Note 649 — Chapter I · THE ESSENTIAL DUTIES OF THE CONFESSOR IN THE EXERCISE OF HIS OFFICE; OR, THE CONFESSOR CONSIDERED IN HIS OFFICE OF JUDGE

Cf. Aertnys, Practic. Inst. Confessar. P. II. Cap. II. art. 1, § 1, p. 27, n. 30; Theol. Moral. l. c. n. 276; Lehmkuhl, l. c. n. 420; Gury, l. c. II. n. 616; Reuter, Neo-Confessar. P. 1, cp. 3. Cf. P. II. cp. II. art. 1, 2, 3, cp. 3, art. 1; Ballerini, Op. Theol. Mor. l. c. cp. II. n. 895 (where also some examples are given); Benger, Pastoraltheologie, II. Vol. 4 Book, § 162, p. 412 ff. (2 ed.); Zenner, l. c. P. II. Sect. 1, cp. 1, art. II. § 83-96. Segneri’s most appropriate instruction deserves to be taken to heart by the confessor: Cupio magnopere, te parcum, gravemque esse interrogando circa materiam luxuriæ, ne tibi accidat, quod pictori, qui cum Helenam exquisita diligentia depingeret, ejusdem cupiditate exardescere cœpit et accendi. Utere proinde verborum modestia, et quamvis subinde circumstantia maneret tecta, quæ alioquin ad integritatem materialem spectaret, nihil interest: aliud enim majus bonum prævalet. Adeo fœtet palus ista, ut consultum non sit, vel a Pœnitente vel a Confessario ubi opus non sit, moveri: sufficit requirere speciem patrati sceleris, non vero modum: et si ipsi vel ex irreverecundia vel ex ignorantia hunc vellent declarare, suaviter mone, necessarium non esse. Expediret hac in re imitari Philosophum illum, qui veritus, ne loquendo os conspurcaret, carbone descripsit. Instruct. Confessar. cap. II. Cf. Lugo, l. c. Disp. 16, Sect. 14, n. 595; Coninck, De Sacram. Disp. 8, dub. 17, n. 121.