ABSOLUTION, in the Canon Law, is a juridical act, whereby the priest declares the sins of such as are penitent remitted. —The Romanists hold absolution a part of the sacrament of penance; the council of Trent, sess. xiv. cap. iii., and that of Florence, in the decree ad Armenos, declare the form or ca-
Absolution sence of the sacrament to lie in the words of absolution, "I absolve thee of thy sins." The formula of absolution, in the Roman church, is absolute; in the Greek church, it is deprecatory; and in the churches of the Reformed, declarative.
ABSOLUTION is chiefly used among Protestants for a sentence by which a person who stands excommunicated is released or freed from that punishment.