ould, then,
easily grant her first request, which was to do nothing by which I could
know her. The second part of her prayer was more embarrassing; for the
theologians are very positive in ordering the confessors to question their
penitents, particularly those of the female sex, in many circumstances.

I encouraged her, in the best way I could, to persevere in her good
resolutions by invoking the blessed Virgin Mary and St. Philomene, who was
then the _Sainte a la mode_, just as Marie Alacoque is to-day, among the
blind slaves of Rome. I told her that I would pray and think over the
subject of her second request; and I asked her to come back, in a week, for
my answer.

The very same day, I went to my own confessor, the Rev. Mr. Baillargeon,
then curate of Quebec, and afterwards Archbishop of Canada. I told him the
singular and unusual request she had made that I should never put to her
any of those questions suggested by the theologians, to insure the
integrity of the confession. I did not conceal from him that I was much
inclined to grant her that favour; for I repeated what I had already
several times told him, that I was supremely disgusted with the infamous
and polluting questions which the theologians forced us to put to our
female penitents. I told him, frankly, that several young and old priests
had already come to confess to me; and that, with the exception of two,
they had all told me that they could not put those questions and hear the
answers they elicited without falling into the most damnable sins.

My confessor seemed to be much perplexed about what he could answer. He
asked me to come the next day, that he might review his theological books
in the interval. The next day, I took down in writing his answer, which I
find in my old manuscripts; and I give it here in all its sad crudity:--

"Such cases of the destruction of female virtue by the questions of the
confessors is an unavoidable evil. It can not be helped; for such questions
are absolutely necessary in the greatest part of the cases with which we
have to deal. Men generally confess their sins with so much sincerity that
there is seldom any need for questioning them, except when they are very
ignorant. But St Liguori, as well as our personal observation, tells us
that the greatest part of girls and women, through a false and criminal
shame, very seldom confess the sins they commit against purity. It requires
the utmost charity in the confessors to