y days'
penance; and let the altar linens which the drop touched be washed
three times by the priest, holding the chalice below, then let the
water be taken and put away nigh to the altar." It might even be
drunk by the minister, unless it might be rejected from nausea. Some
persons go further, and cut out that part of the linen, which they
burn, putting the ashes in the altar or down the sacrarium. And the
Decretal continues with a quotation from the Penitential of Bede the
Priest: "If, owing to drunkenness or gluttony, anyone vomits up the
Eucharist, let him do forty days' penance, if he be a layman; but let
clerics or monks, deacons and priests, do seventy days' penance; and
let a bishop do ninety days'. But if they vomit from sickness, let
them do penance for seven days." And in the same distinction, we read
a decree of the (Fourth) Council of Arles: "They who do not keep
proper custody over the sacrament, if a mouse or other animal consume
it, must do forty days' penance: he who loses it in a church, or if a
part fall and be not found, shall do thirty days' penance." And the
priest seems to deserve the same penance, who from neglect allows the
hosts to putrefy. And on those days the one doing penance ought to
fast, and abstain from Communion. However, after weighing the
circumstances of the fact and of the person, the said penances may be
lessened or increased. But it must be observed that wherever the
species are found to be entire, they must be preserved reverently, or
consumed; because Christ's body is there so long as the species last,
as stated above (Q. 77, AA. 4, 5). But if it can be done
conveniently, the things in which they are found are to be burned,
and the ashes put in the sacrarium, as was said of the scrapings of
the altar-table, here above.
_______________________

QUESTION 84

OF THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
(In Ten Articles)

We must now consider the Sacrament of Penance. We shall consider
(1)Penance itself; (2) Its effect; (3) Its Parts; (4) The recipients
of this sacrament; (5) The power of the ministers, which pertains to
the keys; (6) The solemnization of this sacrament.

The first of these considerations will be twofold: (1) Penance as a
sacrament; (2) Penance as a virtue.

Under the first head there are ten points of inquiry:

(1) Whether Penance is a sacrament?

(2) Of its proper matter;

(3) Of its form;

(4) Whether imposition of hands is necessary for this sacrament?

(5) Whe