penitentiaryn.1
/ˌpɛnᵻˈtɛnʃ(ə)ri/, U.S. /ˌpɛnəˈtɛn(t)ʃ(ə)ri/ 1.
a. Ecclesiastical Law. A priest appointed or delegated to administer penance; spec. one authorized to deal with extraordinary cases.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > confessor > [noun]
shriftc897
fatherOE
shrift-father?c1225
penancerc1300
confessor1340
shriver1340
penitencera1387
penitentiary?a1475
pentionary1560
confessary1629
confessarius1661
scruple-drawer1701
soul friend1891
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 25 (MED) Martinus, the penitentiary [L. pœnitentiarius] of the Pope.
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 94 Penitenciary, penitenciarius.
a1535 Will in A. T. Bannister Registrum Caroli Bothe (1921) p. xiii I geve and bequethe to Maister Maye, penytencyerie of Herforde, oon of my thre gobletts parcell gilte.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. ljv On the Sondaye folowynge the Chaunceller commaunded the Penytensary of Poules, too goo vp to hym and saye a Gospell.
1601 R. Persons Mem. in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1906) 2 25 I supplyed the place of the Engl. Penitentiary for some space.
1679 J. Smith Narr. Popish-plot 6 Two Jesuits..were..advanced to be the Popes Penitentiaries.
a1773 A. Butler Lives Saints (1779) III. 212 St. Anselm [of Luca] died..in 1086... Baldus, his penitentiary, has wrote his life.
1797 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 124 Penitentiary, in the ancient Christian church, a name given to certain presbyters or priests, appointed in every church to receive the private confessions of the people.
1885 W. E. Addis & T. Arnold Catholic Dict. (ed. 3) 647/1 This [public penance], in the case of secret sins, came to an end in the Church of Constantinople soon after the abolition of the presbyter ἐπὶ τῆς μετανοίας, or penitentiary, at the close of the fourth century.
1933 I. J. Churchill Canterbury Admin. I. 124 [Reynolds] appointed the rector of St. Pancras in the deanery of the Arches to be his penitentiary in that immediate jurisdiction for hearing the confessions of rectors, parish priests, [etc.].
1995 B. Golding Gilbert of Sempringham i. 15 Alexander's intention seems to have been to make Gilbert a penitentiary for the diocese.
b. grand (also chief, great, high, papal) penitentiary: a cardinal who presides over the penitentiary (see penitentiary n.3) of the papal court and has the granting of absolution in cases reserved for the papal authority.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > pope > offices or officials > [noun] > penitentiary
grand (also chief, great, high, papal) penitentiary1605
1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 803 The most high penitenciarie, Christ.]
1605 tr. J. Bignon Briefe Treat. Election Popes sig. D1 Hippolitus Aldobrandin, Cardinall of Saint Pancrace, & great Penitentiarie.
1670 G. Havers tr. G. Leti Il Cardinalismo di Santa Chiesa i. iii. 84 The office of chief Penitentiary is given by the Pope to a Cardinal alwayes.
1726 J. Ayliffe Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani 143 [The] Great Penitentiary,..together with his Counsellors, prescribes the measure of Pennance.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) At present the Pope has his Grand Penitentiary; who is a Cardinal, and the Chief of the other Penitentiary Priests.
1842 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 909/2 Briefs granted by the grand penitentiary are at the present time entirely gratuitous, and headed with the words ‘pro Deo’.
1875 Catholic World July 477/1 Next come the cardinal vicar, grand penitentiary, chamberlain, vice-chancellor, librarian.
1933 I. J. Churchill Canterbury Admin. I. i. ii. 123 The Archbishop is in receipt of letters from the papal penitentiary, authorising him after investigation to pronounce absolution if fitting in a particular case and to impose a suitable penance.
1957 F. L. Cross Oxf. Dict. Christian Church (at cited word) The ‘Grand Penitentiary’ is the Cardinal who presides over a tribunal which deals with all important matters affecting the Sacrament.
1988 D. M. Walker Legal Hist. Scotl. I. xiii. 323 The Pope acting through the Papal Penitentiary could dispense from mere ecclesiastical rules made by the Church.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > sacrament > confession > [noun] > person undergoing
penantc1330
repentantc1390
penitenta1425
penancera1500
repenter1543
penitentiary1563
shrift child1568
penitentionary1577
contritea1600
penitencerc1600
confessanta1603
shriveling1603
confitent1606
confessary1608
penitentiala1633
confessionaire1747
mourner1807
1563 T. Becon Reliques of Rome (rev. ed.) f. 61 Flagellatores..They doe beate them selues with scourges... These be admitted of the bishop of Rome as penitentiaries.
a1640 T. Jackson Μαραν Αθα (1657) 3718 Manasses..died a Penitentiary.
1654 E. Wolley tr. ‘G. de Scudéry’ Curia Politiæ 52 To take revenge on a feeble, wounded, dying Penitentiarie, weeping, and bleeding for his crimes.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > monasticism > religious order > other religions > Penitentiary > [noun]
penitentiary1631
penitential1632
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 139 Many other reformations haue beene from time to time of the Franciscans, as by the Minims, Recollects, Penitentiaries, Capuchins, &c.
1683 P. Lorrain tr. P. Muret Rites Funeral 254 In the Chappel of St. Petronilla [in Rome], when they were digging a Grave for a Penitentiary then lately deceased.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
penitentiaryn.2
/ˌpɛnᵻˈtɛnʃ(ə)ri/, U.S. /ˌpɛnəˈtɛn(t)ʃ(ə)ri/ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > sacrament > confession > penance > [noun] > place of
penitentiarya1500
a1500 (?1421) in C. Monro Lett. Margaret of Anjou (1863) 27 (MED) Of which lesings one is, that he shulde have made a letter y sett upon Faukener is gate, thanne maire of London, and [he is] cast into the Penitauncery of Poules.
1603 in Publ. Catholic Rec. Soc. (1911) 9 118 He was again confessed and reconciled to ye Church of Rome in ye penitentiarie there by Philip Harrison a Jesuit.
1644 H. Vaughan Serm. Publique Fast 13 There is an inestimable disproportion betwixt the afflictions of the severest Penitentiarie and celestiall Blisse.
2. Formerly: a refuge for ‘fallen women’; a home for reformed prostitutes, unmarried mothers, etc. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > institutional homes > [noun] > for reformed prostitutes
Maudlin house1595
maudlin1603
maudlin hospital1680
Magdalene charity1758
Magdalene house1758
Magdalene hospital1759
Magdalene1766
Magdalene Society1800
penitentiary1806
Magdalene asylum1818
rescue home1855
Magdalene home1901
Magdalene ward1904
1806 Evangelical Mag. 14 616 The Friends of the intended London Female Penitentiary are respectfully informed that a General Meeting will be held on Thursday the 1st day of January 1807.
1853 E. C. Gaskell Ruth I. viii. 188 I wish to exhort you to repentance..and I strongly recommend you..to enter some penitentiary.
1854 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity I. iii. iv. 330 The feeling which induced the degraded and miserable victim of the lusts..of men to found, perhaps, the first penitentiaries for her sisters in that wretched class.
1891 Daily News 25 Sept. 5/4 The change of title..from the ‘London Female Penitentiary Society’ to the ‘London Female Guardian Society’ has been universally approved of... When the society was founded eighty-four years ago the term ‘Penitentiary’ was well understood to mean a voluntary asylum for the reception of those resolving on amendment of life.
2003 Bath Chron. (Nexis) 13 May 4 Ladymead House..in 1848 was listed as a charity called Ladymead Penitentiary. The penitentiary was an asylum for women.
3. Originally and chiefly North American. A prison. (Now the usual sense.)In early use applied. spec. to facilities having some reformatory or correctional purpose, but now usually taken to be synonymous with ‘prison’. In the United States, penitentiaries are state or federal institutions and are reserved for the detention of convicted felons, while jails are run by local, county, or municipal authorities and are generally used to detain persons awaiting trial or serving light sentences.In attributive use sometimes merging with penitentiary adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > prison > [noun] > reformatory prison
workhouse?c1475
house of correction1575
bridewell1583
work-jail1619
correction-housec1625
rasp house1651
bettering house1735
bettering mansion1740
penitentiary house1779
penitentiary1807
work farm1835
farm1857
pen1881
prison-industrial complex1965
1807 Ann. 10th Congr. 1st Sess. I. 391 So soon as the apartments in the second story of the public jail and penitentiary shall be fit for the reception and safekeeping of Aaron Burr, he [shall] be removed thereto.
1816 Ann. Reg. 368 The General Penitentiary, Milbank, contained 52 males and 76 females..on the 22d May.
1821 T. Jefferson Autobiogr. in Writings (1984) 42 Its principle..was adopted by Latrobe..by the erection of what is now called the Penitentiary.
1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 748 The great penitentiary still standing after many vicissitudes, but practically unaltered, at Millbank.
1895 Harper's Weekly 10 Aug. 753/3 At present I understand that he is in limbo, wearing the famous ‘zebra’—the penitentiary dress.
1936 D. Carnegie How to win Friends & influence People iii. xii. 240 Sing Sing, the most notorious penitentiary west of Devil's Island, was without a warden.
1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 27/1 One of them is a..convict, locked up for several years in a New Jersey penitentiary.
1995 Daily Tel. 27 Sept. (West Country Living Suppl.) 16 The village of Princeton stands in the bleakest part of Dartmoor and its nearest neighbour is Britain's most notorious penitentiary.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
penitentiaryn.3
/ˌpɛnᵻˈtɛnʃ(ə)ri/, U.S. /ˌpɛnəˈtɛn(t)ʃ(ə)ri/ Ecclesiastical Law.
An office or congregation in the Roman Curia, forming a tribunal for deciding on questions relating to penance, dispensations, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > pope > offices or officials > [noun] > penitentiary > office of
penitentiaryship1570
penitentiary1658
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words Penitentiary,..also a place in Rome, where Priests sit and hear the confessions of those that come unto them to that end.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Penitenciary, an Office, or Tribunal in the Court of Rome; wherein are examined and deliver'd out the secret Bulls, Graces, or Dispensations relating to Conscience, Confession, &c.
1902 Daily Chron. 31 Dec. 5/5 A prelate of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Congregation that deals with matrimonial questions.
1990 D. M. Walker Legal Hist. Scotl. II. 410 The Tribunal of the Penitentiary, which was supervised by a Cardinal penitentiary, was the final court for granting absolutions, dispensations, commutations and pardons.
2003 National Catholic Reporter (Nexis) 21 Nov. 10 Among the ecclesiastical dignitaries on hand [was]..Cardinal Francis Stafford, an American who heads the Apostolic Penitentiary, a branch of the Vatican judicial system.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† penitentiaryn.4
Obsolete. rare.
A manual for priests hearing confessions; = penitential n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > book (general) > service book (general) > [noun] > concerning penance
penitentialOE
confession1530
penitentiary1846
1846 T. Wright Ess. Middle Ages in R. M. Dorson Peasant Customs (1968) I. 43 These penitentiaries and laws are the most valuable authorities for the early history of popular superstitions.
1853 D. Rock Church of our Fathers IV. xi. 62 Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury and Ecgberht of York had, severally, drawn up a hand-book known as the penitentiary.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2020).
penitentiaryadj.
/ˌpɛnᵻˈtɛnʃ(ə)ri/, U.S. /ˌpɛnəˈtɛn(t)ʃ(ə)ri/ 1. † b. Relating to or expressive of penitence; repentant. Obsolete.
a. Of or relating to penance; administering or undergoing penance. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > sacrament > confession > penance > [adjective]
penitentialOE
penitentc1450
penitentiary1577
1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. II. iv. ii. sig. Aaa.iiij/1 Hee did quite take away the office of that penitentiarie priesthoode [L. presbyterum qui poenitentibus deputatus erat].
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 145 Standyng..in dispayred case, is enforced dayly to runne to the second table of Penitentiary Confession [L. pœnitentiariæ confessionis] for relief.
1635 T. Jackson Humiliation Sonne of God 11 His entertainement..more despicable than the lodging or entertainement of pœnitentiary Pilgrimes.
1678 Lively Orac. vii. ix The penitentiary books and canons.
1782 J. Priestley Corr. of Christianity II. ix. 146 [He] abolished the office of penitentiary priests.
1845 J. H. Newman Ess. Devel. Christian Doctr. 413 The schism..led to the appointment of a penitentiary priest in the Catholic Churches.
1962 Speculum 37 420 At the request of another bishop whom he had once served as chaplain while in residence at Rome as a papal penitentiary priest.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > virtue > righteousness or rectitude > reform, amendment, or correction > repentance or contrition > [adjective]
penitentiala1538
repentanta1542
penitent1574
contritional1648
penitentiary1795
compunctionary1857
society > faith > worship > sacrament > confession > penitence > [adjective]
under or in shriftc1175
repentantc1230
contritea1340
penitent1341
contrited1483
penitentiala1538
repentable1571
remorsed1579
remorseful1590
repent1598
remording1614
repentive1620
contritional1648
penitentiary1795
1795 Ann. Reg. 1791 (new ed.) i. Hist. Europe 37/1 In what may be considered a penitentiary [var. penitentionary] declaration dated at Vienna on the 20th of November 1789, after expressing great sorrow at the present troubles..[etc.].
a1806 C. J. Fox Hist. James II (1808) 169 After the death of his friends he..wrote a penitentiary letter to his father.
1817 T. Chalmers Series Disc. Christian Revel. (1830) vii. 285 At one with the humblest and most penitentiary feeling which Christianity can awaken.
2. Intended for or relating to the penal and reformatory treatment of criminals. Now chiefly historical, except as passing into attributive uses of penitentiary n.2 3. penitentiary house = penitentiary n.2 3. Penitentiary Act, the Act 19 Geo. III, c. 74 (see quots. 1779 and 1981).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > [adjective] > relating to imprisonment and reformation
opena1538
imprisonablea1642
penitentiary1779
custodial1907
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > prison > [noun] > reformatory prison
workhouse?c1475
house of correction1575
bridewell1583
work-jail1619
correction-housec1625
rasp house1651
bettering house1735
bettering mansion1740
penitentiary house1779
penitentiary1807
work farm1835
farm1857
pen1881
prison-industrial complex1965
1779 Act 19 Geo. III c. 74 §5 They..shall erect..two plain strong, and substantial Edifices or Houses, which shall be called The Penitentiary Houses, for the purpose of confining and employing in hard Labour..such..Convicts as..shall be ordered to Imprisonment and hard Labour.
1818 J. Rickman & R. Southey in Q. Rev. Apr. 115 Let the prison-fare be a penitentiary regimen.
a1832 J. Bentham Fragm. on Govt. Pref. to ed. 2, in Wks. (1843) I. 255/1 The Penitentiary System had for its first patrons Mr. Eden..and Sir William Blackstone.
1877 tr. H. W. von Ziemssen et al. Cycl. Pract. Med. XVI. 770 Autenrieth drew attention to the frequency of scrofulosis in penitentiaries (so-called penitentiary scrophula).
1945 Amer. Sociol. Rev. 10 449/2 Dutch houses of correction did influence the English Penitentiary Act of 1779 and thus, indirectly, the penal institutions of the United States and Canada.
1981 S. McConville Hist. Eng. Prison Admin. I. v. 109 Penitentiary imprisonment under the direct charge of central government was still a novel and untested idea.
2002 Corrections Today 64 1 When considering the developments in the Netherlands penitentiary system during the past few years, there are several things that strike one's attention.
3. Chiefly U.S. Of an offence: punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > [adjective] > punishable by imprisonment
penitentiary1827
imprisonable1971
1827 Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pa.) 7 Mar. The former law, made it a penitentiary offence—and the consequence was, it was seldom, or never enforced.
1856 F. L. Olmsted Journey Slave States 440 As it is a penitentiary offense, the culprit spares no pains or expense to avoid conviction.
1896 Daily News 19 Dec. 8/1 Recall..the state of affairs at the end of the war..up to then it had been a penitentiary offence to teach a black to read and write.
1950 Q. Rev. Biol. 25 322/1 The author..bribed a janitor to procure for him a cadaver from the dissection room.., unmindful of the fact that he was committing a penitentiary offense.
1997 Tulsa World (Nexis) 19 Oct. a3 Al Capone's 12-year career as boss of Chicago gangdom had been marked for the first time by conviction of a penitentiary crime.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1?a1475n.2a1500
n.31658
n.41846adj.1577