necessary. The quotations from the first five centuries show that the
power of forgiving sin was not only communicated by Christ to His
apostles, but by them to their successors by means of the sacrament of
Holy Orders. What would be the necessity of this power if they could not
exercise it in confession? If, as some say, priests invented confession,
some one ought to find out and tell us when and where it was invented,
and why they did not exempt themselves from such a humiliating practice.

Confession alone, however, will be of no avail without contrition.
Contrition is a sincere sorrow and detestation for sin with a firm
determination to sin no more. To the truly humble and sorrowful sinner
confession is not a punishment, but a remedy for a tortured conscience.
The most painful secret to be kept by a heart not yet corrupted by
disease is the secret of sin and crime. The soul that loves God hates
sin and desires to separate herself from it. To this desire is
associated the desire of expiating it. All, from the mother who
questions her child about wrongdoing to the judge who interrogates the
criminal, recognize in spontaneous confession an expiatory power.

Confession, it is true, is necessarily accompanied by shame and
humiliation. This humiliation is diminished by the knowledge that it is
of divine origin and that eternal silence is divinely imposed upon him
who receives it. Priests never divulge what they know from the
confessional. They have been ill-treated, as was Father Kohlmann in this
country; have even been tortured and cruelly put to death, as was St.
John Nepomucene, in order to extort from them knowledge they gained in
the confessional, but without avail. For what they knew through the
tribunal of penance, they knew as ministers of God. And as it is better
to obey God than man, no minister of state could force them to divulge
that which the laws of God forbid.

Only sinners, who after a thorough preparation, a sincere sorrow, and a
good confession, can realize the soothing and beneficial effects of
confession, and feel with David, "Blessed are they whose sins are
forgiven." If you have ever noticed such after leaving the confessional
you could see joy beaming on their countenances, as if a heavy burden
had been removed.

Confession quiets the conscience. But this is only one of the benefits
it confers upon those who practise going to confession. It has also a
salutary influence upon their morals; for on