PENANCE
632
PENANCE
especially the Middlo Ages. The oflfice of paniten-
tiarius had already (390) been abolished in the East by
Nestorins, Patriarch of Const MiitiiKiplc, in oonse-
qucnce of a scandal that grew out of public confession.
Soon afterwards, the four "stations" disappeared, and
public penance fell into disuse. In the West it under-
went a more gradual transformation. Excommunica-
tion continued in use, and the interdict (q. v.) was
frequently resorted to. The performance of penance
was left in large measure to the zeal and good will of
the penitent ; increasing clemency was shown by
allowing the reconciliation to take place somewhat
before the prescribed time was completed; and the
practice was introduced of commuting the enjoined
penance into other exercises or works of piety, such as
prayer and almsgiving. According to a decree of the
Council of Clermont (109.5), those who joined a cru-
sade were freed from all obligation in the matter of
penance. Finally it became customary to let the
reconciliation follow immediately after confession.
With these modifications the ancient usage had prac-
tically disappeared by the middle of the sixteenth
century. Some attempts were made to revive it after
the Council of Trent, but these were isolated and of
short duration. (See Indulgences.)
In the British and Irish Churches, — The peni- tent ial system in these countries was established simul- taneou.siy with the introduction of Christianity, was rapidly developed by episcopal decrees and synodal enactments, and was reduced to definite form in the Penitentials. These books exerted such an influence on the practice in Continental Europe that, according to one opinion, they "first brought order and unity into ecclesiastical discijjline in these matters" (Was- serschleben, " Bussordnungen d. abendlandischen Kirche", Halle, 18.51, p. 4. — For a different view see Schmitz, "Die Bussbiicher u. die Bussdisciplin d. Kirche", Mainz, 188.3, p. 187). In any case, it is be- yond question that in their belief and practice the Churches of Ireland, England, and Scotland were at one with Rome. The so-called Synod of St. Patrick decrees that a Christian who conunits any of the capi- tal sins shall perform a year's penance for each offence and at the end shall "come with witnesses and be absolved by the priest" (Wilkins, "Concilia", I, p. 3). Another synod of St. Patrick ordains that "the Abbot shall decide to whom the power of binding and loosing be committed, but forgiveness is more in keeping with the examples of Scripture; let penance be short, with weeping and lamentation and a mournful garb, rather than long and tempered with relaxations" (Wilkins, ibid., p. 4). For various opinions regarding the date and origin of the sj-nods, see Haddan and Stubbs, "Councils", II, 331; Bury, "Life of St. Patrick", London, 1905. The confessor was called anmchara (anima carus), i. c., "soul's friend ". St. Columba was anmchara to Aidan, Lord of Dalraida, a. d. .574 (Adam- nan's "Life of St. Columba", ed. Reeves, p. Ixxvi); and Adamnan was "soul's friend" to Finnsnechta, Monarch of Ireland, A. D. 67.5 (ibid., p. xliii). The "Life of St. Columba" relates the coming of Feach- naus to lona, where, with weeping and lamentation, he fell at Columba's feet and "before all who were present confessed his sins. Then the Saint, weeping with him, said to him: 'Arise, my son and be comforted; thy sins which thou hast committed are forgiven ; because, as it is written, a contrite and humble heart God doth not despise,'" (ibid., I, 30). The need and effects of confession are ex- plained in the Leabhar Breac: "Penance frees from all the sins committed after baptism. Every one desirous of a cure for his soul and happiness with the Lord must make an humble and sorrowful confession ; and the confession with the prayers of the Church are as baptisms to him. .-Xs sickness injures the body, so sin injures the soul; and as there is a cure for the di.s- ease of the body, so there is balm for that of the soul.
And as the wounds of the body are shown to a physi-
cian, so, too, the .sores of the .soul must be exposed.
As he who takes poison is saved by a vomit, so, too,
the soul is healed by confession and declaration of his
sins with sorrow, and by the prayers of the Oiurch,
and a determination henceforth to observe the laws
of the Church of Cod. . . . Because Christ left
to His Apostles and Church, to the end of the world,
the power of loosing and binding."
That confession was required before Communion is evident from the penitential ascribed to St. Colum- banus, which orders (can. xxx) "that confessions be given with all diligence, especially concerning com- motions of the mind, before going to Mass, lest per- chance any one approach the altar unworthily, that is, if he have not a clean heart. For it is better to wait till the heart be sound and free from sciindal and envy, than daringly to approach the jud^iucnt of the tri- bunal; for the altar is the trihviiial (if Christ, and His Body, even there with His Blood, judges tho.se who approach unworthily. As, therefore, we must beware of capital sins before communicating, so, also, from the more uncertain defects and diseases of a languid soul, it is necessary for us to abstain and to be cleansed before going to that which is a conjunction with true peace and a joining with eternal salvation". In the Life of St. Maedocof Ferns" it is said of the murdered King Brandubh: "And so he departed without con- fession and the communication of the Eucharist." But the saint restored him to life for a while, and then, " having made his confession and received absolution and the viaticum of the Body of Christ, King Bran- dubh went to heaven, and was interred in the city of St. Maedoc which is called Ferns, where the kings of that land are buried" (Acia SS. Hib., col. 482). The metrical "Rule of St. Carthach", translated by Eugene O'Curry, gives this direction to the priest: "If you go to give communion at the awful point of death, you must receive confession without shame, without re- serve." In the prayer for giving communion to the sick (Corpus Christi Missal) we read: "O God, who hast willed that sins should be forgiven by the imposi- tion of the hands of the priest . . ." and then fol- lows the absolution : " We absolve thee as representa- tives of blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, to whom the Lord gave the power of binding and loosing." That confession was regularly a part of the prepara- tion for death is attested by the Council of Cashel (1172) which commands the faithful in case of illness to make their will "in the presence of their confessor and neighbours", and prescribes that to those who die "with a good confession" due tribute shall be paid in the form of Masses and burial (can. vi, vii).
The practice of public penance was regulated in great detail by the Penitentials. That of St. Cummian prescribes that "if any priest refuses penance to the dying, he is guilty of the loss of their souls . . . for there can be true conversion at the last moment, since God has regard not of time alone, but of the heart also, and the thief gained Paradise in the last hour of his confession" (C. xiv, 2). Other Peniten- tials bear the names of St. Finnian, Sts. David and Gildas, St. Columbanus, Adamnan. The collection of canons known as the "Hibernensis" is especially im- portant, as it cites, under the head of "Penance" (bk. XLVII), the teaching of St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and other Fathers, thus showing the continuity of the Irish faith and observance with that of the early Church. (See Lanigan, "Eccl. Hi.st. of Ireland", Dublin, 1829; Moran, "Essays on the Early Irish Church", Dublin, 1864; Malonc, "Church Hist, of Ireland", Dublin, 1880; Warren, "The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church", Oxford, 1881 ; Salmon, "The Ancient Iri.sh Church", Dublin, 1897.)
In the Anglo-Saxon Church penance was called behremosung, from the verb Incnwan, whence our word "to rue". The confessor was the serif I; confession,
