III. Religion of Women

I. Different confessors. They are distinguished as ordinary, special, extraordinary, and particular.

1. Ordinary confessor. a) For each house of religious women only one ordinary confessor should be given, who receives the sacramental confessions of the whole community, unless because of their great number or another just cause there is need of another or of several (can. 520, § 1).¹

The words "who receives the sacramental confessions of the whole community" indicate the office of the confessor rather than an obligation of the religious women to approach him in the case in which, within the time established by the rule, they have confessed to another. Nevertheless, of itself it should be counseled that all be content with the ordinary confessor and ordinarily confess to him at the stated times.

A just cause for naming several ordinary confessors could be, for example, a plurality of national languages.

b) For the office of ordinary confessor of religious women there should be deputed priests, whether from the secular clergy or religious with the permission of their Superiors, outstanding in integrity of morals and prudence. They should moreover be forty years of age, unless a just cause, in the judgment of the Ordinary, requires otherwise, and they should have no power in the external forum over those same religious women (can. 524, § 1).

If the house of religious women is immediately subject to the Apostolic See or to the local Ordinary, he chooses priests for confessions, both ordinary and extraordinary; if it is subject to a regular Superior, he presents confessors to the Ordinary, whose duty it is to approve the same for hearing the confessions of those nuns and, if need be, to supply for the Superior's negligence (can. 525).

The ordinary confessor of religious women should not exercise his office beyond three years. Nevertheless, the Ordinary can confirm him for a second, indeed even for a third, three-year period, if either because of a shortage of priests fit for this office he cannot provide otherwise, or if the greater part of the religious women, including those who in other matters do not have the right of casting a vote, has agreed by secret votes to the confirmation of the same confessor. Nevertheless, for those dissenting, if they wish, provision must be made otherwise (can. 526).² Outside the cases set forth, the ordinary confessor cannot again be deputed as ordinary in the same community except after a year from the completion of his office; but an extraordinary confessor can immediately be named as ordinary (can. 524, § 2).

2. Special confessor. If some religious woman, for the quiet of her soul and for greater progress in the way of God, asks for some special confessor or spiritual moderator, the Ordinary should readily grant him. Nevertheless, he should watch lest abuses creep in from this concession; but if they do creep in, he should eliminate them cautiously and prudently, with liberty of conscience preserved (can. 520, § 2). Therefore a special spiritual director could also be granted without the office of confessor.

a) A special confessor or spiritual moderator is to be granted not for a prefixed time, but as long as the just cause of necessity or spiritual utility of the religious woman who requested him endures.³

b) The ordinary confessor of the community can also be deputed as moderator of conscience for some religious woman.⁴

3. Extraordinary confessor. To each community of religious women there should be given an extraordinary confessor who at least four times a year comes to the religious house, and to whom all religious women must present themselves, at least to receive a blessing (can. 521, § 1). In an extraordinary confessor the same things are required as in an ordinary one (can. 524, § 1). The same things also hold as regards his selection (can. 525), but he can be named for an indefinite time. Finally, the mind of the legislator is judged to be that, as such, he should not come to the religious house more than four times a year without the authority of the Ordinary.

4. Particular confessor. The local Ordinaries in whose places communities of religious women exist should designate some priests for individual houses, to whom the religious women can easily have recourse for the sacrament of Penance in particular cases, without its being necessary to approach the Ordinary himself as often as the case arises (can. 521, § 2). It is said, 1. for the sacrament of Penance; therefore not only for seeking direction or counsel. It is said, 2. in particular cases; therefore not habitually after the manner of the special confessor of whom under 2.

Note. If some religious woman asks for one of those confessors, no Superior is permitted, either personally or through others, directly or indirectly, to inquire into the reason for the petition, to oppose the petition by words or deeds, or in any way to show that she takes it ill (can. 521, § 3). This paragraph seems to regard both the extraordinary confessor of paragraph 1 and the particular confessor of paragraph 2. For first, canon 521 treats of both kinds of confessors, § 1 of the extraordinary confessor, § 2 of particular confessors; then § 3 says: "If some religious woman asks for one of those confessors," not "of these confessors." Then the distinct paragraph confirms this; for if this admonition regarded only particular confessors, it should have been stated in the same paragraph, not in a distinct paragraph of the same canon, which also treats of the extraordinary confessor.⁵

¹ The Sacred Congregation for Religious, July 3, 1916, declared that there was no obligation of naming an ordinary confessor for a community which did not contain at least six sisters. But the same Congregation several times, for example January 10, 1920 and January 18, 1921, ordered canon 520 to be observed even for small houses. But that canon supposes confessors who receive confessions in the house of the sisters itself. Therefore, if they are allowed to approach a church so that there they may confess in the manner of secular women, a confessor does not seem to have to be named (Vermeersch, Epitome, 4, n. 590).

² Sacred Congregation for Religious, April 20, 1913.

³ Sacred Congregation for Religious, April 20, 1913.

⁴ Sacred Congregation for Religious, April 20, 1913.

⁵ Vermeersch, Periodica, IX, p. (3).

II. As regards naming confessors of women novices, the things said about the religious women themselves hold (can. 566, § 1). Postulants, as regards this matter, are numbered among religious women, although it can be disputed whether special jurisdiction is required for hearing them validly (n. 373).

III. Things to be observed by confessors and by religious women. 1. The confessors of religious women, both ordinary and extraordinary, should in no way involve themselves in the internal or external governance of the community (can. 524, § 3). Special confessors called to the monastery or religious house, if they understand that the religious women approach them with no just cause either of necessity or of spiritual utility, should prudently dismiss them.¹

2. All religious women should in no way speak among themselves about the confessions of their companions, nor should they dare to criticize those sisters who make their confession to another than the deputed confessor.²

3. A Superior who acts against the prescriptions of canons 521, § 3,³ 522,⁴ and 523⁵ should be warned by the local Ordinary. If she offends again, she should be punished by him with deprivation of office, the Sacred Congregation of Religious being immediately informed (can. 2414).

¹ Decree Cum de sacramentalibus. The things said in the text, even if perhaps they can no longer be urged by force of the cited Decree, are nevertheless worthy of mention.

² Cf. p. 290.

³ Cf. p. 290.

⁴ Cf. p. 286.

⁵ Cf. p. 286.