Chapter XXVI: Section III: The Duties of the Confessor Toward Different Classes of Penitents

Having considered in the foregoing sections the essential and accidental duties of the confessor in general, it remains to be shown how these duties are to be performed in concrete cases. Penitents, not being of one type, require treatment according to their intellectual development, their moral constitution, and their natural dispositions, their station and circumstances of life. On account of the difficulties which beset confessors in dealing with these different classes of penitents, we propose to give some practical suggestions. We shall treat of persons placed in peculiar spiritual conditions, persons in different external circumstances, and persons who on account of the great danger of their salvation call for special care.