PENANCE
622
PENANCE
repentance. And therefore I say to you, if any one says (Ad Philadel.) "th;i,t the bisliop presides over
has sinned ... he has opportunity to repent penance".
once". Repentance is therefore possible at least once The transmission of this power is plainly expressed
in virtue of a power vested in the priest of God. That in the prayer used at the consecration of a bishop as
Hernias here intends to say that the sinner could be recorded in the Canons of Hippolytus (q. v.): "Grant
absolved only once in his whole life is by no means a him, O Lord, the episcopate and the spirit of clemency
necessary conclusion. His words may well be under- and the power to forgive sins" (c. xvii). Stillmoreex-
stood as referring to public penance (see below-), and plicit is the formula cited in the "Apostolic Constitu-
as thus understood they imply no limitation on the lions" (q. v.): "Grant him, O Lord ahnif;hty, through
sacramental power itself. The same interpretation Thy Christ, the participation of Thy Holy Spirit, in
applies to the statement of Clement of Alexandria order that he may have the power to remit .sins acco'rd-
(d. circa a. d. 215): "For God being very merciful has ing to Thy precept and Thy command, and to loosen
vouchsafed in the case of those who, though in faith, every bond, whatsoever it be, according to the power
have fallen into transgression, a second repentance, which Thou hast granted to the Apostles." (Const.
so that should anyone be
tempted after his calling,
he may still receive a pen-
ance not to be repented of "
(Stromata, II, xiii).
The existence of a regu- lar system of penance is also hinted at in the work of Clement, "Who is the rich man that shall be saved?", where he tells the story of the Apostle John and his journey after the young bandit. John pledged his word that the youthful rob- ber would find forgiveness from the Saviour; but even then a long serious penance was necessary before he could be restored to the Church. And when Clem- ent concludes that "he who welcomes the angel of pen- ance . . . will not be a-shamed when he sees the Saviour", most commen- tators think he alludes to the bishop or priest who presided over the ceremony of public penance. Even earlier, Dionysius of Cor- inth (d. circa A. D. 170), setting himself against cer- tain growing Marcionistic traditions, taught not onlv that Christ has left to Hi's Church the power of par- don, but that no sin is so great as to be excluded from the exercise of that power. For this we have the authority of Eusebius, who says (Hist, eccl., IV, xxiii) : "And writing to the Church which is in .\mastris, to- gether with those in Pontus, he commands them to receive those who come back after any fall, whether it be delinquency or heresy" .
The "Didache" (q. v.) written at the close of the
CoNFE.ssrON'.\L fXIV Century
Basilica of S. Antonio, Padua
Ap_ost., VIII, 5 in P. G., I,
1073). For (he mi'MniuK of
"episcopus", "sacerdos",
"presbyter", as used in
ancient documents, see
Bishop; Hierarchy.
Exercise of the Power. — The granting by Christ of the power to forgive sins is the first essential of the Sacrament of Penance; in the actual exercise of this power are included the other essentials. The sac- rament as such and on its own account has a matter and a form and it profluces certain effects; the power of the ke\s is e.xercised by T minister (confessor) who I lUst iKissess the proper (lutlihcations, and the ef- i((tb are wrought in the void of the recipient, i. e., (Ik ])cnitent who with the IK I ( ssar\ dispositions must i(itorm certain actions I (iiif( sMon, satisfaction).
]/(illir and Form. — Ac- nnhiig to St. Thomas (^umrin III, Ixxiv, a. 2) the acts of the penitent i I the proximate matter t (liiN sicrament". This I iN I till teaching of Eu- Li .iiii,vl\ inthe"Decretum pni Armenis" (Council of Florence, 1439) which calls the acts "quasi mntcriii " of penance and enumerates them as contrition, confes- sion, and satisfaction (Denzinger-Bannwart, " En- chir. ", 699). The Thomists in general and other emi- nent theologians, e. g., Bellarmine, Toletus, Suarez, and De Lugo, hold the same opinion. According to Scotus (In IV Sent., d. 16, q. 1, n. 7) "the Sacrament of Pen- ance is the absolution imparted with certain words"
first century or early in the second, in IV, xiv, and while the acts of the penitent are required for the
again in XlV, i, commands an individual confession worthy reception of the sacrament. The absolution
in the congregation: "In the congregation thou shalt as an external ceremony is the matter, and, as posses-
confe-ss thy transgressions"; oragain: "Onthe Lord's sing significative force, the form. Among the advo-
Day come together and break bread . . . having cates of this theory are St. Bonaventure, Capre-
confessed your transgressions that your sacrifice may olus, Andreas Vega, and Maldonatus. The Council
be pure." Clement I (d. 99) in his epistle to the Corin- of Trent (Sess. XIV, c. 3) declares: ""TTie acts of
thians not only exhorts to repentance, but begs the the penitent, namely contrition, confession, and sat-
seditious to "submit themselves to the presbyters isfaction, are the quasi materia of this sacrament ".
and receive correction so as to repent" (c. Ivii), and The Roman Catechism (II, v, 13) says: "These ac-
Ignatius of Antioch at the close of the first century tions are called by the Council quasi materia not be-
speaks of the mercy of God to sinners, provided they cause they have not the nature of true matter, but
return "with one consent to the unity of Christ and because they are not the sort of matter which is em-
the communion of the bishop". The clause "com- ployed externally as water in baptism and chrism in
munion of the bishop" evidently means the bi.shop confirmation". For the theological discussion see
with his council of presbyters as assessors. He also Palmieri, op. cit., p. 144 sqq.; Pesch, " Prselectiones
