of this great Pope : I forbid, says he, the recitation in public of the declaration which sinners shall have made of their faults in detail, giving them in writing, because it is sufficient to discover to the priests by a private confession, the sins of which they may stand guilty, for although we should commend the great faith of those, who fear not to cover themselves with confusion before men, from a great fear of God, nevertheless, as some desiring penance, may have com`mitted sins which they may not wish, should be made public, I deem it proper to abolish this practice, lest many should deprive themselves of the remedies of penance, and withdraw through a shame or fear which they may have to discover to their enemies, actions which deserve to be punished by the authority of the laws: for the confession which is made first to God, and afterwards (mark well) to a priest, ought to suffice. Epist. 80. ad. Episcopos Campanice.

Also in his 91st. Epistle to Theodorus, Bishop of Forojulius, he thus writes: The manifold mercy of God has also afforded this remedy to the frailties of our nature, that the hope of eternal life may be gained not only by baptism, but likewise by the benefit of penance, and that those who have violated the grace of their baptis, by condemning themselves, may obtain the remission of their crimes, the divine bounty having so ordained it, that the indulgence of God cannot be obtained without the supplications of the priests. For our Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man, has imparted this power to the heads of his church, to impose on those that confess, a competent penance, and admit the same after a wholesome satisfaction, to the communion of the sacraments, through the door of reconciliation. St. Leo, in this passage most clearly shows confession to be necessary, by the divine ordinance; to have been ordained by God, insomuch, that without the ministry of the Priests, no reconciliation can be obtained; and moreover adds, that the ministry of the priest, from the divine institution, consists in enjoining a penance upon those that confess, and in admitting the same through the door of reconciliation, to the communion of the sacraments. This testimony is at once so pointed, and so strong in every point, relating to confession as taught in the Catholic church, that none of the Reformers have ever offered to give a solution.

CHAP. VIN.

TESTIMONIES OF OTHER FATHERS FROM THE YEAR 500 TO THE YEAR 1215.

ST. GREGORY, THE GREAT.

I SHALL begin with St. Gregory, surnamed the great, from the splendour of his actions, as well as the lustre of his virtues, who was born about the year 540. It is to this great saint that England owes her conversion to Christianity, from the apostolic labours of Augustin, Prior of the monastery of St. Andrew, whom he had expressly sent thither, for that purpose. In his 26th homily, explaining these words of the gospel, Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, he writes thus: It must be seen, says he, what the offence is, and what penance has succeeded the offence, that those whom the Almighty visits with the grace of compunction, may be absolved by the sentence of the Priest. For the absolution of the subaltern judge, (viz. the priest) is then true, when the sentence of the sovereign judge follows. Now, certainly the priest cannot know, whether the penitent who desires to be absolved, has done penance according to the magnitude of his offence, unless he openly confess his fault or rather all his faults: wherefore the confession of all and every sin, is absolutely necessary,

Again, in the same homily, this holy pontiff has traced out to us in the resurrection of Lazarus, an admirable figure of the conversion of a sinner, which fully discloses the sentiments and ideas of the saint on the present subject. Every sinner, says he, is buried in the depth of the tomb, as long as he retains his sins in the secret recesses of his conscience; but the dead man issues from the tomb, when the sinner confesses his iniquities, of his own accord; it is therefore, to all who are dead by sin, as well as to Lazarus, it is said: come forth," why do your sins in the bottom of your conscience? cause them to come forth by a faithful confession; let the dead issue from the regions of the tomb and appear: that is to say, let the sinner confess his sins, by exposing to view what he has concealed in the most hidden recesses of his conscience; after which, he may be loosed by the ministry of the priests, as Lazarus was loosed by the hands of the disciples of

you conceal

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the Saviour. Hom. 26. in Joan. T. 1. Ed. Paris. p. 1441. Here, it is scarcely necessary to remark, that St. Gregory, speaks of all sinners who are guilty of mortal sins; his words are: omnis peccator, cuilibet mortuo in culpa; that he alludes particularly to those whose sins are hidden, introrsum latet, in suis, penetralibus occultatur; that he finally, considers confession a duty equally incumbent upon all sinners, since it is on this condition only, they can be loosed by the priests, venientem vero foras solvant discipuli.

ST. JOHN CLIMACUS.

IN the same age flourished St. John Climacus, surnamed the scho lastic; in his book entitled Climax, he thus speaks: But before all things, let us confess our sins to our enlightened judge; and let us be prepared, should he command us, to confess to all. And a little below, he says moreover, that without confession, which is made to man, no remission can be obtained.

I could produce a number of other not less respectable witnesses of the faith and practice of the Catholic Church, respecting confession, in this same age, but I fear to exhaust the patience of the reader who must be, I am satisfied, perfectly convinced by this time, that the Fathers are for us. I shall therefore content myself with the two above in this age, and with citing one or two, in each of the subsequent ages, down to the year, 1215.

After the year 600, we have the celebrated Cosarius, bishop of Arles. In his 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, Hom. he reasons most admirably on penance; in his 7th, principally, he tells his flock that confession and penance, purify from sin; and in his 10th, discoursing more largely on the necessity of confession, he speaks thus: Wherefore I have often admonished you, dearest brethren, and I do again and again admonish and beseech you, as soon you perceive yourselves to be torn by the tempest of concupiscence from the shore of continence, tossed in the ocean of luxury, and to have suffered the shipwreck of Charity, to hasten to profit by confession, as by a plank from the shattered vessel; that by it you may escape the deep abyss of luxury, and arrive at the haven of penance, where you may in the more secure ground of hope, let drop your anchor, and recover your lost salvation. Now, that Cosarius speaks of the confession of every sin according to its species, is manifest from his seventh homily, where he compares sin to a dis

ease, eonfession to its medicine, and the priest, to the physician: ner is it sufficient, as I have more than once said above, for the curing of corporal diseases, for the patient to say to his physician, that he is sick or indisposed, but he must also point out and indicate clearly to him, his complaint or complaints, if perchance he should labour under a complication of them.

After the year 700, appears Venerable Bede, whose memory is so respected by the church, that his homilies are publicly read in her office. In his commentary upon the 5th chap. of the Epist. of St. James explaining these words: Confess your sins one to another, he writes thus: In this sentence, says he, this discretion should be used, viz. to confess our daily and light transgressions, one to another of our equals, and trust that by their prayers, we shall be saved; but to discover the foulness of our more nauseous leprosy to the priest, according to the law, and take special care to purify ourselves agreeably to his decision, in the manner and according to the measure of time he shall command.

About the middle of the same century, Theodorus Studites in the life of St. Plato, commends the said Plato, because from his youth he had been accustomed to confess to the pastor of his soul, not less frequently than diligently, all his sins even to his most inmost thoughts.

Towards the close of this century, we find Theodolphus, who go. verned the church of Orleans, and who by his rare merit acquired the highest reputation with Charlemagne. He made in the year 797 ma ny excellent regulations which are mentioned in the 7th vol. of the council of F. Labbeus. The 31st contains, that we must make a clear confession of all the sins we have committed, whether by action or in thought, to a Priest; it moreover enjoins, that the confessor interrogate the penitent, in order to find out the manner and occasion of his sin.-Why so much exactness in informing one's self of the occasions and circumstances, if at that time they did not at all admit of the ob ligation of confessing one's sins in detail to a priest?

After the year 800, appears the learned Raban-maur, Archbishop of Mentz, and one of the greatest ornaments of the church of Germany. In his seventh book on Ecclesiasticus, chap. 7. he thus speaks concerning the necessity of confession: He who trangresses in the concupiscences of the flesh, and offends in any notable degree, is necessarily bound to cast off and purify himself of his ordure, by a clear confession of his sins, and thus by fasting and bodily chastisements re

turn to his wonted health. See the same, in his second book, de Institat. Clericorum, chap. 30.

In the same century, we have also Jonas, Bishop of Orleans, and one of the great luminaries of the church of France. In his third book de Institut. Laicali, he expresses himself, on the obligation of confession in a manner equally clear and distinct. Should the sick, says

he, be guilty of any sins, they will be remitted them, provided they confess them to the priests of the church, and take special care to renounce them and amend, for sins cannot be forgiven without confession ; which corrects them.

It would be easy to add to the authority of these great men, the authority of several councils, I shall however, only make mention of one, namely, that of Pavia, held in the year 850, and whose testimony is equally decisive in proving that they were not less convinced in those days, than we are at present, of the necessity of confessing in detail to a priest. After having laid down some regulations for the public penance of public sinners, the council goes on to declare: that all who have sinned in secret, shall confess to those whom the Bishops and Archbishops have appointed to be physicians proper to heal secret wounds. And if the confessors have any doubt in the exercise of their ministry, they must consult thereupon their Bishop, without however naming the person who shall have confessed. Council Ticinense. can. 6. T. 8. Labb. p. 63.

After the year 900, Reginon, the Abbot of the monastery of Prum, in the Diocese of Treves, celebrated for his great exactness, in the history he has left us in his Chronicles, and for his erudition in his two books, on Ecclesiastical discipline, furnishes us with a beautiful testiin favour of confession. It is thus he writes in the 286th chap. of mony his first book, p. 134, ed. Paris: Whosoever, is guilty of having sullied the spotless robe of Jesus Christ, which he had received at his baptism, must repair to his pastor, and humbly confess to him all the transgressions and all the sins by which he remembers, to have offended God, and acquit himself with the nicest exactness of whatever shall be enjoined

him.

Also, in the same century, Radulphus Flaviacensis, in his 3d book en Leviticus, chap. 7. writes thus: It is necessary that those who confess their sins, should declare all that occurs to their memory, developing themselves to the Lord, and not reveal one thing, and conceal another.

After the year 1000 flourished the great Peter Damien, less illus