XVIII, John XX) and in particular her chief pastor (Matt. XVI)
has from the beginning exercised the power of remitting the temporal
punishment of actual sins. Thus S. Paul pardoned the incestuous
Corinthian (2. Cor. II): in times of persecution the bishops at the
request of the martyrs remitted the penance imposed on those who had
fallen into idolatry (Tersul. lib. ad martyres, Euseb. Hist. Eccl.
lib. V, c. 4. S. Cyprian. Epist. XIII etc.), to say nothing of canons
of the 4th century which prescribe that indulgences should be granted
to _fervent_ penitents, of the crusades, and of the indulgences
granted to those who contributed money for the building of S. Peter's,
etc. Indulgences presuppose repentance and confession, and the
performance of those good works which are prescribed as conditions
necessary for their acquisition, as communion, prayers, alms etc.]
[Footnote 44: It was built by Calixtus II, and was for two centuries
and a half the Vestry of the Roman Pontiffs. It was repaired and
consecrated in 1747. See Cancellieri. De Secretariis T. I, p. 342.]
[Footnote 45: In the third century, in the time of Pope Cornelius
there were priests appointed to absolve those who had fallen into
idolatry; and they were called _Presbyteri Paenitentium_. S. Marcellus
also, according to Anastasius, after the persecution raised by
Diocletian, appointed in Rome titular churches, in which penance as
well as baptism were administered by priests, the former sacrament is
conferred by the minor penitentiaries.
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