Case LXXII: Jurisdiction to Hear Confessions of Nuns

Applied correction from Woywod’s opening insert: Case LXXII.—The New Code lays down the same rules for confessions of Nuns with solemn vows and for Sisters with simple vows. Canon 876 states that it requires special jurisdiction from the bishop to validly and licitly hear the confessions of religious women, even the novices, in their own convent. When they confess in any church, public or semi-public oratory, they may be absolved by any priest having the faculties of the diocese. They do not need permission nor have they to report that they went to confession. Canon 522. The rules concerning the appointment of the ordinary and extraordinary confessors remain the same as heretofore.

Father Anselmus is the spiritual director and regular confessor in a convent, the members of which belong to a recent congregation of women, undertaking the care of the sick in their hospital as well as in homes of the immediate vicinity. The following case happens: Two sisters have been nursing a wealthy woman at her nearby home. The patient, partly recovered, is advised to take certain baths, and she asks and receives permission for the two nuns to accompany her on the journey. On the way, in the town B., her condition becomes worse, and the journey has to be interrupted. The two sisters, now nursing her again, report the fact to their spiritual director and request instructions for making their weekly Confession.

What answer should be given? The case is somewhat perplexing to Father Anselmus, for the town B. is the see of another diocese; in his own diocese the answer would be easy, furthermore, the sisters know the diocesan regulation according to which cloistered women when sojourning anywhere in the diocese may confess to the local pastor, or to a priest approved for hearing Confessions of nuns if such a one be at the place. Concerning another diocese the diocesan regulation says nothing, which is natural, since the bishop has no authority to make regulations in another diocese. Some hand-books advise that the priest should ask nuns who sojourn outside the cloister and come to Confession, whether by their rule they are allowed while abroad to confess to any priest, and if so their Confession may be heard without hesitation. It is here the question what the sisters would have to answer.

Father Anselmus reasons as follows: My sisters are not moniaUs, in the strict sense of the word, but members of a congregation. Strictly speaking, the ecclesiastical precepts regarding the reception of the Sacrament of Penance by nuns are not applicable to them, and they may consequently confess to any priest of jurisdiction in his particular diocese. Opposed to this view, however, is the fact that bishops appoint confessors also for these sisters, and bishops have in their diocese the disposition over jurisdiction of Confession. It will not do to disregard this fact. Finally, a happy thought came to Father Anselmus: Whoever has the ordinaria iurisdictio can exercise the same everywhere over those in his charge without restriction as to place, thus a pastor may hear the Confessions of his own parishioners anywhere. Being the confcssarius ordinarius, thus Father Anselmus reasons further, I can therefore hear the Confessions of my sisters wherever they may happen to be, consequently also in B. The trip to B. is short and convenient, moreover Father Anselmus has frequently other business there. The mansion occupied by this wealthy patient has a chapel, and Father Anselmus can there with all comfort hear Confessions. Notice to the pastor is thus made unnecessary. What is to be thought of this disposition?

The case suggests the following questions: 1. What is the law of the jurisdiction of Confession regarding members of recent congregations of women? 2. What priests may hear the Confessions of sisters sojourning in another diocese, or, generally, outside their convent? 3. Has the Confessarius ordinarius a regular jurisdiction? 4. May the holy Sacrament of Penance be administered in a private chapel?

Ad. 1. In these days diocesan bishops, as a rule, appoint for congregations of women special confessors, ordinary as well as extraordinary, in the same way as canonically provided for real nuns, It cannot be doubted that this usage is very beneficial; it also corresponds to the views of the Apostolic See, as repeatedly made known in decision of inquiries in this respect (See Muller, Theologia mor. 1887, I. III, p. 326). According to the present status of Canon Law it is certain, furthermore, that bishops have the right in their dioceses to restrict even a pastor’s regular jurisdiction of Confession in respect to congregations of women, which is self-evident where delegated jurisdiction is concerned. In dioceses, therefore, where such restriction obtains, by reason of the appointment of special confessors for these religious, the ordinary priest has no jurisdiction over them, he can therefore neither lawfully nor validly absolve them, just as in the case of real orders of women.

Ad. 2. About the answer to this question there can be no doubt. Religious women sojourning outside their convent can be absolved by every priest who has the faculty to hear Confessions validly and lawfully; the canonical restrictions of jurisdiction over cloistered women apply only at their convent; this is presumed in all related papal precepts, and a priest has no jurisdiction to hear Confessions of nuns at their convent unless so appointed. There is even a decision of the Holy See, of the year 1852, which directly confirms this view, and according to which nuns sojourning outside the convent may make their Confession to any priest approved to hear Confessions. (Responsum S.C. Ep. et Reg., August 26, 1852.) If this is the rule in respect to real nuns, it is all the more applicable to members of congregations. There can, of course, be meant only a priest authorized to hear Confessions in that particular diocese.

Of course these principles suffer limitations in dioceses where special regulations exist for religious women who receive the Sacrament of Penance away from their house, as in fact is the case in the diocese of Fra. Anselmus, for there only priests specially so designated have jurisdiction over these nuns, and any others not only are not allowed to absolve, but cannot do so validly.

It follows that the question which, according to many authorities, should be asked of nuns under such circumstances, respecting their rule regarding Confessions, has no practical value; at most the rule would only refer to the permissibility of the act on part of the nuns. That the latter know their rule thoroughly and keep it may be presumed. The jurisdiction to hear such Confessions depends upon other things which the priest has to know. As concerns our case, Father Anselmus might have easily removed the difficulty, had he looked into the matter more carefully.

Ad. 3. Father Anselmus, though he has the title of ordinary confessor, has by no means on that account ordinary jurisdiction. The word “ordinary,” in this connection, means, that he may exercise his office ordinarily, or regularly, while an extraordinary confessarius acts only at times, therefore not ordinarily. Father Anselmus is in reality only delegated, with jurisdiction for three years, by the bishop, who possesses the ordinary jurisdiction for Confession over the nuns of his diocese. Father Anselmus perhaps wrongly applied the usual definition of the iurisdictio ordinaria, as one possessed by a priest in virtue of his ecclesiastical office. His jurisdiction is only a delegated one, subject to very special canonical rules. (See Lehmkuhl, Theol. Mor. 1885, vol. II. De illa iurisdictione delegata, quae lege speciali regitur, punct. II. p. 288.) The conclusion arrived at by Father Anselmus was therefore quite incorrect, and hence it follows that he absolved without jurisdiction, and therefore invalidly. Not even can he avail of the principle stated above, sub. II., because he was not privileged to hear Confessions in the diocese of B.

Ad. 4. Father Anselmus arranged matters very conveniently for himself, but he violated the ecclesiastical precepts concerning the place for the reception of the Sacrament of Penance. According to them, Confessions can only be heard in a church or a public oratory, cases of necessity excepted. In private oratories the Sacrament of Penance can be administered only by special permission of the bishop. The chapel in which Anselmus heard Confessions was not really a chapel, because celebration of holy Mass was not, as appears from facts stated, allowed there, and, consequently, it cannot even be considered a proper place to hear Confessions, except in a case of necessity, which here did not prevail. In a church the confessional is the only place intended for the administration of the holy Sacrament of Penance, and particularly in the case of female penitents this is made a strict order by ecclesiastical legislation, and in the case of nuns it is, moreover, decreed: By a declaration of the Sacred Congregation it is prescribed that the confessionals of nuns be removed from the sacristy or other hidden places and placed in the outer parts of the church. In necessity, however, confessions may be heard in another place, provided that the confessor and the nun are kept from one another’s sight. (S. Liguori, Theol. mor. l. VI. n. 577, 4.) Dr. Johann Kubicek.