Editing Confessional (section)

==History==
The confessional in its modern form dates no further back than the 16th century. [[Du Cange]] cites the year 1563 for an early use of the word {{lang|la-FR|confessionale}} for the {{lang|la-FR|[[sacrum poenitentiae]]}} tribunal. The term was applied to the burial place of a [[martyr]] or "confessor", that being one who confesses [[Christ]]. There are also instances where the name was attached to the spot, whether cell or seat, where noted saints had a habit of hearing confessions. For example, the confessional of [[Church of St. Trophime, Arles|Church of St. Trophime]] at [[Arles]].

In the popular [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] view, confessional boxes are associated with the scandals, real or supposed, of the practice of auricular [[Confession (religion)|confession]]. However, the boxes were devised to guard against such scandals by securing at once essential publicity and a reasonable privacy, and by separating [[priest]] and [[penitent]]. In the [[Middle Ages]] corresponding and stringent rules were established in [[canon law]] for confessions by women, and especially by [[nun]]s.

In [[England]], before the [[Protestant Reformation]], publicity was reckoned the best safeguard. Thus Archbishop [[Walter Reynolds]], in 1322, says in his ''Constitutions'': "Let the priest choose for himself a common place for hearing confessions, where he may be seen generally by all in the church; and do not let him hear any one, and especially any woman, in a private place, except in great necessity.".<ref name="EB1911Confessional" />

In Italy, men's confessions were heard in the sacristy face to face,or the priest would draw aside the central confessional curtain which separated him the rest of the church and hear a man's confession. Women's confessions were heard in the confessional with a screen between priest and penitent. The maxim,"numquam solus cum sola" was strictly enforced by this method. Hearing a man's confession in the box became common in the United States for convenience sake as sacristies were not as vast as they were in Italian churches.

It would seem that the priest usually heard confessions at the [[chancel]] opening or at a bench end in the [[nave]] near the chancel. There is, however, in some [[churchwardens' accounts]] mention of a special seat: "the shryving stool", "shriving pew" or "shriving place". (On a related note, the observance of [[Shrove Tuesday]] is named after the practice of shriving/confession.)<ref>{{cite web |title=Shrove Tuesday |url=https://trinitypotsdam.org/epiphany__shrove_tuesday |publisher=Trinity Church |access-date=20 April 2021 |language=English}}</ref> At [[Lenham]], in [[Kent]], there is an ancient armchair in stone, with a stone bench and steps on one side, that appears to be a confessional.

With the revival of the practice of auricular confession in the Church of England, confessionals were introduced into some parishes with an Anglo-Catholic bent. Since, however, they formed no part of "the furniture of the church" in the "second year of King Edward VI", some have argued that they are not covered by the "[[Ornaments Rubric]]" in the Prayer-Book. The question of their legality was raised in 1900 in the case of ''[[Davey v. Hinde]]'' ([[vicar]] of the [[Church of the Annunciation, Brighton|Church of the Annunciation]] at [[Brighton]]), tried before Dr Tristram in the [[consistory court]] of [[Chichester]]. They were condemned "on the ground that they are not articles of church furniture requisite for or conducive to conformity with the doctrine or practice of the Church of England in relation to the reception of confession".<ref name="EB1911Confessional" />

"Confessional", in the sense of a due payable for the right to hear confession, is now obsolete.<ref name="EB1911Confessional">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Confessional|pages=904–905|volume=6|last=Phillips|first=Walter Alison |author-link=Walter Alison Phillips}}</ref>