About the formula you hear in the Sacrament of Penance

There are major differences in the rite of the Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation) between the Vetus Ordo and the post-Conciliar Novus Ordo except in the essential form of the sacrament, the necessary words to impart the form of absolution.  Those remain the same.

However, we are not minimalists who don’t care about all of the rest of the stuff so long as the sacrament is valid.  That’s the attitude that libs have who screw around with prayers of Mass, even the Eucharistic Prayer, sometimes the very “institution narrative” at the time of the consecration.  “After all, as long as it’s valid, hey! I know how to improve it and make it more meaningful!” (Read: “I’m a clericalist jackass and I have contempt for you.”)

I have posted on this before, but not for a long time.   It is good to review.

In the Novus Ordo side of things, recently a new and more accurate translation of the form of absolution was implemented.  This is what Latin Church priests are to say.

NEW VERSION:

God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and poured out [Latin: effudit] the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church may God grant [Latin: tribuat] you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins
in the name of the Father, [sign of the cross] and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.

The prayer before the changes:

God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins
in the name of the Father, [sign of the cross] and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.

Nota bene!

If a priest still says, “poured out” and “grant” now, it is valid.

If, later, a priest still says, “sent” and “give” it will be valid.

I’ll now ask the big question.

When was the last time you heard these words, in English, Latin or any other language?

GO TO CONFESSION!

Now for something about the VETUS Ordo.

We hear at Mass in the prayers at the foot of the altar after the Confiteor (and also after the 2nd Confiteor) an absolution which forgives venial sins.  At the beginning of the Sacrament of Penance, the priest says something similar before going into the form of absolution.   The part I am talking about concerns the three words following the Confiteor of Mass and which initiate the rite of the sacrament in the confessional:

“Indulgentiam, absolutionem, et remissionem peccatorum nostrorum, tribuat nobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus. Amen.”

The translation in our Baltimore Catechism is: “May the Almighty and Merciful Lord grant us pardon, absolution, and remission of (all) our sins. Amen.”  A hand missal might say something similar.

What’s going on with this?

Pardon, absolution, and remission seem to be synonyms.  The whole verse seems simply to mean: “May the Lord forgive us our sins”.  Who needs vain repetitions, right?   Shouldn’t we have noble simplicity? VATICAN II!!! Right?

The three English words are synonyms, but the three Latin words are not. Making them all mean the same thing is not correct.  Any of the three English words can translate absolutionem, but they are not correct translations of the first and the last word, indulgentiam and remissionem.

The former, indulgentia, means God’s mercy, His loving kindness, His tender pity for us. It is implied in the title with which we address Him in the verse “Misericors Dominus” and after the very beginning of the Sacrament of Penance when the “door slides open”, namely, “Misereatur tui…”.   Remissio indicates not freedom from guilt, but freedom from punishment.  It is a technical term equivalent to the now more commonly used term —indulgence.

The above-mentioned words in the classical form of absolution are a vestige of the penitential code used in the early and mediaeval Church. This code distinguished three stages in the work of reconciling the sinner with God through the Church.

The first was sacramental absolution (in foro interno), which meant the forgiveness of sin. This is called simply indulgentia. The term can still be recognized in the form of Extreme Unction: “indulgeat tibi Dominus quidquid per auditum . . . deliquisti.”

The second step was canonical absolution (from the prescribed outward penitential works). This is called absolutio.

The third was reconciliation, a solemn reinstating of the penitent by the communicatio pacis. This is called remissio.  To remit in English is “to put back into a previous position or condition” or else “to refrain from inflicting or enforcing, as a punishment, sentence” and even “to pardon or forgive”.

A free translation would read something like this:

May Almighty and Merciful God blot out the guilt of our sin, remit the punishment due to it, and restore us to His friendship.

After this comes the part, “ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis“…. This time it’s absolution for something specified clearly, “sins”.

This seems rather nitpicky, but it reveals the way the Roman mind works.   This isn’t the only time we have repetitions.  For example, in the Roman Canon there is: “hóstiam + puram, hóstiam + sanctam, hóstiam + immaculátam“.

Just a few thoughts.