Chapter I — What sacramental Confession is, and when its divine precept obliges

I. Of the precept of annual Confession it has been disputed above. That the confession of sins was instituted by Christ the Lord the Catholic Church has always taught, these words of Christ Jesus being adduced: I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind, and so forth. Matthew 16. That this power is judiciary is evident. Moreover, that a judge may be able to bring forth a right sentence, by which he may loose those to be loosed and bind those to be bound, it is necessary that he have the offences thoroughly known. But a judge cannot know offences unless the accused lay them open. Therefore from Christ's institution the confession of sins is necessary. And this truth Trent defined, session 14, chapter 5, against the Protestants. Nor is it now permitted me to illustrate this dogma at greater length.

II. QUESTION I. At what time does this divine precept oblige of itself? ANSWER. That in the probable article of death this precept obliges of itself all commonly affirm. For if it presses at some time — and it is certain that it presses — assuredly it obliges in the article of death; since above all at that time each man is bound to consult his own eternal salvation. That this precept obliges outside the article of death also, the common and true opinion affirms. Since indeed affirmative precepts oblige not only in extreme necessity, but also when their observance is prudently judged necessary. A certain rule of the obligation for this or that time, besides what the Church prescribes, cannot absolutely be designated; but each man ought by the counsel of a prudent confessor to apply this remedy to himself.

III. QUESTION II. When there is present a danger of forgetting some, or many, mortal sins, is a man bound to confess before the year? ANSWER. Fr. Leander, tract 5, disputation 3, question 5, defends the negative opinion as the more probable, and cites for the same Valentia, Vásquez, Sylvester, Soto, de Lugo, and others: because, he says, almost all of us sin so often in the course of a year that in Lent we do not remember the true number: and because we are obliged to it by no law, and without a law an obligation is not to be asserted.

IV. This opinion, as my least judgment bears, is false. Do we all sin mortally so often? Is the penance of all therefore unstable? Is there therefore no true penitent in the Church? But that all men sin mortally so often in a year that in Lent they do not remember the certain number, is an assertion which seems to defame the Catholic Church, in which there are very many elect who either never or most rarely sin knowingly and mortally. If we wrote such things, what rumours would the probabilists not stir up? The very law of nature obliges us to guard beforehand against the danger of forgetting mortal sins.

V. QUESTION III. What is to be said of the following opinion of Fr. Gobat? ANSWER. Fr. George Gobat writes these things, tract 6, no. 261: “Although, by deferring confession until the article of death, or until Easter, you be certain that on account of this delay you will forget many crimes, yet there does not thence arise for you an obligation of confessing sooner. So assuredly holds the common sense, as I reckon, both of those confessing and of confessors.”

VI. Common sense illuminated by the natural and evangelical light, and not obscured by the prejudices of Probabilism, abhors from an opinion so false and lax.

VII. QUESTION IV. What is to be said of the opinion of Leander denying the duty of confessing for those who wish to receive other sacraments besides the Eucharist? ANSWER. Fr. Leander of the Most Holy Sacrament, tract 5, disputation 5, question 19, answers these things to the proposed question: “But MOST CERTAINLY I answer that they are not bound, because no precept exists imposed concerning this, as is clearly gathered from Trent. So Victoria, Sylvester, Angelus, Soto, whom Suárez cites and follows, and Fagundez, de Lugo, Villalobos, and all commonly.”

VIII. Do the casuists therefore commonly defend that the faithful need not send confession before, when they must receive other sacraments besides the Eucharist? Let all hear the Catechism of the Council of Trent, part 2, chapter 5, § 43, where it lays down these things: Again, if we consider what the account of our salvation demands, assuredly whenever a danger of death threatens, or we set about treating some matter whose handling is not fitting for a man defiled with sin — as when we administer or receive the sacraments — then confession is not to be omitted. And the same ALTOGETHER, when we fear lest the forgetfulness of some fault which we have committed take hold of us: for neither can we confess sins which we do not remember; nor do we obtain pardon of sins from the Lord, unless the sacrament of Penance blot them out through confession.