Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by

AUGUSTINE WIRTH, O.S.B.

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE.

THE

HE most responsible office of the priest of God is the hearing of confessions. Every other duty imposed upon him is a child's play compared with it, because so much depends upon it, viz.: the salvation of immortal souls. By preaching the word of God he sows the good seed broadcast, in the confessional he gathers the fruit; in the pulpit he sows the seed, in the confessional he reaps; in the pulpit he can touch certain sins only with kid gloves, in the confessional he probes the sores to the very bottom. In the pulpit he must be a lion, in the confessional a fox. He is a physician of souls; knowing the nature of all spiritual diseases and their ramifications, he is able to prescribe the proper remedies to prevent a relapse. He must be prepared to give suitable admonitions and advice in order to move sinners to repentance and to reclaim them from their evil ways. It is not necessary to make a long speech to each penitent; this is often impossible, and is done in the pulpit; but as every question requires an answer, so it is necessary to give some advice or admonition to each penitent. And each penitent looks for it, and unless he receives it, he leaves the confessional more sad and depressed than he came. "Reprove, entreat, rebuke with all patience and doctrine." (II. Tim. iv. 2.) When you have the disobedient child before you face to face, on his knees, being his own self-accuser, a suppliant for mercy and pardon, in the presence of God, and brought there proprio motu, from a sense of his sinfulness, and his heart being filled with sorrow

and contrition for his sins, that is the time for you, O priest of the Most High, to sow the good seed into his susceptible heart, and sink it in deeply, so as to make a lasting impression.

It is, however, for various reasons, no easy matter to do so at all times. Not only young, but even old confessors, are frequently embarrassed, and it is often difficult to find appropriate admonitions for the devotional confessions of Religious, and others who, once a week, or oftener, approach the sacred tribunal of penance. It is more than probable that the confessor repeats the same over and over again, and being often at a loss what to say or what admonition to give, gives none, but only says. "You may go to Communion, say for penance quinque Pater et Ave, vel litanias lauretanas." And the same penance is given for years and years, so that penitents know already beforehand what penance their ghostly father will enjoin upon them.

This little book called "The Confessional," which is a free translation of the Rt. Rev. Aloysius Roeggl's work, who was mitred Abbot of Wilten in Tyrol, Austria, is to remedy this undiversified and monotonous practice somewhat and enable confessors to move with greater liberty and variation. Variatio delectat.

The second edition differs greatly from the first. It supplies the priests with the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and holydays of obligation throughout the year, and renders the other books containing the Epistles and Gospels unnecessary. I may remark here incidentally that all the little books containing the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and principal festivals throughout the year do not contain the right Gospel for Palm-Sunday and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Gospels for the Sundays and holydays throughout the ecclesiastical year and the lives of many Saints, with relative penances, are prepared for the confessional. From every Gospel for the Sundays and holydays and festivals of the Saints, three or four points are given which may be used for admonitions in the confessional, and opera pœnitentialia which can be traced to one of these

three fountain-heads: Prayer, fasting, and alms-deeds, are added.

It is well to remember that these admonitions and penances must not be given to every penitent as they are written out; they are only hints to confessors, who are to judge for themselves what will suit hic et nune, and who are to modify them according to the circumstances and dispositions of their pent. tents. Not all things are good for all, nor are all things ex. pedient at all times. The Wise Man says: “All shall be well approved in their time." (Eccli. xxxix. 40.)

Omnia mecum porto. Vade-mecum.

This book may properly be called a The Rt. Rev. T. Mullen, D. D., Bishop of Erie, says of "The Confessional": "Priests will find this book a most useful companion in the library and pulpit, as well as in the confessional. To priests, particularly, who are engaged in missionary duty, The Confessional' will be eminently serviceable, as it will enable them to make their meditation with fruit; or if so occupied with other duties, as is often the case, that they find it impossible to prepare an instruction for the people, they need only read over for a few minutes attentively the meditation assigned in The Confessional' for the Sunday or feast-day they are celebrating, to acquit themselves in a way that will satisfy their own consciences and edify the faithful."

In most parishes two or more Masses are said on Sundays and holydays. Now, it is well known that many Catholics always go to first Mass, and for years hear no sermon, which is preached at High Mass. There is no doubt but that it would be very good at first Mass to read the few points assigned for the respective Sunday or holyday to the congregation, so as to give them something to reflect on, on their way to their homes.

Although the Church has relaxed from the severity of the old canonical penances, and there is at present a milder practice in use, yet the confessor must frequently remind some penitents what penitential works were decreed by the canons for those sins which they have committed, in order to represent more vividly before their eyes the greatness and