Article II. On Imposing Satisfaction.

299. Obligation of imposing penance. The confessor of himself is bound under grave obligation to impose satisfaction on the penitent: for as minister of the sacrament he is bound, as far as lies in him, to procure not only those things which pertain to the essence, but also those which pertain to the integrity; but satisfaction is an integral part of this sacrament. Moreover the Council of Trent prescribes this in explicit words: Therefore the priests of the Lord must enjoin satisfactions.¹ Hence the confessor would certainly sin if, without an excusing cause, he imposed no penance at all.

a. This precept admits smallness of matter. Therefore, although the confessor is bound under grave obligation to impose penance for mortal sins, he is bound only under light obligation for venials: for he does not sin gravely who deprives a sacrament of a complement of light moment, just as a judge does not fail gravely in his office who omits imposing a light penalty.²

b. Since the obligation of completing the sacrament always urges, there is no case in which the confessor is not bound to impose some penance, unless the penitent is incapable of furnishing satisfaction, as a dying man deprived of the senses, who can perform no penance. Wherefore even to the gravely sick some very slight work is usually enjoined, as a brief ejaculatory prayer, invocation of the most holy names, kissing the crucifix, etc.

c. The confessor imposes penance by way of precept, although he can also impose it by way of mere counsel without any obligation in conscience. Hence it is not necessary that grave satisfactions for mortal sins always be imposed under grave obligation; rather, from a just cause, even grave satisfactions can be imposed under light obligation.³

¹ Sess. 14, c. 8, reads: "Therefore the priests of the Lord, as spirit and prudence shall suggest, ought to enjoin salutary and suitable satisfactions according to the quality of the crimes and the faculty of the penitents; lest, if perhaps they wink at sins and deal too indulgently with penitents by enjoining certain very light works for the gravest offenses, they become participants in others' sins." Cn. 887 agrees.

² Cf. Lugo, disp. 25, n. 49.

³ Cf. Suarez, disp. 38, sect. 3; St. Alphonsus, n. 518; Ballerini-Palmieri V, n. 303.

300. Quality of the penance to be imposed. 1. The confessor is also bound of himself under grave obligation to impose a penance suitable to the quantity and quality of the crimes and to the faculty of the penitent; therefore he is bound to impose grave penance for mortal sins, light penance for venials. Indeed, where the Council of Trent declares the precept of imposing penance, at the same time it declares that penance must be proportioned to the sins and to the faculty of the penitents.

Therefore the confessor who without a just cause imposes a very light penance for grave offenses undoubtedly sins. But since this sacrament was instituted more for procuring the salvation of men than for satisfying divine justice, if both ends cannot be obtained, the secondary must be neglected so that the salvation of the penitent may be obtained.

2. The quantity and quality of the penance to be imposed cannot be determined by a general rule, but is left to the prudence and judgment of the confessor, who in determining penance must attend to these things: a. for grave offenses not only must grave penance be enjoined, but the more numerous and graver the sins are, the graver the penance must be. Therefore, of itself, for several grave sins it does not suffice to enjoin a simply grave penance, e.g., a rosary. Nevertheless it is not required that the quantity of penance be mathematically commensurate with the gravity of sins, so that, for example, for one hundred grave offenses a hundredfold greater penance be enjoined, which is impossible; but it suffices that, the graver the offenses are, a morally graver penance also be imposed. b. In order that the penance may be suitable to the quality of the sins, the Ritual warns that penances contrary to the sins be enjoined: for the greedy, for example, alms; for the lustful, afflictions of the flesh; for the slothful, exercises of devotion, etc.¹ This must not be understood as if another penance must be enjoined for each single sin, but so that for the sin into which the penitent more often relapses, as far as can be done, a contrary penance may be enjoined. But since penitents usually cannot bear satisfactions congruent with the quality of their sins, in fact scarcely anything else can be enjoined than prayer. Moreover, as Ballerini notes, fervent prayer is medicine or obtains medicine for any moral evil.²

What penance is grave. From the present practice of the Church, a penance is judged grave which corresponds to a work enjoined by the Church under grave obligation, or which would oblige under grave obligation if it were prescribed. Hence it will be grave satisfaction to hear Mass, to fast, to recite five decades of the rosary, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, the litanies of the saints with prayers, reception of the sacraments, an alms not small according to the condition of one's state, and similar things. But a grave penance is not judged to be the psalm Miserere or only six Our Fathers and Hail Marys.

¹ Roman Ritual, tit. 3, c. 1, n. 19. Cn. 887.

² Ballerini-Palmieri V, n. 322.

301. Causes of diminishing penance. The causes on account of which the confessor can impose a moderate penance for grave sins are almost the following:

a. If the penitent is sick in body or very weak in mind, so that he can fulfill a just penance for sins only with difficulty and hardship.

b. If it must be feared that the penitent will not complete a greater penance, or will be turned away from confession on account of a heavier one.

Hence, if at some time a heavier penance must be imposed, it will be advisable to ask the penitent whether he can fulfill the enjoined penance; and if he cannot, it must be changed or diminished. It is better, however, to indicate to the penitent the cause on account of which a lighter penance is imposed. Moreover, without danger of turning the penitent away from the sacraments, a heavier satisfaction can be enjoined on him if, with a light supererogatory work, there is imposed a grave work already otherwise owed, e.g., the prescribed Mass.

c. If the penitent seems very contrite: for vehement contrition is of such great power that it blots out either all temporal punishment or a great part of it; or if the penitent is otherwise intent on good works by which he satisfies for sins.

d. If there is occasion of gaining an extraordinary indulgence: for through this satisfaction is already made to the owed punishment; or if the penitent is diligent in gaining indulgences, even non-plenary ones, as happens almost in those who are enrolled in confraternities and diligently perform the prayers and prescribed works.

e. If the confessor intends to furnish satisfaction for the penitent: for it is established that one can satisfy for another, the due conditions being placed.

302. When penance is to be imposed. Penance is ordinarily to be imposed before absolution, because thus the order of judgment is better observed, which requires that the accused first pledge satisfaction before he is absolved. Yet since there is no necessity of this order, penance can be enjoined without sin even after absolution, and it absolutely must be enjoined after absolution if the confessor previously enjoined none.¹

If the penitent after absolution accuses a new sin omitted through forgetfulness, it is not necessary that the confessor impose a new penance. Others indeed hold the contrary, because a work already owed under the title of satisfaction cannot be imposed as penance. But since this absolution is not a new sacramental judgment, but only the complement of the prior one, it is not necessary that a new penance be imposed, just as it is not necessary that a new sorrow be elicited (n. 259). Namely, the confessor, granting and completing absolution, by that very fact extends the penance already imposed also to the new sin.²

¹ Cf. Suarez, disp. 38, sect. 3; Sporer-Bierbaum III, pr. 3, n. 576.

² Cf. Ballerini-Palmieri V, n. 293.

303. Works which can be enjoined as penance. Generally, all good works can be imposed as penance, whether prayer or works of religion, or fasting or works of penance, or alms or works of charity. In species, however, let these things be noted:

1. Since for man in this state of fallen nature even an internal work is penal, mere internal acts can also be enjoined as penance, such as acts of faith, hope, and charity, meditations, examinations of conscience, acts of contrition, etc. Nevertheless external works, such as vocal prayers, visits of churches, etc., are to be preferred to them, both because they are more laborious and therefore, other things being equal, more satisfactory, and because, since they are sensible in themselves, they are more suited to the sacrament, which by its nature is a sensible sign.

2. A work already owed from another source can be enjoined: for although it is already owed, nevertheless through the keys of the Church it can be elevated to the merit of sacramental satisfaction.

a. Ordinarily indeed it is altogether fitting that supererogatory works be imposed; nevertheless sometimes on account of the fragility of the penitent it is advisable to impose a work already otherwise prescribed. For example, on a penitent who does not observe the precepts of the Church, it can usefully be enjoined that until the following confession he hear Mass on feast days, observe abstinence and fasting, etc. But if nevertheless he omits these enjoined works, he commits a twofold sin: one against the precept of the Church, the other against the precept of the confessor or against the virtue of penance.

b. If the confessor enjoins a work which is prescribed otherwise, as if he enjoins the hearing of Mass or fasting, an unprescribed work is always understood, unless from the words of the confessor or from the circumstances something else is clear.

3. The confessor can impose as satisfaction the good works of the penitent which he is going to do at a determined time (this week, this month, this Advent, this Lent), e.g., daily prayers, accustomed alms, etc. This is especially expedient in those on whom, because of fragility or other occupations, a penance worthy of the sins cannot be imposed.

4. The confessor can impose as penance prayers or works to which indulgences are attached, so that the penitent, if the confessor has imposed such a work, by the same act fulfills both the penance and the condition required for gaining the indulgence, since penance and the gaining of an indulgence do not mutually exclude each other.

Concerning this matter, formerly disputed among theologians, after the recent declaration of the S.C. of Indulgences (14 June 1901) and cn. 932, there can no longer be doubt. Nevertheless it is not fitting that in place of a grave penance there be enjoined a work light in itself, to which either a partial or plenary indulgence is attached: for according to the Council of Trent and the new Code cited, works of penance proportioned to the sins must be enjoined of themselves.

5. The confessor can enjoin good works to be offered by the penitent for the dead. If this is done, there is applied to the dead that satisfactory fruit which the enjoined work has ex opere operantis; but the fruit which the work of penance has ex opere operato remains in the penitent.

In like manner, if a work is imposed to be offered, for example, for the Church, for the conversion of sinners, for the dying, etc., the intention is that the impetratory value of the work come to another; but the whole satisfaction remains for the penitent.

6. Some penance can also be imposed, at least probably, under the condition of relapse, e.g., if you blaspheme again, you will say a brief prayer; if you become drunk again, you will fast. For in this case the penance is as it were disjunctive: either you will employ an entirely great effort to resist temptation, or you will fast. Nevertheless it is expedient that at least a moderate penance be imposed absolutely.¹

¹ Sporer-Bierbaum III, pr. 3, n. 560 ff.

304. Unsuitable penances generally are penances involved in several and various works, too long-lasting and too grave, both on account of the danger that they will be omitted and because they render confession odious. In species, the following are rejected:

a. Public penances, especially penances which cannot be fulfilled without revelation of confession following. For it is not licit to impose a public penance for occult sins; and although for public sins a public penance could absolutely be imposed, nevertheless from present practice the confessor must abstain from enjoining it if it is not necessary. But it will scarcely ever be necessary: for it could be necessary only for repairing public scandal; but public scandal can be repaired by another reason, namely by a truly Christian life and good example, which may be for edification to others.

b. Fasts for children, peasants, workers who are wearied by continual labor, for children of a household, who by fasting would stir up the wonder, perhaps even the offense, of parents. Long prayers, pilgrimages, or alms for women who are constituted under the power of a husband.

c. Penances repugnant to nature, as to sign a cross on the ground with the tongue, to visit enemies. It is also imposed imprudently on children that they seek pardon from parents or from others on account of disobedience or on account of theft, because it is to be feared that the enjoined work will be omitted and confession will be rendered odious to them.

d. Likewise unsuitable are penances consisting in merely external works, e.g., that one which the Greeks greatly love and call metanoia, which consists in fifty deep inclinations immediately succeeding one another. Indeed in the West not even then would metanoia be to be recommended, if it were joined with fitting internal acts.