Article II: On Sacramental Satisfaction

St. Thomas, Suppl., q. 8, a. 7; q. 18, a. 4; q. 14, a. 3, ad 1.

549. Principle. In the sacrament of Penance, satisfactions are to be enjoined according to quantity and quality, fitting for the quality of the crime to be repaired, and for the ability of the penitents. - This is certain from the Council of Trent, sess. 14, c. 8:

"Therefore the priests of the Lord ought, as spirit and prudence shall suggest, according to the quality of the crimes and the ability of the penitents, to enjoin salutary and fitting satisfactions, lest, if perhaps they connive at sins and deal more indulgently with penitents, by enjoining certain very light works for most grave offenses, they be made participants in the sins of others" (cf. can. 887).

Therefore the priest cannot enjoin satisfaction at will, but according to a reasonable judgment regulated by prudence and divine instinct; with attention to the various circumstances of matters and persons, i.e., to the quantity and gravity of the crimes, and to the quality and disposition of the penitent, he ought to measure and impose them. For satisfactions are ordered to paying the debt and to furnishing a remedy; and therefore they are both vindicative for punishing and expiating past sins, and medicinal, not only for healing present wounds but also for guarding against future ones. Hence they are accustomed to say that penance ought to be: vindicative for past sins, for their vengeance and chastisement; medicinal for removing the present remains of sin, as medicine of infirmity; preservative for guarding against future sins, for the keeping of new life. Now if it is considered as payment of punishment, any penal work whatever is apt for satisfying for the punishment due to any sin, not in the sense that it is equal in quantity, but that any species of punishment suffices; whence, just as one contrition destroys all things, so by the same punishment the honor of God is restored. But if it is considered as medicine preserving, healing, and expelling vices, it is fitting, and sometimes ought, that satisfaction be diverse according to diverse sins, because contrary vices ought to be expelled by contrary virtues; nevertheless prayer has a general influx and is in some way medicine for every moral evil.

It is proved: in the sacrament of Penance, instituted for the destruction of sin and the emendation of the sinner, punishments are ordered not only to paying the debt but also to furnishing a remedy. But the same remedy is not given to all the sick, but a different one according to the different infirmity; indeed, the same is not always to be furnished even to those equally sick, but according to the disposition of the sick person. Therefore neither is the same satisfaction of punishment always to be imposed, but according to the nature of the sin and according to the disposition of the sinner.

"Because satisfactory punishments to be inflicted are medicines, just as medicines determined in the art do not befit all, but are to be varied according to the judgment of the physician, who follows not his own will but the science of medicine; so satisfactory punishments determined in the canons (of the old law) do not befit all, but are to be varied according to the judgment of the priest regulated by divine instinct. Therefore just as a physician sometimes prudently does not give a medicine so efficacious that it would suffice for the cure of the disease, lest because of the weakness of nature a greater danger arise, so a priest, moved by divine instinct, does not always enjoin the whole punishment which is due to one sin, lest someone infirm despair from the magnitude of the punishment and withdraw totally from penance" St. Thomas, q. 18, a. 4; cf. q. 9, a. 2 cited above, n. 521.

It is confirmed: the same sin is sometimes more difficult to avoid in one than in another, for example in a young man than in an old man, or it is more dangerous, e.g., in a priest than in a layman. And the multitude can be more prone to a lesser sin, from which it must be deterred through punishment, than to another more grave one. Let St. Thomas be heard, q. 8, a. 7: "Punishment after the remission of fault is required for two things, namely, for paying the debt and for furnishing a remedy. Therefore the measuring of punishment can be considered as to two things: first, as to debt, and thus the quantity of punishment radically corresponds to the quantity of fault, before anything of it is remitted"; but after fault has been remitted through contrition (or also absolution), "as much as has been remitted through contrition, so much... through confession (in which the punishment of satisfaction is imposed) remains less to be remitted. Secondly, as to remedy either of him who sinned or of others; and thus sometimes a greater penance is enjoined for a lesser sin, either because the sin of one can be resisted with more difficulty than the sin of another, as a greater punishment is imposed on a young man for fornication than on an old man, although he sins less; or because in one person the sin is more dangerous, as in a priest, than in another; or because the multitude is more prone to that sin, and therefore through the punishment of one others are to be frightened away. Therefore punishment in the forum of penance is to be measured as to both. And therefore a greater punishment is not always imposed for a greater sin."

550. Applications. - Hence satisfactions ought to be proportioned:

1. To the gravity of the crimes: for the confessor is bound to this as judge and physician. Hence:

a) He sins who, without a just excusing cause, enjoins a light penance for sins certainly mortal; and this sin is grave from its genus, because, as the Council of Trent says, by enjoining very light works for most grave offenses, he is made a participant in the sins of others and connives at sins. And therefore they gravely err who indiscriminately enjoin on all a few Our Fathers and Hail Marys, even, e.g., for many carnal sins, not thinking whether the penance is proportioned to the sins, whether it is medicinal, since thus they furnish an occasion of sinning more licentiously.

Here is a general rule, which nevertheless admits many exceptions, e.g., if someone after one mortal sin is immediately contrite, or committed only a single mortal sin over a long time, great contrition will easily be present, which can be a reason for not imposing a grave penance; similarly, if the sins are doubtfully grave, whether objectively or subjectively, a grave satisfaction is not required, since in doubt odious things are to be restricted.

b) If mortal sins are multiplied or increased, also regularly a graver penance must be enjoined, and one graver in proportion as the sins are more numerous and more grave;1 not, however, according to arithmetical proportion, which would lead to morally impossible penances.

c) Nor ought the proportion to be perfect, so that that penance is imposed which suffices for obtaining from God the whole remission of the punishment which remains to be sustained, for what this punishment is entirely escapes us. Nor today is a fixed tax of punishments determined by the Church, as formerly.

According to today's discipline, a grave penance is judged to be one which corresponds to a work which, by reason of burden or quantity, is imposed by the Church under grave obligation or can be imposed, e.g., to hear Mass once, to fast, to recite the rosary, indeed even the third part of the rosary, to read the Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the seven penitential psalms, the Litany of All Saints with the following prayers, to make the way of the cross, to meditate or read a pious book for a quarter of an hour.2 But a light penance is judged to be the psalm Miserere or one of the customary psalms, the Litany of Loreto, or of the Name of Jesus, or of the Most Sacred Heart, acts of faith, hope, and charity, five Our Fathers and Hail Marys. Nevertheless a penance light in itself can become grave if the penitent must recite it not once but several times, e.g., five Our Fathers for an octave.

2. To the quantity of punishment which remains to be paid: for, supposing that contrition was more vehement, by that very fact the temporal punishment to be paid is diminished, and therefore the penance can be less; yet it cannot be concluded that because of very intense contrition no penance is to be enjoined, because it is never certain that no temporal punishment remains, nor can the minister expose himself to the danger of mutilating the sacrament. Hence:

a) A lighter satisfaction can be enjoined in time of jubilee or on occasion of a plenary indulgence to be gained, because by indulgences temporal punishment is extinguished or diminished; yet this is not a sufficient reason for omitting every imposition, because the sacrament ought not remain maimed: thus Benedict XIV, Const. Inter praeteritos, Dec. 3, 1749, and Leo XII, Const. Caritate Christi, Dec. 25, 1825.

b) Likewise if the confessor wishes to satisfy for the penitent by fasting or other penal works: for although such satisfaction is of less value than sacramental satisfaction, which operates ex opere operato, it can be of greater value on the part of the work of the one operating, because greater works are done or from greater charity.

3. To the ability of the penitents, according to the prudent estimation of the confessor, i.e., as the Roman Ritual says, tit. 3, c. 1, n. 19, "account being taken of the state, condition, sex, age, and disposition of the penitents," in other words, according to their powers and dispositions, to be measured according to the prudent estimation of the confessor. For it is better to impose a lighter satisfaction which will be gladly and perfectly fulfilled, than to impose a greater one which is paid negligently or defectively. - Therefore let it be:

a) According to the powers of the penitent. Thus a light penance is to be enjoined on the sick because they are not capable of fulfilling a heavier one;3 indeed, if they are very weak, the confessor laudably helps them to fulfill the penance immediately (by reciting it, e.g., with them); but if hope shines forth of recovering health, the Roman Ritual, n. 26, suggests that another work be enjoined conditionally, to be performed if they recover. - Likewise, as not proportioned to the powers of the penitent, incongruous penances ordinarily are not to be enjoined: whether lengthy ones, for half a year or more, or perpetually, because such penances generate anxiety and after some time easily fall into forgetfulness,4 and if they were more often imposed by various confessors, they would bind with innumerable bonds; - or manifest ones (at least for occult sins), which namely cannot be fulfilled without suspicion arising that a grave sin has been accused, and thus without indirect revelation of confession (e.g., abstinence from meats, or drink in water for children of a household, fasting for three days for a wife, the way of the cross for one who never makes it, abstinence from holy communion when all communicate, and other things which excite wonder and suspicion); - or unusual ones, moving the wonder of the people (e.g., to recite five Our Fathers and Hail Marys in the middle of the church with arms extended, or to make the way of the cross where such things are not usually done); - or ones repugnant to nature, such as to mark a cross on the ground with the tongue, to visit enemies, for boys to ask pardon from parents or from others because of disobedience, irreverence, petty thefts; - or excessively burdensome ones, such as entrance into religion, marriage, and those things which expose one to ridicule; likewise vigils or fasts or afflictions of the body for adolescents, the sick, rustics, or workers tired out by continual labor; or pilgrimages, lengthy prayers, alms, for those who are constituted under power: a wife, servants, maidservants, or the poor who obtain their sustenance for themselves by continual labor; - or intricate ones, consisting of many diverse works, because they are given over to forgetfulness. Hence, if the recitation of a prayer for several days is prescribed, it is expedient to warn that if the penitent omits it on one day, he can make it up on the following day, so that anxieties may thus be avoided.

b) According to the dispositions of the penitent, where attention must be given both to the danger of scandal or relapse, lest a lighter punishment be imposed, and to the mode in which the penitent is going to accept and fulfill the satisfaction, lest one more grave be enjoined which probably he will not accept or will not complete. Since this sacrament was instituted more for procuring the salvation of men than for satisfying divine justice, if each end cannot be obtained, the secondary is to be neglected so that the salvation of the penitent may be obtained. To this end St. Thomas, l.c. above from q. 18, a. 4; and Quodl. III, q. 13, a. 28: "It seems sufficiently fitting that the priest not burden the penitent with a grave burden of satisfaction, because just as a small fire is easily extinguished by many pieces of wood placed upon it, so it could happen that the small effect of contrition recently excited in the penitent would be extinguished because of the grave burden of satisfaction, the sinner wholly despairing."

Hence a satisfaction which is foreseen to be altogether repugnant to the penitent should never be imposed; indeed, sometimes it helps to ask him whether he can (or is willing to) perform the penance imposed on him; otherwise the confessor will diminish or change it. Thus did Sts. Francis de Sales and Charles Borromeo. For experience establishes, says St. Alphonsus, Th. M., l. VI, n. 510 (writing in an age in which many confessors were still imposing very great penance), that many are deterred from confession by fear of receiving too great a penance.

1. "Therefore of itself it does not suffice, for several grave sins, to enjoin a penance simply grave (e.g., a rosary)." Noldin, Th. M., III, n. 300, 2.

2. We said: by reason of burden or quantity; hence a Little Hour is not a grave penance because in the office it is prescribed under grave obligation by reason of quality.

3. Nevertheless the confessor can enjoin on them alms to be given through a mandatary, if this can be done fittingly.

4. Sometimes, however, such grave and lengthy penances are to be imposed by reason of the reservation of a censure or sin, which the Church does not intend to lift unless such a grave and lengthy penance has been imposed.

551. The causes for diminishing satisfaction are:

a) On the part of the penitent: 1) Infirmity, either bodily (to which weakness of mind pertains), from which it happens that he can fulfill a proportionate penance only with difficulty, - or spiritual, from which it is prudently feared that the penitent will not accept a greater penance, or will not fulfill it once accepted, or will be deterred from confession, so that the graver penance would rather harm the soul of the penitent than profit it: then it is expedient either that a free work which he is already going to fulfill be elevated into penance, or that besides the light supererogatory work enjoined, another be added which is already prescribed from elsewhere, e.g., hearing Mass on Sunday, fasting or abstinence from meats on a vigil, or that a work be imposed to be fulfilled during a work already prescribed, e.g., a rosary to be said during the Mass at which the penitent must soon be present.

2. Extraordinary contrition, by which the punishment to be paid is diminished, or great satisfaction already fulfilled before confession (in the state of grace), or also the custom of devoting oneself to many good works by which satisfaction may be made for sins; - unless nevertheless penance as medicine is necessary.

3. A founded hope of some special greater good or special utility, e.g., of alluring the penitent to confess often or to the frequent use of the sacraments.

b) On the part of the confessor: 4) The will of satisfying for the penitent, or penance heroically undertaken for him.

c) On the part of the Church: 5) A jubilee or another plenary indulgence now to be gained by the penitent, through which the punishment due to sin can be paid wholly; likewise indulgences, even not plenary, if the penitent is diligent in gaining them, as happens with those who, enrolled in confraternities, faithfully fulfill the prescribed works.

In these various cases it is expedient to warn the penitent about the insufficiency of the prescribed work (or also about the cause for which a lighter work is enjoined), so that he may voluntarily satisfy in other ways and not think his sins lighter. "The priest," St. Thomas warns, Quodl. III, q. 13, a. 28, "should indicate to the penitent how much penance would have to be enjoined on him for his sins."

552. A work to be enjoined by way of satisfaction can be any good and supernatural work. - Therefore of itself there can be imposed:

a) A work either external or merely internal (e.g., meditation, internal acts of faith, hope, charity, examination of conscience), which, although it cannot be prescribed by human authority in the government of society or in the external forum, nevertheless can well be prescribed in the internal forum of conscience, where the priest exercises ministerially not human but divine authority.

Besides, a merely internal work is made sensible through the imposition of the priest and the acceptance of the penitent; - nevertheless it is less fitting for the rude and unlearned, for whom internal acts are more difficult; indeed, generally external works are to be preferred because they are more laborious and therefore, other things equal, more satisfactory, and because they are more fitting for a sacrament which by its nature is a sensible sign.

b) A work either private or public, although this latter is not to be imposed for occult sins if from it danger arises of manifesting that a grave sin was accused, as was said in n. 550.

Hence the Ritual says, tit. III, c. 1, n. 22: "for occult sins, however grave, they should not impose a manifest penance." For public sins, however, sometimes public reparation is to be prescribed if scandal cannot otherwise be repaired; but it need not necessarily be imposed as sacramental satisfaction.

c) A work either supererogatory or free, or otherwise already due and prescribed: for a prescribed work can be satisfactory from its nature, and can be elevated by the power of the keys to the efficacy of sacramental satisfaction. Hence just as a prescribed work and one due from vow has a twofold merit, so also a work prescribed and enjoined for penance; and therefore if such a work is enjoined, e.g., hearing Mass on Sunday, its omission will be a twofold sin in species, namely, of transgression of law and of omission of penance, because a twofold precept is violated: one general, imposed by way of law, and the other particular, by way of command.

Thus there can be imposed as satisfaction the obligation of restoring, repairing, remitting, etc.; thus, if someone is negligent in fulfilling the precepts of the Church, fulfillment on one day can be imposed (e.g., fasting on a vigil), or for a time, as for a month or until the next confession (e.g., hearing Mass, abstinence from meats); if he is negligent in paying penances, supplying them can be imposed; likewise for pious penitents, works prescribed from a confraternity, or works they are accustomed to do, so that daily prayers may be performed faithfully or more exactly. Indeed, cessation from a good work can be prescribed, not as if cessation were good in itself, but insofar as it furnishes an occasion of exercising virtue, and is a test of obedience or humility; - unless nevertheless the abstinence would indirectly manifest confession.

Ordinarily, however, it is not expedient to enjoin works already prescribed, unless because of the singular frailty or occupation of the penitent, in which case generally a light free work should be added, e.g., hearing Mass is imposed with a sermon or with a prayer. But free works are to be enjoined, both so that an occasion may be furnished to the penitent of doing more good, and because more ought to be required from him than from an innocent person, and so that he may feel the weight and vindication of sin; whence a work imposed by way of satisfaction is not judged to be the same as that which is already prescribed by law, unless this is expressly declared by the confessor; e.g., if hearing Mass is enjoined, the penitent is bound to hear a Mass not prescribed.

d) A work to be fulfilled either absolutely or conditionally, under a condition, e.g., of health restored or of relapse, at least if another punishment is prescribed at the same time. Thus, e.g., if you blaspheme again, you will say such a prayer; if you become drunk again, you will fast, etc.; but only for a time, or until another confession.

Hence a work can also be enjoined disjunctively, so that an option is given between two things, e.g., between a grave work or a lighter one: "just as a priest can enjoin satisfaction on a penitent from the judgment of another, so he can from the judgment of the penitent himself, as if you were to say: do this if you can, and if you cannot, do this" St. Thomas, Quodl. III, q. 13, a. 28.

e) A work for oneself, or for the living, or also for the dead, which last is an excellent work of charity, as the Catechism of the Council of Trent says, p. 2, c. 5, q. 74. In the second case, the impetratory effect goes to others, the satisfactory effect returns to the penitent. In the third case, as was said above: "he applies to the dead the value of his work ex opere operantis, concerning which he can dispose; but the value of the work ex opere operato remains for himself, as being that which he cannot alienate from himself according to his own judgment."

Thus Billuart, de Poen., diss. IX, a. 5 at the end, conformably to Quodl. III, q. 13, a. 28. Or it can also be said with St. Alphonsus, Th. M., l. VI, n. 514, that the satisfaction of the work is given to the dead, the satisfaction of the good will remains to the penitent. Hence also works can be imposed to which an indulgence is granted, so that the penitent by the same work fulfills satisfaction and the condition of the indulgence: for these do not exclude one another, as is now certain from the response of the S. C. of Indulgences, June 14, 1901, and from can. 932. "Nevertheless it is not fitting," says Noldin, Th. M. II, n. 303, "that in place of a grave penance there be enjoined a work light in itself to which an indulgence is attached, because according to the Council of Trent works proportioned to sins ought of themselves to be enjoined."

553. It is fitting to impose congruous medicinal satisfactions. - So that satisfaction may be not only vindicative of past sin, but also medicinal for guarding against future sins, it is preferable to enjoin penances congruous to the moral disposition of the penitent and to the nature of the sins to be repaired, and remedies more apt for certain wounds: for the fruit of penance and the good of the penitent depend much upon the work imposed.

Moreover, medicinal punishments are of many kinds:

a) Some diminish the force of occasion or temptation, such as flight from idleness or from a person alluring one to sin, consideration of the last things, and recourse to the confessor recurring at fixed intervals before danger.

b) Others weaken the force of concupiscence and passion, such as various interior and exterior mortifications.

c) Others increase spiritual strength, such as prayer; frequent invocation of Christ, the Sacred Heart, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the guardian Angel; acts of faith, hope, and charity frequently renewed; visitation of the Most Holy Sacrament; alms; contrition and purpose renewed with a great spirit, e.g., in the morning before a crucifix and in the evening in examination of conscience; stipulation of penance in case of relapse, etc.

But because contraries are cured by contraries, according to the Roman Ritual, l.c.,1 penances directly opposed to sins are very salutary; and it is a useful remedy that, in the matter in which one has committed illicit things, he abstain from licit things. Not as if a different penance had to be enjoined for individual sins, but so that, for a sin into which the penitent often relapses, as far as can be done, a contrary penance be enjoined: thus, e.g., congruous prayers are imposed on blasphemers, and for sins of sensuality, fasts, hair-shirts, or scourgings. Therefore these are fittingly prescribed:

1. to the proud: attentive consideration of one's own misery and infirmity and frequent relapse; likewise meditation on the sentence of the Apostle (I Cor. IV, 7): What do you have that you have not received?;

2. to rich misers or the unjust: alms, together with meditation on death, which separates from all things, or on the poverty of Christ;

3. to the lustful: flight from occasions, mortification of the body and the senses, afflictions of the flesh and fasting, flight from idleness, subtraction of comfort in bed, long sleep, more delicate food, etc., frequent consideration of the punishments of hell, prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary;

4. to the gluttonous and drunken: some subtraction of food and drink, abstinence from intoxicating drink, flight from taverns or from companions with whom they are accustomed to get drunk;

5. to the envious and those laboring under hatred: reparation of harms which they have inflicted on others, consideration of the motives of charity and of the insults with which Christ was afflicted, works of charity toward the neighbor whom they dislike, so that they pray for him, anticipate him with honor, or help him;

6. to the angry: that, when moved by anger, they keep silence for some time, that they avoid occasions of anger, mortify the pride which moves to anger, and consider the evils that will follow from anger;

7. to the lazy and slothful: consideration of the brevity of life and of the necessity, while there is time, of working well; assiduity and perseverance in certain prayers to be recited for some time, greater effort in labor or devotion for two or three days; or a retreat for spiritual exercises;

8. to those habituated and relapsing: satisfaction to be prolonged for some time, for repeated acts more strongly attack evil habits and foster the detestation of sins to be renewed.

1. "Let him take care, as far as can be done, to enjoin penances contrary to sins, such as alms to the avaricious, fasts or other afflictions of the flesh to the lustful, offices of humility to the proud, studies of devotion to the slothful. But to those confessing more rarely and tardily, or easily falling back into sins, it will be most useful to counsel that they confess often, say once a month, or on certain solemn days, and, if it is expedient, communicate," n. 20.

554. Practical counsels. - As to practice, in the imposition of penance one must proceed by the middle way between the two extremes of excessive rigor and excessive laxity, so that the confessor impose neither one too light, nor one too grave and easily omitted. Nevertheless mercy is to be followed more than severity, both because the sacrament is a tribunal of mercy, not of wrath, and because the good of the penitent is to be regarded before the vindication of divine justice, which besides can be continued in purgatory: namely, greater account is to be had of the sinner than of the sin. Hence in doubt concerning the necessity or opportunity of a graver penance, the more benign part is rather to be chosen.¹

¹ Cf. Instr. S. C. P. F., Oct. 3, 1736.

"The priest," says St. Thomas, In IV Sent., dist. 20, q. 1, a. 2, qc. 2, ad 3, "does not always sin by enjoining a penance less than condign... because sometimes even by purposely imposing a lesser penance, he profits the penitent more than he harms him, since perhaps from the greatness of the punishment he could be impeded from carrying out penance because of the weakness of virtue still newly recovered in him; and therefore he neglects a lesser harm so that he may avoid a greater one." Nevertheless:

1. Let the principles not be handed over to forgetfulness, so that a great penance is never or very rarely imposed, because excessive laxity does not sufficiently draw away from sin, but on the contrary makes one persevere in the habit of sinning, as the experience of excessive benignity has proved. This today the patrons of the more benign school already acknowledge, as Fr. Vermeersch, Th. M. III, n. 501.

2. Hence penitents are to be so disposed that they gladly accept a moderately grave penance.

3. This is accepted more easily if it is imposed for an intention which will be pleasing to the penitent, such as prayer for the dead of the family or for children, alms for the blessing or prosperity of the family, etc.

4. Nor does the fear of inculpable forgetfulness stand in the way for a longer penance: it is better that the sinner become forgetful of the penance than of the gravity of his sin.

5. Finally, satisfaction is now reduced too uniformly to a certain recitation of prayers; Fr. Vermeersch judges that this custom must be corrected by a prudent and constant effort, l.c.

6. A fortiori, they do not proceed rightly who without any discretion always impose nearly the same penance on all (ibid.).