Published about 1151, we find the following declaration of the law as to the seal of confession: “Let the priest who dares to make known the sins of his penitent be deposed”. It goes on to say that the violator of this law should be made a life-long, ignominious wanderer. Canon 21 of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, binding on the whole church states the obligation of secrecy in the following words: “Let the priest absolutely beware that he does not by word or sign or by any manner whatever in any way betray the sinner: but if he should happen to need wiser counsel let him cautiously seek the same without any mention of person. For whoever shall dare to reveal a sin disclosed to him in the tribunal of penance we decree that he shall be not only deposed from the priestly office but that he shall also be sent into the confinement of a monastery to do perpetual penance”. Many priests have in fact have been imprisoned or died in protecting the seal of Confession.
1. The most famous example is Saint John Nepomuk, confessor to Queen Johanna, wife of Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, in the late 14th Century. The paranoid king thought his wife was unfaithful to him and demanded that Father John tell him what his wife confessed, and he of course refused. The King escalated the threats of torture and that did not work. Finally, he ordered that Father John be bound, thrown off the Charles Bridge in Prague and be drowned.
2. Saint Mateo Correa Magallanes was killed in 1927 in Mexico for refusing to tell General Eulogio Ortiz what condemned prisoners had confessed. After he rejected the General’s order to break the seal, Ortiz put a gun to the side of Father Correa’s head. When the priest responded, “You can do that, but a priest has to guard the seal of confession. I am ready to die,” Ortiz ordered that he be brought to the outskirts of Durango and shot.
3. During the Spanish Civil War, two priests died protecting the seal. Blessed Felipe Císcar Puig heard the confession of a Franciscan friar about to be executed by firing squad in Valencia in 1936. Soldiers demanded he divulge what the friar had told him. Fr. Císcar refused saying, “Do what you want, but I will not reveal the confession. I would die before that.” They were executed together.
4. In the same year, Blessed Fernando Olmedo Reguera, who was ministering to those imprisoned with him in Madrid, was pressured and tortured into revealing what they had said. He refused and was martyred.
As these examples show, tyrants, totalitarians, along with contemporary citizens and politicians have a particular hatred for the seal of Confession. Like the ancient Roman emperors used to try and break young Christian virgins by threatening to expose them to brothels if they didn’t cave in, so still today some leaders and governments try to break priests’ fidelity by forcing them to violate this seal. Among many reasons, the most practical yet spiritually significant reason this seal be protected: The seal dramatically keeps open the door and desire for repentance. The one who has committed the crime, even the worst of all crimes, would most likely be unwilling to seek sacramental forgiveness if they knew their crimes would be logged, revealed, and submitted to the authorities…even if in the name of the what is good for the citizenry. The absolution by the priest may very well lead the penitent to bring forth his crime on his own whereas the sin/crime being kept in secret may likely steadily propel the criminal in to continued and even worse activities.
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