Not more efficacious. The effect is the same, no matter which form of absolution is used.
More efficacious with regard to the graces you actually receive, the increase of the contrition in your soul from the beauty and sacrality of the rite, etc., all of which depend upon one’s personal dispositions. Regarding whether your sins are forgiven, of course, it is the same, for that is ex opere operato. For the rest, you only receive as much grace as you are disposed to receive.
Would the penitent (prior to any reforms) have said the Act of Contrition in Latin, or in the Vernacular?
SenorSalsa, it would have been in the vernacular ordinarily, but clerics may have made their confessions in Latin in some instances. I know of this being done even to this day. Also, if you were traveling and happened to know Latin and not the native language (especially in the East), then you could make use of this, but ordinarily for the faithful at least, confessions would be in the vernacular, including the act of contrition. It is important to note that there is nothing calling for the penitent to make an act of contrition in the ritual. It is just something that is customary. I also am told that many Irish priests (before the council) would tell the penitent simply to make his act of contrition in the pew after the absolution. This is in keeping with the rubrics of the ritual, which allow the form to be shortened for just cause (huge lines, etc.) In addition to what I already posted, the ritual does call for the priest to say the Misereatur tui & Indulgentiam (as he says after the server’s confiteor at the prayers at the foot of the altar or before holy communion–because technically the first time he uses the first personal plural in the Indulgentiam–except in the singular), which implies that the penitent would have said the Confiteor (not an act of contrition). In this case, it seems most fitting to do so in Latin, if you know it, and that is what I generally do if there is no one waiting or only a short line and a long confession time. In the Fr. Lasance missal there is an explanation for how he recommends this be done, though he says to do so in the vernacular. I would assume that those who did not serve Mass probably did not know the Latin version for the most part. He says to say the Confiteor through the “mea maxima culpa,” confess sins, then after the priest asks any pertinent questions and assigns your penance, you say the rest of the prayer (basically where you would generally say the act of contrition now). There are surely other ways to do it, but that is his recommendation. Again, there’s nothing in the ritual that explicitly speaks to this point that I’m aware of.
ntegra or someone else know where I can find an audio track with how to pronounce the latin form of confession? I never learned the language and still have to follow along in my missal during mass.
dostoyevskyfan,
I would be happy to write out a phonetic spelling of it, if you’d like, though I’m unfamiliar with any audio recordings. I looked on YouTube, and this was the best I could find:
youtube.com/watch?v=o_w1CFeXjwE. At the very end, the priest says “Ego te absolvo in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.” He leaves out “a peccatis tuis” after absolvo, but it’s something, at least, and as an aside, the only absolutely necessary words for validity (according to Trent) are “te absolvo” because this implies “a peccatis tuis”; of course, ego is just emphatic and unnecessary to the meaning of absolvo. The sign of the cross is not necessary for validity, since it doesn’t refer to the nature of the effect of the Sacrament, as at Baptism. Of course, the movie portrays the Sacrament entirely incorrectly and much more so does it bastardize the proper way to confess one’s sins.
Concerning frequency of receiving the Sacrament, it is a good thing to go every week or at least every couple weeks. I don’t see how someone can exempt himself for over a month without cause and still claim to be attempting to lead an interior life. Fortunately, at my FSSP parish we have confessions before every Mass both during the week and on Sunday. Either priest would be happy to hear someone’s confession upon request, of course, too.
