Article — Konings, Theologia Moralis
ARTICLE I: ON THE IMPOSITION OF PENANCE
1381. Principles. - I. The confessor is held to impose a penance on every penitent who can perform it. The reason is clear, 1° because satisfaction is an integral part of the Sacrament of Penance, having an effect ex opere operato, and a greater effect by force of the Sacrament than without it. But the confessor, as Minister of the Sacrament, is held to procure its integrity as far as lies in him; otherwise he would not be a faithful dispenser; 2° because the confessor is held both to vindicate and to heal. This is clear also from Trent. See St. Alphonsus.
II. The confessor is held to enjoin penances both vindicative and medicinal, suitable and salutary, i.e. in some way proportionate to the number and gravity of the sins, and also to the strength and dispositions of the penitent. The reason is clear from the nature of the matter, since sacramental satisfaction is ordered to the vindication of sins, which are more or less grave, and likewise more or fewer, and also to preventing new faults. This is clear from Trent.
Notes to n. 1381. (1) Sess. 14. c. 8. (2) L. VI. 506; H. A. Tr. XVI. 47. (3) Sess. 14. c. 8.
1382. Questions. - Query 1° How great is the obligation of imposing penance?
Resp. 1° This obligation is grave from its genus. The reason is that the obligation regards a grave matter, although from smallness of matter one can sin against it only venially. - Hence the confessor can also sin gravely if, for grave faults, he should impose very light penances without an excusing cause. - Thus commonly.
Resp. 2° As regards venial sins, it is controverted. Some affirm that it is grave, because the enjoining of satisfaction pertains to the rite of this Sacrament; and since this rite was instituted by Christ, it must be held as a grave matter. - But others say that it is light, because a grave obligation of enjoining penance for light faults only cannot be proved, since in this no grave disorder appears; which opinion is probable, as St. Alphonsus says.
Query 2° When must penance be imposed?
Resp. Generally speaking it is to be imposed before absolution: the reason is that thus the order of judgment is observed, which requires that the guilty person first promise satisfaction before he is absolved. But if the confessor from forgetfulness did not enjoin the penance before absolution, he must impose it after absolution. Nevertheless it is not grave to impose penance immediately after absolution; indeed probably it is free from all fault if it is presumed that the penitent will accept the work enjoined upon him.
Query 3° How much penance must be imposed on sinners?
Resp. The quantity of penance cannot be determined universally; but it is left to the prudence and judgment of the confessor. Nevertheless, regularly and per se, he must impose grave penance for mortal sins. Thus from Trent.
Query 4° What penance is judged grave per se for one or another mortal sin?
Resp. A penance is to be judged grave, at least from the present practice of the Church, which corresponds to a work which is enjoined under grave obligation by the Church, or which would oblige of itself under grave obligation if it were prescribed.
Hence a grave penance, and one sufficient for an ordinary grave sin, will be to hear Mass, to fast, to recite the Rosary, even if only of five decades, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, the Litany of the Saints, and other similar things; but it would not be judged a grave penance if only the Psalm Miserere were imposed.
Query 5° For what cause can a lighter penance be imposed?
Resp. 1° If the penitent is very weak and infirm in body; concerning this matter the Roman Ritual speaks thus: "Let the Priest remember that a grave and laborious penance is not to be enjoined on the sick, but only that which, if they recover, they may perform at a suitable time." But if the sick person is constituted in danger of death, then he can be absolved without any penance, although it is always expedient to impose some penance on him; 2° if there is a prudent fear lest he not fulfill a greater penance, or lest on account of a heavier penance he be turned away from Confession; 3° if a greater penance would probably be more harmful to him than profitable; 4° if the penitent appears very contrite; 5° if there is present a time for gaining a plenary indulgence, especially of Jubilee. For the rest, with grave infirmity, or very vehement contrition, or some other very rare case excepted, the confessor would not act well if for mortal faults he enjoined a penance light per se, which carries a light obligation. For although, if it is expedient, a work may be imposed which, respectively to the sins, is light, nevertheless regularly some grave penance under grave obligation is always to be enjoined, with a heavier one added under light obligation, if it so seems.
Query 6° Can penance be imposed under the condition of relapse?
Resp. Affirm., "provided that," besides, "a proportionate penance for the sins confessed be imposed," because otherwise there would in fact be no penance, if perchance the penitent did not relapse into sin. "But it is not expedient to impose it" beyond a month or another Confession, "because afterward it is easily neglected and sins are multiplied."
Query 7° Can a public penance be imposed?
Resp. Neg., if there is question of hidden sins. - Thus the Roman Ritual. But otherwise for public sins. Nevertheless, if public penance is not so necessary, the confessor ought not to impose it on one refusing it, since otherwise his salvation can be obtained and scandal repaired.
Query 8° Can a work otherwise due be imposed for penance?
Resp. Affirm. The reason is that since that work is satisfactory, it can well be elevated through the keys to the merit of sacramental satisfaction. Nevertheless, in practice this should not be done except on account of the frailty of the penitent. Nor is it to be presumed that the confessor has chosen a work already due, unless either this is established concerning it, or there is a founded presumption. Cf. n. 134. R. ad a).
Notes to n. 1382 - note sequence 1. (1) L. VI. 506. (2) Ib. et H. A. Tr. XVI. 47. (3) Ib. 514. 8. H. A. Tr. XVI. 47. (4) Sess. 14. c. 8. L. VI. 508. Notes to n. 1382 - note sequence 2. (1) L. VI. 515. (2) H. A. Tr. XVI. 49. (3) L. VI. 508 sq. (4) Ib. 510 in fine. 518. H. A. Tr. XVI. 51. Prax. Conf. n. 13. (5) Ib. 524. H. A. Tr. XVI. 52. Prax. Conf. n. 13. III.
1383. Resolves. - 1° Perpetual penances are never to be imposed, both because they are wont to induce danger of forgetfulness or excessive anxiety, and because, if such penances are imposed by various confessors on the same penitent, he will be bound at the same time and for his whole life by innumerable bonds. Indeed penances are not ordinarily to be imposed for a long time, e.g. for a year, or for five months.
2° Those satisfactions are never to be imposed which can expose the penitent to the mockery of others, e.g. that he recite in the middle of the Church five Paters with arms extended, etc. - But a fortiori penances are not to be imposed which cannot be fulfilled without the revelation of Confession easily following.
3° Nor are fasts to be imposed on boys, country people, artisans wearied by continual labor; nor on children of a family who by fasting would cast astonishment on their parents, or even offend them. Nor are pilgrimages or lengthy prayers to be enjoined, or generally alms, on women constituted under the power of a husband, just as neither on the poor procuring their living by constant labor.
4° Penances involved in many diverse works are not to be imposed, because they could not be retained by memory; nor, ordinarily at least, penances too repugnant to nature, e.g. to sign the cross with the tongue on the ground, to visit enemies, etc. It is also generally imposed imprudently on boys that they ask pardon of parents or of others, on account of disobedience, irreverence, or little thefts; because they often render Confession odious, and for the most part are omitted, etc. (I) p. 406.
Notes to n. 1383. (1) L. VI. 512. (2) Ib. 513. (3) H. A. Tr. XVI. 52. Appendix annotation (Iota), to n. 1383. p. 128. col. 1. To the preceding resolutions I also add these things from the distinguished Van Egeren, De Satisf. Sacram. "This is most worthy of observation for a confessor, yet it is not attended to often enough: namely, that the devil is the con-cause of many causes of sin, so that the greater part of sins, especially those which are admitted by persons more fearful, is not to be judged to have been perpetrated without any instigation of the demon. And hence the practice of those is very much to be approved who, with other causes sometimes less attended to, once or twice impose for penance principally remedies specially adapted to the assault of the demon, for example, repeated invocation of the Most Holy Names of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, imploration of the help of the Guardian Angel, veneration of the Crucifix, sprinkling with holy water, carrying blessed images, etc." To the question: What penances, considering present-day morals, are generally useful for all? he responds: "Those penances generally are useful for all which, while small mortifications or modest alms are not altogether always excluded, nevertheless consist principally in vocal prayers or other not unusual works of piety, provided these very things, insofar as it can be done, are adapted according to the diversity of cases to punish and amend sins salutarily and fittingly. But such adaptation will often be made with success through determination of the mode of execution, for example, of kneeling, of extension of the arms, etc.; - through determination of the time, for example, as often as perhaps you have relapsed; each morning or evening; at the time of Mass during the elevation of the Sacred Host and Chalice; - through determination of the place, for example, in church before the Most Holy, before an image of the Crucifix, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of St. Joseph, before the bed before going to sleep, etc.; - but above all through determination of the intention with which they are done, while nevertheless guarding against confusion and always seeing what the capacity of the penitent can do, what it refuses to bear. And indeed, the highest importance of positively determining an intention of this kind will become more clearly evident even from these few examples, namely: "To the proud man enjoin a prayer to be recited devoutly with the express intention, that by being lifted up you may never provoke the divine indignation, like the proud Pharisee; or another time, that God may be propitious to you, as to the humble Publican; or another time, if there is question of one more devout, that some humiliation may befall you from men, etc. "To the avaricious man, a prayer with the express intention, lest by accumulating temporal goods you lose eternal goods; or another time, that you may obtain the grace of Christian mercy toward the poor, etc. "To the lustful man, a fervent prayer to the most pure Heart of Jesus, or to the Blessed Virgin conceived immaculate, that not so many men be damned eternally by reason of lust; or another time, that henceforth you may serve God with a chaste heart and please Him with a clean heart; or again, that you may be filled with a holy shame of yourself, who, created to the image of God, have plainly assimilated yourself to uncomprehending beasts, etc. "To the drunken man, a prayer for all who have seen you drunk, that they may not imitate your evil example; or another time, for your household family, that, with God providing, it may not miserably perish by your scandal and wasting, but by the Consoler of those who mourn and the Protector of the innocent; or again, that the Savior thirsting on the Cross may preserve you from the outcry of everlasting thirst in hell, etc. "To the thief, a prayer that the paternal Divine Providence may rather send some misfortune upon you than permit you again to stretch out your hands to the goods of others; or another time, that, with the help of the grace of God, you may vividly believe that the thief will be excluded from the kingdom of heaven, or that his sin is not forgiven him unless what has been taken away is restored, etc. "To the distrustful man, a prayer before the Crucifix, that, considering the mercy of God, you may be raised up into hope and firmly trust that God, on account of Christ, will be propitious to you; to which prayer afterward for some time a pious aspiration of this kind should be joined: O Cross of Jesus, my one hope, hail; or another time, which we read was more frequently recommended by St. Alphonsus and St. Leonard: O my Jesus! mercy; or again: O Mary, show thyself to be a mother. Hail, my life, sweetness, and hope! etc. "To the blasphemer, a prayer lest your house be deprived of heavenly favor and blessing, as experience testifies happens so often by reason of blasphemy; or another time, lest you learn further on earth those infernal canticles which the damned will sing eternally; or again, that, with the grace of God exciting and helping, as soon as perhaps you relapse, under a humble striking of the breast you may proclaim: Praised be Jesus Christ, or Hallowed be thy name, etc. "To the tepid man, a prayer lest the merciful God begin to vomit you, neither cold nor hot, out of His mouth, etc. "But it is not to be passed over here in silence that the discreet choice itself of various prayers or pious exercises is intimately connected with a determination of intention of this kind; by this the attention of the penitent is accustomed to be much strengthened, while now these, now those, now certain, but few, are imposed together according as the thing calls. Suppose, for example, the case in which to one approaching Confession on the feast of Pentecost there seems to be enjoined a devout invocation of the Holy Spirit, that He may kindle in his heart the fire of His love, exceedingly diminished by venial sins. What prayer will you choose for this end? Indeed you will be able suitably to choose that any prayer proper to this Feast be recited once, for example, the Litany of the Holy Spirit; but, to excite the greater attention of the penitent, you will sometimes more aptly choose that the prayer which is found after the Litany of the Holy Spirit in prayer books be recited daily through the octave. "Moreover, there are almost innumerable prayers or other works of piety from which this choice can be made." See, for example, n. 1387 of this Compendium. "Several will occur finally" to one reading "spiritual books, or investigating the mind of holy confessors, who have committed to writing their salutary thoughts on this matter. Thus, for example, St. Alphonsus in Praxis, n. 14, while inquiring rather diligently, among penances generally useful, recounts in the first place: to be joined to some congregation; and certainly, as I note in passing, you will find no penance more useful than this. ... Thereafter the same Holy Doctor, l. c., testifies: 'I have been accustomed mostly to enjoin, or at least to advise for those who were not accustomed to use it, the penance of reciting the Angelic Salutation three times morning and evening, with the supplication: My Mother, help me today, lest I sin against God.' To not a few it has also often seemed good to enjoin for penance: for some time, and especially in the event of a base temptation or of a relapse into lust, five Pater and Ave in honor of the five Wounds, with the successive veneration of each, namely, with kissing. Still, according to all, it will be of very great profit to impose that for some time each morning a firm purpose of vigorously fighting such a vice on that day be renewed before God." It is useful besides to note three things expressly: A. Concerning suffrages for the faithful departed. - That suffrages for the dead constitute matter generally apt for all, which may sometimes be enjoined for sacramental satisfaction, the Roman Catechism is a witness of the highest authority. Moreover, for penitents accustomed to confess venial sins only, a penance of this kind will then especially become most useful when it is imposed under some mode by which they may better understand that venial sins also merit a great punishment before the divine Judge, for example under this or a similar mode: say five Pater and Ave for those faithful departed who are paying penalties in purgatory because of voluntary distractions in prayer; or another time, for those just souls which are tormented by the fire of purgatory because of disobediences toward parents, because of sins of the ears or tongue, because of tepidity in approaching the Sacraments, etc. B. Concerning the Way of the Cross. - The exercise of the Way of the Cross is one thing when public, which at fixed times is accustomed to be performed solemnly in churches; another when private, which is customarily done separately by the faithful. The imposition of the first exercise for the most part can be accommodated sufficiently to all; but the imposition - I do not say the persuasion - of the second exercise will not rarely be less accommodated to those who thus far have had no or little use of it. - But when these things have been attended to by a prudent confessor, concerning the eminent aptitude of the Way of the Cross for penance it will be useful to recall these words, most worthy of mention, from the Mystical Discourse of St. Leonard: An easier satisfaction for sins is also furnished by the frequenting of the Way of the Cross, both on account of the value of the indulgences, because of the gaining of which a penance less than just can often be imposed, and on account of the memory of the Lord's Passion, which is satisfactory in the highest degree, as Blosius says, and also because it is a most noble alexipharmacum preserving against further falls. And hence, with as much exertion and efficacy of spirit as I can, I ask and beseech all confessors that they show to their penitents the very great treasure of the Way of the Cross, enjoining in place of penance a visitation of the Way of the Cross to be completed so many times, for example; I for now would say: once or twice; and when this has been done, let them set down the scruple whether the other imposed penances are proportionate, since a single visitation of the Way of the Cross very abundantly supplies many other penances. C. Concerning penances for priests confessing. - A confessor receiving the Confession of a priest, upon which not only this man's salvation but also that of many can happen to depend, should before all else recall in his mind that he will render to God a terrible account if, overcome by human respect and having let go the holy liberty of spirit and speech, he exercises this office almost cursorily, as though it were the simple office of absolving, with some small penance indifferently chosen. Namely, without doubt, he must direct the penitent priest, who, otherwise than the rest of the faithful, is accustomed to have no Ananias outside Confession, as much as will seem necessary, to perfection and perseverance in the first charity of the priesthood received, by opportune admonitions, and no less by penances efficaciously salutary and suitable to him. But he will be able to choose penances of this kind sometimes from works which are generally useful for all, sometimes from works specially appropriated to the priestly state, such as, for example, are judged: "a) Prayers from the Roman Missal to be said at will on certain days: for the priest himself; for the petition of tears; for the remission of sins; for repelling evil thoughts; for asking continence; for asking humility, patience, etc. "b) A brief meditation concerning the very great utility of daily mental prayer of at least one quarter-hour, without which, says St. Alphonsus, it will be most difficult to be a good priest. "c) Prayers for deceased priests who are paying penalties in purgatory because of defects committed in the hearing of Confessions, in the visitation of the sick, in the instruction of children, etc. "d) Prayers for oneself and other priests associated in the priesthood in the same parish, that, united by the bond of charity, you may collaborate with fruit in the salvation of souls. "e) Prayers for resuscitating in you, according to the admonition of the Apostle, the priestly grace received in the Ordination of the presbyter. "f) Examination of conscience concerning your priestly duties. "g) A fitting preparation for Mass, with an added act of charity and contrition; or a fitting thanksgiving with the joined prayer: O good and sweetest Jesus, etc., for gaining the indulgence. "h) To be read ... from the Roman Pontifical, if it is at hand, some part of the prayers of the Ordination of a presbyter; or from the Roman Ritual, concerning the care and visitation of the sick, etc. "i) A prayer for asking the grace of fervent devotion toward the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Most Blessed Virgin, the mother specially of the ministers of her Son, etc.; or sometimes also a prayer for obtaining the grace of receiving the Sacraments of those departing this life, of which, if you consult experience, not a few priests have been deprived, with divine Providence so permitting." And many similar things, very easy for a zealous confessor, as is fitting, to find.