168 THE MEANS OF GRACE 



a) The natural law commands silence regarding that 

 which is communicated in confidence. When a man goes 

 to confession, he expects that his secret will be locked in 

 the bosom of the confessor. Hence to keep the seal in- 

 violate is a matter of strict natural duty. In many coun- 

 tries the civil law treats the revelation of any secret com- 

 municated in confidence as a misdemeanor. 



b) The positive divine law demands the inviolability of 

 the seal because it is a necessary condition of the enforce- 

 ment of the precept of confession. "Confession could 

 not be enforced," says Bishop Linsenmann, "if priests 

 were not bound to the strictest secrecy concerning that 

 which is revealed to them in the confessional. Hence 

 the seal is justified, not only by the interest of the penitent, 

 but by the interest of confession itself." 3 "The divine 

 command to confess one's sins," says Dr. Krieg, "would 

 be an intolerable burden if the penitent were not assured 

 of silence on the part of the confessor." 4 



c) The law of the Church forbids the revelation of sac- 

 ramentally confessed sins under severe penalties. 6 



3. Nature of the Obligation. — The obli- 

 gation of keeping the seal binds every confessor 

 under pain of mortal sin. It is absolute, i. e., ad- 

 mits of no parvitas materiae, at least directly. 6 



[confessarius], ne verbo aut signo "Sacramentale sigillum inviolabilt 



out alio quovis modo aliquatenus pro- est; quare caveat diligenter conies- 



dat peccatorem: sed si prudentiore sarins, tie verbo aut signo aut alio 



consilio indiguerit, Mud absque ulla quovis modo et quaz-is de causa pro- 



expressione personae caute re- dat aliquatenus peccatorem." — On 



quirat . . ." (Denzinger-Bannwart, the penalties cfr. J. Hollweck, Die 



n. 438). kirchlichen Strafgesetse, Mayence, 



8 F. X. Linsenmann, Lehrbuch 1899, pp. 332 sqq. ; J. Laurentius, 



der Moraltheologie, p. 220. S.J., Inst. Iuris Eccles., n. 456, 546. 



4 Krieg, Wissenschaft der Seelen- 6 Gury, Comp. Theol. Mor., II, n. 



leitung, Vol. I, p. 515. 497: ". . . saltern in revelatione di- 



6 Codex Iuris Can., can. 889, § 1 : recta. Ratio est, quia materia, 



