Section 2. Concerning the Obligation of Judging the Disposition.

389. Concerning the Disposition to Be Known. 1. Since absolution cannot be granted except to a rightly disposed penitent, lest the sacrament be frustrated, the confessor ought to inquire into the disposition of the penitent and form for himself a judgment concerning its existence.

2. Concerning the existence of disposition in the sacrament of penance, a prudent and probable judgment suffices, one which rests upon a grave motive and to which no grave suspicion is opposed. Although in other sacraments the matter per se ought to be certain, nevertheless in the sacrament of penance, on account of its peculiar nature, it suffices that it be probable, lest the sacrament itself be rendered odious and its administration impossible, since full certitude concerning the disposition of the penitent very often cannot be had. Therefore the Roman Catechism teaches: If, after hearing the confession, the priest shall have judged that neither diligence in enumerating sins nor sorrow in detesting them was wholly lacking to the penitent, he can be absolved.¹

a. The indisposed are those who certainly lack true sorrow for sins and a serious purpose of amendment. Of this kind generally are all those who refuse to fulfill a grave obligation.

b. They are called doubtfully disposed against whose disposition grave suspicion arises from positive indications, without, on the other hand, a probable judgment concerning the disposition being able to be formed.

Those are not called doubtfully disposed who, from a grave motive, are judged to be disposed, even if some slight suspicion arises against their disposition; for this occurs with many penitents who ought to be judged sufficiently disposed, since there is a probable reason for the disposition, and from the other side no prudent doubt excludes it.

c. The positive indications from which grave suspicion against the disposition of the penitent is especially suggested are these:

a. if, after remedies have been neglected, there has been a relapse into the same sins;

b. if he approaches confession not so much spontaneously as forced by counsel or custom, or if he approaches without due preparation;

g. if he confesses sins without humility and sorrow, and rather attempts rashly to excuse himself;

d. if he has studied to conceal sins, so that the confessor had to fish them out by industry;

e. if he is difficult in accepting penances and remedies for sins;

z. if after many relapses he says only coldly that he is sorry.

¹ Part 2, c. 5, q. 58. Cf. I. B. Favre, Dubitationes theol. de iudicio practico, dub. 1.

390. Signs of Disposition. To form a judgment concerning the disposition of the penitent, the confessor needs great prudence and the help of divine light; but these signs can greatly help him in forming this judgment:

a. The confession itself: for if the penitent approaches confession spontaneously, whether to fulfill the precept, or to reconcile to himself the state of grace, or so that he can more easily avoid sins, the spontaneous confession itself is a probable sign of disposition; but from the confession itself one cannot safely conclude to disposition if the penitent approaches the sacraments only from the will of parents or superiors, or from a certain custom, because it must be feared that he does not act seriously and sincerely.

b. The assertion of the penitent: for whether he comes prepared to confession and asserts that he has sorrow and purpose, or comes unprepared and only after the warning of the confessor affirms that he detests his sins and wishes to avoid them in the future, he must be believed; nor, according to St. Thomas, can greater certitude be acquired in this matter than if the penitent himself is believed.¹

If the penitent sincerely confesses his sins and suggests no suspicion of deficient disposition, the confessor rightly presumes him disposed from the confession itself; but if he doubts concerning sufficient disposition, he ought to question the penitent and believe him when he affirms it.² It is clear that these things are affirmed concerning penitents who are prudently judged to act seriously and sincerely in this sacred business of conversion, but by no means concerning penitents who are judged to proceed lightly and fictitiously. And indeed a confessor would err gravely if he gave faith to penitents of this kind when they affirm that they are sorry and propose amendment, and if he absolved them.³

c. The manner of confession: for from the manner in which the penitent accuses himself candidly and humbly, the confessor can easily detect that he is acting seriously and sincerely and has conceived displeasure with his sins and a purpose of a better life.

d. The circumstances of the penitent: for sometimes the confessor detects in the penitent some circumstance which is an indication of a serious will of avoiding sins in the future: a. if he has already employed some care in avoiding sins and rooting out a habit of vices; b. if, when warned about remedies, he willingly promises that he will employ them, especially if he had never been warned before; g. if he approaches confession from some special motive, e.g., a sermon heard, the death of a friend, fear of a contagious disease, etc.; d. if he confesses sins previously culpably omitted; e. if he has fulfilled a difficult obligation, e.g., restitution, the fulfillment of which he had delayed until this point; z. if he had to undergo inconvenience in making confession, such as a long journey.

After St. Alphonsus the usage has already prevailed of distinguishing signs of disposition as ordinary and extraordinary, or special. Extraordinary signs are not so called because they signify or ought to signify an extraordinary and more perfect disposition, but they are customarily so called in order to be distinguished from ordinary signs. The ordinary signs are these two: confession duly made, and the assertion of the penitent that he is sorry and proposes amendment. The extraordinary signs which St. Alphonsus enumerates (n. 460) are almost those which are taken from the circumstances of the penitent.

¹ In 4, dist. q. 3, a. 3, qc. 5, ad 2.

² Suarez, disp. 32, sect. 2, n. 2.

³ Therefore this proposition (60) was condemned by Innocent XI: To a penitent having a habit of sinning, even if no hope of amendment appears, absolution is neither to be denied nor deferred, provided he orally says that he is sorry and proposes amendment.