Dist. 17, Part 3, Art. 2, Q. 2
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-p3-a2-q2
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### Question II. *Whether one ought to confess every difference of mortal sin.*

Secondly it is asked whether every difference of mortal sin is to be confessed, namely the sin of heart, of mouth, and of deed, and also the sin that is hidden or manifest. And that every difference [ought to be confessed] seems to be the case.

1. By the decretal, which says to every member of the faithful: "all his sins alone," it does not say all with respect to venial sins: therefore it says all with respect to mortal sins.

2. Likewise, this seems so by reason: for by each of these a man is made an enemy of God and is cut off from the unity of the Church; but confession was instituted directly for this, that a man be reconciled to the Church and be shown to have been reconciled to God: therefore he is bound to confess of them all.

3. Likewise, for every difference of mortal sin a man is punished, both temporally and eternally, and will be condemned; but for everything for which a man is to be brought into the judgment of condemnation, he must necessarily be brought before the tribunal of Jesus Christ: therefore for every difference of mortal sin he is bound to confess.

4. Likewise, a graver sin is more deserving of punishment; but the sin of the heart is sometimes graver than the sin of deed in another genus, as heresy than fornication, and likewise an open sin graver than a hidden one: if therefore it is necessary to confess the sin of deed and of mouth, it seems that one ought likewise to confess the sin of the heart; if a hidden sin, it seems by a much stronger reason that a manifest one too [ought to be confessed]: therefore it is necessary to confess every difference of mortal sin.

5. Likewise, through every difference of mortal sin a man suffers shipwreck; but one suffering shipwreck must have recourse to a plank; and he cannot have recourse to baptism: therefore to the Sacrament of penance. But the Sacrament of penance, insofar as it is a Sacrament, consists in confession: therefore etc.

**On the contrary:**

1. Wisdom 11: *By the things by which a man sins, by these also he is tormented*: therefore if anyone sins by the heart alone, namely in the spirit alone and not in the flesh nor through the organ of the mouth; therefore he is to be punished by contrition alone, not therefore by confession: therefore he is not bound to confess the sin of the heart.

2. Likewise, Augustine: "Where sin arises, there let sin die": therefore the sin which was in the heart alone ought to die there: therefore it is not necessary that it be propagated outwardly through speech.

3. Likewise, in the judicial forum it is so, that nothing is brought to judgment except what is in some way manifest; whence Matthew 18: *If your brother sins against you, rebuke him between you and him alone*: therefore it seems that if a sin was in the heart alone, since it is manifest to no one, it ought not to be brought to the priestly judgment. Likewise, that only a hidden sin is to be confessed seems to be the case.

4. For Augustine, in defining confession, says that "confession is that by which a hidden disease is opened in hope of pardon."

5. Likewise, on that passage of Genesis 4: *The voice of [his] blood* etc.; the Gloss: "The evidence of a crime committed does not need an accuser"; but confession is an accusation, Proverbs 18: *The just man is first the accuser of himself*: therefore when a sin is evident, it does not need confession.

6. Likewise, confession is made for this, that the priest be instructed concerning the magnitude of the sin; but this is not necessary when it is public and notorious: therefore of an open sin no one ought nor is bound to confess.

> **Conclusion.** All the differences of mortal sin are to be confessed.

**I respond:** It must be said that it is necessary to confess every difference of mortal sin, whether it be hidden or manifest, whether of the heart or of the mouth. — An open sin ought to be confessed for a twofold cause: one is on the part of the hearer, the other on the part of the one confessing. On the part of the hearer: because, just as in the forensic court a judge knows something as a private person which nevertheless he does not know as judge, nor does he proceed to sentence until it becomes known to him as judge; so it is in the penitential court, that the priest knows something as a man which nevertheless he does not know as God, because it has not been accused by the testimony of conscience, which is the divine witness; and so long as he knows it [only] thus, it does not belong to him either to loose or to bind: therefore it is necessary that the sinner confess it to him, however public it may be. — The other reason is on the part of the one confessing: for however much anyone be accused by another, never on that account is he called or judged just, but rather unjust; but when a man accuses himself, who is deserving of accusation, then he performs a work of justice, and therefore it is said *The just man is first the accuser of himself*. Therefore, in order that one be justified and be proved to be just and worthy of reconciliation to the Church; it is necessary that he accuse himself, however public his sin may be.

The sin of the heart also, or the hidden sin, ought to be confessed for a twofold cause likewise: both on the part of the hearer and on the part of the one confessing. On the part of the hearer: because for it [the priest] ought to bind to punishment and to absolve — for it is certain that for every mortal [sin] one merits eternal punishment — therefore satisfaction is to be imposed according to the judgment of the priest: therefore such a one has need to confess to him the hidden crime, because otherwise he himself does not know it. — The other reason is on the part of the one confessing, so that the things which he was not ashamed to think and to will, and by willing to consent to, within the bedchamber of the heart in the sight of the divine presence, he may then recite before the eyes of the priest with blushing, so that what he committed shamelessly and casting off shame, he may now from this blush at it in the sight of a man; for the carnal man blushes more at the eyes of a man than of God. — Therefore the reasonings are to be conceded, that the differences of every mortal sin are to be confessed.

**Replies to the arguments:**

1. To that, then, which is objected from Wisdom 11, it must be said that both that word, and the word of Chrysostom and Augustine on this matter, are to be understood by *appropriation*; for it is not to be understood *precisely* by *truth*. For the sinner, who sins by the will alone, which presides over the whole man, is punished wholly, so that *inwardly* and *outwardly*; and therefore, if amendment be made, the whole man ought to make it, and through all the acts, namely of heart, of mouth, and of hand.

2. To that which is objected from Augustine, that where it arises etc.; it must be said that that word is to be understood with respect to the *progress* of sin, that the sin not go forward, but "where it arises, there let it die"; it is not understood with respect to *amendment*. — Or it must be said that it is to be understood of the penance corresponding to public and hidden sin. For of a public sin punishment is to be made publicly, for the sake of rooting out scandal; and of a hidden one, in secret before a single priest; and this the Master seems to say in the text.

3. To that which is objected concerning the forum of judgment, that manifest things are brought forward; it must be said that in the judicial forum, which proceeds according to the rigor of justice unto condemnation, one is the plaintiff, another the defendant, another the witness; and therefore it is necessary that that of which one is accused be known to many. But in the penitential forum the priest holds the place of God, and the one confessing holds the place of accuser and accused and witness. For the reason accuses the will, conscience bearing testimony;

and because this witness is a private one, from whom nothing is hidden and who bears testimony concerning everything hidden: therefore it belongs to such a judgment to judge hidden things.

4. To that which is objected concerning the manifest [sin], that confession is of a hidden sin, according to Augustine; it must be said that it is of a sin hidden from him to whom one confesses, after the manner of a judge. — Or it must be said that every sin in the soul is like an inward abscess; and however openly a man sin, still the force of the sin lies hidden in the soul; but "in confession the wound is broken open, and the corruption of sin is drawn outward," as Gregory says; and hence it is that all is called confession by which a hidden disease is opened in hope of pardon.

5. To that which is objected concerning the evidence of a crime committed etc.; it must be said that that is to be understood in the judicial forum, because that deed, being outward, is known and does not need witnesses, in that it cannot be concealed by any evasion; but it is not so in the forum of penance; for there credence is given to the testimony of conscience alone. For if conscience now testifies against the man, in the judgment it will testify for the man; otherwise it will always be a contrary witness.

6. To that which is objected, that it is for knowing the magnitude of the sin; it must be said that this is not the whole reason, but rather the reasons which have been assigned above; and besides, it is for this, that he may know after the manner of a judge.

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