Henry Edward Manning was an Oxford-educated Anglican clergyman who converted to Roman Catholicism after the Privy Council ordered the Church of England in 1850 to reinstate an heretical vicar. Manning was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church in 1851, appointed archbishop of Westminster in 1865, and made a cardinal in 1875 by Pope Pius IX.In The Love of Jesus to Penitents, Manning enumerates the many benefits that the Sacrament of Penance affords the penitent: it reveals to the prodigal the tender compassion of Jesus Christ; it bestows the grace of spiritual regeneration upon the spiritually dead soul; it is the means of self-knowledge; it inclines the penitent to have perfect contrition and to make reparation to God and to those neighbors whom he has offended by his sins; and it bestows upon the spiritually reborn the gift of perseverance, enabling him to remain in a state of grace throughout his earthly life unto life everlasting. Manning tells us that Catholics in his day loved the Sacrament of Penance but did not avail themselves to its graces and benefits as often as they ought. In this respect, his day was much like our own. Catholics, therefore, should find this short book quite relevant, and both Catholics and non-Catholics should find it interesting and informative, as it outlines the practical usefulness and efficacy of this ancient sacrament.
