ells us that after her death, her body was carried to her grave on the
shoulders of bishops and priests, as a token of their profound respect for
the saint. But he never says that any of those priests sat there in a dark
corner with her, and forced her to reveal to their ears the secret history
of all the thoughts, desires, and human frailties of her long and eventful
life. Jerome is an unimpeachable witness that his saintly and noble friend
St. Paulina lived and died without having ever thought of going to confess.

Possidius has left us the interesting life of St. Augustine, of the fifth
century; and again it is in vain that we look for the place or the time
when that celebrated bishop of Hippo went to confess, or heard the secret
confessions of his people.

More than that, St. Augustine has written a most admirable book, called:
"Confessions," in which he gives us the history of his life. With that
marvellous book in hand, we follow him, step by step, wherever he goes; we
are the witnesses of what he does and thinks; we attend with him those
celebrated schools, where his faith and morality were so sadly wrecked; he
takes us with him into the garden where, wavering between heaven and hell,
bathed in tears, he goes under the fig-tree and cries, "Oh Lord! how long
will I remain in my iniquities!" Our soul thrills with emotions, with his
soul, when we hear, with him, the sweet and mysterious voice: "Tolle!
lege!" take and read. We run with him to the places where he had left his
gospel book; with a trembling hand, we open it, and we read: "Let us walk
honestly as in the day ... put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ..." (Rom. xiii,
13, 14.)

That incomparable book of Augustine makes us weep and shout with joy with
him; it initiates us into all, his most secret actions, to all his sorrows,
anxieties and joys, it reveals and unvails his whole life. It tells us
where he goes, with whom he sins, and with whom he praises God; it makes us
pray, sing and bless the Lord with him. Is it possible that Augustine could
have been to confess without telling us when, where and to whom he made
confession? Could he have received the absolution and pardon of his sins
from his confessor, without making us partakers of his joys, and requesting
us to bless that confessor with him.

But, it is in vain that you look in that book for a single word about
auricular confession. That book is an unimpeachable witness that neither
Augustine nor his saintl