Note 1027 — Chapter III · PENITENTS IN EXTREME DANGER

The priest should not forget the exhortation of the Rit. Rom.: “Ægrotos visitans ea ex qua Sacerdotes Domini decet honestate et gravitate se habeat, ut non ægris solum, sed sibi et domesticis verbo et exemplo prosit ad salutem.” Special care is necessary in visiting persons of the other sex. The sick-room should not be entered without due notice, the visits should take place as much as possible during the day, and not be too frequent nor too long; the priest should avoid being alone; even when hearing the confession the door should be left open, so that others can always see from a distance; certainly the door should not be locked, and he should never remain in the dark, nor alone longer than is unavoidably necessary. Everything of the nature of tenderness or sentimentality should be avoided, and holy decorum and gravity be observed. Comp. Benger, Pastoraltheologie, a. a. O.; Frassinetti, Practical Instruction, chap. 2, Appendix I. § 3, nn. 353-356.