I have told you by word of mouth, and now I repeat in writing, so that you
may better remember it, that the scruple of scruples is not to dare to
change one's Confessor. The Priest who should put this scruple into your
head deserves to be left, as himself scrupulous, and unsafe. Virtue, like
truth, is always to be found half way between two faulty extremes. To be
always changing one's Confessor, and never to dare to do so, or sooner to
omit Confession than to confess to any one but our usual Confessor, are two
blame-worthy extremes.
In the one case we show ourselves volatile and ill-balanced; in the other
we are cowardly. If you ask me which of the two is the more to be avoided
I should say the second, and this because it seems to me to indicate a low
tone of mind, human respect, attachment to the creature, and in general
a slavish spirit which is quite contrary to the spirit of God, who only
dwells there, where there is perfect liberty.
St. Paul tells us that being redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ
we ought not to make ourselves slaves of men.
Possibly, however, you would more readily submit your judgment to that of
our Blessed Father than to mine.
I remind you then how highly he thought of this holy christian liberty. You
may be quite sure that he inculcated it on persons like yourself living in
the world since, as I am going to show you, he made a great point of it
with his Religious.
The Holy Council of Trent having decreed that three or four times a year
all nuns should have extra-ordinary Confessors given to them to relieve
them from the yoke and constraint which might ensue from being always under
the direction of one and the same ordinary Confessor, our Blessed Father
decreed that every three months, in the four Ember weeks the Sisters of the
Visitation, of which Order he was the Founder, should have an Extraordinary
Confessor, carefully recommending to the Superiors to ask for one even
oftener for any Sisters who might desire or really need his help.
Blessed Teresa[1] was also very careful to ensure to her Sisters this holy
and reasonable liberty, which renders the yoke of the Saviour sweet and
light as it should be, and her daughters, the Carmelites, still value their
privilege as she did.
Our Blessed Father used, moreover, to say that Religious men to whom
the direction of nuns was entrusted, and all convents subject to their
jurisdiction, would do well to observe the excellent rule and custom
some of them have of never leaving a Confessor for more than a year in a
convent.
He added that Superiors should reserve to themselves the power of
withdrawing Confessors even before the time for which they were appointed
had expired, and indeed whenever it may please them, and should not keep
any Confessor longer than the time for which he was appointed, unless for
some very urgent reason or pressing necessity.
To show you that it was not only to me that our Blessed Father expressed
his opinion on this point, this is how he wrote about it to a Superior of
the Visitation.
"We ought not to be so fickle as to wish without any substantial reason to
change our Confessor, but, on the other hand, we should not be immovable
and persistent when legitimate causes make such a change desirable, and
Bishops should not so tie their own hands as to be unable to effect the
change when expedient, and especially when either the Sisters or the
Spiritual Father desire it."
[Footnote 1: St. Teresa was not then canonised. [Ed.]]