On the Integrity of Confession As Prolegomena for Luther and Trent
Theological Studies 54(1993) THE SUMMAE CONFESSORUM ON THE INTEGRITY OF CONFESSION AS PROLEGOMENA FOR LUTHER AND TRENT KiLiAN MCDONNELL, O.S.B. Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, Collegeville, Minn. TT ΤΠΉ THE EXCEPTION of satisfaction, no Reformation issue concern- W ing the sacrament of penance was so hotly debated as integrity of confession, the requirement that one must make a complete confes sion. In part, the heated discussion was related to the role integrity played in Catholic penitential life. Speaking of the Catholic practice just prior to the Reformation, T. N. Tentler contends that 'to exagger ate the importance of completeness seems hardly possible."1 The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) gives the classical formulation: the faithful "must confess all their sins ... to their own priest at least once a year."2 The Protestant historian of penance, H. C. Lea, calls this "the most important legislative act in the history of the Church,"3 partly because a legislated confession is not free. The Council of Flor ence (1438-45) modified the Lateran decree; integrity is defined as "all the sins one remembers."4 Luther objects that even this is an impossible task, like "counting the sands," endlessly numbering and weighing sins, detailing their circumstances, thus leading to torments of conscience, ending in de spair.5 Though Luther himself retains the catalogue of sins as an aid to the examination of conscience,6 as does Melanchthon,7 both cite Psalm 19:13: "Who knows how often one sins?"8 No command exists for 1 Sin and Confession on the Eue of the Reformation (Princeton, Ν J.: Princeton Univ., 1977) 109.
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