La prassi penitenziale sul ministro della penitenza nell’alto medioevo (VI–X sec.)

Abstract

Following the period of canonical penance, a new practice of performing the sacrament of penance and reconciliation emerges. This novelty concerns two dimensions: penance becomes repetitive and the ministry of penance can be performed by a presbyter priest, not only by a bishop as it had been sanctioned earlier. It has to be stressed that the very rite of penance became more individual in its character, deprived of its public setting. The author presents the probable causes of these changes which were first observed in the ecclesiastical practice in Ireland. This article presents the abundance of Early Medieval texts where one can find the image of the confessor as a doctor and father, but also as a prosecutor, defender and judge.