Confessions

[kuh n-fesh-uh n] /kənˈfɛʃ ən/

noun
1.
acknowledgment; avowal; admission:
a confession of incompetence.
2.
acknowledgment or disclosure of sin or sinfulness, especially to a priest to obtain absolution.
3.
something that is .
4.
a formal, usually written, acknowledgment of guilt by a person accused of a crime.
5.
Also called confession of faith. a formal profession of belief and acceptance of doctrines, as before being admitted to church membership.
6.
the tomb of a martyr or or the altar or shrine connected with it.
/kənˈfɛʃən/
noun
1.
the act of confessing
2.
something confessed
3.
an acknowledgment or declaration, esp of one’s faults, misdeeds, or crimes
4.
(Christianity, mainly RC Church) the act of a penitent accusing himself or herself of his or her sins
5.
confession of faith, a formal public avowal of religious beliefs
6.
a religious denomination or sect united by a common system of beliefs
n.

late 14c., “action of confessing,” originally in religion, from Old French confession (10c.), from Latin confessionem (nominative confessio) “confession, acknowledgement,” noun of action from past participle stem of confiteri (see confess). In law, from 1570s. Meaning “that which is confessed” is mid-15c. An Old English word for it was andettung, also scriftspræc.

The title of two well-known autobiographies: that of Augustine from the fourth century, describing his early years and his conversion to Christianity, and that of the eighteenth-century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

In some churches, notably the Roman Catholic Church, a sacrament in which repentant sinners individually or as a group privately confess their sins in front of a priest and receive absolution from the guilt of their sins.

In the first few centuries of Christianity, repentant sinners were assigned public penances: sinners had to stay outside the entrance of the church and ask the people going inside to pray for them. The period of public penance could be shortened through an indulgence.

(1) An open profession of faith (Luke 12:8). (2.) An acknowledment of sins to God (Lev. 16:21; Ezra 9:5-15; Dan. 9:3-12), and to a neighbour whom we have wronged (James 5:16; Matt. 18:15).