Article — Gury-Ballerini, Compendium of Moral Theology (8th ed., 1884)
Article I. On the Necessity of Confession
- Principles. - I. Sacramental confession is necessary by divine law for all who after Baptism have fallen into mortal sin. This is evident: 1. from Sacred Scripture; for Christ says to the Apostles, John 20:22: Receive the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. - And in Matt. 16:19 Christ said to Peter: Whatever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven. And at 18:18 He says to all the Apostles: Whatever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven. Hence thus: Christ instituted the Apostles and Priests as judges and physicians, without whose sentence and cure no one gravely fallen after Baptism can be reconciled and healed; but they cannot discharge this twofold office when the cause is unknown: for how could Priests discern among sins, remitting some and retaining others, unless they could render a judgment concerning each? What reason would there be for pardoning some but denying pardon to others? To what end would that supreme power of the keys handed down by Christ to the Apostles and their successors tend? It would indeed be illusory if sinners were not bound to approach Priests and manifest their sins to them. Therefore, it is necessary that mortal sins committed after Baptism be subjected to the power of the keys or the judgment of Priests. Therefore confession is necessary by divine law.
This is evident: 2. from the Council of Trent, sess. 14, canon 7, in these words: If anyone says that in the Sacrament of Penance, for the remission of sins, it is not necessary by divine law to confess each and every mortal sin, etc., let him be anathema. - Add innumerable other decisions of Councils and Supreme Pontiffs.
This is evident: 3. from tradition and the argument of prescription. For confession has always been in use from the beginning of the Church, as is evident from innumerable testimonies of the Holy Fathers, which can be seen among authors treating Dogmatic Theology. Therefore, it was instituted as necessary by Christ and transmitted through the Apostles. This is evident according to the well-known Rule of St. Augustine, bk. 4, De Baptismo contra Donatistas, ch. 24: That which the universal Church holds, and which was not instituted by Councils but has always been retained, is most rightly believed to have been handed down by apostolic authority. Moreover, the confession of sins is a matter so arduous and difficult that it would never have been observed so perseveringly and universally for so many centuries unless it had been instituted as necessary by Christ.
- II. Confession is also necessary by ecclesiastical law, at least once a year, for all the faithful who have sinned gravely. This is evident from the Councils, but especially from the Fourth Lateran Council under Innocent III, in these words: Every faithful person of either sex, after he has reached the years of discretion, shall alone faithfully confess all his sins at least once a year to his own Priest and endeavor, according to his own ability, to fulfill the penance enjoined upon him...; otherwise, while living, let him be barred from entrance into the Church, and when dying, let him lack Christian burial.
- Questions. - QUESTION 1. When does the divine precept of confession bind?
Reply 1. It certainly binds of itself in danger, and all the more at the point of death, and sometimes in life. The reason for the first is that all positive precepts bind at least at the time of necessity; otherwise they would never bind and would be imposed in vain. The reason for the second is that affirmative precepts do not bind only in extreme necessity, but also when their fulfillment is reasonably judged necessary.
Reply 2. It often binds per accidens 1, namely: 1. when the Eucharist is to be received; 2. when the precept of being reconciled with God binds, or the state of grace is required, for example, for administering Sacraments, or for receiving those which are called the Sacraments of the living, and an act of perfect contrition cannot be elicited; 3. when a grave temptation presses which otherwise cannot be overcome.
1 The discussion, as is plain, concerns only those who are bound by the bond of mortal guilt.
QUESTION 2. Does the divine precept of confession bind immediately when a sin has been committed; or at what time does it bind?
Reply 1. It does not bind immediately after sin. The reason is that such an obligation rests upon no certain foundation. - Thus commonly. - St. Lig., no. 674.
Reply 2. It cannot easily be determined how many times in life and at what precise time the divine precept binds. Whatever the case, there is no doubt that he satisfies who confesses even only once a year; because it is not established that the divine precept binds more frequently; according to many, Christ left the time of the obligation to be determined by the Church. (More concerning the necessity of confession in the Treatise on the Precepts of the Church, vol. 1, no. 476 ff.)