Article II: On The Form Of The Sacrament Of Penance

1661. I. The FORM of the Sacrament of Penance is the words of the priest: I absolve you from your sins. - This is clear from Trent (sess. 14, cap. 3), where it says: "The Holy Synod teaches that the form of the Sacrament of Penance, in which its force is chiefly placed, is set in those words of the minister: I absolve you, etc." Therefore it is clear that the form must be indicative, not deprecative, whatever may formerly have been disputed about the validity of a deprecative form.

Let it be noted: 1. The words I absolve you are of the essence; otherwise the presence of the penitent would not be indicated, nor would the very force of absolution be expressed. Some deny that the pronoun you is required for the value of the form, since this is sufficiently expressed in the word your. Although, speculatively speaking, this opinion seems more probable, nevertheless it cannot be held in practice, because the value of the Sacraments must be provided for most safely.¹³

2. The words from your sins, more probably, are not of the essence if it is said: I absolve you; because by the word you the matter is already sufficiently determined through the presence of the penitent who has confessed. But because the opposite opinion is also probable, those words could not be omitted without grave sin; and if they had been omitted, absolution would have to be repeated under condition.

3. The words In the name of the Father, etc., are not of the essence, because Christ did not here, as in Baptism, make mention of the Most Holy Trinity. Hence their omission would not exceed venial fault. Likewise, the pronoun I is not essential, as is clear.¹⁴

4. A form expressed by equivalent words would be valid, for example: I pardon, I remit your sins to you; or even if, for the sake of honor, it were said: I absolve Your Lordship, Your Excellency... But it would be illicit because unusual and contrary to the practice of the Church.

5. Several also would be validly absolved by this one form: I absolve you [plural], etc., because all things required for validity are found in it. But this can also be done licitly in a case of necessity, for example in shipwreck, before battle, or in battle itself.¹⁵

I ABSOLVE YOU FROM YOUR SINS, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER +, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. (If the penitent is a layman, the word of suspension is omitted.) - The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the Saints, whatever good you have done and whatever evil you have endured, may they be for you unto the remission of sins, the increase of grace, and the reward of eternal life. Amen.

"But in more frequent and shorter confessions, May Almighty God have mercy, etc., can be omitted, and it will suffice to say: Our Lord Jesus Christ, etc., as above up to this: The Passion of our Lord, etc."¹

"But when some grave necessity urges in danger of death, he will be able to say briefly: I absolve you from all censures and sins, in the name of the Father +, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

Concerning these things it must be noted: 1. The words May Almighty God have mercy... Indulgence, etc., can be omitted without any sin, according to the common opinion. - 2. The words Our Lord, outside necessity, according to many, cannot be passed over without venial fault; and their reason is that the Ritual seems to prescribe them even in more frequent confessions, as was noted above; yet others, with the common opinion, contradict this. - 3. The words The Passion of the Lord, etc., can always be omitted without fault; nevertheless, since through them, according to the opinion of St. Thomas, the good works of the penitent are raised to the dignity and merit of sacramental satisfaction, it is greatly to be advised that they never, or at least very rarely, be left unspoken.² - 4. The elevation of the hand and the formation of the cross are not necessarily required while absolving, although it is better to observe the custom. - 5. A pious custom has similarly prevailed that the confessor bless the penitent before confession with these words: May the Lord be in your heart and on your lips, that you may rightly confess all your sins; but neither is this formula of blessing prescribed by any law. - 6. The confessor gives absolution sitting, in the manner of a judge pronouncing sentence. - 7. "It is advisable," says St. Alphonsus,³ "that in the presence of other penitents the words of absolution be said quietly, lest, if someone is dismissed without absolution, others perceive it."

1663. Questions. Q. 1. Whether absolution can be sent to an ABSENT person?

Resp. No, since the form of the Sacrament cannot be expressed otherwise than by the voice. And this is certain among all; for in the year 1602 Clement VIII proscribed as false and rash this proposition: "It is licit through letters, or through a messenger, to confess sacramentally to an absent confessor, and to obtain absolution from him while he is absent."⁴ Therefore, since the Pontiff declared absolution of this sort illicit, he also declared it invalid, because in cases of necessity he could not have prohibited it. Now, such is the prohibition that absolution cannot even be sent to a penitent who has made confession while present, as Pope Paul V expressly declared on July 17 in the year 1605.⁵

Q. 2. What PRESENCE of the penitent is required, that he can be absolved?

Resp. Moral presence suffices, namely that within which men, with an ordinary voice, although somewhat raised, can and are accustomed to speak. Many extend this to twenty paces, especially if the penitent has not yet gone out from the sight of the confessor. But in a case of necessity, absolution is to be given whenever the one to be absolved is perceived by some sense. Hence, a penitent can be absolved who has already withdrawn from the confessional and is not much distant, and indeed licitly if he cannot conveniently be called back; likewise one who falls from a roof, who falls into a river, who, affected by plague, cannot be approached, etc. Yet, if the one to be absolved should be more than twenty paces away, absolution would have to be given under condition.

Q. 3. Whether by the words I ABSOLVE YOU the priest can validly absolve the penitent both from sins and from censures?

Resp. Yes, according to the common opinion of authors. "The reason is that nothing prevents those words, from the intention of the priest, from being directed to absolution both from censures and from sins."⁶ Yet this, unless there were altogether absent any suspicion that the penitent had incurred some censure, is not excused from venial fault, since it is against the use of the Church. Indeed, a Priest who, against the prohibition of the Church, wished to absolve the penitent first from sins and then from censures would sin gravely; but if the penitent were in good faith, he would be validly absolved from sins, although absolution from censures had not been premised; because the prohibition of the Church cannot invalidate a Sacrament whose value depends on divine law, when all essential requisites concur for it (cf. n. 1405).

Q. 4. Whether absolution can validly and licitly be given UNDER CONDITION?

Resp. 1. It is given VALIDLY if it is given under a condition concerning the past or the present; for when the condition is verified, the form of the Sacrament passes before God into an absolute form; but when the condition is not verified, the Sacrament is not confected, nor does the priest intend to confect it. (Recall what was said at n. 1414.)

Resp. 2. It is also given LICITLY "provided a just cause is present; namely if, absolution being denied, notable detriment would threaten the soul of the penitent." Thus St. Alphonsus⁷ with the common body of Doctors, against some.

Moreover: 1. The reason why it is licitly given is this: the Sacraments are for men, and the reverence owed to the Sacrament is preserved intact by the reasonable condition which is added. More probably, a condition retained in the mind suffices; although it is safer to express it in words, for example, "if you are contrite..., if you are disposed..., if you are capable, I absolve you."

2. The reason why it is not licitly given except when notable detriment is feared is that a condition is not rashly to be added to the form, and in a divine rite something is not easily to be changed. Besides, the priest ought to be a prudent dispenser, which he certainly would not be if from a slight cause, or in every doubt, he imparted conditional absolution. Yet extreme necessity, or danger of life, is not required, as Collet contends with certain others. For rigor of this sort would equally be harmful to penitents, especially to those who are to be judged unlikely to return to the confessor, and who, dismissed without absolution, would incur the danger of eternal damnation.

Q. 5. What are JUST CAUSES for giving absolution under condition?

Resp. These just causes can be either on the part of the confessor or on the part of the penitent. - The principal ones are the following:⁸

I. ON THE PART OF THE CONFESSOR: 1. If he positively or prudently doubts whether he absolved or not; for then he is bound to say: "if you are not absolved, I absolve you." - 2. If he doubts whether he has jurisdiction over the penitent, that is, in a doubt of fact, for example when there is doubt whether he received jurisdiction from the Ordinary, or whether he lost it on account of revocation; for then, with sufficient cause, he can absolve conditionally, saying: "if I can, I absolve you," etc. But in this case, says St. Alphonsus,⁹ the penitent must be warned "that he has been absolved only under condition, so that if afterward perhaps it becomes known that the confessor truly lacked jurisdiction, that penitent should confess his mortal sins again, as he ought." But in a positive doubt of law, that is, if because of the authority of Doctors the jurisdiction of the priest is probable, as, for example, in common error, he can give absolution in an absolute manner; because, a grave cause standing, the Church certainly supplies, as will be explained below (n. 1755 and 1756).

II. ON THE PART OF THE PENITENT there is a twofold species of cases, and therefore a twofold rule must be established:

Rule 1. A penitent who, placed in EXTREME necessity of soul, presents doubtful matter or disposition, is to be absolved under condition, lest perhaps he suffer grave detriment. - Hence the following are to be absolved under condition: 1. All the DYING, unless their incapacity or unworthiness is known, or can be positively presumed. - 2. Penitents DOUBTFULLY DISPOSED, if they are in grave danger of death, although not proximate, for example a woman in difficult childbirth, a sailor or another about to undertake a long voyage, a soldier about to fight with the enemy, a sick person before a very difficult surgical operation; or if it is prudently feared that, dismissed without absolution, they will thereafter altogether recoil from the sacred tribunal and languish in their sins, lest they pass over to heretics, lest they be alienated from the Church or from good works, lest they draw others to evil, etc.; or even if the necessity of communicating presses, for avoiding scandal or infamy, as easily happens in the first Communion of children and in general Communions, especially if the number of communicants is small.

Rule 2. A penitent who, placed in ORDINARY necessity, presents only doubtful matter or capacity, is SOMETIMES to be absolved, even under condition, lest he be deprived of a notable spiritual good. Hence the following are to be absolved under condition: 1. CHILDREN or the HALF-WITTED, whose use of reason is doubtful, or whose instruction concerning truths necessary to be known is doubtful, or whose sins are doubtful, especially if they are mortal of themselves. Therefore these are to be absolved both in danger of death, and when the precept of annual confession or of paschal Communion presses, and sometimes during the year, although they declare only venials and doubtful sins, lest perhaps they remain in a lethal state and be forced to live for a long time destitute of the help of sacramental grace. Yet great and accurate diligence must be premised, so that, as far as can be done, they are well instructed and rightly disposed.¹⁰ - 2. PIOUS PENITENTS who bring only imperfections, and can declare nothing certain from their past life; to these absolution under condition can be given once a month.

Let it be noted: 1. Penitents guilty of mortal sin who, on account of doubtful disposition or doubtful jurisdiction, have been absolved under condition, do not thereby have a right to the Holy Eucharist. For the precept of the Apostle stands in the way, saying: "But let a man prove himself..." Nor does doubtful, or merely probable, proof suffice when the sin was certain, but it must be certain morally (cf. n. 1756). - Hence, not only should the confessor not invite them to Holy Communion, but he should, if he can, prudently turn them away from receiving it.

2. Yet if they are already determined of themselves, or if from the denial of Communion a great evil is feared, let them be left in good faith, and let them be warned to excite themselves again to contrition.¹¹