Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PENITENTIAL (Lat. poenitentiale, libe...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 98 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

PENITENTIAL (See also:Lat. poenitentiale, libellus poenitentialis, &c.) , a See also:manual used by priests of the See also:Catholic See also:Church for guidance in assigning the See also:penance due to sins. Such manuals played a large role in the See also:early See also:middle ages, particularly in See also:Ireland, See also:England and See also:Frankland, and their See also:influence in the moral See also:education of the See also:barbarian races has not received sufficient See also:attention from historians. They were mainly composed of canons See also:drawn from various See also:councils and of dicta from writings of some of the fathers. Disciplinary regulations in See also:Christian communities are referred to from the very See also:borders of the apostolic See also:age, and a See also:system of careful oversight of those admitted to the mysteries See also:developed steadily as the membership See also:grew and dangers of contamination with the outside See also:world increased. These were the elaborate precautions of the catechumenate, and —as a See also:bulwark against the persecutions—the rigid system known as the Discipline of the See also:Secret (disciplina arcani). The treatment of the lapsed, which produced the Novatian See also:heresy, was also responsible for what has frequently been referred to as the first penitential. This is the libellus in which, according to See also:Cyprian (Ep. 51), the decrees of the See also:African synods of 251 and 255 were embodied for the guidance of the See also:clergy in dealing with their repentant and returning flocks. This manual, which has been lost, was evidently not like the See also:code-like compilations of the 8th See also:century, and it is somewhat misleading to speak of it as a penitential. See also:Jurisdiction in penance was still too closely limited to the upper ranks of the clergy to See also:call forth such literature. Besides the See also:bishop an See also:official well versed in the penitential regulations of the Church, called the poenitentiarius, assigned due penalties for sins. For their guidance there was considerable conciliar legislation (e.g.

See also:

Ancyra, See also:Nicaea, Neocaesarea, &c.), and certain patristic letters which had acquired almost the force of See also:decretals. Of the latter the most important were the three letters of St See also:Basil of Caesarea (d. 379) to Bishop See also:Amphilochus of See also:Iconium containing over eighty headings. Three things tended to develop these rules into something like a system of penitential See also:law. These were the development of auricular See also:confession and private penance; the See also:extension of the penitential jurisdiction among the clergy owing to the growth of a parochial priesthood; and the See also:necessity of adapting the penance to the See also:primitive ideas of law prevailing among the newly converted barbarians, especially the See also:idea of See also:compensation by the See also:wergild. In Ireland in the middle of the 5th century appeared the " canons of St See also:Patrick." In the first See also:half of the next century these were followed by others, notably those of St Finian (d. 552). At the same See also:time the See also:Celtic See also:British Church produced the penitentials of St See also:David of Menevia (d. 544) and of See also:Gildas (d. 583) in addition to synodal legislation. These furnished the material to See also:Columban (d. 615) for his See also:Liber de poenitentia and his monastic See also:rule, which had a See also:great influence upon the See also:continent of See also:Europe.

The Anglo-Saxon Church was later than the Irish, but under See also:

Theodore of See also:Tarsus (d.69o), See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury, the practice then in force was madethe basis of the most important of all penitentials. The Poenitentiale Theodori became the authority in the Church's treatment of sinners for the next four centuries, both in England and elsewhere in Europe. The See also:original See also:text, as prepared by a See also:disciple of Theodore, and embodying his decisions, is given in Haddan and See also:Stubbs's Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents See also:relating to Great See also:Britain and Ireland (iii. 173 seq.). A. Penitentiale Commeani (St Cumian), dating apparently from the early 8th century, was the third See also:main source of Frankish penitentials. The extent and variety of this literature led the Gallican Church to exercise a sort of censorship in See also:order to secure uniformity. After numerous synods, Bishop Haltigar of See also:Cambrai was commissioned by Ebo of See also:Reims in 829 to prepare a definitive edition. Haltigar used, among his other materials, a so-called poenitentiale romanum, which was really of Frankish origin. The canons printed by David See also:Wilkins in his Concilia (1737) as being by See also:Ecgbert of See also:York (d. 767) are largely a See also:translation into Anglo-Saxon of three books of Haltigar's penitentials. In 841 Hrabanus Maurus undertook a new Liber poenitentium and wrote a See also:long See also:letter on the subject to Heribald of See also:Auxerre about 853.

Then followed the See also:

treatise of See also:Reginon of Prum in 906, and finally the collection made by Burchard, bishop of See also:Worms, between 1012 and 1023. The codification of the See also:canon law by See also:Gratian and the See also:change in the sacramental position of penance in the 12th century closed the See also:history of penitentials. Much controversy has arisen over the question whether there was an official papal penitential. It is claimed that (quite apart from Haltigar's poenitentiale romanum) such a set of canons existed early in See also:Rome, and the See also:attempt has been made by H. J. Schmitz in his learned treatise on penitentials (Buszbiicher and das kanonische Buszverfahren, 1883 and 1898) to establish their pontifical See also:character. The See also:matter is still in dispute, Schmitz's thesis not having met with universal See also:acceptance. In addition to the See also:works mentioned above the one important See also:work on the penitentials was L. W. H. Wasserschleben's See also:epoch-making study and collection of texts, See also:Die Buszordnungen der abendlandischen Kirche nebst einer rechtsgeschichtlichen Einleitung (See also:Halle, 1851). See articles in Wetzer and Welte's Kirchenlexikon, Hauck's Realencyklopadie, and Haddan and Stubbs's Councils.

See also Seebasz in Zeitschrift See also:

fur Kirchengeschichte, xviii. 58. On the canons of St Patrick see the See also:Life of St Patrick by J. B. See also:Bury (pp. 233—275).

End of Article: PENITENTIAL (Lat. poenitentiale, libellus poenitentialis, &c.)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PENINSULAR WAR (1808–14) 		[next]
PENITENTIARY (med. Lat. poenitentiarius, from poeni...

Site © 2006 - Net Industries