Section — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis
§ 1. On the Duties of the Confessor Before the Act of Confession
The confessor must prepare himself for hearing confessions by acquiring for himself: 1. sufficient knowledge; 2. necessary prudence; 3. Christian virtues.
432. 1. Knowledge necessary for the confessor.
St. Alphonsus says:375 "I affirm that the confessor who exposes himself to hearing confessions without sufficient knowledge is in the state of damnation." The reason is that otherwise the confessor exposes himself to the proximate danger of badly administering so venerable a sacrament, with great harm to penitents. Hence Christ says: "And if the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit."376
That knowledge is judged sufficient which renders the priest fit to administer the sacrament worthily and fruitfully. Accordingly, equal knowledge is not required in all confessors. Thus, in a case of grave necessity, any priest whatsoever has sufficient knowledge, especially since today no one is accustomed to be admitted to the priesthood who has not devoted himself to theological studies for at least four years. But even outside a case of necessity, a confessor hearing confessions in a humble village, where penitents almost never bring difficult cases, does not need as much knowledge as is needed by a confessor hearing confessions in great cities, where penitents of every kind are accustomed to assemble. This can be held as a general rule: That confessor is endowed with sufficient knowledge who a) knows how to resolve cases which commonly occur, and b) knows how to doubt prudently concerning more difficult ones. The confessor is not bound always to judge concerning individual sins whether they are mortal or venial, since this is sometimes truly impossible.
To possess sufficient knowledge of moral theology, it does not suffice that the confessor once passed a good examination, but he is also bound continually to preserve and increase the knowledge acquired by new study. For every year new decisions of the Roman Congregations are issued, which must be attended to by the confessor. But this is impossible if the confessor is not assiduous in study. Nor should it be said that sound sense or natural prudence suffices for resolving cases, because so many positive laws in the matter of the sacraments, justice, the precepts, and so forth, must be applied that natural prudence is altogether insufficient. Nor does experience alone suffice; for unless continual study directs experience, many errors are necessarily committed. Hence someone rightly said: "The long experience of a confessor who lacks study and knowledge is the old age of error"; and Benedict XIV says:377 "Some priests, who at the beginning had undertaken the office of confessor most excellently, afterward, after a long time with all care for studies neglected, lose their former knowledge of moral theology, so that those who had been most skilled in an art of this kind are at last, instructed with a scanty and confused knowledge of the art itself and with its first rudiments, scarcely numbered among novices." Since these things are so, a confessor who for a long time neglects the study of moral theology sins, because he exposes himself to the proximate danger of committing grave errors and harming penitents. To foster moral knowledge in priests, ecclesiastical law prescribes that pastoral collations or conferences, in which moral matters are treated, be held several times in the year.378
375 Praxis confess., n. 18.
376 Matt. 15:14.
377 Instit. 32, n. 4.
433. 2. Prudence must be added to knowledge.
For the governance of souls is the art of arts. Prudence is right reason concerning things to be done, that is, it chooses the best means for obtaining the end. But the end to be obtained by the confessor is principally the salvation of souls. Therefore let the confessor take care to counsel and prescribe suitable means of salvation for each penitent. But this is impossible if the confessor does not know the character of each penitent. Therefore let the confessor be prudent: a) in asking questions, especially in matters which concern the sixth precept of the Decalogue; b) in rendering judgment, insofar as he attentively considers all the circumstances both of the sins and of the sinner; c) in suggesting remedies; d) in giving counsels; e) in imposing satisfactions.
The means by which prudence is acquired are principally: a) prayer; therefore the confessor acts most excellently who, before the administration of the sacrament of penance, devoutly says the prayer set forth above at n. 329, note 2; b) purity of intention, which strives to please God alone and not men; for God enlightens those who seek nothing except divine things; c) docility of mind, which is especially necessary for younger confessors and which demands that in more difficult cases the confessor seek the counsel of wise men; but let him seriously beware lest the seal be injured.
434. 3. Christian virtues are exceedingly necessary for the salutary exercise of the office of confessor.
The confessor not only must himself be in the state of sanctifying grace, but must also direct penitents in the way of the virtues. But he who knows the way of virtue from theory alone and not from his own experience is not accustomed to be a suitable guide. The principal virtues which become a confessor are:
a) An ardent zeal for souls, which urges him so that he becomes all things to all men.
b) Unfailing patience, which is certainly necessary for instructing the unlearned, arousing the tepid, and assisting those insufficiently prepared.
c) Fortitude, which does not fear to admonish the rich and the powerful, in season and out of season, if this is necessary.
d) Exceptional purity. For even in our days "all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth."379 Very often the confessor must hear the foulest sins. But if his mind is not then most chaste, the depraved motions which arise allure him to consent. Especially, however, in hearing the confessions of women, every prudence and purity is necessary, because otherwise grave danger arises both for the confessor himself and for the penitents.
379 Gen. 6:12.