prevent those unfortunate slaves of
their secret passions from making sacrilegious confessions and communions.
With the greatest prudence and zeal, he must question them on those
matters; beginning with the smallest sins, and going, little by little, as
much as possible, by imperceptible degrees, to the most criminal actions.
As it seems evident that the penitent referred to in your questions of
yesterday is unwilling to make a full and detailed confession of all her
iniquities, you cannot promise to absolve her without assuring yourself, by
wise and prudent questions, that she has confessed everything.

"You must not be discouraged when, through the confessional or any other
way, you learn the fall of priests into the common frailties of human
nature with their penitents. Our Saviour knew very well that the occasions
and the temptations we have to encounter, in the confessions of girls and
women, are so numerous, and sometimes so irrepressible, that many would
fall. But He has given them the Holy Virgin Mary, who constantly asks and
obtains their pardon; He has given them the sacrament of penance, where
they can receive their pardon as often as they ask for it. The vow of
perfect chastity is a great honour and privilege; but we cannot conceal
from ourselves that it puts on our shoulders a burden which many cannot
carry for ever. St Liguori says that we must not rebuke the penitent priest
who falls only once a month; and some other trustworthy theologians are
still more charitable."

This answer was far from satisfying me. It seemed to me composed of
soft-soap principles. I went back with a heavy heart and an anxious mind;
and God knows that I made many fervent prayers that this girl should never
come again to give me her sad history. I was hardly twenty-six years old,
full of youth and life. It seemed to me that the stings of a thousand wasps
to my ears would not do me so much harm as the words of that dear,
beautiful, accomplished, but lost girl.

I do not mean to say that the revelations which she made had, in any way,
diminished my esteem and my respect for her. It was just the contrary. Her
tears and her sobs, at my feet; her agonizing expressions of shame and
regret; her noble words of protest against the disgusting and polluting
interrogations of the confessors, had raised her very high in my mind. My
sincere hope was that she would have a place in the kingdom of Christ with
the Samaritan woman, Mary Magdalene,