y mother Monica, whom it mentions so often, lived
and died without ever having been to confess. That book may be called the
most crushing evidence to prove that, "the dogma of auricular confession"
is a modern imposture.

From the beginning to the end of that book, we see that Augustine believed
and said that God alone could forgive the sins of men, and that it was to
Him alone that men had to confess in order to be pardoned. If he writes his
confession, it is only that the world might know how God had been merciful
to him, and that they might help him to praise and bless the merciful
Heavenly Father. In the tenth book of his Confessions, chapter III,
Augustine protests against the idea that men could do anything to cure the
spiritual leper, or forgive the sins of their fellow-men; here is his
eloquent protest: "Quid mihi ergo est cum hominibus ut audiant confessiones
meas, quasi ipsi sanaturi sint languores meas? Curiosum genus ad
cognoscendam vitam alienam; desidiosum ad corrigendam."

"What have I to do with men that I might be obliged to confess my sins to
them, as if they were able to heal my infirmities? Oh Lord! that human race
is very fond of knowing the sins of their neighbors; but they are very
neglectful in correcting their own lies."

Before Augustine had built up that sublime and imperishable monument
against auricular confession, St. John Chrysostom had raised his eloquent
voice against it, in his homily on the 50th Psalm, where, speaking in the
name of the Church, he said: "We do not request you to go to confess your
sins to any of your fellow-men, but only to God!"

Nestorius, of the 4th century, the predecessor of John Chrysostom, had, by
a public defense, which the best Roman Catholic historians have had to
acknowledge, solemnly forbidden the practice of auricular confession. For,
just as there has always been thieves, drunkards and malefactors in the
world, so there has always been men and women who, under the pretext of
opening their minds to each other for mutual comfort and edification, were
giving themselves to every kind of iniquity and lust. The celebrated
Chrysostom was only giving the sanction of his authority to what his
predecessor had done when, thundering against the newly born monster, he
said to the Christians of his time, "We do not ask you to go and confess
your iniquities to a sinful man for pardon--but only to God." (Homily on
50th Psalm.)

Auricular confession originated with th