SIR,—My friend Mr. St. John Ervinc writes not with authority
but as one of the scribes. A very good scribe he is, too, but he does not know about the Sacra- ment of Penance. Only the penitent can give a confessor permission to use sacramental knowledge. In 1865 Constance Kent made sacramental confession to Mr. Wagner, the High Church incumbent of St. Paul's, Brighton. She told him she had murdered her half-brother. Later she went again and told him she had decided to make public confession. Mr. Wagner said what any priest of the Roman Catholic Church would have said, that what she was doing was right. But he used no persuasion; he revealed nothing she had told in confession. Even so, Mr. Wagner was much criticised by ardent Protestants.
I have an idea that my friend has not read my book but only the Spectator on this subject, so I will assure him in your columns that my facts are correct. All Father Joseph Francis said to comfort Mrs. Probert was that her son did not strike him as a man who would commit a murder. And Mrs. Probert and her daughter like and trust him—as they like and trust Superintendent Black.—Yours faithfully, F. TENNYSON JESSE Pear Tree Cottage, 11 Melina Place.
St John's Wood, NW8
[Ian Gilmour writes: 'It is not clear which are the "facts" described by Miss Jesse as correct. In her book she relies not on facts but on an erroneous dogma. The facts were set out in Mr. Peter Baker's letter last week '—Editor, Spectator.]
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