Peninim. See Ilinv.
Penin'nah (Ileb. Penimah', nS'S, coral; Sept. ^(vvt'ipa), one of the two wives of Elkanah, the father of Samuel, of whom we only know that she bore chil-
dren to her husband, and was not very generous in her bearing towards the other wife, Hannah (1 Sam. i, 2). B.C.cir. 1125.
Penitence (Gr. fiiravoia ; Lat. pcsnitentia) is the older word for repentance (q. v.) used by the Vulgate, but replaced by resipiscentia, fitrajjuXda, when the ])eiiitential scheme of the Latin Church was developed; for panitentia then became restricted to the act of re- pentance, i. c. the performance of the penances of the confessional. See Pknance. Penitence is an enduring and penal condition; for there is an evident etymolog- ical connection between pcenu and jmnio, both having their common origin in Troit't), a " tine," or " weregeld," for blood. The old form, in fact, of punio was 2>cenio, and is so written by Cicero, " Cum multi inimicos mor- tuos poeniantur" (Tusc. i, 44, and MSS. in Mil. 31 ; also, Aul. Gell. VII, iii, 54). Thus marus, whence poimerium, for murus, from /lolpa (quasi "allotment boundary"), mcenio for munio ; jiceniceus and puniceus, pccnicus and punicus. " Poenitere" is explained as " poenam teuere" by the ancient author of the treatise Be vera et falsa Poenifentia, in the works of Augustine, with direct refer- ence to jitinio. "Poenitere enim est poenam tenere, ut semper puniat in se ulciscendo quodcomraisit peccando. Ptcna enim jiroitrie dicitur laisio qure ptmit et vindicat quod ([uisque commisit" (c. xix). Isidore of Seville gives the same definition, " A punitione poenitentia no- men accepit, quasi punitentia, cum ipse homo punit pce- nitcndo (piod male admisit;" which is followed by the schools: "PaMiitentia quasi punitentia" (Hugo a S.Vict. De Myst. Eccl. c. iii.). Scotus slightly varies the defi- nition, " quasi poenre tenentia." Hence the idea of pen- itence involves a lasting remorse for sin — "j'ea, what revenge," as St. Paul expresses it; and in this it is dis- tinguished from the initiative repentance that leads to conversion and baptism. Thus j^cnilence may be said to be a correlative term of rejjentunce, as renovation is of regeneration.
Penitence is also used for a discipline or punishment attending repentance, more usually called penance. It also gives title to several religious orders, consisting either of converted debauchees and reformed prostitutes, or of persons who devote themselves to the office of re- claiming them. See Penitents.
Penitential {Codex Paniteniialis) is an ecclesias- tical book in the Romish Church which contains every- thing relating to the imposition of ^je/ionee (q. v.) and the reconciliation of penitents (q. v.). It appoints the time and manner of penance to be regularly imposed for every sin, and forms of prayer that are to be used for the receiving of those who entered upon penance, and reconciling penitents by solemn absolution ; a method chiefly introduced in the time of the degeneracy of the Church. There are various penitentials, as the Roman Penitential, and the Penitentials of Bede, and of The- odore f)f Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury, etc.
Penitential Priests, officers appointed in many ancient churches, when private confession v.'as intro- duced, for the purpose of hearing confessions and impos- ing penances. The office originated in the time of the Decian persecution, and was abolished by Nectarius, bishop of Constantinople. The example of Nectarius was followed by all the bishops of the East, but the . office was continued in the Western churches, chiefly at Rome. Tiie Council of Latcran, A.D. 1215, ordered all bishops to have a ])cniteiitiary ; and such a tlignitary is still connected with most Romish cathedrals, whose duties, however, are quite ditterent from those of the original penitentiary.
Penitential Psalms. These are usually reck- oned seven. They are so called because they are re- garded as specially expressive of sorrow for sin, and ac- cepted by Christian devotion as forms of prayer suitable for the repentant sinner. They are Psalms vi, xxxii, xxxviii, li, cii, cxxx. and cxliii according to the A. V., which correspond with vi, xxxi, xxxvii, 1, ci, cxxLx,
PENITENTIARY
891
PENITENTS
and cxlii of the Vulgate. These Psalms have been set apart from a very early period, and are referred to as such by Origeu {Horn, ii in Lerilicum). Pope Innocent III ordered that they should be recited in Lent. They have a special place in the Roman Brevi- ary, and more than one of the popes attached an in- dulgence to the recital of them. The most deeply pen- itential, and the most frequent in use, both public and private, is the 51st Psalm, or the Miserere (oOlh in the Vulgate.)
Feiiitentiary is a word which has been variously apjilied. (I.) In the early Christian Church it desig- nated certain presbyters or priests, appointed in every church to receive the private confessions of the people ; not in prejudice to the public discijjline, nor with the power of granting absolution before any penance was per- formed, but in order to facilitate public discipline, by ac- quainting the people what sins were to be expiated by public penance, and to appoint private penance for such private crimes as were not proper to be publicly cen- sured (Bingham, Orir/. Eccles. bk. xviii, ch. iii). The office of general confessor, or penitentiary priest, in a diocese, mentioned by Sozomen and Socrates, was abro- gated iu the East by Nectarius of Constantinople in the reign of the emperor Theodosius. It subsists, however, to this day in the Romish Church, where the peniten- tiaries are of various rank and dignity. Thus there are, 1. The cardinal grand penitentiary, who i)resides over the tribunal of the penitentiaries at Rome; and 2. Penitentiary priests, established for the hearing of con- fessions in the three patriarchal churches at Rome, viz. those of the Vatican, the Lateran, and of Santa Jlaria Maggiore. 3. Penitentiary priests, established in the cathedral churches for the purjjose of absolving cases reserved to the bishops of the several dioceses. The Council of Trent (sess. 24, c. 8) decreed that every bishop should establish in his cathedral church a peni- tentiary, who must be either a master, a doctor, or a licentiate in theology or in the canon law, and of the age of forty years.