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188 Law & Just. - Christian L. Rev. 28 (2022)
The Seal of Confession

handle is hein.journals/ljusclr188 and id is 32 raw text is: 28 THE SEAL OF CONFESSION GORDON READ Abstract: This article explores the origin and understanding of the 'seal of confession'in the sacramental practice and canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. For most of the First Millennium there was no clear distinction between the sacramental forgiveness of sins and the external discipline of excommunication. By the Thirteenth Century the discipline had developed into its current form. The Fourth Lateran Council regulated this and set out the level of confidentiality to be observed in canon 21, 'Omnis utriusque sexus'. Failure to observe confidentiality leads to excommunication of the priest hearing the confession. The primary rationale is that he hears the confession as 'God's ears' and has no 'human' knowledge of what has been said. There is also a more general argument for confidentiality so that the penitent can speak freely. The article then explores questions airing such as the obligations of those overhearing a confession, whether use can be made of information gained in the course of confession and whether the penitent can permit the confessor to disclose what has been said. Introduction I want to begin with a classic statement of what the 'seal' means. I will then look at the development of this understanding both before the classical period of Canon Law and in more recent times. The whole question is explored in considerable detail in a monograph by Gregory J. Zubacz, The Seal of Confession and Canadian Law.' In this book he covers not only the canonical aspects, but the priest-penitent privilege in the English Reformation and subsequently in English jurisprudence and that of other Common Law jurisdictions before attending to the specific situation in Canada. A classic statement of the meaning of the seal Guido of Monte Rochen is a largely forgotten Mediaeval canonist and moral theologian. He was popular not for his originality but for presenting a safe depiction of the accepted teaching in his Manipulus Curatorum (Handbook for Curates). This appeared in 1333, exists in more than 250 manuscripts and between 1468 and 1501 appeared in 122 printed editions distributed widely across Europe.2 1 Published by Wilson & Lafleur in the Gratianus Series, Montreal 2009. 2 Guido of Monte Rochen, Handbook for Curates: A Late Medieval Manual on Pastoral Ministry, translated by Anne T. Thayer with an introduction by Anne T. Thayer and Katherine J. Lualdi, Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C. 2011.

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