Victor R. Claveau, MJ
“In Roman Catholic theology, penance means the voluntary or accepted self-inflicted punishment by which a repentant sinner manifests his sorrow for sin, and seeks to atone for the sin, and to avert the punishment which, even after guilt has been remitted, may still remain due to the offence. Penance is believed in the Roman Catholic Church to be one of the Sacraments of the new Law.[1] It will be necessary to explain it briefly both under its relations as a sacrament and as a private personal exercise.
“Penance must be carefully distinguished from repentance, which is simply sorrow for evil-doing, accompanied with a purpose of amendment. Penance is the fruit or the manifestation of this sorrow, and is commonly accompanied or expressed by some of those external acts which are the natural manifestations of any deep sorrow, either negative, as the neglect of ordinary attention to dress, to the care of the person, to the use of food; or positive, as the direct acts of personal mortification and self-inflicted pain, such as fasting.…In the personal practice of the early Christians, penance found a prominent place, and the chief and acknowledged object of the stated fasts, and other works of mortification which prevailed, was that of penitential correction, or of a manifestation of sorrow for sin.
“A still more striking use of penance, however, in the early Church, was the disciplinary one; and this, in the Roman Catholic view, is connected with the sacramental character of penance.…The matter of this sacrament consists, in their view, of the three acts of the penitent—contrition, or heartfelt sorrow for sin, as being an offence against God; confession, or detailed accusation of one’s self to a priest approved for the purpose; and satisfaction, of the acceptance and accomplishment of certain penitential works, in atonement for the sin confessed; and the form of the sacrament is the sentence of absolution from sin pronounced by the priest who has received the confession, and has been satisfied of the penitential disposition of the self-accusing sinner. In all these points, of course, they are at issue with Protestants. Even in apostolic times, the practice prevailed of excluding persons of scandalous life from the spiritual fellowship of the Christian community; and without attempting to fix the date, it may be stated as certain, from the authority of Tertullian and other writers, that from a very early time the persons so excluded were subjected to certain penitential regulations. This class of offenders so treated were those who had been notoriously guilty of the grievous crimes of idolatry or apostasy, murder, adultery, and other scandalous offences. The period of penitential probation differed in different times and places, but in general was graduated according to the enormity of the sin, some going so far in their rigor as, contrary to the clearly expressed sense of the Church, to carry it even beyond the grave. In the earlier ages, much depended upon the spirit of each particular church or country; but about the 4th century, the public penitential discipline assumed a settled form, which, especially as established in the Greek Church, is so curious that it deserves to be briefly described. Sinner of the classes already referred to had their names enrolled, and were (in some churches, after having made a preliminary confession to a priest appointed for the purpose) admitted, with a blessing and other ceremonial, by the bishop to the rank of penitents. This enrollment appears to have commonly taken place on the first day of Lent. The penitents so enrolled were arranged in four grades, called 1. “Weepers;” 2. “Hearers;” 3. “Prostrators;” 4. “Standers.” Of these classes, the first were obliged to remain outside the church at the time of public worship, and to ask the prayers of the faithful as they entered. The second were permitted to enter and to remain in the place and during the time appointed for the catechumens; but, like them, were required to depart before the commencement of the solemn part of the liturgy. The third were permitted to pray with the rest, but kneeling or prostrate, and for them were prescribed other acts of mortification. The fourth were permitted to pray with the rest in a standing posture, although apparently in a distinct part of the church; but they were excluded from making offerings with the rest, and still more from receiving the communion. The time to be spent in each of these grades at first differed very much according to times and circumstances, but was afterwards regulated elaborate laws, called penitential canons. Still it was the powers of the bishop to abridge or to prolong it, a power, the exercise of which is connected with the historical origin of the practice of indulgence.…All four grades wore a distinguishing penitential dress, in which they appeared on all occasions of public worship, and were obliged to observe certain rules of life, to renounce certain indulgences and luxuries, and to practice certain austerities. In some churches, they were employed in the care of the sick, the burial of the dead, and other more laborious works of charity. The penitent, in ordinary cases, could only be restored to communion by the bishop who had excluded him, and this only at the expiration of the appointed time, unless the bishop himself had shortened it; but, in case of dangerous illness, he might be restored, with the condition, however, that if he recovered from the illness, the whole course of the penance should be completed. The reconciliation of penitents took place commonly in Holy Week, and was publicly performed by the bishop in the church, with prayer and imposition of hands. It was followed by the administration of communion.…In the 11th and 12th centuries public penance had entirely disappeared.”[2]
Over the course of time the Church gradually substituted lesser works of devotion, such as specific prayers, fasts, or almsgivings, to which were attached indulgences equivalent to corresponding periods or canonical penance, or in the case of plenary indulgences, to the entire temporal punishment. For example, let us suppose a person was given a substantial penance for a serious sin. Assuming that the individual was sincerely repentant, the sin would be forgiven by the Sacrament of Confession, yet he would still have to pay the temporal price for his action.
[1] In the twelfth century Peter Lombard (d. 1164), known as the Master of the Sentences, author of the manual of systematized theology, gave an accurate definition of a sacrament of the New Law: A sacrament is in such a manner an outward sign of inward grace that it bears its image (i.e. signifies or represents it) and is its cause.
[2] Library of Universal Knowledge, (New York: The American Book Exchange), 1881, Vol. XI, pp. 453-454.