Section 1: The Annual Confession

1. The precept of annual confession is stated in the New Code of Canon Law as follows: “Every Catholic of either sex, after having arrived at the years of discretion, that is, after having attained the use of reason, is bound to confess all his sins truthfully at least once a year.”¹

¹ C. I. C., can. 906.

a) The subject of this law is omnis utriusque sexus fidelis, i. e., every baptized Catholic who has arrived at the age of discretion. The age of discretion, as the law itself explains, is that at which a child begins to use his reason, i. e., about the seventh year. Pastors are consequently obliged to prepare the children entrusted to their care for the reception of the Sacrament of Penance, hear their confession, and give them absolution if they have committed a mortal sin, when they approach their seventh year, nay, even earlier if they enjoy the use of reason before that age.² Pope Pius X, in his famous decree “Quam singulari,” condemns the custom of not admitting children to confession, or not absolving them, when they have arrived at the age of discretion.³

² Cfr. A. Tanquerey, Synopsis Theol. Moralis et Pastoralis, Vol. I, p. 29.

³ “Quam singulari,” Aug. 8, 1910; cfr. J. B. Ferreres, S.J., The Decree on Daily Communion, tr. by H. Jimenez, S.J., London 1909.

b) The object of this precept is stated in the phrase, “omnia peccata sua.” It is the common opinion of theologians that this law affects only those who have fallen into mortal sin, as there is no precept, human or divine, which makes it obligatory to confess venial sins. The divine law does not impose this obligation, as the Council of Trent explains,⁴ and the Lateran law, transcribed by the Code, merely determines the divine law.⁵

⁴ Conc. Trident., Sess. XIV, c. 5.

⁵ Slater, Manual of Moral Theol., Vol. I, pp. 576 sq.

Hence a Catholic who has committed no mortal sin in the course of a year is not strictly bound to go to confession. It is advisable, however, that those too, who are conscious of venial sins only, go to confession at least once a year, lest, deprived of the grace of the Sacrament of Penance, they fall more easily into mortal sin.⁶

⁶ Tanquerey, op. cit., I, 29.

Some theologians hold that the precept of annual confession is not satisfied by confessing venial sins only and that, therefore, if one has gone to confession, say, at the beginning of the year, or of the paschal season, with none but venial sins, and afterwards, before the end of the year, has had the misfortune of falling into a mortal sin, he is obliged to go again, in order to comply with the law of the Church. Others (Palau, Victor, Reginald, Coninck, Laymann, Bonacina, Ballerini, Génicot, Tan- querey, etc.) hold that the ecclesiastical precept is fulfilled by any valid confession. In practice, therefore, it will be prudent to advise, but not to compel, penitents to make another confession.⁷

⁷ Op. cit., I, 30.

c) The manner in which the faithful should confess their sins is described by the word “fideliter,” which means that the confession must not be voluntarily invalid. “He who makes a sacrilegious or voluntarily invalid confession does not satisfy the law.”⁸ Voluntarily to make an invalid confession is to commit a sacrilege, and the law of the Church cannot be satisfied by a sacrilege.⁹

⁸ C. I. C., can. 907.

⁹ Tanquerey, Synopsis Theol. Mor. et Pastor., Vol. I, p. 30.

d) The frequency with which confession should be made is determined by the words, “saltem semel in anno.” The year within which the obligation must be complied with may be reckoned variously, e. g., from Easter to Easter, or from one confession to the next, or from the first of January to the thirty-first of December.¹⁰ However, as the Easter time is expressly assigned for the annual Communion, the two precepts are in practice generally fulfilled together within the time appointed for the Easter duty.¹¹ “Hence one who in the beginning of the year foresees that he will probably not be able to go to confession before the year ends, if conscious of mortal sin, must receive the Sacrament of Penance when the opportunity presents itself; for as the precept obliges “once a year,” it must be satisfied when it is morally possible to do so.

¹⁰ Cfr. J. B. Ferreres, S.J., Compend. Theol. Mor., Vol. I, p. 386; J. Bucceroni, Theol. Mor., Vol. I, n. 1558.

¹¹ Cfr. Slater, Manual of Moral Theol., Vol. I, p. 577.

One who is conscious of mortal sin, but has neglected to go to confession during the prescribed period, must do so as soon as the opportunity presents itself, because the law assigns the time for satisfying the obligation ad determinandam, not ad finiendam obligationem. This is the opinion of most theologians, though a few eminent authors hold that the obligation ceases when the time appointed for its fulfilment has expired.¹² No difficulty is likely to arise on this head, however, as St. Alphonsus teaches¹³ that one who has neglected the duty of annual confession one year, and comes to confession the next, accusing himself of the mortal sins he has committed in both years, satisfies his duty and is not, therefore, bound to confess twice, and the penitent, whether he knows of the theological discussion or not, will not consider himself guilty of a multiplication of sins for not having confessed quam primum or whenever an opportunity offered after the year had elapsed.

¹² Cfr. Tanquerey, Synopsis Theol. Mor. et Pastor., Vol. I, p. 30.

¹³ Theol. Mor., n. 669.

e) According to the present discipline it is no longer necessary to make the annual confession to one’s pastor, or to some priest authorized by him, for the Code says: “Every Catholic is free to confess his sins to any legitimately approved confessor, even of a different rite, as he may prefer.”¹⁴

¹⁴ C. I. C., can. 905.

f) A few historical notes on the precept of annual confession may be welcome. The canon “omnis utriusque sexus” of the fourth Lateran Council (1215), which has been received into the new Code, is the first universal law imposing annual confession in the Latin Church. It was preceded by many particular or local laws, which made the practice all but general throughout the West several centuries before that council was held. How far back the origin of this discipline goes cannot be determined with any degree of certainty. In the early days of Christianity the faithful probably went to confession only when they had committed “grave and mortal sins,”—sins of which St. Augustine says that, unlike the daily faults which God Himself pardons, they can be ordinarily remitted only through the power of the keys.¹⁵ A synodal statute of Rheims (perhaps of the seventh century) designates Lent as the time of the year when the pastor should hear the confessions of his people. But the authenticity of this law is doubtful. Towards the middle of the eighth century annual confession appears to have been a common practice.¹⁶ Later it became customary to go to confession three times a year,¹⁷ and laws to this effect were passed in various dioceses.¹⁸ But they were poorly observed. In 1215, the fourth Lateran Council finally issued its twenty-first canon, which still governs ecclesiastical discipline on this point.¹⁹

¹⁵ Serm., 278 (Migne, P. L., XXXVIII, 2273 sqq.).

¹⁶ Cfr. A. Villien, History of the Commandments of the Church, p. 158.

¹⁷ Ibid., pp. 162 sqq.

¹⁸ Ibid., pp. 166.

¹⁹ Text of the whole canon in the Corpus Iuris Canonici, l. V, tit. XXXVIII; analysis in Villien, op. cit., pp. 167 sqq.

READINGS.—Ths. Slater, S.J., A Manual of Moral Theology, Vol. I, pp. 576 sq.—Ad. Tanquerey, Synopsis Theol. Mor. et Pastor., Vol. I, pp. 27 sqq.—H. Noldin, S.J., Summa Theol. Mor., Vol. II, pp. 713 sqq.—J. B. Ferreres, S.J., Comp. Theol. Mor., Vol. I, pp. 386 sq.—A. Lehmkuhl, S.J., Theol. Mor., Vol. I, pp. 838 sqq.—Sabetti-Barrett, Comp. Theol. Mor., pp. 328 sqq.

On the history of the precept see A. Villien, A History of the Commandments of the Church (English tr.), St. Louis, 1915, pp. 151-188.