Did some saints not need to go to confession while they were still alive?

[FriendsOfJesus]

I’ve heard before that some saints stopped committing mortal sin at a certain point in their life. If this is the case, did they not have to go to confession because all of their sins were venial?

 

[JamalChristophr]

Pope John Paul II reportedly went to confession every single day. And he’s a saint.

Confession is something that the saints would have been very inclined to go to- even for the slightest of imperfections and faults that are not even sins. It is allowable to tell these to the priest, as long as it’s a patient priest.

 

[humbleseeker]

I’ve never heard that but I have read that: “For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of calamity.” Proverbs 24:16

 

[FriendsOfJesus]

Thank you. I was under the impression, having heard before, that you’re only supposed to confess mortal sins during confession which is why I made the question. But I knew in the back of my head that a saintly person would actually be going to confession more often because they are able to see their faults that much more clearly.

 

[phil19034]

Thank you. I was under the impression, having heard before, that you’re only supposed to confess mortal sins during confession which is why I made the question.

No, we should confess ALL sin that we are conscious of. However, we MUST confess all mortal sins.

Confessing mortal sins is the bare minimum because by committing a mortal sin be separate ourselves from God. We need confession to restore our sanctifying Grace.

However, even when in a state of Grace, confessing our venial sins helps us to grow in Grace.

I hope this helps & makes sense

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’m not aware of any saints that didn’t go to Confession, in the era that Confession was available.

One thing to keep in mind is that confession centuries ago was handled a little differently from confession today. Confession in the early years of the Church was a communal event where you discussed your sins with the community of Christians you were in. It might also be something you just did once in your life, maybe when you were joining the community, or returning after an absence. Later on it became something more along the lines of spiritual direction. It wasn’t until the 1200s that confession began to take the form that we see it today where you go in a confessional and tell the priest your sins in private and get absolution. So we’ve only really had “confession” as we know it for about 800 years, and lots of saints obviously lived and died before that time window.

Also, I believe it was in 1215 that they made a requirement that every Catholic was expected to confess at least once a year. Churches used to even keep track of whether people were fulfilling the requirement. So saints from that era onwards would have at the very least fulfilled the one-year requirement. Being saints, they might have even confessed more often, especially since there used to be a much greater emphasis on confessing prior to receiving the Eucharist, so if you hadn’t made a confession right before then you probably weren’t going to be allowed to receive.

 

[Bluebright]

You still go to confession if you dont commit mortal sins.
Even if you aren’t a saint you can get to a point where you dont commit mortal sins. Going to confession for venial sins is recommended and I believe it is called devotional confession. It is a way of growing in spiritual life by becoming aware with the grace of God of the venial sins you commit regularly and seeing the ones the escape your usual notice. Especially sins of omission and sins which are revealed by grace. Many books on saints have the saints using their confessor as a spiritual advisor for this reason. Once you stop committing mortal sins you dont become perfect, the venial sins still offend God and if one were to want to advance in perfection, ie the call to be a saint then one would wish to eradicate them too. While I am not proposing that even saints eradicated all venial sins, I am just saying that regular confession of venial sins though not strictly essential gives one the grace of God in which one can advance in spiritual life. I think confessing mortal sins is the bare minimum requirement to being a practicing Catholic, like mass on Sundays and Holy days etc. Ideally, we would do more than the minimum if we wish to become saints ourselves.

 

[Lee1]

It seems that saints become so sensitive to sin that they assume they sin as much or more so than others.

St Pio said “we don’t have to be perfect, just willing.”
It’s convenient for me to believe that…

 

[Dan_Defender]

The only cases I can imagine is hermits, who lived in caves or the wilderness for long periods of time, away for people.

 

[halogirl]

Go regularly just to keep yourself ‘right’. We all slip and do less than what is expected even if not mortal sin. The sacrament is there for our good so makes sense that it is to be accessed regularly

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

Reconciliation is a healing sacrament.
I go even when I don’t have any mortal sins to confess and find it very useful.
Venial sins leave marks on the soul, also. May as well get them all washed off, too

 

[GospelOfMatthew]

Confession helps us overcome the temptations of the sins we confess because of the graves we receive. So I would assume Saints went a ton as opposed to never because they must of got plenty of graces in confession to avoid those sins and to lead saintly lives

 

[po18guy]

I sincerely doubt that any one of them “felt” like a Saint. As their holiness increased, so also did their awareness of sin. The more we focus on the perfection of God, the more obvious our imperfections become. Thus, they probably confessed more often than before.