Penitence

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Legal, Wikipedia.

Penitence

Act of Contrition

prayer of atonement said after making one’s confession. [Christianity: Misc.]

Agnes, Sister

former Lady Laurentini; a penitent nun. [Br. Lit.: The Mysteries of Udolpho, Freeman, 4]

Ancient Mariner

telling his tale is penance for his guilt. [Br. Poetry: Coleridge “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”]

Canossa

site of Henry IV’s submission to Pope Gregory VII (1077). [Eur. Hist.: Grun, 140]

Dimmesdale, Arthur

Puritan minister publicly atones for sin of adultery. [Am. Lit.: The Scarlet Letter]

Dismas (Dysmas)

in the Apocryphal gospels, the penitent thief. [Christianity: Benét, 274]

Elul

sixth month of Jewish year; month of repentance. [Judaism: Wigoder, 174]

Flagellants

groups of Christians who practised public flagellation as penance. [Christian Hist.: NCE, 959]

Henry IV (1050–1106)

Holy Roman Emperor who begged forgiveness from the Pope at Canossa. [Eur. Hist.: Benét, 456]

Julian, St., the Hospitaler

for having mistakenly killed his parents, atones by becoming a beggar and helping the wretched. [Christ. Leg.: Attwater]

Mary Magdalene

abjectly cleans Jesus’s feet with tears; dries them with her hair. [N.T.: Luke 7:37–50]

Nineveh

townspeople repented for wickedness by fasting and donning sackcloth. [O.T.: Jonah 3:5–10]

Pelagius the Repentant, St.

dancing-girl converts to solitary, saintly ways. [Christian Hagiog.: Attwater, 272]

penance

Catholic sacrament, whereby the penitent is absolved of sins by the confessor. [Christianity: NCE, 2096]

sable

black fur represents repentance. [Heraldry: Halberts, 37]

sackcloth and ashes

traditional garb of contrition. [O.T.: Jonah 3:6; Esther 4:1–3; N.T.: Matthew 11:21]

scapegoat

sent into wilderness bearing sins of Israelites. [O.T.: Leviticus 16:8–22]

Scarlet Sister Mary

seeks divine forgiveness in night of wild prayer. [Am. Lit.: Scarlet Sister Mary]

skull

always present in pictures of Mary Magdalene repenting. [Christian Art: de Bles, 29]

Tannhäuser

seeking salvation, takes pilgrimage to Rome. [Ger. Opera: Wagner, Tannhauser, Westerman, 211]

Tenorio, Don Juan

after sinful lifetime, eleventh-hour repentance saves his soul. [Span. Lit.: Don Juan Tenorio]

Theodosius (346–395) Roman Emperor;

did public penance before St. Ambrose. [Rom. Hist.: EB, 18:272–273]

Twelve Labors of Hercules

undertaken as penance for slaying his children. [Gk. and Rom. Myth.: Hall, 148]

violet

Christian liturgical color; worn during Lent and Advent. [Color Symbolism: Jobes, 357]

Yom Kippur

most sacred Hebrew holy day; the day of atonement. [Judaism: NCE, 182]

References in periodicals archive ?

And even if they only do it for show, I would really appreciate some penitence for its sins.

Lugar lang / These godforsaken times

The next Chapter,"Saint Basil the Great on confessing sins and the severity of penitence", introduces the topic related to the periods of penitence--their intensity and duration, the need to confess sins verbally, then the fact that the confessors are spiritual advisers on the path to redemption, and "the moment when the Priest ascertains the fervour of the penitent's repentance, the former could shorten the epitimia."

Liviu Petcu, Early Church Fathers on repentance and confession of sins

Finally, a couple of substantive chapters address the implementation of confession and penitence, steered by the overall project of imposing Western cultural and economic conceptual perspectives on the Andean autochthonous peoples.

Sin and Confession in Colonial Peru: Spanish-Quechua Penitential Texts, 1560-1650

The transition from Camillo to Paulina as Leontes's "priest-like" counselor after the actual death of Mamillius and apparent deaths of Hermione and Perdita establishes an oppositional mode of penitence in The Winter's Tale.

Masculine and feminine penitence in The Winter's Tale

The 40-day sign of penitence starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday, which is a day before Easter Sunday.

Ash Wednesday 2014: Top 5 Unique Facts to Know about Lenten Season

Summary: A Lebanese abbot who leads a monastery was barred from exercising ecclesiastical duties and sentenced to a life of solitary penitence, according to a statement released by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Byblos and Batroun over the weekend.

Monastery head barred from duties after Archdiocese verdict

His self-approved penitence involves attributing his behaviour to a aACAylapse of judgement' and stepping away from his post for six months, a decision that has incensed many in India, as they question his right to be his own judge and jury.

Reputed Indian media figure falls from grace

Polat also requested that the defendants be asked whether they would like penitence to be considered by the judges in their sentences.

Lawyer files complaint against Demirel for his role in 1997 coup

The centenary's highlight will be a candle-lit vigil of prayer and penitence at Westminster Abbey finishing, with the last candle being extinguished at 11pm, the moment war was declared.

Mass vigil to mark Great War centenary

The Church said that though the women's action 'cannot be left unpunished', if they showed penitence and reconsideration of their action, their words 'shouldn't be left unnoticed'.

Russian court to hear jailed Pussy Riot's appeal

Frankly, I also trust men Chambers and Millar, served a long and public penitence and became powerful voices in fight against drugs, a lot than I do some of the supposedly clean athletes who will be competing.