[56] Crétineau, vol. i. p. 134.
[57] Orland. lib. iii. 48; Crét. vol. i. p. 134.
[58] Crét. vol. i. p. 136.
[59] Cumulatam peccatorum indulgentiam tribuebant.—Orland. lib. iii. sec. 59.
[60] Exceptiones immunitatesque, aut plane gratuitas aut ære permodico tenuoribus indugebant, &c.—Ibid. and Crét. vol. i. p. 140.
[61] Steinmetz, vol. i. p. 308.
[62] Orl. lib. iii. 60; Crét. vol. i. p. 141.
[63] Helyot, vol. vii. p. 491.
[64] Helyot, vol. vii. p. 491.
[65] Const. pars vi. cap. iii. § 7. To be a nun’s confessor was, and is still, deemed a high privilege. Before the Council of Trent, this privilege belonged to the order of St Francis, under whose rules most of the nuns also live. The conduct of these brothers and sisters was in the highest degree improper and scandalous. Although the Franciscans are now no longer the titular confessors of these nuns, nevertheless they are on the most friendly terms with one another; upon which friendships the Italians exercise their satirical and sarcastic wit. The confessors are now chosen by the respective bishops, who confer the honour upon their most faithful adherents, as a reward for their services. The rivalries of those sainted women, and their ingenious contrivances to engage the smile of their holy father, are notorious to every one who lives near a convent.