Regular Confession Started By St. Patrick?

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I have a friend who insists that regular confession was invented by St. Patrick. Before that people only went to confession once in a lifetime. Is there any truth to his claims? Where did he get that from?
I asked the internet but it did not give me what I was looking for.
 
The person making the statement has the burden of proof. What sources does he cite for this information?
 
No.

What he is confused with is that the practice of regular private devotional confession was yes spread by Irish Monks.
 
There is a contemporary (or near contemporary) source titled the Confession of Saint Patrick. That’s all I could find, and there’s also a book titled that by John Skinner.
 
Bookcat said:
No.

What he is confused with is that the practice of regular private devotional confession was yes spread by Irish Monks.
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What is regular private devotional confession? I did a brief search and it said examining of conscience. Is that right?
 
Qwikness said:
What is regular private devotional confession? I did a brief search and it said examining of conscience. Is that right?
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The Church teaches that Catholics must attend confession at least once a year or when they are conscience of committing mortal sin.

“Regular private devotional confession” is going to confession regularly, even when one doesn’t have mortal sin, hence they are only confessing venial sins.

The Pope attends confession once a week (or every two weeks, can’t remember which). I seriously doubt he goes that often due to mortal sin.

This is an example of “regular private devotional confession.”

I pray this helps.
 
What I was taught, without dates that I remember, was that at first confession of sin was public, in Church, ie in front of everyone, kind of like the old monastic Chapter of Faults. For various valid reasons this was changed to private confession of sin,

Cannot remember the century; was BI for me, ie before I came to Ireland…
 
Bookcat said:
No.

What he is confused with is that the practice of regular private devotional confession was yes spread by Irish Monks.
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Never made too much about my Irish blood, but that might explain why I’m at the pastor’s door every month asking for the Sacrament of Confession and Absolution. Guilt as a genetic trait… hmm… 😃
 
According to the Catholic historian Thomas Cahill in his 1995 book How the Irish Saved Civilization:

The early Church that grew out of Rome and the Middle East developed the Sacrament of Reconciliation quite differently from what we have today. Confession of sins was public and penance was quite severe, with absolution and public penance being only a one-shot deal type of situation. For example, if one committed adultery, then he or she would only be allowed the one public instance of penance, and no more.

However, in Ireland, Catholciism developed independently from Rome for about 200 years due to the collapse of communication between the regions as a result of the Fall of the Roman Empire. As such, frequent, private Confession was introduced by the Irish, and this practice, which is more in line with the unending mercy of God as taught by Jesus, eventually became the norm.

Addendum: I read in an older thread here on CAF that, according to other sources, there was also a certain form of private confession in Rome, but it is difficult to ascertain its actual role in that society. For example, the one-shot deal idea of penance may only have been applicable to large, public sins, but more private matters may have been dealt with more as in today’s Sacrament. I can only speak to what I read in Cahill’s book. Either way, the Church has continued Christ’s mandate to His Apostles to forgive sins.

May God bless you all! 🙂
 
Richard_White said:
According to the Catholic historian Thomas Cahill in his 1995 book How the Irish Saved Civilization:

The early Church that grew out of Rome and the Middle East developed the Sacrament of Reconciliation quite differently from what we have today. Confession of sins was public and penance was quite severe, with absolution and public penance being only a one-shot deal type of situation. For example, if one committed adultery, then he or she would only be allowed the one public instance of penance, and no more.

However, in Ireland, Catholciism developed independently from Rome for about 200 years due to the collapse of communication between the regions as a result of the Fall of the Roman Empire. As such, frequent, private Confession was introduced by the Irish, and this practice, which is more in line with the unending mercy of God as taught by Jesus, eventually became the norm.

Addendum: I read in an older thread here on CAF that, according to other sources, there was also a certain form of private confession in Rome, but it is difficult to ascertain its actual role in that society. For example, the one-shot deal idea of penance may only have been applicable to large, public sins, but more private matters may have been dealt with more as in today’s Sacrament. I can only speak to what I read in Cahill’s book. Either way, the Church has continued Christ’s mandate to His Apostles to forgive sins.

May God bless you all! 🙂
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I’ve always been a bit wary of the story that says private confession came out of Ireland and spread to the Church from there. I don’t doubt that it is true that Irish monks spread the practice. It is even found in the Catechism:
During the seventh century Irish missionaries, inspired by the Eastern monastic tradition, took to continental Europe the “private” practice of penance, which does not require public and prolonged completion of penitential works before reconciliation with the Church. From that time on, the sacrament has been performed in secret between penitent and priest. This new practice envisioned the possibility of repetition and so opened the way to a regular frequenting of this sacrament. It allowed the forgiveness of grave sins and venial sins to be integrated into one sacramental celebration. In its main lines this is the form of penance that the Church has practiced down to our day.
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Here’s the problem. Private confession exists in all apostolic Churches - Latin, Eastern Orthodox, and the non -Chalcedonian Churches (Coptic, Armenian, Assyrian, etc.) The non-Calcedonian Churches split from the rest of the church in 451 - long before private confession is said to have developed. (Yes, I know that the Armenian Church no longer practices private confession. - but they once did.) This leads one to the conclusion that private, personal confession existed well before the 7th century.

Here is an alternative story, from Orthodox priest Fr. Alexander Schmemann
schmemann.org/byhim/reflectionsonconfession.html
The Church after Constantine ceased to be a minority of heroically minded “faithful,” she identified herself almost completely with the “world” (cf. the Russian term “mirianin” for “laikos”) and had to deal with a multitude of nominal Christians in need of help, constant guidance and personal care. **The significant change in the Eucharistic practice (from a corporate communion as an essential act of membership in the Body of Christ – to a more or less frequent individual communion) which occurred during the same period and under the influence of the same factors, meant a decisive transformation in the understanding of penance. From a sacrament for those cut from the Church, it became a sacrament for those inside the Church. **
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