Evoluzione del rito della penitenza nel jus antiquum tra tradizione “canonica” e apostolicam regulam

Abstract

The aim of this work is to offer a historical-legal study of the canonical sources in the Jus antiquum on the rite of penance. Through the systematic reading of the sources and of the historical, social and legal context in which they come to existence, a consistent historiographical review of the topic will be proposed, aimed at proving the existence of the rite of personal and repeatable penance in the ancient Church, a lot earlier than the diffusion on the Continent of the Penitential Books that have a Celtic origin took place. Once identified the common and constant elements of the sacrament of Reconciliation, such as the confession, the judgement, the forgiveness and the penance, an attempt will be made to trace the historical evolution of the ritual during the first millennium of the history of the Church, according to the double path followed in the correction of crimes: the private penance (a result of the apostolic tradition) and the public penance (an expression of the ancient conciliar tradition).