Mass) it is changed forthwith into the living body of Christ: it is believed on the Continent that apostate priests frequently consecrate for the Satanists and Freemasons. However the power of absolving from sin is not of the same character; it is only radically received in the ceremony of ordination, and the validity of its exercise is entirely dependent upon ecclesiastical authority. M. Zola, most patient and accurate of inquirers, has overlooked this distinction; in ‘Lourdes’ the Abbé Pierre is made to hear Marie’s confession when he has no jurisdiction over her and could not validly absolve her.[1]
A second examination (in casuistry) is necessary before ‘faculties’ to hear confessions are granted, which is usually some time after ordination. And jurisdiction is limited to the diocese of the bishop who gives faculties, and may be still further restricted at his pleasure: nunneries and boarding-schools are always excepted from it; and there are always a certain number of sins which the bishop reserves for himself. In some dioceses (Kerry, for instance) the list of ‘reserved cases’ is long and interesting: it usually comprises the sins which are most prevalent in a district—perjury for instance, is reserved in Kerry,
- ↑ A non-Catholic writer is almost certain to stumble in liturgical matters. M. Zola’s administration of the sacraments to the dying—to the pilgrim in the train, in ‘Lourdes,’ and to Count Dario in ‘Rome’—is quite incorrect. It has never been pointed out, too, that the moon’s conduct, during Pierre’s three last nights in Rome, is out of all bounds of astronomical propriety.
