Volume III, Treatise VII, Chapter XI

An Answer to Several Difficulties Resulting from What Has Been Said in the Preceding Chapters

From all that has been said, there arise some difficulties which may present themselves to our mind, and therefore we must endeavour to remove them. The first is, that, on the one hand, we have said that it is better to give account of conscience out of confession, and again we have observed that we must not only declare our temptations and bad inclinations, but also our falls, if any such occurred, and that without this we do not render a good account of conscience. Now I ask, if it happened (which may the Lord in his mercy prevent) that a religious, by giving way to temptation, should fall into some grievous and shameful sin, it is possible that the rule should oblige him to give an account of it to his superior out of confession? This indeed would be very severe, and generally speaking, very few would be able to submit to it. To this I answer, that the intention of the rule and of our founder is not that in this case we declare our sin out of confession; on the contrary, it is chiefly to take away this restraint that the rule of which I have spoken establishes the alternative of accusing ourselves of our sins, either in or out of confession, according as we shall desire. The rules of the provincial expressly contain the same thing. For, after hating said that when any religious has given an account of his conscience, the superior may ask him what questions he shall judge fit, they presently add, “with the reserve, however, that out of confession they put no question on matters which it would be very shameful to acknowledge. When the things are of such a nature that it appears we dare not mention them out of confession”, we shall then do a great deal better to keep them for the tribunal of confession; and not only the superior or spiritual father ought never to ask any question of it about these things, but even they ought never suffer any one to speak to them on such subjects. Chaste ears ought not to hear such things out of confession, and therefore it is good to reserve for confession all that we may have to say upon this matter. It is what Father-general Aquaviva wishes to admonish us of by the words set down in the preceding chapter; for in saying that it is better to give account of conscience out of confession, he excepts such things as properly regard confession.

The second difficulty is of greater importance than the first. We have said, on the one hand, and St. Ignatius in his constitutions expressly says the same, that one of the reasons why we are obliged to give an account of conscience is, that superiors knowing perfectly well those under their charge, may be the better able to provide for the good of each religious in particular and the advantage of the society in general. We have also said elsewhere that the same constitutions permit each one to give an account of conscience in the tribunal of confession; so that in appearance it may be objected that the general government of the society is founded on knowledge acquired in confession. And in effect, some persons not well understanding the manner that the society governs itself herein, have been struck very forcibly by this objection. To answer it I say, first, that the society is so far from regulating its conduct by the confessions of its religious, that even Father-general Aquaviva, perceiving that some divines held that a confessor, without violating the seal of confession, might make use of what was revealed to him in confession in certain cases, rejects this opinion in his ordinances, and very severely forbids either to teach or follow it. Nay, he even commands all the confessors of the society, that with respect to things revealed to them in confession, they always act as if they had never come to their knowledge; and this is entirely conformable to a decree issued by Clement the Eighth four years after, upon the same matter, and of which Father Francis Suarez and many others make mention. But the society observes more strict measures than these;

‘for it orders all superiors carefully to keep secret all those things | 20B that shall be said to them in giving an account of conscience. ‘Now if it wishes us to have so great circumspection in the things heard out of the tribunal of confession, what reserve ought they not exact in such things as belong to it, what care ought it not take to hinder confession from becoming odious, and a sacrilege from being committed against the inviolability of the seal!

I answer in the second place, that there is no inconvenience at all in making use of confession for the interior government of souls, On the contrary, it is one of the greatest advantages derivable from it. For, as the penitent discovers then all the wounds and infirmities of his soul, the spiritual physician, who is the confessor, is better able to judge of the remedies which are proper for him, and of the conduct he ought to make him observe for the future. This truth is so evident, that Pope ‘Alexander the Third, speaking of certain habitual sinners, who, even in the tribunal of confession, declare that they cannot hinder themselves from falling back into the like disorders, and who consequently are incapable of absolution, because they have not a true desire to renounce sin, orders confessors to hear their confessions, that they may have an opportunity of giving them some good counsel for their direction and salvation. He exhorts even-the sinners who are in this bad disposition, not to neglect confession, though absolution ought to be refused them, and counsels them to confess all the sins and disorders of their life, and also that bad disposition they then go with to confession, He commands ghostly fathers also to receive and hear them with kindness and sweetness; to give them afterwards good counsel and wholesome instructions, because it will perhaps happen that by little and little their hearts coming to be touched, they will quit the occasions; and, in fine, that by means of this practice of humility, and of such good works as their confessor shall recommend to them, God will open their eyes and move them entirely to renounce sin and to make a good confession. | Wherefore it is not a new institution, but a very ancient and approved practice of the Church, to make use of confession as a very proper means to lead souls the better into the way of salvation.

We read in the life of St. Ignatius, that the first fathers or the society having unanimously chosen him general in two successive assemblies, he for a long time refused to accept it, as judging himself incapable of that charge. Yet they pressed him on all sides, signifying to him that to persist in refusing it was to resist the will of God, as appeared sufficiently by their unanimous suffrages. But notwithstanding all they could say, they could not obtain his consent; so that it was necessary to make use of an expedient which he himself proposed, and which I here set down. I will put, says he, this affair entirely into the hands of my ghostly father; I will declare to him all the sins that I ever committed, all the bad habits and inclinations to which I am subject, and lastly, all my weaknesses and infirmities, both corporal and spiritual, as well past as present; and if after this, he commands or counsels me in the name of Jesus Christ, to charge myself with so heavy a burden, I will obey without reply. He did as he said; he entered for some days into a retreat, at the end of which he made a general confession to a holy religious of the order of St. Francis, a Father Theophilus, of whom he asked, after he had ended it, whether or not he should accept of the election that was made of him: and the answer being given him that he ought to accept it, and that otherwise he would resist the Holy Ghost, he made no longer any difficulty to submit thereunto. Now, I ask whether any one can be so malicious as to find anything in this to reproach the conduct of St. Ignatius, and to suspect it of hypocrisy? I certainly believe that nobody can speak of it without praising it as in effect it deserves, and as it is praised by all that write his life. But our Saviour, who made use of this means to conduct our founder and our head, taught him to put the same in practice for our whole body, and therefore the custom of declaring to our superior, in or out of confession, all our vicious inclinations, faults, and imperfections, is a means given us by God, that the superior may be the better able to conduct us in the way of perfection, to which we make profession to aspire.

This being so, I say, that in what regards the exterior and politic government of the society, we can by no means make use. of confession; but as to what regards the interior and spiritual conduct of souls, it is very proper, and even very necessary, to make use of it in the manner I have set down. Do not we also see, that it is a very common practice throughout the whole Church, that when we have any doubt or difficulty concerning our interior conduct, we address ourselves to a prudent and learned confessor, and confer with him about it, either in or out of confession, that we may receive his advice and counsel? Now this was precisely the intent of St. Ignatius, when he left it to the choice of his religious to give an account of their conscience, either in or out of confession. It is not therefore in consequence of the knowledge they derive from confessions, they make or appoint rectors, or receive persons to profession, or provide for all the offices of the society; for it would be very ill done to make use of it in this manner, as it would be also very ill to harbour such an opinion as this of superiors.

It is, however, very essential and of great importance to observe here, that a religious may find himself in such a disposition, and so many circumstances may occur, that his confessor should oblige him in conscience, and under pain of sin, to go and desire his superior not to put him in such an employment, or not to send him on such a mission, or to take him from such an occasion: declaring to him at the same time the danger he may thereby be exposed to by reason of his weakness. What better or more convenient means can be given to a religious in such an occasion as this, than to oblige him to lay open his conscience to his superior? for then the superior will have it in his power to remove him from this occasion without affecting his honour, and the superior will be hindered from exposing him to such dangers as may be above his strength, and at the same time secure both his honour and conscience. It-likewise sometimes happens, that we are not certain whether we shall expose ourselves to danger or not; but yet we are afraid and doubt of it, and then nothing is of greater ease to our mind, and of greater comfort, than to propose our doubts and difficulties to our superior, and to put ourselves entirely into his hands. For if, after this, he engages you in any employment which you should apprehend to be dangerous to your salvation, the danger will no longer bear upon yourself as it would have done had you said nothing, but will entirely bear upon your superior; and God, who perceives that you have done as much as you could on your part, will lend you his assistance, and give you strength to acquit yourself well of what is com- | manded you.

In the third place, I further answer that, although the rule permits us to give an account of conscience in confession, it is still better, as I have already said, to give it out of confession; and that as amongst us each of us knows it is better to make this use of it, so each of us also, generally speaking, embraces that which is the best, and consequently we ought not to suspect that the government of superiors is grounded upon what has been re-

oy vealed to them in confession, because it is ordinarily out of confession that we give an account of conscience. But suppose that one would not give an account of conscience but in confession, can we imagine that there should be any religious so great an enemy to perfection, as not to be glad, when he has said anything in confession to the superior, that the superior should make use thereof to remove him from the occasion of falling into sin, and to lead him more securely into the way of salvation? For, provided the superior acts with necessary prudence and circumspection, and that nothing can happen which is not for the good of the religious, and that nobody can thereby know the faults into which he has fallen, it is certain that the religious gains very much hereby. As, however, all the subjects of the society freely give an account of conscience out of confession, that the superior being no ways constrained by respect for confession, may more freely make use of the knowledge they give of themselves for their spiritual advancement and salvation, it is also true, that even for the spiritual and interior conduct of souls, it is not practised in the society to make use of confession, though they may lawfully and piously do so, but that ordinarily for this effect they make use of what they know out of confession.

St. Bonaventure teaches the same doctrine that we hold; and says, that it is of great importance the superior should know the conscience of those under his charge, as also their inclinations and habits, and the extent of their spiritual and corporal strength, that he may the better know how to govern them, and, as all persons are not equally fit for all things, so he may better distribute the burdens of religion according to each one’s capacity. He relates upon this subject these words of holy Scripture: “Aaron and his children shall enter into the sanctuary, and they shall have the disposing and ordering of what every one ought to do, and shall distribute to each one the charge he ought to bear”—~(Numbers 4:19) And he says that Aaron and his children are superiors, and it is their office to penetrate the interior of those under their charge, that, perfectly knowing them, they may make a just distribution of the employments and offices of religion, and give “to each one according to his ability’ —Mat., xxv. 15.

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