Brief History, Sacrament of Reconciliation:
Use these notes as you read the text: Pages 157-160
Early Church.
* On Pentecost the apostles preached Jesus‘ message or repentance.
* "You must repent and every one of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins"(Acts2:38)
* In the early church baptism was the primary sacrament of God’s forgiveness.
* We do not see a separate sacrament of reconciliation in the first decades of the church.
* If sinners refused to repent after repeated warnings they were excluded from the community.
Public Penance: Second through Fifth Centuries:
* A key problem for the early church was what to do with a Christian who sinned seriously (apostasy, adultery, or murder) after baptism.
* You see, if the only way to have your sins forgiven was AT baptism, which you receive only once, what do you do for forgiveness if you sin AFTER baptism?
* Those who committed venial sins could be readily forgiven by doing good works, prayers, participate in the Eucharist.
* A serious question for the church was IF such serious sins could be forgiven.
* The answer was yes, but only once in a lifetime and then only after a long period of difficult penance. The process began with the sinner confessing to the bishop in private. The bishop would enroll the sinner into an order of penitents who served a lengthy period of penance to prove their sincere contrition.
* Penitents could only participate in the Eucharist up to the liturgy of the word.
* They wore sackcloth (burlap) and ashes and knelt in the rear of the church.
* The penance was long and severe: Fasting, prayer, abstaining from marriage, no public office.
* The bishop would judge that the penitent had reformed and accept them back in to the community on Holy Thursday.
* Reconciliation took place only after private confession long penance.
* Because of the severity of the penances people realized the seriousness of sin but they also often would not confess until they were near death to avoid the long period of penance.
Private Confession: Sixth through Twelfth Centuries.
* A new form of confession begins to replace the public form.
* private confession begins to take the place of public confession
* The Irish monks starts this new form and bring it to Europe during the Dark Ages (9-10 cent.).
* People living near the monks began to practice this new form of confession.
* During the private confession of sin to a confessor he would assign a penance from a book.
* the book was called the penitentials and gave uniform penances for various sins.( for example, how many days of fasting for a particular sin)
* the penances were strict by today’s standards
* All sins mortal and venial could be confessed as often as desired
* Absolution for the sin came closer to the actual confession. The penitent did not have to wait as long to receive forgiveness.
* Priests as well as bishops became the ministers of the sacrament.
Theological Precision: Twelfth Through Fifteenth Centuries.
1. Fourth Latern Council ( 1215) taught:
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St Thomas Aquinas taught:
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* Perfect contrition is:
* Imperfect contrition is:
* Sacramental confession is necessary for:
* Along with contrition and confession the priest’s absolution is essential to the sacrament
The Council of Trent to Modern Times.
* In response to the teachings of the Protestant reformers the Council of Trent (1545-1563) issued some key teachings on penance.
* Penance is a TRUE sacrament. ( the Protestant reformers did not include Penance as a sacrament in their teachings)
* When confessing mortal sins the penitent should mention the kind and number of sins committed.
* Bishops and Priest have the Christ-given power to forgive sins.
* In 1614 it becomes church law to have a screen between the penitent and the priest. This is to protect the anonymity of the sinner.
* Any priest who revealed anyone’s confession was automatically excommunicated.
The Sacrament Today.
* Today’s rite of reconciliation stresses:
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* Penitents can now celebrate this sacrament of peace:
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The revisions of this sacrament published in 1974 permit three ways to celebrate reconciliation:
Know these three ways…they are on the unit final
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