182 THE MEANS OF GRACE 



The practice of reserving or postponing absolution as a 

 means of amendment seems to have been unknown in for- 

 mer times. 35 Modern writers recommend it even in the 

 case of penitents guilty of venial sins only. "To defer 

 absolution," says one author, "may be useful, nay neces- 

 sary, even when the penitent is guilty only of venial sin ; 

 for instance, if the confessor sees that the venial sins of 

 which the penitent accuses himself, will gradually lead to 

 mortal sin (dangerous company-keeping, undue intimacy 

 with persons of the other sex, etc.), or that the venial sins 

 to which the penitent is addicted, impede his spiritual 

 progress, as in the case of priests and religious, whose 

 state of life obliges them to greater perfection, and in the 

 case of lay persons who are frequent communicants." 



Note, however, that the new Codex Iuris Canonici says : 

 "If a confessor has no reason to doubt the disposition of 

 the penitent, and the latter begs to be absolved, absolution 

 should neither be denied nor deferred." 16 



Readings. — St. Alphonsus, Theologia M oralis, 1. VI, n. 431, 462. 

 — Idem, Praxis Confessariorum, n. 19 sqq. — J. P. Gury, Compen- 

 dium Theologiae Moralis, Vol. II, n. 467-469. — F. Lorinser, Die 

 Lehre von der Verwaltung des hi. Bussakramentes, 2nd ed., pp. 

 51 sqq. — A. Schick and F. D. Schmitt, Kurse Anleitung zxir Ver- 

 waltung des hi. Bussakramentes, 3rd ed., Fulda 1905. — Instructio 

 Pastoralis Eystettensis, 5th ed., Freiburg 1902, pp. 256 sqq. 



quod vertitur, est, an hoc remedium regula in hoc statui non possit, 



dilatae absolutions saepius expediat sed confessarius ex circumstantiis oc- 



adhibere vel ne poenitenti iam suf- currentxbus se dirigcre debet, et post- 



ficienter disposito ad absolutionem quam Deo se commendavit, ut erit a 



sine eius consensu. Commune est Deo inspiratus, absolutionem differat 



apud doctores, nullo modo expedite vel impertiatur." 



absolutionem differre, quando dilatio 15 Gury-Ballerini-Palmieri, Comp. 



magis obfutura quam profutura cen- Theol. Mor., Vol. II, 14th ed., Rome 



setur. Idem dicendum, quum ex 1902, n. 433. 



dilatione absolutionis poenitens pa- 16 Can. 886: "Si confessarius du- 



teretur notam infamiac. . . . Alii bitare nequeat de poenitentis dispo- 



vero dicunt, raro expedite, quod sitionibus et hie absolutionem petat, 



poenitenti disposito differatur absolu- absolutio nee deneganda, nee diffe- 



tio. Melius dicendum, quod certa renda est." 



