Article II: On the Necessity of Confession by Precept

St. Th., Suppl., q. 6, a. 3 and 5; q. 8, a. 4 and 5.

511. There is given a twofold precept concerning confession: divine and ecclesiastical. - The divine precept, as is clear from the preceding article, determines the obligation, but not the time in which it must be fulfilled; the ecclesiastical precept defines beforehand the time and other circumstances.

512. The divine precept does not oblige immediately after mortal sin, just as neither does penance itself or contrition: "it is not of the necessity of bodily health," says St. Thomas, "that a physician be sought immediately, unless when the necessity of healing is urgent, and similarly it is with spiritual evil" (q. 6, a. 5, ad 2). Hence at no time has the Church ever enjoined immediate confession, nor are the faithful conscious of such an obligation. Nevertheless:

A. The precept obliges of itself:

1. Certainly, in the article of death and in a very probable danger of death, or of perpetual insanity, or of another impediment on account of which one can foresee that he will never have an occasion of confessing sins.

Thus, whether the danger arises from disease, or from battle, or from condemnation by a judge, or from dangerous childbirth, or from surgical cutting, or from a very dangerous voyage, or from any other cause. For he who, placed in such a danger, does not fulfill the divine precept, rashly exposes himself to the proximate danger of never fulfilling it; hence he is judged not to will to fulfill it, since he neglects the necessary means, which certainly is the same as violating the precept.

2. Probably, several times in life, because the sinner seems to be bound not to remain long in mortal sin, as one who otherwise will fall into a new sin; but the ordinary means of rising from sin is confession. This is valid at least concerning him who cannot elicit perfect contrition or does not will to elicit it.1

In practice there is no difficulty concerning this, since the Church has decreed that confession must be made at least every year. For since Christ obliged to this indeterminately, and left it to the Church to be determined, and since by perfect contrition also, with the desire of the sacrament, the natural precept of penance can be fulfilled, of itself it cannot be urged upon penitents that they confess more frequently than has been determined in the precept of the Church; and to observe this of itself suffices.¹

¹ Cf. Quodl. I, 11.

B. Accidentally and by reason of another natural or positive precept we are held to confess:

1. when Holy Communion is to be received, if the one about to communicate is in mortal sin not yet remitted by the keys, not even indirectly (Council of Trent, sess. 13, c. 7; Code of Canon Law, can. 856);

2. when the state of grace is required, e.g., for receiving another sacrament of the living, and at the same time the sinner cannot or does not will to elicit an act of perfect contrition;

3. when a grave temptation or depraved habit cannot be overcome without confession. Since, however, there are often other means, sinners are rather to be exhorted to this than compelled.2

In all these cases the obligation does not arise from the precept itself of confession; hence its omission is not a sin against the divine precept of confessing, but against another precept by force of which confession was required. Nor does an obligation of confessing immediately arise from the danger of forgetting sins, because no precept exists of retaining them in memory or of providing lest sins be given over to oblivion; rather, the one precept is of confessing those sins of which, after diligent examination, we have consciousness.

1. Of itself; for accidentally, if the confessor judged that more frequent confession was altogether necessary for someone in order to persevere, he could impose it.

2. Others add: upon return to the Church, even if Baptism is repeated conditionally (Holy Office, Dec. 17, 1868; S.C.P.F., July 12, 1869). But this is nothing other than the ecclesiastical precept of annual confession, because while in the external forum Baptism is presumed valid, the Church urges the precept of confessing every year. On this see our Questions concerning Various Sins to be Remedied in Sacramental Confession, c. II, § A, q. 1, n. XIV.

513. The ecclesiastical precept, after several and diverse particular laws were already in force in particular Churches for various times, was imposed universally in the thirteenth century in the Fourth Lateran Council (1215): "Every faithful person of either sex, after he has reached the years of discretion, shall alone faithfully confess all his sins at least once a year to his own priest, and shall strive according to his strength to fulfill the penance enjoined on him..., otherwise, while living, he shall be barred from entrance into the church, and when dying, shall lack Christian burial." This was confirmed by the Council of Trent, sess. 14, c. 5, can. 8, and substantially retained in the Code of Canon Law, can. 906. Moreover, that precept was not enacted precisely on account of Paschal Communion, because the end of each is different; and therefore he who, on account of some cause, cannot receive Holy Communion must nevertheless confess once a year.

In this precept six things are indicated, namely the subject of the commanded confession, the object, the mode, the frequency, the minister, and the penalties upon transgressors.

1. The subject of the precept is: every faithful person of either sex. By these words all the baptized and they alone are indicated, who are conscious of mortal sin not yet declared in valid confession;1 also children who have reached the years of discretion, i.e., the use of reason, as is clear from can. 906, by which, namely, they can discern between good and evil and are capable of mortal sin.

Hence pastors are bound

a) to instruct children concerning confession already from the seventh year, and sometimes earlier, if they already enjoy the use of reason;

b) they must absolve those who accuse themselves of mortal sin, even doubtful mortal sin, provided they are rightly disposed; and in doubt concerning sufficient discretion or disposition, they are to be absolved under condition, "if you are capable," lest perhaps they remain in sin;

c) confessors gravely err who do not will to absolve children entrusted to them before first Communion; this abuse Pius IX reproved in a letter to the bishops of France, March 12, 1855.

2. The object of the precept is that he confess all his sins. This certainly cannot be understood of venial sins, because no one can confess all of them (St. Thomas, q. 6, a. 3, ad 3), but only of mortal sins.2 For the Church by her precept willed only to determine more closely the divine precept by establishing the time of confession; but the divine precept obliges only to the confession of mortal sins, as is clear from the Council of Trent, sess. 14, c. 5.

From this it follows that he who has not sinned mortally during the year, strictly speaking, is not held to confess. Nevertheless it is expedient that one having venial sins not abstain from annual confession; indeed, formerly several said that he is bound "to present himself to the priest and show himself to be without consciousness of mortal sin" (St. Thomas, l. c.), but today at least such an obligation is not proved to exist, unless sometimes accidentally, by reason of scandal.

3. The mode of confession is that he confess faithfully, by which it is signified that the precept is not satisfied by a voluntarily invalid or sacrilegious confession, as is clear from the condemnation of prop. 14 by Alexander VII and from can. 907; nor by a confession involuntarily null, because it is not true confession, nor by it is the end of the precept obtained, reconciliation with God.

And indeed: sacramental confession is required, because the Church intends more closely to determine the divine precept, and because the Lateran Council adds: "he shall strive to fulfill the penance enjoined." Hence he who has not received absolution, whether because of a defect of contrition, or because of a reserved sin, or because of another reason, does not satisfy. Hence in the case the precept still urges (Council of Trent, sess. 14, c. 5).

4. The frequency of confession is determined by these words: at least once a year; both because it can happen that, from another precept than the ecclesiastical precept of annual confession, we are held to confess more often in a year, and because the Church desires that we confess even several times rather than once in a year. This year is computed: according to some, from the time at which the first mortal sin is committed; according to others, from January 1 to the following January; according to others, from Easter to the following Easter, and this manner is observed by the faithful and is easier in practice; finally according to others, from the last confession. Hence in practice it suffices if morally more than a year does not intervene between two Confessions.

Hence 1) he who, once the year has begun, foresees that he will no longer have an abundance of confessors before the year has elapsed, and otherwise is conscious of mortal sin, is bound to anticipate and make confession while he has an abundance of confessors, because once the year has begun the precept is already present and obliges, and therefore it must be fulfilled at the time at which it is morally possible; nevertheless he is not bound, nor can he, anticipate for the following year, because that precept of the following year is not yet present or obliging;

2. on the contrary, if someone conscious of mortal sin has not confessed within the prescribed time, within the year, he must confess as soon as possible; and the longer he delays, the more gravely he sins, because the time was established not for ending the obligation but for urging it. But if in the following year he has fallen into a new sin, nevertheless he is not held to confess twice, but by one and the same confession he satisfies, by which he confesses the mortal sins both of the past and of the present year; for thus he fulfills the whole end of the precept, reconciliation with God.

5. The legitimate minister to whom we must confess was formerly determined in law: one's own priest, i.e., the pontiff, bishop, or pastor; but today by legitimate custom this disposition has been abrogated, so that not only by privilege, but anyone can, at least generally and ordinarily, confess to any priest having jurisdiction.

But in the time of St. Thomas the law of confessing to one's own priest was still in force, and nevertheless he wrote: "He would sin, however, if he were not ready to grant license of confessing to another, because many are so weak that they would rather die without Confession than confess to such a priest. Hence those who are too solicitous to know the consciences of their subjects through confession cast the snare of damnation upon many, and consequently upon themselves" (q. 8, a. 4, ad 6).

6. A twofold penalty is added by the Lateran Council for those transgressing the precept, namely prohibition from entrance into the church, or excommunication, and deprivation of ecclesiastical burial; but each is of a sentence to be passed, not of a sentence already passed, and therefore is not incurred except after the sentence of the bishop.

In the new Law no penalty is any longer directly decreed against violators of the precept; nevertheless canon 1240 deprives public and manifest sinners of ecclesiastical burial, to whom those who do not fulfill this precept can pertain.

1. Even a heretic, whose transgression, however, as also of other ecclesiastical laws, coalesces into one sin with formal heresy itself, because it is easily understood through the confession of this.

2. Yet the Church could command under grave obligation the confession of venial sins: thus, e.g., weekly or fortnightly confession was sometimes imposed under grave obligation upon religious in certain rules.