PENANCE 173 



5. The Subject of the Seal. — By the sub- 

 ject of the seal we mean the person bound to ob- 

 serve it. That person is primarily the confessor 

 or any layman who may have wrongfully im- 

 personated a priest in the tribunal of penance ; 19 

 secondarily, all who have cooperated in confes- 

 sion, e. g., the superior to whom the penitent has 

 applied for absolution from reserved sins; the 

 interpreter through whom he has confessed his 

 sins; any one whom the confessor, with the 

 penitent's permission, has consulted or asked for 

 advice, or who has written out the penitent's sins 

 at his request, or who has accidentally (casu) or 

 purposely (furtive) overheard the confession or 

 otherwise obtained a knowledge of it. 20 



Any one who has read, or heard read, the notes 



19 Cfr. St. Alphonsus, Theol. ordinatis: (1) ex ipsa confessione, 

 Mor., 1. VI, n. 645. — Gury, Conip. nam res accusata ad illos pervenit 

 Theol. Mor., II, n. 498: "Tenetur eadem ratione, propter quam ob- 

 primario ad sigillum confessarius ligatio sigilli datur, scilicet, ne odium 

 quilibit, sive verus sive fictus, et per in sacramentum creetur; (2) ex 

 errorem legitimus existimatus, et pro- mediis, nam odium mediorum in 

 inde etiam laicus, qui se sacerdotem finem ipsum redundat. Hinc ad 

 fingeret et confessionem exciperet. sigillum tenentur: (1) interpretes 

 Ratio est, quia quoties quis confite- adhibiti in confessione peragendd; 

 tur in ordine ad sacramentum, qui (2) superiores, a quibus extra sacra- 

 eum audit, quicunque sit, contrahit mentum petitur facultas absolvendi 

 eo ipso sigilli obligationem ; secus vel recipiendi absolutionem a casu 

 enim odium sacramenti inde sequere- reservato; (3) qui peccatum, dum 

 tur. I ta* omnes." quis confitetur, sive de industria 



20 Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 889, sive etiam inculpabiliter audiunt, 

 § 2. — Cf. Gury, Compendium Theol. et pariter alii, qui ab istis audirent; 

 Mor., Vol. II, n. 498: "Tenentur (4) qui scribunt confessionem ru- 

 secundario, qui confessionis fiunt dium vel ignorantium linguam con- 

 participes, seu it omnes, ad quos fessarii, quoties vix alio modo con- 

 notitia confessionis quocunque fessio peragi posset; (5) doctor es 

 modo pervenit, sive ex ipsa con- a confessario consulti, de licentii 

 fessione, sive ex mediis ad Mam poenitentis ; (6) ii omnes, quibus 



