A means of repairing a sin committed, and obtaining pardon for it, consisting partly in the performance of expiatory rites, partly in voluntary submission to a punishment corresponding to the transgression, imposed by a confessor or other ecclesiastical authority. Penance is the fourth of seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church.
Any act performed by a person to atone for an offense to another; an act of atonement.
To impose penance; to punish.
An activity similar to mortification* while also containing the idea of reparation (atonement) for personal sins. Most religious communities encourage their members to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance) on a regular basis. There are also admonitions that individual religious carry out their own penances to help them grow in the spiritual life and to free themselves from bad habits. Sometimes common or public penances are performed (e.g., fasting), especially during the penitential season of Lent.
( penance). Generally an act of self-abasement, shame, or devoutness performed to demonstrate sorrow or repentance for sin. In the orthodoxy of the Roman, Eastern, and some Anglican churches a means of repairing a sin committed, and obtaining pardon for it, consisting partly in the performance of expiatory rites and partly in the voluntary submission to a punishment corresponding to the transgression.
a Catholic sacrament; repentance and confession and satisfaction and absolution
voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing
a form of punishment whereby one who has confessed his sins to a priest can obtain absolution
The sacramental reconciliation of penitents by confession and absolution.
A sacramental rite involving contrition, confession to a priest, the acceptance of penalties, and absolution
A sacramental rite practiced in some Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican faith groups. It usually consists of confession, absolution, and a penance directed by the confessor. Generally, an act of devotion or sorrow to show repentance for sin.
a means by which all sins committed after baptism are removed. The means are assigned by a priest and usually consist of special prayers or deeds performed by the sinner.
Any voluntary act that results from repentance. Penance is a concrete expression of gratitude for the forgiveness of a debt that can never in fact be repaid.
Penances were the punishments imposed by the Church on people after they had confessed their sins. They were generally fasts, sexual continence, pilgrimages or floggings. In the 15th century it was increasingly common to pay money instead of performing the penance.
The Sacrament through which the sins committed after Baptism are forgiven through confession.
See Confession of Sin; also BCP, 446-52.
A sacrament which stresses inner sorrow for sin and external acts of atonement.
Penance (via Old French penance from the Latin Poenitentia, the same root as penitence, which in English means repentance, the desire to be forgiven, see contrition; in many languages only one single word is derived) is, strictly, repentance of sins as well as the actual name of the Catholic Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. Penance and repentance, similar in their derivation and original sense, have however come to be symbolical of conflicting views of the essence of repentance, arising out of the controversy as to the respective merits of "faith" and "good works."