On the Third Precept of the Church: To Confess Sacramentally at Least Once in the Year

I say. There exists a precept of annual confession, and it is proved from can. 906 of the new code: Every faithful person of either sex, after he has arrived at the years of discretion, that is, at the use of reason, is held faithfully to confess all his sins at least once in the year. Cf. Can. 906.

He who makes a sacrilegious confession does not satisfy the precept of confessing sins (Can. 907).

Question 1. How is the year to be computed in this matter?

Response. The Doctors do not agree; for some compute it from one confession to another, others from the beginning of January to the end of the month of December, and still others, whom the custom received almost everywhere favors, compute it from Easter to Easter. - Cf. St. Alphonsus, de Sacram. paenit., n. 662. - Lugo, de paenit., disp. 15, n. 154.

Question 2. To what confessor is confession to be made?

Response. It can be made to any confessor legitimately approved, even of another rite. - Cf. Can. 905.

Question 3. What is the age of discretion?

Response. Pius X, by the Decree Quam singulari, 8 Aug. 1910, established the following norm concerning the first Communion of children to be observed everywhere. "I. The age of discretion, both for Confession and for Holy Communion, is that in which the child begins to reason, that is, about the seventh year, whether above it or even below it. From this time begins the obligation of satisfying both precepts, of Confession and of Communion. II. For first Confession and for first Communion a full and perfect knowledge of Christian doctrine is not necessary. Yet the child afterward must gradually learn the whole catechism according to the measure of his intelligence. III. The knowledge of religion which is required in the child, that he may suitably prepare himself for first Communion, is that by which he perceives according to his capacity the mysteries of faith necessary by necessity of means, and distinguishes the eucharistic bread from common and bodily bread, so that he may approach the Most Holy Eucharist with that devotion which his age allows. IV. The obligation of the precept of Confession and Communion, which burdens the child, chiefly falls upon those who must have care of him, that is, upon parents, upon the confessor, upon teachers, and upon the pastor. But to the father, or to those who take his place, and to the confessor, according to the Roman Catechism, it belongs to admit the child to first Communion. VII. The custom of not admitting children to confession, or of never absolving them, when they have arrived at the use of reason, is altogether to be disapproved." "In this," says the same Supreme Pontiff in the Letter to Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church Fischer, 31 Dec. 1910, "we wish the Christian faithful to understand well that the matter is not so much that obedience be given to the precept of the Roman Pontiff, as that satisfaction be made to an office of this kind, which arises spontaneously from the very doctrine of the Gospel." - Cf. John vi. 54, where concerning the Eucharist.

To the proposed doubts ... namely:

I. Whether children who, although they have not yet completed the seventh year of age, nevertheless, on account of the age of discretion or use of reason, have already been admitted to first communion, are held by the twofold precept of confession at least once in the year, and of Communion once in the year, at least at Easter?

II. Whether canon 1252 has now begun to have the force of obliging everywhere, notwithstanding particular laws, etc.?

His Eminence Cardinal Petrus Gasparri, President of the Commission, responds:

"to I: affirmatively.

to II: affirmatively.

And the reason as regards the first doubt is evident: For although can. 12 states, 'By merely Ecclesiastical laws there are not bound ... those who, although they have attained the use of reason, have not yet completed the seventh year of age,' nevertheless it adds, 'unless something else is expressly provided in law.' But indeed in can. 859, § 1, and 906, it is expressly provided: 'Every faithful person of either sex, after he has arrived at the years of discretion, that is, at the use of reason, etc.'" 3 Jan. 1918.

Question 4. Is he who is not burdened by mortal sins held to confess venial sins, by reason of the precept of annual confession?

Response. Negatively, because the Church established that confession must be made which is prescribed by the institution of Christ. But Christ prescribed no other confession except that of mortal sins, as the Council of Trent explains, sess. 14. - Cf. St. Alphonsus, de Sacram. Paenit., n. 667.

Question 5. Is he who, within the year of obligation, however it may be computed, has confessed only venial sins, either once or more often, still held by the precept of annual confession, if before the end of the year he shall have fallen into mortal sin?

Response. Affirmatively, as it seems; and the reason is that the precept of confessing once in the year regards the confession of mortal sins, as was said above. Hence, just as one who has only venial sins is not held to confess, so also he who afterward in the same year commits a mortal sin is not considered to have satisfied the precept through a confession of venial sins. - Cf. St. Alphonsus, de Sacram. Paenit., n. 669. - Suarez, de Paenit., disp. 35, nn. 9 and 12. - Lugo, de Paenit., disp. 15, n. 162.