Question VII

GRATIAN. PART I. Concerning the time of satisfaction—whether it is to be imposed upon the dying—Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, defines thus in his Penitential:

A pure confession of sins is to be sought from the infirm placed in danger of death; nevertheless, a quantity of penance is not to be imposed upon them, but is to be made known, and the burden of penance is to be relieved by the prayers of friends and endeavors of almsgiving if perhaps they should depart, lest, being bound, they become strangers to both communion and participation in pardon. If, divinely rescued from that danger, he recovers, let him diligently observe the measure of penance imposed upon him by the priest. Therefore, according to canonical authority, lest the door of piety appear closed to them, let them be refreshed by prayers and ecclesiastical consolations and by communion of the viaticum, anointed with the sacred anointing of oil according to the statutes of the holy Fathers. PART II. GRATIAN. But for others, times of penance are to be decreed according to the quality of the sin and the judgment of those presiding. Hence Pope Leo, [epistle 77, otherwise 79, to Bishop Nicetas, c. 6]:

With moderation observed, the times of penitence are to be established by your judgment, according as you shall have perceived the minds of the converted to be devoted, likewise taking account of old age and considering the necessities of any dangers or illnesses. In these, if anyone is so gravely pressed that, while he is still doing penance, his salvation is despaired of, it is fitting that he be assisted by the grace of communion through sacerdotal solicitude.

Likewise Pope Nicholas. Concerning those who perform penance for crimes and return to the military belt, it is established that they act contrary to the sacred rules. But because the crimes are not equal, and you report that some of these persons fell into despair on account of excessive dullness while others fled to the pagans for this reason, we commit this to you for decision, since, being present, you can examine the places and circumstances of that region, the measure of the fault, and also the penance and groans of the persons coming to confession.

Likewise from the Council of Laodicea, [c. 2]. To those who incur lapses of diverse sins and through prayer, confession, and penance for their evils demonstrate perfect conversion, a time of penance is to be assigned according to the quality of the sin, on account of the mercy and goodness of God. Therefore, those who are of this kind are to be recalled and joined to communion.

Likewise from the Third Council of Carthage, [c. 31]. Let times of penance be decreed for penitents according to the difference of their sins by the bishop’s judgment.

Likewise from the Fourth Council of Carthage, [cc. 74, 75, 80, 82, 81, 64, and 79]. Let a priest enjoin penance according to the laws upon one imploring penance, without respect of person. But let more negligent penitents be reconciled more slowly. During every time of fasting let hands be imposed upon penitents by priests. On days of remission also, let penitents bend their knees, carry the dead into the church, and bury them. But on the Lord’s day let them not fast. For one who deliberately fasts on the Lord’s day is not believed to be Catholic. But if penitents who attentively execute the laws of penance should happen to die on a journey or at sea, where assistance cannot be given to them, let their memory be commended both by prayers and offerings. Hence it is read in the Eighth Synod:

Let the time of penance be expended according to the quality of the offense.

Likewise. Let this be placed in the judgment of those who preside: for how much time or in what manner those who offend ought to do penance, because age too causes there to be a great difference in punishment for instruction. PART III. GRATIAN. With what disposition we ought to receive the penitent and cast out the impenitent is shown clearly from the same synod when it says:

One who repents from the heart ought to be received just as the Lord showed when he says: “I called together my friends and neighbors, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that I had lost.”

Likewise. Let the penitent receive into himself the disposition borne by the one who said: “I have held iniquity in hatred and abhorred it,” according to those things written in the sixth Psalm and in very many others, or those things the Apostle said to those who were made sorrowful according to God: “How much,” he says, “it has worked in us solicitude, indeed defense, indeed indignation, indeed emulation, indeed vengeance. In all things you have shown yourselves to be circumspect in the matter.” But also, in the very things in which he offended, let him do many contrary things, just as Zacchaeus did.

Likewise. Toward one who does not punish his sins, we ought to be such as the Lord commanded, saying: “Let him be to you as a gentile and a publican”; and as the Apostle taught, saying: “Withdraw yourselves from every brother walking in a disorderly manner and not according to the tradition that we handed down to you.”

Likewise John Chrysostom, [that is, the author of the Imperfect Work, homily on c. 23 of Matthew]. “But they bind heavy and unbearable burdens, etc.” Such even now are the priests who command all justice to the people and themselves observe not even a little, evidently so that they may appear just not by doing but by speaking. Such are those who impose a heavy burden upon those coming to penance, because they say and do not; and thus, while the punishment of present penance is fled, the future punishment of sin is contemned. For just as, if you place upon the shoulders of a young man a bundle that he cannot carry, he necessarily either casts away the bundle or is crushed beneath its weight, so also a person upon whom you impose a heavy burden of penance will either reject the penance or, undertaking it, because he cannot bear it, will be scandalized and sin further. Then, even if we err by imposing a small penance, is it not better to render an account because of mercy than because of cruelty? For where the father of the household is generous, the steward ought not to be miserly. If God is kind, why does his priest wish to appear austere?

Likewise Pope Martin, [c. 74]. PART IV. It is not lawful to perform the unlawful observances of the Kalends, to devote oneself to idleness, or to encircle houses with laurel or the greenery of trees; this entire observance belongs to the pagans. Pope Zacharias, [in the Roman Council, c. 9]:

If anyone shall have presumed to observe the Kalends of January according to the rite of pagans, to do anything more of a new kind because of the new year, to prepare tables with lamps or banquets in houses, or to lead singers and dances through streets and squares, let him be anathema.

Likewise Augustine. Let priests admonish the faithful peoples so that they may know that magical arts and incantations can furnish no remedy for any infirmities of human beings and can heal nothing in sick, lame, or even dying animals, but that these are snares and ambushes of the ancient enemy by which that faithless one strives to deceive the human race. And if anyone shall have practiced these things, let a cleric be degraded and a layperson anathematized.

Likewise Augustine. Do not observe the days called Egyptian or the Kalends of January, on which certain songs and feastings occur and gifts are given to one another as an augury of good fortune at the beginning of the year; or any months, seasons, days, and years; or the course of the moon, month, and sun. For one who observes or attends to these or any divinations, fates, or auguries, or consents uselessly and without cause to those observing them, tends more toward his own condemnation than toward salvation. This applies whether through certain numbers of letters and of the moon they inquire by Pythagorean necromancy into the life or death of the sick, or future prosperity or adversity; whether they attend to dream books written and falsely entitled in the name of Daniel and the lots called those of the holy Apostles, and the auguries of birds; whether they say incantations for building a house, joining marriages, or gathering herbs; whether they place little written images for any infirmity upon human beings or animals, apart from the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer; or whether they believe in magical falsehoods concerning hailmakers and storms. But those who believe such persons, go to their houses, or introduce them into their own houses in order to question them should know that they have transgressed the Christian faith and baptism, have become a pagan and apostate—that is, one going backward—and an enemy of God, and have gravely incurred the wrath of God for eternity unless, amended by ecclesiastical penance, they are reconciled to God. For the Apostle says: “Whether you eat, or drink, or do anything else, do it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we live, move, and are.” Augustine also writes concerning observations of times in the Enchiridion, [c. 79]:

Who would think how great a sin it is to observe days, months, years, and seasons—as those observe them who on certain days, months, or years wish or refuse to begin something because according to the vain doctrines of human beings they regard the times as auspicious or inauspicious—unless we weighed the magnitude of this evil from the Apostle’s fear, who says to such persons: “I fear for you, lest perhaps I have labored among you without cause”? The same upon the epistle to the Galatians, [on c. 4]. § 1. Let the reader understand that superstitious observations of times pertain to so great a danger of the soul that the Apostle says: “I fear for you, lest perhaps I have labored among you without cause.” Although this is read throughout the world in the churches with such solemnity and authority, nevertheless our assemblies are full of persons who receive from astrologers the times for undertaking affairs. Indeed, they often do not hesitate to admonish even us that nothing should be begun—whether buildings or any works of this kind—on the days they call Egyptian.

Likewise Jerome. It is lawful for one suffering a demon to possess stones or herbs without incantation.