(II.) The term is applied among Protestants to such houses as have been established for the reception and reformation of females who have been seduced from the path of virtue. Of penitentiaries, in this sense, there are (Jo in Great Britain and Ireland, capable of receiving 2G57 inmates, besides numerous small private "Homes." The single condition of admission to most of the institu- tions is •• penitence," a desire and endeavor to return to a virtuous life. The inmates remain in the strictest seclusion for periods varying from a few months to two years, the average time being about a year ; thej' then return to their friends, or to situations provided for them. It is an invariable rule not to dismiss any one without seeing that she is provided with the means of honest subsistence. During their seclusion they are employed in needlework, washing, and housework. The ages at which they are received vary from fourteen to f(jrty. In the metropolis there arc 19 institutions, ac- commodating 1155 women; in other towns of England, 34 institutions, accommodating UKJ: and in the chief towns of Scotland and Ireland, 10 institutions, with ac- commodation for 38G. One third of the provincial and one half of the metropolitan establishments have been created in the last ten j-ears. The oldest institution in existence is the London Magdalen Hospital, opened in 1758; the next, tliat of Dublin, 17G7; Edinburgh fol- lows in 1797; and none of the others date earlier than the present century. The results of these penitentiaries, as far as they can be ascertained, are excellent. During the last one hundred years, 8983 women have passed through the London Magdalen. This most important and useful institution is supported bj' voluntary contri- butions, patronized by royalty, and conducted on truly Christian principles, by means of which numbers of miserable outcasts have not only been recovered to the proprieties of moral conduct, but have given satisfac- tory evidence of genuine con\-ersion to God.
(III.) In the United States the name, having been adopted by the Quakers of Pennsylvania in 1786, when they caused the legislature of that state to abolish the punishments of death, mutilation, and the whip, and to substitute solitary confinement as a reformatory process, is applied to all those prisons which are constructed on reformatory principles, whether the convicts be men or women. The happiest results have flowed from the efforts of the Prison Discipline Society directed to this point. See Prison Refokm.
Penitents (I) is a name for those members of the Church who, having offended the laws of God or the ecclesiastical canons, seek reconciliation. Penance (q.v.), in the primitive Church, as Coleman, from Augusti, re- marks, was wholly a voluntary act on the part of those who were subject to it. Tiie Church not only would not enforce it, but refused even to urge or invite any to submit to the penitential discipline. It was to be sought as a favor, not iniiicted as a penalty. The offending party had, however, no authority or permission to pre- scribe his own duties as a penitent. When once he had resolved to seek the forgiveness and reconciliation of the Church, it was exclusively the prerogative of that body to prescribe the conditions on which this was to be ef- fected. No one could even be received as a candidate for penance without permission first obtained of the bishop or presiding elder. The period of penitential probation differed in different times and places, but in general was graduated according to the enormity of the sin, some going so far in their rigor [see Novatian] as, contrary to the clearly expressed sense of the Church, to carry it even beyond the grave. In the earlier ages much depended upon the spirit of each particular Church or country; but about the 4th century the public peni- tential discipline assumed a settled form, which, espe- cially as established in the Greek Church, is so curious that it deserves to be briefly described. Sinners of the classes already referred to had their names enrolled, and were (in some churches, after having made a prelimi- nary confession to a priest appointed for the purpose) admitted, with a blessing and other ceremonial, by the bishop to the rank of penitents. This enrolment ap- pears to have commonly taken place on the first day of Lent.
The penitents so enrolled were divided into four distinct classes, called by the Greeks TrpoaKKaiovriQ, ciKpoibiiin'oi, v-nOTviTTToi'TiQ, aud uvriaTci/ieioi ; and by the hatins flenteg, andientes, suhsiraii, and consistentcs — that is, the mourners or weepers, hearers, kneelers, anc" co-standers. The duties required of penitents consisted essentially in the following particulars: 1. Penitents of the first three classes were required to kneel in worship, while the faithful were permitted to stand. 2. All were required to make known their penitential sorrow by an open and public confession of their sin. This confession was to be made, not before the bishop or the priesthood, but in the presence of the whole Church, with sighs and tears and lamentations. These expressions of grief they were to renew and continue so long as they re- mained in the flrst or lowest class of penitents, entreat- ing at the same time in their behalf the prayers and in- tercessions of the faithful. Some idea of the nature of these demonstrations of penitence may be formed from a record of them contained in the works of Cyprian. Almost all the canons lay much stress upon the sighs and tears accompanying these effusions. 3. Through- out the whole term of penance all expressions of joy were to be restrained, and all ornaments of dress to be laid aside. The penitents were required, literally, to wear sackcloth, and to cover their heads with ashes. Nor were these acts of humiliation restricted to Ash- Wednesday merely, when especially they were required. 4. The men were obliged to cut short their hair, and to shave their beards, in token of sorrow. The women were to appear with dishevelled hair, and wearing a peculiar kind of veil. 5. During the whale term of penance, bathing, feasting, and sensual gratifications,