164 



THE MEANS OF GRACE 



By working upon the emotions of a well disposed penitent 

 the confessor can often prepare the way for grace. 6 



2. The Confessor's Duty of Admonishing 

 and Instructing the Penitent (Monitio). — 

 This duty arises from the office of teacher, which 

 a priest is bound to exercise whenever he finds a 

 penitent to be ignorant of what is necessary for 

 the integrity of confession or of the disposition 

 required for the worthy reception of the Sacra- 

 ment. 



a) Hence the confessor is in duty bound to in- 

 struct every penitent who is either vincibly and 

 culpably or invincibly ignorant of the truths nec- 

 essary for salvation and the more important du- 

 ties of life. When a penitent is invincibly igno- 

 rant in regard to some of these duties, the con- 

 fessor should not instruct him unless he has good 

 reason to think that his advice will be heeded, 

 lest what was purely a material sin should be- 



6 Rit. Rom., tit. 3, c. I, n. 46: 



" Sacerdos caveat, ne curiosis aut 

 inutilibus inter rogationibus quern- 

 quam detineat, praesertim iuniores 

 utriusque sexus vel alios de eo, quod 

 ignorant, imprudenter interrogans, 

 ne scandalum patiantur indeque pec- 

 care discant." — Cfr. St. Alphonsus, 

 Theol. Mot., 1. VI, n. 629: "Ne 

 examen sit curiosum de non neces- 

 sariis, unde confessarii existimatio, 

 sacramenti dignitas et poenitentis 

 profectus minuatur ; ne sit indiscre- 

 tum, v. g., de Us, quae moraliter 

 cerium est, a tali non solere com- 



mitti, vel ex quibus discat peccare 

 poenitens vel de inverecundis in- 

 verecunde vel de numero nimis 

 anxie." (Ed. Gaud6, III, 653).— 

 Gury, Comp. Theol. Mor., II, n. 

 463: "Interrogatio semper debet 

 esse moderata. discreta, opportuna, 

 et omnibus circumstantiis qualitatis, 

 aetatis, conditionis poenitentis con- 

 grua. Sic reverentia sacramenti, de- 

 centia naturalis, caritas et prudentia 

 erga poenitentes requirere videntur." 

 — P. A. Kirsch, Zur Geschichte der 

 kath. Beichte, pp. 212 sq. 



