them." And in the same place, p. 3. n. 27, the same holy Doctor has these things concerning the conjugal debt: the confessor "is not bound, ordinarily speaking, nor is it fitting, to ask," namely insofar as it may be necessary, "except wives, whether they have rendered it, in the most modest way possible; for instance, whether they have been obedient to their husbands in all things. Concerning other things let him be silent unless he has been asked." And if a bride-to-be asks about these things, so that she may know what will be lawful for her in the future, let him respond that she should ask her mother, or meanwhile, in doubts, obey her husband as head, and afterward consult a confessor concerning these things if they happen to her. Gobat, Theol. Exper. Tr. X. Cas. 17. n. 648. 649.

Therefore if at any time questioning must be done in this matter, it must be prudent. But the confessor will question prudently if, as St. Thomas says in IV. Dist. 19. q. 2. in fin. Expos. text. V. Et idem, the questioning is so done "that if he has committed it, he may learn; if he has not committed it, he may not learn." - But if the questions to be asked must be few and cautious, from that very fact it is sometimes necessary to question the penitent, and he acts badly who establishes for himself, as a general rule, never to question concerning this matter. For it is one thing to question cautiously, another never to question. And indeed, as the same St. Alphonsus teaches, Hom. Apost. Tract. ult. n. 37. app. 4. p. 1. n. III. and Prax. Confess. n. 90., and as others commonly teach who have written on the practice of confessions, penitents often, because of shame and modesty, say nothing concerning this matter, and expect the confessor to question and so, as it were, add courage to their mind. But now, if the confessor does not question, that shame and modesty altogether increase, so that penitents are strengthened in the purpose of keeping the matter silent, and that will which before perhaps was a certain velleity of telling the matter now becomes a purpose of keeping the matter silent. G. 924. The Angelic Doctor has these things, l. c.: "It must be said that the Priest ought to search out the conscience of the sinner in confession like a physician searching a wound, and a judge a case, because frequently what the one confessing would keep silent out of confusion, he reveals when asked. But in making questions three things must be attended to... Third, that concerning sins, especially carnal ones, he should not descend too much to particular circumstances; because delights of this kind, the more they are considered in special, are of their nature more apt to move concupiscence. And therefore it can happen that the confessor, seeking such things, harms both himself and the one confessing, and thus sometimes those searching out iniquities fail in their scrutiny." The aforesaid questioning can well be done with very few and very modest words.

228. The remedies for lust which the confessor can suggest to the penitent are some negative, others positive. The negative are: 1. flight from idleness; 2. abstinence from the reading of books which treat of matters of love; 3. in men, flight from familiarity with women, even if they seem upright, indeed most devout; but in women, flight from familiarity with men, especially young men; 4. flight from occasions; 5. flight from drunkenness and from all intemperance in food. Scavini, Tract. 4. D. 2. C. 3. art. 2. q. 2.; Voit, de praeceptis Decalogi, n. 758.; and others commonly. - The positive are: 1. frequent prayer; 2. frequent confession with the same confessor; 3. frequent communion; 4. memory of the last things; 5. constant cult and frequent invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; 6. custody of the senses; 7. mortification of the body; 8. they add that sometimes marriage should be counseled to those who can marry, as the sole remedy, or at least as the more efficacious one, by which they may be able to free themselves from the habit of masturbation, if, however, they do not wish to use other means; 9. it is a useful remedy to elicit a vow of chastity for some brief time, for example, only in the morning, and again to vow in the evening; or for one day, and again on the following day to vow; and if the matter, by the help of God's grace, has had a good outcome, a vow of this kind can be made on individual days, or even for a longer time, according as a prudent confessor shall judge expedient. Cf. St. Thomas, 2. 2. q. 88. art. 4.; C. Gent. c. 138.; Scavini, l. c.; L. Prax. Confess. n. 94. and l. 6. n. 74. 75. Op. mor.; Voit, l. c. n. 739.; and others commonly.

229. Whether it is expedient in this matter to use the more benign opinions is declared thus by the general doctrine of St. Alphonsus, l. 6. n. 605: "Holzmann wisely says that, in the choice of opinions, the confessor ought to follow the more benign sentences when those rather induce the penitent to avoid sin. But otherwise, if those rather lead to transgression of the law, as are, according as Roncaglia and Sporer well note, those opinions which, although speculatively they may seem probable, nevertheless in practice are very dangerous; as in the matter of the sixth precept there are some opinions concerning touches, kisses, dances, comedies, the repressing of sensual motions, and the like." The same holy Doctor, more particularly concerning base books, says: "Let confessors carefully strive to prohibit this, namely to read such books, as much as they can, to young people, who from readings of this kind generally drink in a great ruin of the soul," l. 3. n. 426. And universally concerning the reading of books, the holy Doctor says in Append. de prohibitione libr. c. 5. n. 8: "in this matter it is ordinarily expedient to follow the stricter opinions." - Prax. Confess. nn. 119-120.

230. Besides these, the following are especially to be noticed:

1. As regards the rude, Elbel, speaking explicitly and generally concerning interior desires, has these things, de Consc. n. 125: "that many, at least from the ruder and less learned, inculpably persuade themselves that desires of this kind are not evil unless they are fulfilled in deed, seems sufficiently certain, which Sanchez, Stoz, and La Croix also expressly teach." St. Alphonsus says concerning this opinion, l. 1. n. 9: "I could never judge it probable... with other learned recent authors I judge it little probable." The reason for this sentence is that, if someone certainly knows the malice of the exterior action, and nevertheless wills to execute it, he already knows that he wills an evil. How then will he be excused from sin? G. v. 1. n. 123.; Cas. v. 1. n. 40. But as regards simple delight, it can more easily happen that invincible ignorance of it is present. Moreover, the rude rarely accuse themselves, of themselves, of internal acts of this kind. Therefore they are to be prudently questioned, when a prudent suspicion of acts of this kind is present. But whether concerning interior acts or concerning exterior acts, it often profits, and profits greatly, to question them not once only, but again and a third time, with diverse formulas. For what they deny the first or second time, they confess the third time, either because of shame, or because they themselves often have their own formula of speaking; and if this is not used, they do not easily understand the question.

2. As regards boys, speaking absolutely, at least in some rare case and at the beginning of a depraved habit, they can invincibly be ignorant of the malice of pollution. The reason is that the fact that an immodest look or touch, or the seizing of pleasure from pollution procured, or even naturally arisen, etc., are mortally evil and illicit, does not become known so easily from the comprehension of first principles, but needs discourse in order to detect their malice. Therefore their malice can at least for some time be ignorantly and inculpably unknown. From this a prudent confessor will easily conclude that, in such a contingency of fact, one must proceed cautiously and prudently; and this caution and prudence, though it must be observed with everyone, especially in this matter, must be observed above all with boys and girls. Cf. Elbel, de Consc. n. 128.; G. Cas. v. 1. n. 41.; Struggl, Tr. 3. q. 1. n. 13. Nor indeed must this be passed over in silence here, that boys and girls who still preserve the innocence of Baptism often accuse as sins against purity, with a certain vague and confused manner of speaking, things which either are no sins, or contain only a certain light lack of polish or immodesty.

3. "Nor should the confessor indulge girls that they be taught by men to read, and much less to write. How many simple girls, because they learned to read, have mourned the loss of the soul! If this is not a proximate occasion of sin, at least it is not a little dangerous. If they desire to learn such things, let them see to it that they are taught by some other woman, or by some little brother, and still with caution. Nor let him concede to young women that they wander about, visiting churches, and that they linger in church more than is necessary, with the disturbance of their parents; but let him admonish them to attend to obeying their parents, by embracing domestic labors." L. Prax. Confess. n. 101. And this indeed is an excellent and very easy remedy for avoiding many sins against chastity. The Sacred Congregations of Bishops and Regulars, in the Remarks on the more recent Constitutions of Congregations of Sisters, have not once only disapproved that Sisters teach boys, or admit male professors in their schools; or that the Sisters themselves be introduced into Seminaries and Colleges, since the matter is full of danger; or, what is more dangerous, that Sisters dwell alone in parishes. Cf. Bizzarri, Collect. toward the end, Animadvers., etc.

231. "On the penitent who fears that he gives assent to any evil thought whatever against chastity, let the confessor impose that he wholly despise scruples of this kind, affirming that not wrong thoughts, but only wrong consents, are sins. And in this matter let him never omit to use that rule wisely handed down by the doctors, namely that those who are of a timid conscience, unless they know with moral certainty that they have consented to grave sin, are to be judged immune from sin; for, as Father Alvarez says, it is impossible for sin to enter a soul abhorring it without being clearly recognized by that soul. For this reason it will often be expedient expressly to impose upon the scrupulous that they abstain from confession of thoughts of this kind, unless they know so certainly that they have consented to them that they could swear to it." L. l. 1. n. 15.

232. Concerning giving or denying absolution to a cleric habituated in occult sins of lasciviousness, who wishes to ascend to sacred orders without a prior experiment of continence, St. Alphonsus, l. 6. p. 64 and following, has these things, altogether practical and to be approved: "I. The present and ancient law of the Church, always constant, binds Bishops, confessors, and those to be promoted alike, so that when some recidivist or habitual cleric in the vice of the flesh desires to ascend to sacred order, whether to the subdiaconate, or to the diaconate, or to the presbyterate, although he has been sincerely converted to the Lord, and therefore can immediately be absolved, nevertheless he will not be able to receive sacred order unless for some time he gives effort to extirpating the depraved habit. And if he himself persists in receiving the order immediately, he is not judged disposed for absolution, because he violates the law of the Church in a grave matter. II. Yet a case can be given in which God gives to the penitent so extraordinary a grace of compunction that it renders him so approved that he himself can immediately assume sacred order; and therefore... receive the benefit of absolution without its first being proved by experience of time... But that simple sanctifying grace by no means suffices for receiving sacred orders, but beyond it interior perfection is required, is established from the common consent of the holy Fathers and Doctors, who with one mouth demand it." Moreover the holy Doctor adds at the end: "It must be noted that the confessor must take care with every effort to render persuaded an initiate of this kind, although extraordinarily contrite, that he defer receiving Orders until by the proof of some notable delay he show himself more purged from the crimes perpetrated... provided, however, that from this delay of Ordination he is not going to undergo a stigma, or the proximate danger of infamy." Cf. St. Thomas, 2. 2. q. 184. art. 6. 8.; q. 189. art. 1.; Suppl. q. 35. art. 1.; q. 36. art. 4. - The author of the book whose title is Istruzione per li novelli confessori thinks otherwise. He teaches that, if the one to be ordained sincerely and from his soul believes that he can live chastely and put off evil habits, proposing to furnish and fulfill all those things which, in his own judgment and in that of a discreet confessor, are judged necessary and opportune for amendment of life, this man can indeed be promoted lawfully, nor can the confessor forbid this to him; since he ought to be judged sufficiently disposed both for receiving the Sacrament of Penance and consequently also for sacred Order, for the worthy reception of which nothing is required except the state of grace. Cf. S. Alph., l. c. - But does a cleric of this kind make sufficient hope of himself, and does he not rather induce grave fear lest, with the progress of time and with the multitude and gravity of occasions in the exercise of the sacred ministry, he himself become worse and be about to be a scandal to the Christian people, with grave ruin of souls and damage to the Church? But Benedict XIV has these things, de Syn. l. 1. c. 2. par. 18: "The case which can be brought into controversy is that in which a penitent, habituated up to that point in sins, intends to be promoted to sacred Orders, and at the same time offers such judgments of a contrite heart that the confessor can deservedly judge his conversion sincere and trust that he will no longer relapse into the former sins by whose habit he had been entangled... Certainly it cannot be denied that the Spiritual Director of a penitent of this kind will be distracted by an overly anxious care in this species of fact; but that no general rule presents itself which can be applied by him indistinctly in cases of this kind. Wherefore we judge that no other counsel can be given to him than that he diligently inspect and maturely weigh all the circumstances of the person, of things, and of cases; that he also remember that the parts not only of a judge, but also of a physician, have been imposed upon him; and that the office of a physician is to apply that care to the sick man, and to prescribe to him those remedies which he believes will be more opportune and advantageous for his health." Cf. Lugo, de Poenit. D. 14. n. 171.

233. To the preceding question there is joined another analogous question, namely concerning one habituated in lasciviousness who likewise wishes to enter Religion without a prior experiment of continence. The reason of the state of clerics and of monks is not the same, speaking of itself. "Sacred orders," says St. Thomas, q. 189. art. 1. ad 3, "pre-exact sanctity; but the state of religion is a certain exercise for attaining sanctity. Hence the weight of orders is to be imposed on walls already dried by sanctity; but the weight of religion dries the walls, that is, men, from the moisture of vices." Cf. also art. 10 and Quodl. 3. art. 13. But although in the religious state more helps are found, which promote and aid the religious in acquiring sanctity of life, and which indeed are wholly lacking in the state of secular clerics, nevertheless, where there is question of religious who give work, as today is almost common, to exercising the sacred ministry and other pious works toward their neighbor, it is evident that dangers of falling are not absent even for a religious man, whose fall indeed will excite greater scandal and will bring detriment to the good name of his own Order. Hence very great prudence and caution altogether must be applied in this matter by confessors. But since, before someone is admitted to religious profession, he undergoes a novitiate, in which he is occupied solely with his own sanctification, and an experiment is made of the sincerity and firmness of a penitent of this kind, that circumspection and caution is indeed required less in the earlier confessor, who would first induce him to the religious state, but much more in the confessor of the novices themselves, lest within Religion a useless and harmful race be multiplied. Yet in this matter a certain excessive severity must be avoided, by which even suitable persons would be kept from the religious state by a certain vain fear; and thus they themselves would be deprived of this greatest good of Religion, and Religion perhaps of better religious. Those who have been sinners, faithfully cooperating with the grace of God, not rarely arrive at great sanctity. Cf. Lugo, Resp. Mor. l. 1. D. 28.; G. Baller. Tom. 2. n. 718.

234. "It does not seem that this should be passed over, because certain persons, deceived by seductive spirits or by their own false opinions, think that either Christ himself, or his most glorious Mother, appears to them in a vision, and that they are soothed by them not only with embraces and kisses, but also with other more indecent gestures, so that just as their spirit interiorly, so also their flesh exteriorly, may be sensibly soothed with a congruent sense of delight and carnally consoled. This is clearly proved to be not only false and seductive, but also a grave blasphemy. The visitation of the Holy Spirit, just as it is infused against all vices to be repressed and detested, so also is it set in opposition especially against carnal allurements. And where the spirit of cleanness shall have shone forth with its brightness, it is necessary that all motions of depraved pleasure immediately vanish and disappear like darkness when light comes upon it. But concerning those who sometimes feel spiritual sweetness and are soon defiled by the itching of carnal delight, I do not know what I should judge, except that I rather choose them to be without those flowers which I would have to gather from the filth of mud. And just as I do not dare to condemn those who, unwillingly, are sometimes stained in spiritual affections by the fluid of carnal flux, so also I cannot excuse those who with consent take delight together in such a flux, whatever their intention may seem to be." De Profectu Religiosorum, among the works of St. Bonaventure, l. 2. c. 76, otherwise 75.

235. "Those who are wont more greatly to involve the mind of confessors in graver difficulties are those who are troubled by base visions, motions, and even touches from the devil, who not only excites the sensual tinder, but also sometimes has carnal commerce with them under the form of a man or of a woman, wherefore he is called a Succubus or Incubus... Here, however, a doubt arises whether the devil, with God permitting, can without any fault move the hands of that person to himself so that he be defiled by touches. Father Gravina, a Dominican, affirms, and indeed probably... The confessor ought to strive much to fortify the penitent in so horrid a conflict... If the confessor can judge that no fault at all is present in this temptation on the part of the penitent, before all else let him admonish him to apply these things: let him assist himself by continual prayers, frequently invoking the most holy names of Jesus and Mary; let him diligently turn himself away from the pleasures of the senses; let him frequent Communion; let him often protest that he does not wish to consent to any temptation or delight which he might feel by the work of the devil; let him often use the sign of the cross, carrying it also with him, and holy water, sprinkling with it his bed and room; let him also bring with him some relic of the Saints and the book of the Gospels; let him likewise apply private exorcisms to himself, saying: Wicked spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ I command you to depart from me, and not to trouble me further; besides, let him exhort that the afflicted person often humble himself, and frequently exercise himself in acts of humility of this kind, since God sometimes permits temptations of this kind in order to remove some internal pride from the soul. But if someone falls miserably in temptations of this kind, or seeks their occasions more than he flees them, his cure is very difficult... Nevertheless, if any of them should come, let the confessor not distrust, but see to it that he apply the greatest charity toward him; and let him comfort him by saying that where there is no will, there is no sin; hence if he resists by the will, he sins not at all. In these cases, before all else let the confessor send ahead an exorcism, at least a private one, against the devil; this certainly is lawful, in this way: I, as the minister of God, command you, or you, unclean spirits, that you depart from this creature of God. Then let him ask the penitent whether he has ever invoked the enemy and entered some pact with him; whether at any time he has denied the faith, or has exercised an act against it. Let him ask in what form the devil appears to him, whether of a man, woman, or beast. For then, if he has intercourse with him, besides sin against chastity and religion, he will be guilty of the sin of fornication, or sodomy, or incest, understand affective incest, of adultery or of sacrilege. Likewise let him ask in what place and time he had this commerce. Let him then show him the enormity of a crime of this kind, and seek to induce him to true conversion and to making an integral confession; for these ruined men, even if they confess, easily commit sins. Finally let him prescribe to him the same remedies noted above. Then let him defer absolving him, but exhort him to return often, so that in this way it can be known how he conducts himself in resisting the attacks of the enemy and in applying the remedies; nor let him absolve him except after a long experiment, for such conversions, as we have said, are rarely true and very rarely persevering." L. Prax. Conf. n. 110 and following.

236. Rare also are the true and sincere conversions of certain little women who frequent confession in order that they may converse with the confessor and be basely delighted together. Depraved women of this kind are wont to institute a lengthy confession of sins against purity, lingering over all the minute circumstances to be explained. Often they also lie and narrate sins which they have by no means committed, in order to excite themselves venereally. And that they may more easily deceive incautious confessors, they sometimes pretend that they are scrupulous and are troubled by anxiety of soul, so that they may more easily have opportunity of instituting base discourses of this kind. If at any time there is a prudent suspicion of a diabolical fraud of this kind, the prudent counsel will be: 1. to avoid excessive frequency of confessions of the same person; 2. to abstain from every question which is not absolutely necessary; 3. to teach the penitent in what way she can institute confession by a very brief and honorable formula, and not to permit her to depart from it; 4. to abstain from every admonition and observation which is not absolutely necessary, but to complete the confession with as few words as possible and altogether seriously. If these things are observed, no inconvenience will have to be feared; because if that person is proceeding fictitiously, after one or another time she will return no more.

237. Moreover, speaking generally, "the confessor ought to be exceedingly cautious in hearing the confessions of women. And first it must be noted that in the Decree of the Sacred Congregations of Bishops, January 21, 1610, it is said: Confessors should not, without necessity, hear the confessions of women after evening twilight and before dawn. But speaking of the prudence of the confessor, he regularly should be, in the confessional with younger women, rather strict than gentle; nor should he permit them to approach the confessional in advance in order to speak with him, and much less to kiss his hands. In the act of confession, let him not show that he recognizes them; for some, who wish to be held religious, sometimes, noticing that they are known by the confessor, do not make an integral confession. It is also imprudence to cast the eyes upon penitents when they withdraw from the confessional, and to look at them for some time. Outside the confessional, let him not even linger to converse with them in the Church, and let him avoid every familiarity. Let him also abstain from receiving little gifts; and especially let him never go to their houses, except in the one case of grave infirmity, and then let him go only when called. Then let him apply great diligence in hearing their confessions, whence he should leave the door open; let him sit in a place where he can be seen by others, and never fix his eyes on the face of the penitent. And this especially holds if they are spiritual persons, with whom there is a danger of greater adhesion... Such persons do not immediately notice this, since the devil at the beginning does not send forth poisoned arrows, but only those which wound a little and increase affection. But in a short time persons of this kind come to this, that they no longer act with themselves as angels, as they had begun, but as clothed in flesh; they look at one another in turn, and strike one another's minds with flattering speeches, which still seem to proceed from the first devotion. Hence one begins to desire the presence of the other, and thus spiritual devotion is converted into carnal." L. Prax. Confess. n. 119.; G. Cas. t. 2. n. 725-727.; Reuter, Neo-Confessar. n. 110.