The Christian movement known as the Penitents goes back to the 4th century. Those who had committed serious sins confessed their sins to the Bishop or his representative and were assigned a penance that was to be carried out over a period of time. After completing their penance, they were reconciled by the Bishop with a prayer of absolution offered in the midst of the community. Penance assumed many forms, such as pilgrimages to holy sites; constructing, repairing and rebuilding churches; and caring for the poor and sick. During the time they worked out their penances, the penitents often had special places in church and wore special garments to indicate their status. Like the catechumens who were preparing for baptism, they were often dismissed from the Sunday assembly after the Liturgy of the Word. The use of ashes at the beginning of Lent is an extension of the use of ashes with those entering the Order of Penitents.
The Penitential Movement
Penance, in the Judeo-Christian sense can be traced to the time just after the Jewish exile in Babylon. The repentance and conversion preached by John the Baptist was of this type. In the first centuries of the Christian Church, groups of penitents were established by the Church for those Christians who fell into grave sin and sought reconciliation with the Church. These sins included such things as adultery, murder, idolatry and magic, and theft. Doing penance was a visible sign of conversion. If the sinner refused to do penance, he or she was excommunicated. Public penance consisted of acts of mortification such as wearing a "hair shirt," covering the head with ashes, fasting and prayers. These acts were regulated by the bishops. After the period of penance was completed, the repentant sinner was readmitted into the assembly. The Edict of Milan in A.D. 313 declared that the bishop could relegate the sinner into an Order of Penitents called Conversi. This was done in a liturgical ceremony with the laying on of hands and the application of ashes. They worshiped separately from the rest of the congregation, but were not allowed to participate in the Eucharistic celebration. Other restrictions imposed by the bishop were called interdicts, and by the 4th century, some of these interdicts came to be imposed not only for the penitential period, but for life. By the 4th century, there were those who entered the Order of Penitents voluntarily. They accepted the interdicts of the Order which by that time included:
asceticism, which was popularized by the Desert Fathers of the East, such as St. Anthony the Great and St. Basil, moved into Europe. St. Benedict of Nursia was the founder of western or Benedictine monasticism in A.D. 529. The emphasis was on communal living under a rule and a life given to prayer, work and charity. Entering a monastery became a substitute for public penance. In the monasteries, a penitential tax or private penance was developed which was less strenuous than the public penances. This was the beginning of penitential commutation.
In Italy and Spain, public or Roman Penance was dominant. Those upon whom penance was imposed and those who accepted the life voluntarily were forbidden to associate with the militia saecularis or secular militia. This included holding civil offices or being a merchant and from bearing arms. Fasting, which had always been part of the penitential discipline, became more regularized, and three major times of fasting were observed, Advent, Lent, and a period after Pentecost. There were also two minor Lents. Other periods of fasting and abstinence could be imposed.
The penitential movement became popular among the laity after the Gregorian reform at the end of the 11th century. Introduced around A.D. 950, corporal penance or voluntary flagellation became more known. Also almsgiving as a penitential act became more common. There was also the rise of the Donati and the Oblates, who put themselves in the service of God by attaching themselves in service to a particular church or monastery. In all cases, the emphasis of the penance was to practice justice and mercy, to trust in God, to be of pure heart and intent, to have a zeal for Christ and the Scripture, and to be open to God's grace and inspiration. Most of the participants had little or no formal theological training and many developed heretical beliefs.
Types of penitents
Married conversi – continued to live with their family, but partially or fully abstained from conjugal relations.
Voluntary pilgrims – went on pilgrimages to the Holy Land or to more local shrines if that were not possible.
Hermits – lived alone or with one or two companions in the wild, in grottos and caves or even in the hollows of trees.
Religious virgins – not nuns, lived with family
Recluses – women who consecrated themselves to God without entering a religious institution
Character of penitents
Attire – tunic, walking-stick, cincture, knapsack, sandals; symbol was often a Tau Cross after St. Anthony of the Desert.
Charitable works – most often in hospitals and hospices and leprosaria ; restoring churches and burying the dead.
Life of Prayer.
Abstinence – from feasts and shows and dances, avoidance of drunkenness and gluttony.
Prohibited from public office or from riding horses.
Forbidden to take up arms or to take an oath.
Orders of penitents
;Umiliati ;Penitents of Assisi ;Penitents or Hermits of St. John the Baptist ;Canons Regular of the Penitence of the Blessed Martyrs ;Penitents of Our Lady of Refuge ;Sisters of the Conservatorio di S. Croce della Penitenza or del buon Pastore ;Ordo religiosus de penitentia ;Order of Penitents established by Bernard of Marseille Compare the Magdalen Asylums.
