Czech Resistance Pilgrimage
From the website REX!
comes news about the Czech Resistance Pilgrimage which took place last
weekend, to the shrine of St. John Nepomuk, a priest who was martyred in
1393 for refusing to break the seal of confession.
Fr. Martin Fuchs preached a sermon on the seal of confession to around 20 souls who were present at the Pilgrimage church for Mass on Sunday.
Seal of confession (2015)
On June 6, 2015, the pilgrimage of saint John Nepomuk took place in the Czech republic including the Mass celebrated by Fr. Martin Fuchs, a Resistance priest residing in nearby Austria. Despite the hot weather and the remoteness of the place there were about 20 participants. Here is the transcription of the sermon given on the occasion.
When they brought
a paralyzed man to the Saviour, He said: Be of good heart, son, thy sins are
forgiven thee. And behold some of the scribes said within themselves: He
blasphemeth. And Jesus seeing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil in
your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee: or to say,
arise, and walk?
But that you may
know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then said he to
the man sick of palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. And he arose, and went into his house.
(Matthew 9:2-8)
Yes, only God can
forgive sins, because sin is an offense against God. Only God and those - who
have got a special power to forgive sins - can forgive sins.
„Dominus noster Jesus
Christus, te absolvat et ego auctoritate ipsius te absolo ab omni vinculo
excommunications et interdicti in quantum possum et tu indiges. Deinde ego te
absolvo a peccatis tuis, in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.“
Our Lord Jesus
Christ and I absolve you in his order from any bondage of excommunication and
interdict as far as I can and you are worthy. So I absolve you from your sins
in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.“
Since the
remission of sins is a matter that concerns only the sinner and God, the
sacramental confession is protected from the natural, the divine and the Church
law by the seal of confession.
Natural law
prohibits the revelation of things that are essentially a secret and that could
harm our neighbour´s honour. The duty of confidentiality, however, is stronger
as far as these things are revealed as a secret and the confidentiality is
promised implicitly in the confession.
The divine law
obliges the confessor to do so because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, wanted all
people to confess their mortal sins to a priest. With this commandment he had
to institute implicitly the seal of confession because without the seal of
confession, the confession itself would be detested and the people would be
terrified to confess their sins.
Church made the
confession seal as a holy duty that can be proved from the time of the Pope
Gregory I. Since the 4th Lateran Council in 1215 and later in the canon Law of
1917, canon 889 §1 she repeated this law by severe penalties.
The duty to hold
the seal of confession is absolute, without exception, and it exists even after
the penitent´s death. There is no exception that could justify any violation
neither in a private nor in a public interest.
Even to prevent a
sacrilege the priest is not allowed to use the knowledge of the confessional. For example, not even if somebody confesses
and does not receive holy absolution and appears a moment later at the
communion rail where the confessor who refused absolution is distributing Holy
communion. The confessor is not allowed to refuse Holy communion. Or if the
confessor knows about an invalid marriage only by confession, he is not allowed
to reveal anything from the confession.
The obligation to
keep the seal of confession arises from any confession and only from
confession, this means from all that is said to the priest to receive
absolution. It does not matter whether the confession is valid or invalid,
whether it has merely begun or completed, whether the absolution is given,
postponed or refused, whether there are mortal sins, venial sins or only
imperfections - everything is irrelevant.
Any other secret
has its exceptions. If a doctor discovers an infectious disease (for example:
plague, cholera etc.), he has to tell the authorities. At this moment he is
released from the medical secrecy.
The confessor has
a knowledge he is not allowed to use in any case; we can compare this knowledge
with the knowledge of our Saviour when he was asked to establish the kingdom
for Israel. As God he had to know, when this will happen. But as a man he had
this knowledge that he was not allowed to teach the others. People would come
to harm with this knowledge. They would live in sins as they could not see any
danger.
What
extension has the confession seal?
The seal extends to everything connected
with the sins confessed. That is, it obliges the confessor to complete silence
about any circumstances that might reveal, or cause to be suspected, the identity
of the sinner who has confessed to him. Also if somebody has received
absolution or not, special graces, that is stigmas or other charismas.
Who is
bound to keep the secrecy?
The priest hearing a confession is bound
by the seal of confession. One who overhears a penitent and also a translator
is seriously bound to the secrecy but is not, strictly speaking, under the seal
of confession.
What a priest knows from a source other
than confession does not come under the seal. Thus, if a priest saw a man
commit a robbery, he could testify to the fact, even though the robber had, in
the meantime, confessed the sin to him. For while the sin as confessed is under
the seal, the sin as observed apart from confession is not under the seal.
Those who find a confession sheet must
stop reading as soon as they realize: „This is a confession sheet.“ They must
burn or destroy it.
What is
the intention of the Church in obliging priests to keep the confession seal?
The intention to hold the confession seal
can be no other, than to help the repentant to a complete confession of his
sins.
Finally, I would like to mention a few
martyrs of the confessional:
Father
John Sarkander + 1620:
He should reveal the confession of the
Lord of Lobkowicz. He refused, was tortured and died a little bit later as a
result.
Father
Andreas Faulhaber + 1757:
He heard the confession of the soldiers. A
deserter who was captured testified that he had asked father Faulhaber in the
Holy confession if he can desert. And father Faulhaber told him „It would be a
serious matter, but it would be not so bad in his case.“
Although the deserter had withdrawn his
testimony for several times and his innocence was proved, father Faulhaber was
arrested in September. Friedrich II condemned him to death. In front of the
gallows Father Faulhaber should break the seal of confession to save his life
but he chose the gallows. So he ended his life on the 30th December 1757.
Father Henry
Garnet + 1606:
He was an Anglican, converted to
Catholicism and became a Jesuit. When he heard confession, he was aware of the
Gunpowder Plot. He was accused as an accomplice and sentenced for high treason.
The Gunpowder Plot was an attempt by
British Catholics to kill the King of England, James I, his family and the
government. On the 3rd May, father Henry Garnet was executed near St. Paul’s
Cathedral.
Father
Felipe Ciscar Pulg + 1936:
He was a Spanish priest and was killed
during the persecution in 1936. He refused to reveal the confession of a
Franciscan priest. This was the reason why he was shot.
Saint John
of Nepomuk, + 1393:
Today, I would especially like to remember
saint John of Nepomuk who refused to reveal the confession of Sophia, the wife of
Wenceslaus, the King of Bohemia.
At first Sophia had tried to exhort the
King of his bad conduct. He ate and drank too much, had vices of immorality and
was cruel towards his subjects.
When saint John asked her to stop the
exhortations, she intensified her prayer life and received more frequently the
holy sacraments. But it was precisely because of the frequent confessions why
the King became suspicious. He asked saint John to reveal his wife’s
confession. Saint John, however, refused. This fact finally led to his
execution.
Before his death, he was aware that he
should soon die because of the seal of confession. In his last sermon he
announced the afflictions which would bring the heresy of the Hussites over
Bohemia and he exhorted all people to do repentance and to keep the Catholic
faith.
This is what we must repeat in our
situation! We must do repentance and keep the Catholic faith. Even if we must
suffer a lot. We know, that truth will never disappear!
Let us pray to saint John in order that he
will protect the Czech Republic! Amen.
The Resistance
Related:
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/05/resistance-is-there-conciliar-church.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/05/resistance-missing-mass-spiritual.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/05/resistance-bishop-faure-speaks.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/05/resistance-in-defence-of-red-light.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/06/fr-ballini-joins-resistance.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/05/resistance-statement-of-father-brendan.html
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