Posted on 08/13/2007 1:00:17 PM PDT by ichabod1
Below is printed the Confiteor, which can be clipped out at home and used for homework until it becomes second nature.
When I was an Anglican clergyman in England, I was once asked to hear a young man's confession. The location was Coventry, where many people, young and old, would come to visit Coventry Cathedral, with its medieval parish church alongside. The venerable Church of the Holy Trinity looked very Catholic and very ancient, 1043 AD in fact. It could well have been mistaken for a traditional Roman Catholic Church (as indeed it had once been).
The young man began his confession, "Bless me Father, for I have sinned...", then asked, "Do you want it in Latin or English?"
This disclosure told me he was a Catholic who had drifted into an Anglican Church, so I explained the situation that Henry VIII had taken over this place, and reduced the Benedictine Priory to ruins. So, if it was Catholic Absolution he was seeking, he could find it right down the street, where he rightly belonged.
Anyway, the point of this story is that his capacity to say the Confiteor in Latin was, in this case, a singular badge of identity which, in a way, 'Branded him' as a Catholic. May it be so with all who learn it off, by heart, and those who put it into practice.
CONFITEOR DEO OMNIPOTENTI, BEATAE MARIAE SEMPER VIRGINI, BEATO MICHAELI ARCHANGELO, BEATO JOANNI BAPTISTAE, SANCTIS APOSTOLIS PETRO ET PAULO, OMNIBUS SANTIS, ET VOBIS, FRATRES (ET TIBI PATER) QUIA PECCAVI NIMIS COGITATIONE, VERBO ET OPERE: MEA CULPA, MEA CULPA, MEA MAXIMA CULPA. IDEO PRECOR BEATAM MARIAM SEMPER VIRGINEM, BEATUM MICHAELEM ARCHANGELUM, BEATUM JOANNEM BAPTISTEM, SANCTOS APOSTOLOS PETRUM ET PAULUM, OMNES SANCTIS, ET VOS, FRATRES, (ET TE, PATER), ORA PRO ME AD DOMINUM DEUM NOSTRUM. AMEN.
Could someone translate for us non-latin speakers?
I Confess to Almighty God, Blessed Mary, Ever Virgin, Blessed Michael the Archangel, Blessed John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all the Saints, and to you brothers, and you Father, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my words and in my actions: I am guilty, I am guilty, I am utterly guilty. And I ask Blessed Mary, Ever Virgin, Blessed Michael the Archangel, Blessed John the Baptist, Saints Peter and Paul, all the Saints, and you my brothers (and you, Father), to pray for me to the Lord Our God. Amen.
What a shame that the only part I remember from pre-Vatican II is the mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, ora pro me ad dominum deum nostrum part. I still think they have a better chance of getting people to confession if they keep it in the native language.
Catholic Caucus?
It’s part of the Extraordinary usage. Father is encouraging us to start learning the responsorial parts because we’re going Tridentine as soon as we’re permitted without expressed permission of the Archbishop. The Act of Contrition, which one says during confession, goes as follows:
Deus meus, ex toto corde poenitet me omnium meorum peccatorum, eaque detestor, quia peccando, non solum poenas a Te iuste statutas promeritus sum, sed praesertim quia offendi Te, summum bonum, ac dignum qui super omnia diligaris. Ideo firmiter propono, adiuvante gratia Tua, de cetero me non peccaturum peccandique occasiones proximas fugiturum. Amen.
O My God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen.
Which really doesn’t make sense since Father was talking about a fellow wanting to say this during confession, so maybe there is a gap in my understanding of how to do confession, since I’ve only done it in the vernacular, “Bless me Father, for I have sinned, it has been three months since my last confession.”
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