Chapter XVI: Part III: The Minister of the Sacrament

In the preceding chapters which dealt with the _actus pœnitentis_, we have already had occasion to consider the office of the minister of the Sacrament. The functions of the confessor consist mainly in absolving according to the intention of Christ. In treating of this important and difficult subject, we shall follow the most approved theologians, distinguished alike for learning and sanctity, so as to avoid on the one hand an extensive mildness and on the other a severity fatal to the salvation of souls.