Point II. On the Confession and Absolution of the Dying

505. • I. Every dying person who in some manner confesses by voice or sign, or asks for absolution, can and must be absolved, and indeed absolutely. The reason is that all things required for the Sacrament and for formally integral confession are present. - St. Lig., no. 480, and others commonly.

II. Every dying person in whom attrition and confession can in some manner be presumed with however slight a probability can and must be absolved, at least conditionally; because in a case of extreme necessity it is lawful even in the administration of the Sacraments to use an opinion which is only slightly founded. - St. Lig., no. 482, and others more commonly against others.

III. A dying person who altogether refuses the Sacrament of Penance, or who can in no way be presumed to have attrition, can in no manner be absolved ¹. The reason is most clearly evident.

¹ No one will deny that he who can in no way be judged disposed ought not and cannot be absolved. But since a disposition can be presumed even in one who is deprived of his senses in the very act of sinning, as the Author, after others, has in the Resolutions, it is scarcely apparent when it will happen that a dying person can in no manner be presumed to have attrition.

506. Resolutions. - 1. All dying persons not yet deprived of their senses, who consent to absolution and obey the commands of the Confessor, are to be absolved: absolutely, if they ask for confession of their own accord or propose to confess with a willing mind; but conditionally, if they are only with difficulty induced to some confession, or if there is prudent doubt concerning their sufficient disposition. - Thus commonly.

2. At least conditionally, all dying persons deprived of their senses who, before the loss of their senses, expressly showed a desire for confession, for example, by ordering a Priest to be summoned, etc., are to be absolved. The reason is that they are judged truly to confess through the testimony of those present; for a confession as though through an interpreter then seems to be made. This is established from the Councils and from the Roman Ritual. - St. Lig., no. 481.

3. Under condition, all dying persons altogether deprived of their senses who lived as Christians are to be absolved, even if at that time they gave no sign either of sorrow or of a desire for confession. The reason is that sorrow and a desire for absolution can be presumed in them. - St. Lig., no. 482; Lacroix, no. 1162; Elbel, no. 208; Collet, ch. 6, etc.

4. Other dying persons deprived of their senses who lived in a less Christian manner are also to be absolved conditionally, because even in them penitence and a desire for confession can still in some manner be presumed ². - Collet, ibid.; Lacroix, ibid.

² These things accord with the doctrine which we read in St. Augustine (De Adulterinis Coniugiis, bk. 1, ch. 26, no. 33): To catechumens placed at the end of this life, if they have been so oppressed by sickness or some accident that, although they still live, they cannot ask that Baptism be given to them... let that which is their already known will in the Christian faith profit them, so that they may be baptized in the manner in which infants, whose will has not yet appeared, are baptized.... Even if his will is uncertain, it is much better to give to one unwilling than to deny to one willing, when it does not appear whether he wills or does not will. These last words sufficiently indicate that there is question also of those concerning whom it is by no means clear whether they are disposed, because they can provide no sign of their will. And that these things have force also concerning the Sacrament of Penance, the same holy Doctor (ibid., ch. 28, no. 35) teaches in these words: I think that not only other catechumens, but also those themselves who, joined to the marriages of living persons, retain adulterous unions,

although we do not admit them to Baptism when sound in body, nevertheless, if they lie in a desperate condition and repent within themselves, and cannot answer for themselves, I think they are to be baptized, so that this sin also may be washed away with the others by the laver of regeneration. For who knows whether perhaps they had resolved to be detained by the allurements of adulterous flesh until Baptism?... But the case of Baptism is the same as that of reconciliation, if perhaps the danger of ending life has overtaken the penitent. For Mother Church ought not to wish even them to depart from this life without a pledge of peace. In this text the words repent within themselves, which are read in certain codices and editions, refer to the penitence which is conjectured, not to that which betrays itself by some sign, as the context itself proclaims.

Moreover, there is a twofold reason by which the foregoing opinion of the holy Doctor, insofar as he teaches that either Baptism or reconciliation is to be given to a man who manifests his present will by no indication, can and customarily is reconciled with the common doctrine concerning the Sacrament of Penance. For while the Doctors commonly agree that absolution, at least under condition, is not to be denied to dying persons of this kind, nevertheless Viva with certain others (in St. Alphonsus, bk. 6, no. 482), according to the opinion which holds that the acts of the penitent are the matter from which of the sacrament and therefore must in some manner be sensible, contends that the dying person can be absolved insofar as any of his movements, sighs, labored breathing, rolling of the eyes, etc., are to be accepted as signs by which he asks for absolution and which in so great a necessity suffice for granting absolution under condition. But others, according to a different opinion attributed to the Scotistic school, reply (in the same St. Alph., loc. cit.) that it does not hinder that the sick person cannot provide a sign of his will; for the acts of the penitent are only the matter about which, that is, the disposition for the sacrament, which need not necessarily be sensible. Concerning each of these opinions we have already said some things above (in the note at no. 417). These things, as is evident, contribute nothing to practice, because in practice the patrons of each opinion contend that absolution is to be given. Nevertheless, if it is asked which side is moved by the more solid reason to define that in these circumstances the dying person can and must be absolved, perhaps one will only with difficulty grant the palm to the first opinion. First, in the former opinion this will rightly seem hard, that if the dying person exhibits absolutely no external movement, as sometimes happens, absolution can in no way be imparted according to its principles, since sensible matter is lacking. Then, although each opinion is equal in this, that it must equally employ conjectures in presuming the disposition of the sick person, nevertheless, the probability required concerning the validity of the sacrament shines forth much greater in the latter opinion than in the former. For the probability of the opinion which holds the acts of the penitent as the matter about which, and therefore does not require an external sign of disposition from the penitent for the essence of the sacrament, far exceeds the probability by which a movement of the finger, a rolling of the eyes, or the labored breathing of the sick person must be accepted, according to the former opinion, as signs of one asking for absolution; this probability is called slight by these very Authors (in St. Alph., loc. cit.), and in reality can be so slight that it easily slips from the hands, indeed even from the eyes.

5. A dying person deprived of his senses in the very act of sin, for example, in a duel, adultery, theft, etc., can probably be absolved under condition, because even he can be sufficiently disposed. This especially has place for one who perhaps was led to the sin by fear, human respect, etc. - St. Lig., no. 483; Elbel, no. 211; and others probably.