Case XVI: A Case of Confession

In a certain church the confessional is placed in a somewhat 'dark corner. On a certain Sunday morning the place is even darker than usual, owing to the rainy day. To the confessional there comes an aged woman, as the confessor learns by her voice and speech. She is just through confessing, when at the near altar the bell is rung for elevation. The confessor tells the woman to pause a little while, until after the elevation, and the woman answers, "Yes, father." The confessor makes the sign of the cross and gathers his thoughts for admonition. After the elevation he turns again to the woman, admonishes and consoles her, etc., gives her her penance and pronounces absolution, ending with his customary "Blessed be the Lord" to the penitent, from whom, to his great surprise, comes the word Amen in a man's deep voice. The confessor, quickly looking up, perceives a young man leave the confessional and disappear. How did this young man get there in place of the aged woman? There is only one explanation. The aged woman must have misunderstood her confessor when he suggested to wait until after the elevation. When the confessor then made the sign of the cross, she probably understood this to be the absolution. Softly she left the place, and just as softly it was taken by the young man, who received the absolution of the priest probably in some astonishment. He may have been agreeably surprised by the imagined fact that this confessor did not even require the telling of his sins.

This would raise now the following questions: 1. Has the confessor rendered himself guilty of laesio sigilli, by addressing his admonition, referring to sins of the aged woman, to the young man?

2. Has the woman been absolved? 3. Has the young man been absolved?

1. The confessor may safely be exonerated from the offense of laesio sigilli. It is probable that the young man was not able to get any sense out of the admonition addressed to him by the confessor. Nor is it likely that he connected the admonition with the person who preceded him in the confessional. It may therefore be assumed that the confessor has not revealed anything; but even if this be the case the confessor would have to be declared not guilty ob errorem invincibilem. He could not possibly presume that some one else had taken the place of the woman.

2. The question, Has the woman been absolved? is to be answered in the affirmative. Though the words "Ego te absolve" were spoken to the young man, the "te" was nevertheless meant for the woman, who, we may assume, was still morally present during absolution. Several at least of our moralists have so held in similar cases. In our instance it is moreover very likely that the aged woman was still in church when absolution was pronounced for her. It is therefore, and for these reasons, at least probable that she was absolved.

The third question, however, must be answered in the negative. The young man has not been absolved. He did not conform to the essentials of the sacrament, he did not confess his sins, nor had the confessor any intention of giving him absolution.

Suppose, however, the young man thought bona fide he had been absolved, and with this thought, although possibly in the state of mortal sin, went to receive Holy Communion? In this case it isto be held that through Holy Communion his mortal sins were forgiven per accidens if he approached the Holy Sacrament bent attritus.