Dist. 17, Part 1
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/4/d/17/q/bon-sent-IV-d17-p1-littera
----------------------------------------
### Part I.

### Chap. I. *Whether sins are forgiven without confession.*

Here a manifold question arises. For first it is asked whether, apart from satisfaction and oral confession, a sin is forgiven to anyone through contrition of heart alone. Secondly, whether it sometimes suffices to confess to God without a priest. Thirdly, whether a confession made to a faithful layman avails. — For in these matters even the learned are found to think diversely, since concerning them the doctors seem to have handed down various and almost contrary things. For some say that without oral confession and the satisfaction of work no one is cleansed from sin, if he has had time to do these things. — But others say that, before oral confession and satisfaction, a sin is forgiven by God in contrition of heart, provided that he has the desire of confessing. Whence the Prophet: *I said, I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven* etc. Expounding which Cassiodorus says: « *I said,* that is, I deliberated with myself that I will confess, and thou hast forgiven. Great is the mercy of God, that at the mere promise He should forgive the sin. For the desire is judged for the deed ». Likewise Augustine: « He does not yet pronounce, he promises that he will pronounce; and God forgives, because this very thing, to say it in the heart, is a kind of pronouncing. There is not yet a voice in the mouth, that a man may hear the confession, and God hears it ». Likewise: *A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit, a contrite heart* etc. Elsewhere too it is read: *In whatsoever hour the sinner shall be converted and shall groan, he shall live in life and shall not die;* it is not said: he shall have confessed with the mouth, but: being converted he shall have groaned.

« Whence it is given to understand that even with the mouth silent we sometimes obtain pardon. Hence also those lepers, whom the Lord bade show themselves to the priests, were cleansed on the way, before they came to the priests. From which it is intimated that, before we open our mouths to the priests, that is, confess our sins, we are cleansed from the leprosy of sin. Lazarus too was not first led forth from the tomb and afterward raised by the Lord, but, raised within, he came forth alive; that it might be shown that the raising of the soul precedes confession. For no one can confess unless raised, because from a dead man, as one who is not, confession perishes: no one therefore confesses unless raised again. But no one is raised unless he is loosed from sin; because sin is the death of the soul, which, as the life of the body is, so its life is God ». — By these and many other authorities it is proved that, before confession or satisfaction, sin is forgiven by compunction alone. Those who deny this labor to define those [authorities], and also, in the depreciation of this opinion and for the assertion of their own opinion, adduce the testimonies of authors. For the Lord says through Isaiah: *Tell thou thy iniquities, that thou mayest be justified.* Likewise Ambrose: « No one can be justified from sin unless he has first confessed the sin ». The same says: « Confession frees the soul from death, confession opens paradise, confession gives the hope of salvation; because he does not deserve to be justified who in his life will not confess his sins. That confession frees us which is made with penitence. But penitence is grief of heart and bitterness of soul for the evils which each one has committed ». Likewise John: « No one can receive the grace of God unless he be purged from all sin through the confession of penance and through baptism ». Likewise Augustine: « Do penance, such as is done in the Church. Let no one say to himself: I act secretly, I act before God; God knows, who pardons me, because I act in my heart. Therefore was it said in vain: *Whatsoever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven?* Therefore were the keys given in vain? We make void the word of Christ. Job says: *If I have been ashamed to confess my sins in the sight of the people*»! Likewise Ambrose: « Venial is the fault which the confession of offenses follows ». Likewise Augustine upon that place of the Psalm: *Let not the deep swallow me up, neither let the pit shut her mouth upon me:* « The pit is the depth of iniquity, into which if thou fall, it will not shut its mouth upon thee, if thou shut not thy mouth. Confess therefore and say: *Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord* etc; and thou shalt escape. It shuts upon him who in the deep despises, from whom, being dead, as one who is not, confession perishes ». The same: « No one receives pardon of a deserved graver penalty unless he pay some penalty, even though far less than he ought. For thus is the bounty of mercy imparted by God, that the justice of discipline be not abandoned ». Likewise Jerome: « Let him who is a sinner bewail his own offenses or the people's, and let him enter the Church, from which because of his sins he had gone out, and let him sleep in sackcloth, that by the austerity of life he may compensate for the past delights by which he had offended God ». — By these and other authorities they strive to assert that without confession of the voice and some payment of penalty no one is cleansed from sin.

What therefore is to be thought concerning these things? what is to be held? Truly it can be said that without confession of the mouth and payment of exterior penalty sins are blotted out through contrition and humility of heart. For from the moment that he *proposes,* with mind compunct, that he will confess, God forgives; because there is confession of the heart, even if not of the mouth, through which the soul is interiorly cleansed from the stain and contagion of the committed sin, and the debt of eternal death is relaxed. — Those things, therefore, which were said above concerning confession and penance are either to be referred to the confession of the heart and to interior penalty — as that saying of Augustine, « that no one is said to obtain pardon unless he first pay some penalty of sin, however small » — or are to be taken of exterior penalty and to be referred to those who despise or neglect, as that saying: « Let no one say, I act secretly » etc. For some neglect or are ashamed to confess their sins in life, and therefore do not deserve to be justified. For just as *interior penance* is enjoined on us, so also oral confession and exterior satisfaction, if there be opportunity. Whence neither is he truly penitent who has not the desire of confession. And just as the remission of sin is a gift of God, so penance and confession, through which sin is blotted out, cannot be except from God, as Augustine says: « Already, he says, he has the gift of the Holy Spirit who confesses and repents, because there cannot be confession of sin and punishment in man from himself. For when each one is angry with himself and displeased, he is not without the gift of the Holy Spirit ». It behooves the penitent, therefore, to confess, if he have time; and yet, before confession be in the mouth, if the desire be in the heart, remission is granted him.

### Part II.

### Chap. II. *Whether it suffices to confess to God alone.*

Now let us inspect the second article of the question, namely, whether it suffices to confess one's sins to God alone, or whether one ought also to confess to a priest. — To some it has seemed to suffice if confession be made to God alone without priestly judgment and the confession of the Church; because David said: *I said, I will confess to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven* etc.; he does not say to a priest, and yet he says the sin was forgiven him. Likewise Ambrose: « Therefore Peter wept, because the fault crept upon him; I do not find what he said; I find that he wept. His tears I read, his satisfaction I do not read. But what cannot be defended can be washed away. Tears wash away the offense which shame forbids to confess with the voice. And the weeping of pardon consults his modesty ». This same thing also Maximus the bishop says; likewise John Chrysostom: « I do not bid thee betray thyself in public, nor accuse thyself before others, but I would have thee obey the Prophet saying: *Reveal to God thy way.* Before God therefore confess thy sins, before the true judge with prayer declare thy offenses, not with the tongue, but with the memory of thy conscience; and then at length hope that thou canst obtain mercy. If thou keep thy sins continually in mind, never wilt thou hold evil against thy neighbor in thy heart ». The same: « Tell thy sins, that thou mayest blot them out. But if thou art ashamed to tell them to anyone, tell them daily in thy soul; I do not say that thou shouldst confess them to thy fellow-servant, that he may reproach thee; tell them to God, who cares for them. For neither, if thou tell them not, does He not know them: when thou didst them, He was present; when thou didst commit them, He had known. Does He then wish to learn them from thee? Hast thou not been ashamed to sin, and art thou ashamed to confess? Tell it in this life, that thou mayest have rest in the other; tell it groaning and weeping. In the codex thy sins are written; let thy tears be the sponge of thy sins ». Likewise Prosper: « Those whose sins lie hidden from human knowledge, neither confessed by themselves nor published by others, if they will not confess or amend them, will have as avenger Him whom they have as witness. But if they become their own judges and, as it were avengers of their own iniquity, here exercise upon themselves a voluntary penalty of most severe chastisement; by temporal penalties they will exchange eternal torments, and by tears flowing from true contrition of heart they will restrain the burnings of eternal fire ». And below: « More easily will those appease God toward themselves who either by their own confessions disclose their crime, or, others not knowing, of their own accord pass upon themselves the sentence of voluntary excommunication, and, separated from the altar at which they ministered — not in mind, but in office — bewail their life as though dead, certain that, being reconciled by the fruits of efficacious penance, they will receive from God not only what was lost, but also the joys of the heavenly city ». — On these authorities rely those who contend that it suffices to confess one's sins to God without a priest. For they say that if anyone, fearing his fault be detected among men, lest he be held in reproach thereby, or others by his example be girded to sin, should therefore keep silence before man and reveal it to God; he obtains pardon.

### Chap. III. *That it does not suffice to confess to God alone, if one can confess to a priest.*

But that one ought to confess to priests is proved not only by that authority of James: *Confess your sins one to another* etc., but also by many other testimonies. For Augustine says: « Let a man judge himself voluntarily, while he can, and convert his morals for the better, lest, when he can no longer, he be judged against his will by the Lord; and when he has pronounced upon himself the sentence of a most severe yet most useful medicine, let him come to the prelates, by whom the keys are ministered to him in the Church. As a son now beginning to be good, the order of the maternal members being kept, let him receive from the stewards of the Sacraments the measure of his satisfaction, devout and suppliant in offering the sacrifice of a contrite heart. Yet let him do this so that it may profit not only himself unto salvation, but also others for an example; that, if his sin be not only in his own grave evil, but also in so great a scandal of others, and the prelate sees this to be expedient for the utility of the Church, he refuse not to do penance in the knowledge of many, or of the whole people, lest by shame he add a swelling to a deadly wound ». « When the wound of sin and the onset of disease is so great that the medicaments of the body and blood of the Lord must be deferred, by the authority of the prelate each one ought to remove himself from the altar to do penance and to be reconciled by the same ». Likewise Pope Leo: « The manifold mercy of God so succors human lapses that not only through baptism, but also through penance, the hope of life is repaired, the supports of the divine will being so ordered that they cannot obtain the indulgence of God except by the supplications of priests. For Christ delivered this power to the prelates of the Church, that they should give to the confessing the satisfaction of penance, and the same, purged by wholesome satisfaction, should admit to

the communion of the Sacraments through the door of reconciliation ». Likewise Augustine: « Let him whom it repents, repent altogether and show his grief by tears; let him represent his life to God through the priest, let him forestall the judgment of God by confession. For the Lord bade those to be cleansed to show their mouths to the priests, teaching that sins are to be confessed by bodily presence, not to be manifested by writing. For He said: *Show your mouths,* and all, not one for all, do not appoint another messenger to offer for you the gift appointed by Moses; but you who have sinned by yourselves, be ashamed by yourselves. For the shame itself has a part of remission. For out of mercy the Lord commanded this, that no one should repent in secret. For in this, that through himself he tells the priest and conquers shame by the fear of the offended one, the pardon of the crime comes about. For that becomes venial through confession which was criminal in the deed: even if it be not at once purged, that becomes venial which he had committed mortal. For he offered much satisfaction who, mastering shame, denied to the messenger of God none of the things which he committed. For God, who is merciful and just, as He keeps mercy in justice, so also justice in mercy. For it is a work of mercy to forgive the sinner his sins; but it behooves that the just one have mercy on the just. For He considers whether he is worthy, I do not say of *justice,* but of *mercy;* for justice alone condemns, but he is worthy of mercy who by spiritual labor seeks grace. For the mind labors by suffering shame; and since shame is a great penalty, he who is ashamed for Christ becomes worthy of mercy. Whence it is plain that, the more witnesses he confesses the baseness of his crime to in hope of pardon, the more easily he obtains the grace of remission. For the priests themselves can do the more profit, the more they spare to those confessing ». Likewise Pope Leo: « Although the fulness of faith seems praiseworthy, which for the fear of God fears not to be ashamed before men; yet — because the sins of all are not of such a kind that those who ask penance fear not to publish them — let the unwarrantable custom be removed, lest many be kept away from the remedies of penance, while they either are ashamed, or fear to disclose their deeds to enemies by whom they can be smitten by the sanction of the laws. For that confession suffices which is first offered to God and then also to the priest, who comes as an intercessor for the offenses of the penitent. For then more will be able to be drawn to penance, if the conscience of the one confessing be not published to the ears of the people ». — From these and many other things it is shown beyond doubt that confession must be offered first to God and then to the priest, and that it cannot otherwise be attained to the entrance of paradise, if there be opportunity.

### Part III.

### Chap. IV. *Whether it suffices to confess to a layman.*

Now, before we answer the authorities adduced which seem to contradict these things, let us consider the third question. For what the second question contained, namely whether to confess to God alone without the confession and judgment of a priest sufficed, has been dispatched and certified by the foregoing testimonies, that it does not suffice to confess to God without a priest; nor is he truly humble and penitent if he does not desire and seek the judgment of a priest. But does it equally avail to confess to a fellow or one's neighbor, at least when a priest is lacking? — Truly to this it can be said that the priest's examination is to be sought zealously, because God granted to priests the power of binding and loosing. And therefore those whom they forgive, God too forgives. If however a priest be lacking, confession is to be made to a neighbor or fellow. But let each one take care to seek a priest who knows how to bind and to loose. For such must he be who judges the crimes of others. Whence Augustine: « Let him who wishes to confess his sins, that he may find grace, seek a priest who knows how to bind and to loose, lest, when he has been negligent about himself, he be neglected by him who mercifully admonishes and asks him, lest *both fall into the pit* which the fool would not avoid. So great therefore is the force of confession that, if a priest is lacking, let him confess to a neighbor. For it often happens that the penitent cannot be abashed before a priest, whom, though he desire, neither time nor place affords him. Even if he to whom he will confess have not the power of loosing, yet he becomes worthy of pardon out of the desire of a priest who confesses his crime to a fellow. For the lepers were cleansed while they went to show themselves to the priests, before they reached them. Whence it is plain that God looks to the heart, while of necessity they are hindered from reaching the priests. Indeed often the healthy and joyful seek them, but while they seek, before they arrive, they die. But the mercy of God is everywhere, who knows how to spare even the just, though not so quickly as if they were loosed by a priest. He therefore who confesses at all, let him confess to the best priest he can ». « And if the sin is hidden, let it suffice to bring it to the knowledge of a priest. For in the raising of the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue few were present who saw; for she was not yet buried, not yet carried out of the gate, not yet brought out of the house into [public] knowledge. Within He raised her whom He found within, only Peter and James and John and the father and mother of the girl being left, in whom are figuratively contained the priests of the Church. But those whom He found without, it is to be noted how He raised them. The crowd was weeping

after the son of the widow, Martha and Mary wept as they supplicated for their brother, the crowd too that followed Mary wept. In which we are taught that for those sinning publicly not one's own merit but the Church's suffices ». « Let the penitent therefore labor to be in the Church and to tend to the unity of the Church. For unless the unity of the Church succor, unless by its prayer it supply what is lacking to the sinner; the soul of the dead will not be snatched from the hands of the enemy. For it is to be believed that all the prayers and alms of the Church and the works of justice and mercy succor him who recognizes his death unto conversion. And so no one can worthily repent whom the unity of the Church does not sustain; and so let him not seek priests divided from the unity of the Church by any fault ». — From these things the article of the foregoing question is sufficiently opened and resolved. For a priest is to be sought who is wise and discreet, who together with power has judgment, and if perchance such a one be lacking, one ought to confess to a fellow. — Bede, however, distinguishes between the confession of venial and mortal sins upon that place: *Confess your sins one to another.* For he says: « Let us disclose to our equals the daily and light sins, but the graver ones to a priest, and let us take care to purge them at whatever time he shall bid, because without confession of amendment sins cannot be forgiven ». But the graver ones too are to be disclosed to equals, when a priest is lacking and danger presses. But venial sins, even when the opportunity of a priest is offered, may be confessed to an equal, and it suffices, as it pleases some, provided however that out of contempt the priest be not passed over. Yet it is safer and more perfect to disclose sins of both kinds to priests and to seek the counsel of medicine from those to whom the power of binding and loosing has been granted.

### Chap. V. *To what confession avails.*

Since therefore from these and many other testimonies it becomes clear and is established beyond doubt that sins are to be confessed first to God, then to a priest, and if he be lacking, even to a fellow; that saying of John Chrysostom set above is not to be so understood as that it be lawful for anyone, if he have time, not to confess to a priest; but because it suffices, where the crime is hidden, to tell it to God alone through a priest and once, nor is it needful that what is hidden be published before many; which he noted, saying: « I do not bid thee betray thyself in public ». For just as a public harm needs a public remedy, so a hidden one is purged by secret confession and secret satisfaction. Nor is it necessary that what we have once confessed to a priest we confess again; but with the tongue of the heart, not of the flesh, before the true judge we ought to confess it continually. Whence the same John says: « But now, if thou remember thy sins and frequently declare them in the sight of God and pray for them, the sooner wilt thou blot them out. But if thou forget them, then wilt thou remember them unwillingly, when they shall be published and brought forth in the sight of all friends and enemies and the holy Angels ». — So also that saying of Ambrose: « Tears wash away the offense which shame forbids to confess with the voice », is to be referred to public penance. For there, showing the power of tears and of confession, he wished to signify that secret tears and secret confession, such as is made to a priest alone, wash away the offense which it shames one to confess publicly. But that he says he read the tears of Peter, not his confession or satisfaction; by this he does not exclude these. For many things were done which are not written, or perhaps the institution of confession, which now exists, had not yet been made. — Likewise that saying of Prosper: « If they become their own judges, they will exchange eternal torments »; and that: « More easily will they appease God toward themselves who either by their own confessions disclose their crime, or, others not knowing, pass upon themselves the sentence of excommunication »; ought to be referred to public confession and satisfaction. For not to priests alone is the right of binding and loosing given, that each one may at his own discretion bind himself by penalty or the sentence of excommunication, and without priestly judgment reconcile himself to God or to the altar; which is utterly repugnant to ecclesiastical institution and custom. Rather therefore, if thou hast sinned publicly, publicly confess thyself guilty and amend; but if thou hast offended secretly, even so be not silent; nor yet do I say that thou shouldst publish it. « For the silence of sin is born of the pride of the heart. For therefore does one conceal his sin, lest he be reputed outwardly such as he has already shown himself to the divine gaze; which is born from the fount of pride. For it is a species of pride to wish to seem just, who is a sinner, and he is convicted a hypocrite who, after the manner of the first parents, strives to lighten his sins by an evasion of words, or, like Cain, seeks to suppress his sin by keeping silence. But where pride or hypocrisy reigns, humility has no place; and without humility it is not allowed to anyone to hope for pardon. Where therefore there is silence of confession, no pardon of the crime is to be hoped for ». — Now it is most certainly clear how detestable is the silence of sin, and on the contrary, how necessary is confession. For confession is the testimony of a conscience fearing God. For he who fears the judgment of God is not ashamed to confess his sin. Perfect fear loosens all shame; the confession of sin has shame, and the shame itself is a grievous penalty. And so we are bidden to confess our sins, that we may suffer shame for a penalty; for this very thing is a part of the divine judgment. — If therefore it is asked to what confession is necessary, since in contrition the sin is already blotted out; we say that it is a kind of punishment of sin, like the satisfaction of work. Through confession too the priest understands how he ought to judge concerning the crime; through it also the sinner becomes more humble and more cautious.

---