<p>This project examines the medieval practice of the sacrament of penance and the innovative ways in which medieval literature engaged with the pastoral project of the Catholic church to provide the penitent with a way to deal with sin. Drawing from medieval literature, religious writing and theological sources, this project begins by illustrating the extent to which each of these didactic texts produces a "model of confession" that reaffirms the teachings of the church. However, approaching these texts with careful attention to language and to the grammar of sin and penance, I show that each of these undeniably orthodox works departs from traditional accounts of the sacrament of penance in significant ways. I suggest that such departures point to moments of theological exploration. My dissertation thus interrogates the category of orthodoxy, showing it to be more capacious and exploratory than is generally recognized. Further, I suggest that the vernacular penitential literature of the late medieval period, motivated by pastoral considerations, actively engages with academic and clerical theological debates surrounding the heavily contested sacrament of penance. </p><p>Chapter one examines <italic>Jacob's Well<italic>, a fifteenth-century vernacular penitential treatise. I argue that the narrative exempla often work against the instruction offered within each chapter, compelling the reader to consider theological problems not addressed within the doctrinal material. These resistances, I suggest, are intentional and not only suggest certain limitations in traditional penitential manuals, but encourage a more conscientious penitential practice and a better understanding of church doctrine. In chapter two I consider the <italic>Showings<italic> of Julian of Norwich. I show how Julian critiques the church's penitential system and offers an alternative form of confession and penance that holds the sinner accountable for sins while reassuring the penitent of God's love and forgiveness. Chapter three compares two fifteenth-century morality plays, <italic>Mankind<italic> and the <italic>Castle of Perseverance<italic>. Through a reading of the treatment of mercy in both plays, I suggest that the Castle's departures from traditional accounts of sacramental confession allow the author to explore the scope of God's mercy and experiment with the idea of universal salvation while still promoting orthodox instruction. I conclude this dissertation with Thomas Hoccleve's poem "Lerne to Die," one of the earliest treatments of the Ars moriendi theme. Examining some of the differences between sacramental confession and deathbed confession, I show how the absence of the sacrament in this dramatic account of unprepared death emphasizes the power of God's grace and limitations of human effort. However, Hoccleve ultimately reaffirms the necessity of final confession by the end of the poem.</p> / Dissertation

Text in German / The impulse for this research comes from the present crisis of the penitential practice within the Roman Catholic communities of Germany, where notwithstanding all pastoral efforts the practice of sacramental confession has dropped to almost nothing. The procedure adopted is based on the method of R. Zerfass. 1" step: An investigation on the present practice has been done with a previous research: 2nd step: The present research, in the first chapter deals with the New Testament origins of penance and the historical development up to the present time. An essential result attained is the insight that conversion (Mk 1,14 f.) does not consist of a message of doom but urges the audience to pursue the salvation of the reign of God. As a consequence the believer experiences an ethic motivation whereby he takes as orientation the rules of the kingdom of God. 3rd step: The sociological situation of the target group is the topic of chapter two. The study is based on the work of G. Schulze. The central point made by his analysis is the affirmation that people in contemporary society are basically experience orientated and that all opportunities and offers are assessed according to their experiential value. Because of the confusing oversupply of experiences and the avoidance of disappointments caused by unfulfilled expectations homogeneous groups (milieus) emerge. People, in search of experience orient themselves according to these experiences and shape them in their turn. In the realm (market) of experiences which cannot be controlled supply and demand come together. The supplier who do not follow the laws of the market is ousted because of failing to supply what is demanded. 4th step: In chapter 3 a practical theological theory is developed that present penitential crises is routed in a crises of faith. For this reason an updated pastoral approach to conversion needs to take as its starting point the liberation message of Jesus and at the same time to take into consideration the rules that govern the market, the contemporary segmentation of the milieu included. The final step will consist in a pastoral concretisation / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Practical Theology)

Text in German / The impulse for this research comes from the present crisis of the penitential practice within the Roman Catholic communities of Germany, where notwithstanding all pastoral efforts the practice of sacramental confession has dropped to almost nothing. The procedure adopted is based on the method of R. Zerfass. 1" step: An investigation on the present practice has been done with a previous research: 2nd step: The present research, in the first chapter deals with the New Testament origins of penance and the historical development up to the present time. An essential result attained is the insight that conversion (Mk 1,14 f.) does not consist of a message of doom but urges the audience to pursue the salvation of the reign of God. As a consequence the believer experiences an ethic motivation whereby he takes as orientation the rules of the kingdom of God. 3rd step: The sociological situation of the target group is the topic of chapter two. The study is based on the work of G. Schulze. The central point made by his analysis is the affirmation that people in contemporary society are basically experience orientated and that all opportunities and offers are assessed according to their experiential value. Because of the confusing oversupply of experiences and the avoidance of disappointments caused by unfulfilled expectations homogeneous groups (milieus) emerge. People, in search of experience orient themselves according to these experiences and shape them in their turn. In the realm (market) of experiences which cannot be controlled supply and demand come together. The supplier who do not follow the laws of the market is ousted because of failing to supply what is demanded. 4th step: In chapter 3 a practical theological theory is developed that present penitential crises is routed in a crises of faith. For this reason an updated pastoral approach to conversion needs to take as its starting point the liberation message of Jesus and at the same time to take into consideration the rules that govern the market, the contemporary segmentation of the milieu included. The final step will consist in a pastoral concretisation / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Practical Theology)

At the center of this thesis are seven psalms, commonly known as the Penitential Psalms. The Penitential Psalms were often used in connection to corporeal expressions of the sacrament, and though sacramental practices changed, they retained this association, and even became a catalyst for literary change and experimentation. In this thesis, I will show how these psalms were connected to the sacrament of penance throughout the medieval period, and well into the religiously tumultuous sixteenth century. This thesis explores four texts that take up the Penitential Psalms, adapting, refashioning, and reappropriating them to be used in different ways. The Introduction outlines the history of the Penitential Psalms and their interconnectedness with sacramental theology and practice; it further establishes the cultural and theoretical context within which the four examined texts must be considered. These sacramental ties with the Penitential Psalms are not found only in theological writings, but they also infused lay practice and experience, as I will show in Chapter One, where I examine the staunchly Protestant Actes and Monuments by John Foxe. Additionally, I argue that Foxe's accounts of Marian martyrs point to Psalm 51 both as a text of protest and memorialization. Chapter Two then moves to Sir Thomas Wyatt's A Paraphrase of the Penitential Psalms; there I examine the presence of the male body within the work, placing the text within the setting of a visual history that illustrates David's illicit desire for Bathsheba. With this tradition in mind, I examine trajectories of ocularity within the narrative, tracing the redirection of sexual desire. Anne Lock's Meditation of a Pentient Sinner is the center of Chapter Three. Meditation, when considered in relation to the dedicatory epistle, reveals connections to the standardized penitential process, and I argue that Lock presents a modified form of repentance to her reader. The final chapter looks at The Sidney Psalter's Penitential Psalms, which reveal an incoherent view of the penitential body merging with the body of the dead war-hero, Philip. It is within this penitential affect that the penitent displays and partitions his or her own body slipping into an otherness predicated by sin.

It is not the purpose of this dissertation to present a history of Purgatory; rather, it is to show through the history the influence of purgatorial doctrine on the English lay community and the need of that community for this doctrine. Having established the importance this doctrine held for so many in England, with an examination of the chantry institution in England, this study then examines how this doctrine was stripped away from the laity by political and religious reformers during the sixteenth century. Purgatorial belief was adversely affected when chantries were closed in execution of the chantry acts under Henry VIII and Edward VI. These chantries were vital to the laity and not moribund institutions. Purgatorial doctrine greatly influenced the development and concept of the medieval English community. Always seen to be tightly knit, this community had a transgenerational quality, a spiritual and congregational quality, and a quality extending beyond the grave. The Catholic Church was central to this definition of community, distributing apotropaic powers, enhancing the congregational aspects, and brokering the relationship with the dead. The elements of the Roman liturgy were essential to community cohesiveness, as were the material and ritual supports for this liturgy. The need of the community for purgatorial doctrine shaped and popularized this doctrine Next, an analysis of surviving and resurging elements of expiatory rites is explored; ritual, especially that surrounding death, as well as the relationship with the dead, were sorely missed when stripped away through political actions linked to Protestant belief. This deficiency of ritual aspects within the emerging Protestant religion became evident in further years as some of the same customs and rituals that were considered anathema by Protestants slowly crept back into the Protestant liturgy in an attempt to restore the relationship between the living and the dead. Strong evidence of this is provided through sixteenth to nineteenth century death eulogies, surviving rites of expiation, as well as lay essays and popular literature discussing the phenomenon called the Sin-Eater.

This dissertation offers the first full-length study of medieval England’s literary tradition of manuals for penitents—texts describing the sins, and other essentials of the faith, that address penitents preparing for confession. This tradition includes works that were among the most popular in medieval England. Some of these—including the Parson’s Tale and Ancrene Wisse, which is an important precursor to this body of writing—have been studied in depth, but the tradition in which they participate is still not well understood. This dissertation shows that this tradition emerged in a significant way in the second half of the thirteenth century, although it took root in an existing body of self-examination writing. Insofar as it reflects a new emphasis on reading as a means of interrogating oneself rather than as a means of preparing oneself to interrogate others, the development of these manuals represents a widening range of reading practices and a shift toward private confessional education. The first two chapters describe the characteristics of manuals for penitents, including their material and formal qualities. Among other contributions, the first chapter explores a feature of commentaries on the essentials of the faith that often goes unnoticed: that when they appear in manuals for penitents, they are not, as is often thought, digressive, impersonal, or strictly didactic, but instead encourage and promote self-reflection. The second chapter examines the implied and actual audiences of manuals for penitents. On the basis of this more precise characterization of these manuals, the final three chapters offer insight into three interlinked texts chosen from different stages of the development of these manuals: Ancrene Wisse, the Compileison, and the Parson’s Tale. In addition to shedding light on these three texts, these concluding chapters highlight some of the tensions that emerged surrounding the shift to asynchronous penitential learning that was enabled by these manuals.

L’offre psychothérapique aux personnes détenues en maison d’arrêt par le psychologue est importante, d’abord parce que 70 % de ces personnes sont incarcérées dans ce type d'établissement et que la majorité d’entre-elles est détenue pour des faits de violences à la personne, ensuite parce que ce travail psychique est le seul à mettre en contact avec les fondements de la personnalité. Ces soins représentent donc un enjeu de santé et sécurité mais aussi d’économiespubliques.La recherche, dans la perspective de l’analyse existentielle montre la pertinence du traitement psychanalytique pour la transformation du rapport à soi et aux autres. Mais le cadre psychothérapeutique, articulé aux soins somatiques et psychiatriques dans l’espace sanitaire, ne tient qu’en congruence avec les cadres judiciaire et pénitentiaire.Un excès de distance entre les acteurs judiciaires, pénitentiaires et sanitaires-psychothérapeutiques expose le patient à des risques et au non-sens. A l’inverse, un rapprochement excessif présente un risque de confusion.Une alliance interinstitutionnelle entre les acteurs est requise dans une éthique des limites. / The psychotherapeutic proposition made by the psychologist to people imprisoned in detention centers is significant first because 70 % of these people are imprisoned in this type of facility and most of them are detained for violence against other people, secondly because this psychic work is the only one that establishes a link with the personality foundations. This psychotherapeutic care is thus not only a health and safety issue but also a public economy issue.By using the existential analysis as methodology, the research shows the relevance of psychoanalytic treatment for the transformation of the relationship with self and others.But the psychotherapeutic framework linked to somatic and psychiatric care in the health unitcan be efficient only if it works in conjunction with the judicial and penitential frameworks.An excessive distance between judicial, penitential and sanitary-psychotherapeutic playersexposes the patient to risk and to meaninglessness. On the contrary, an excessive closeness may lead to confusion.An interinstitutional alliance between the players is necessary according to an ethics of limits.

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This thesis studies ritual interactions between saints and the landscape, animals and elements during a three-hundred year period from 410 AD. Such interactions include negotiations about and with birds and other animals, exorcism of the sea, lakes and rivers, and immersion in these natural bodies of water for devotional purposes. Although writers of the period lacked a term such as 'nature' to describe this sphere of activity, it is demonstrated that the natural world was regarded as a dimension of creation distinctively responsive to Christian ritual. Systematic study of the context in which these rituals were performed finds close connection with missionary negotiations aimed at lay people. It further reveals that three British writers borrowed from Sulpicius Severus' accounts of eastern hermits, reworking older narratives to suggest that non-human aspects of creation were not only attracted to saints but were changed by and participated in Christian ritual and worship. Natural bodies of water attracted particularly intense interaction in the form of exorcism and bathing, sufficiently widely documented to indicate a number of discrete families of ritual were developed. In northern Britain, acute anxieties can be detected about the cultural and spiritual associations of open water, requiring missionary intervention to challenge pre-Christian narratives through biblical and liturgical resources, most notably baptism. Such a cosmological stretch appears to have informed a 'Celtic' deviation in baptismal practice that emphasised exorcism and bodily sacrifice. Nature rituals were a systematic response to the challenges of the British intellectual and physical landscapes, revealing the shape of an underlying missionary strategy based on mainstream patristic theology about the marred relationship between humans and the rest of creation. St Ambrose emerges as the most influential theologian at the time when the early church was shaping its British inculturation, most notably led by St Germanus' mission in 429.

The subject of the present thesis is a penitential Nekotoraja zapoved which is a collection of sins and penance designated for confessors. The writing is preserved in a Russian redaction of Church Slavonic from 14th-15th century, but the Czech origin of 11th century was already proved by philological analysis. The thesis presents Nekotoraja zapoved with all its specifics and in the context of the Church Slavic literature. A miscellaneous content of the penitential reflects cultural, historical, social and political aspects of the medieval society. The aim of this thesis is a philological edition, a lexical analysis of almost hundred lexemes which characterizes the lexicon of Nekotoraja zapoved and a comparison with Great Moravian penitential Zapovedi svętychЪ otc. The comparison of both contents shows changes of confessional convention by then and the lexical comparison reflects possibilities of the Old Slavonic lexemes usage and variations of expressions.