Question Three. Concerning the Obligations of the Minister.

381. All obligations of confessors arise from the general obligation of procuring those things which are necessary for the valid and licit administration and reception of the sacrament. Of these obligations some urge before the hearing of confession, others during the very hearing of confession, and others finally after the confession has been heard. Before the hearing of confession, suitable knowledge is required. During the hearing of confession, the obligation of teaching and warning must be observed, the obligation of interrogating, and the obligation of absolving the penitent. The obligation of the confessor after confession is twofold: one which follows from confession by accident, namely, of correcting defects committed; the other which follows from confession in itself, namely, of preserving the sacramental seal. The obligations cohere with the offices which belong to the minister of the sacrament of penance, namely with the office of teacher, by which he ought to warn the penitent and teach him those things which are necessary to be known; with the office of physician, by which he ought to cure the diseases of the soul and to suggest suitable remedies for avoiding relapse; but especially with the office of judge, by which he ought to judge concerning the sins and disposition of the penitent and reconcile him to God by sacramental absolution.

¹ St. Alphonsus, Praxis confessarii. Lacroix, Theologia moralis l. 6, pr. 2, n. 1699-1932. Stoz, Tribunal poenitentiae l. 2, De confessario ut iudice. Lohner, Instructio practica de confessionibus rite et fructuose excipiendis. Io. Palanco, Directorium confessarii (Cracow: Anczyc Gadowski, 1886). Aertnys, Theologia pastoralis complectens practicam institutionem confessarii (Paderborn: Schoningh, 1893). Tepehorn, Anleitung zur Verwaltung des heiligen Bussakramentes (Dulmen: Laumann, 1893). Reuter, Neoconfessarius, which Lehmkuhl newly edited in Latin (Freiburg: Herder, 1905), but Iul. Mullendorf in German, Der Beichtvater u. s. w. (Regensburg: Verlagsanstalt, 1901). Schick-Rhiel, Kurze Anleitung zur Verwaltung des hl. Bussakramentes (Fulda: Actiendruckerei, 1901).