The confessional in its modern form dates no further back than the 16th century.
Du Cange cites the year 1563 for an early use of the word for the tribunal. The term was applied to the burial place of a
martyr or "confessor", that being one who confesses
Christ. There are also instances where the name was attached to the spot, whether cell or seat, where noted saints had a habit of hearing confessions. For example, the confessional of
Church of St. Trophime at
Arles. In the popular
Reformed view, confessional boxes are associated with the scandals, real or supposed, of the practice of auricular
confession. However, the boxes were devised to guard against such scandals by securing at once essential publicity and a reasonable privacy, and by separating
priest and
penitent. In the
Middle Ages corresponding and stringent rules were established in
canon law for confessions by women, and especially by
nuns. In
England, before the
Protestant Reformation, publicity was reckoned the best safeguard. Thus Archbishop
Walter Reynolds, in 1322, says in his
Constitutions: "Let the priest choose for himself a common place for hearing confessions, where he may be seen generally by all in the church; and do not let him hear any one, and especially any woman, in a private place, except in great necessity.". At
Lenham, in
Kent, there is an ancient armchair in stone, with a stone bench and steps on one side, that appears to be a confessional. With the revival of the practice of auricular confession in the Church of England, confessionals were introduced into some parishes with an Anglo-Catholic bent. Since, however, they formed no part of "the furniture of the church" in the "second year of King Edward VI", some have argued that they are not covered by the "
Ornaments Rubric" in the Prayer-Book. The question of their legality was raised in 1900 in the case of
Davey v. Hinde (
vicar of the
Church of the Annunciation at
Brighton), tried before Dr Tristram in the
consistory court of
Chichester. They were condemned "on the ground that they are not articles of church furniture requisite for or conducive to conformity with the doctrine or practice of the Church of England in relation to the reception of confession". ==Gallery==