"ROMAN CONFESSORS."
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—The Spectator of October 10th has an article on Mr. Kipling's speech to the students of the Middlesex Hospital. In that article the sentence occurs : "They [medical doctors] keep our secrets without the fearful oath imposed upon Roman confessors to strengthen their purpose." I take it that by " Roman confessors " are meant priests of the Roman Catholic Church. Would you kindly explain to Roman Catholic readers of the Spectator what is the "fearful oath" referred to P And on what authority are they to believe that such an
oath is "imposed upon Roman confessors" am, Sir, &c., A ROMAN CATHOLIC.
[We were, no doubt, wrong to speak of a "fearfal oath." Nevertheless, the Roman Catholic priest is under the most tremendous obligation not to make public any fact communi- cated to him in confession. To break the seal of the confessional is to a Roman Catholic priest a sin beyond words. Can our correspondent be unaware of this fact P Yet if he is not, there was surely not very much point in his inquiry But perhaps he meant, but forgot, to add, like Artemus Ward : "This is rote sarkastic."—ED. Spectator.]
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