When anyone is engaged in any sort of work,whether in the kitchen, in the cellar, in a shop,in the bakery, in the garden, while working at some craft,or in any other place,and she commits some fault,or breaks something, or loses something,or transgresses in any other way whatsoever,if she does not come immediatelybefore the Abbess and the communityof her own accordto make satisfaction and confess her fault,then when it becomes known through another,let her be subjected to a more severe correction. But if the sin-sickness of the soul is a hidden one, let her reveal it only to the Abbess or to a spiritual mother,who knows how to cure her own and others' wounds without exposing them and making them public.

The Latin original for sin-sickness of the soul is "animae vero peccati." This can also be translated as a soul or spirit or life or breeze, truly or actually or fairly, mistaken or wrong or faulty.

Benedict writes that if the cause of this error is "fuerit latens" or exists concealed or is latent the leader will allow it to remain hidden and shall endeavor to heal the soul's wound - this separateness from God - quietly and privately.

In a text that so often depends on public shame and purposefully public punishment, this is a remarkably tender exception. It is worth noting that in our era the Church has, perhaps, suffered most when attempting to heal hidden faults.