Case 12. Absolution of the Dying

Caius, a priest, is called to a parishioner who suffers from the disease called typhoid. He finds him dangerously ill, sunk in a most profound sleep, called a coma, and deprived of his senses. Those present deny that he asked for the priest before he came to this condition; nevertheless, Caius absolves him conditionally and administers the other sacraments. Hence it is asked:

1. What is the matter of the sacrament of Penance?

2. Can absolution be given if there is no sign of sorrow or confession?

3. What is to be said of the case?

The first question is answered above, p. 151.

2. May absolution be given if the penitent gives no sign of sorrow or contrition?

Absolution may not be given under these circumstances except when the penitent is in danger of death and can not make any sign of sorrow or of a wish to confess. Even when such a penitent is in danger of death, many distinguished theologians held that absolution could not be given, because there is no matter for the sacrament. St. Alphonsus, however, held that absolution may be given in such a case, according to the more common opinion as he asserted.¹

1 Theol. Moral, lib. vi, 482.

To the difficulty about the matter of the sacrament, St. Alphonsus answers that perhaps the anxious breathing, sighs, and other movements of the dying person are attempts made by him to express sorrow for his sins and a desire to confess, and that the probability that this is so is sufficient to justify the giving of conditional absolution in such a case of necessity.²

2 Manual of Moral Theology, vol. ii, 176.

3. The case. Caius acted rightly in giving the dying person conditional absolution and the last sacraments, even though he could make no certain signs of sorrow or of a desire to confess. This has become the common practice in such cases since the time of St. Alphonsus, and it may be explained by the reasons which the saint gives or perhaps in other ways. Ballerini, for example (Opus Morale, V, 404), suggests another way of explaining the modern practice. According to him it is probable that the sacrament of Penance consists in the absolution of the priest alone. Contrition is required as a disposition, but that may be presumed in the dying. Confession is also of divine law, according to the Council of Trent, but even a divine law does not bind when it is impossible to fulfil it. Necessity has no law. Without deciding whether this theory is probable or not, we may allow it some weight.