|
CONFESSOR , in the ChristianSee also: Church, a word used in the two senses of (r) a
See also: person the See also: holy character of whose See also: life and See also: death entitle him or her, in the See also: judgment of the Church, to a See also: peculiar reputation for sanctity, (2) a See also: priest empowered to hear confessions
.
(1) In the first sense the word confessor was in the early Church sometimes applied loosely to all martyrs, but more properly to those who, having suffered persecution and torturefor the faith, were afterwards allowed to die in See also: peace
.
The See also: present sense of the word, as defined above, See also: developed after the ages of persecution had passed
.
It came to be applied by See also: custom, as did the predicate " See also: Saint.," to the holy men of the past; e.g
.
Ecgberht, archbishop of See also: York (Excerpt. cap. See also: xxviii), speaks of " the holy fathers whom we have styled confessors, i.e. bishops and priests who have served See also: God in chastity." But, as in the See also: case of " saint," the right of declaring the holy dead to be " confessors " was ultimately reserved to the Holy See
.
The most celebrated instance of the formal bestowal of the See also: style is that of See also: King
See also: Edward of See also: England, who was made a " Confessor " on his See also: canonization by See also: Pope See also: Alexander III. in 1161, and has since been commonly known as Edward the Confessor
.
(2) The confessor in the second sense is now termed in ecclesiastical Latin confessarius (med
.
See also: Lat. confessare, to confess), to distinguish him from the " confessor " described above
.
The functions of the confessor are dealt with in the article CONFESSION (q.v.)
.
Here it need only be pointed out that though, in the See also: Roman Catholic Church, the potestas ordinis of every priest includes the power of granting absolution, according to the established discipline of the Church, no priest can be a confessor, i.e. hear confessions, without a See also: special faculty from his See also: bishop
.
|
|
|
[back] CONFESSIONAL (Late Lat. confessionale, neut. adj. f... |
[next] CONFIRMATION (Lat. confirmatio, from confirmare, to... |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.