The Commutations of Penances according to the Irish and British Penitentials

Authors

  • Beata Jadwiga Szpetkowska Uniwersytet Papieski Jana Pawła II w Krakowie

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15633/ps.3569

Keywords:

Irish and British Penitentials, commutations

Abstract

This article deals with the commutations of penance in the Irish and British Penitentials published by Arkadiusz Baron and Henryk Pietras in Libri poenitentiales (Kraków 2011, s. 1–259). The penitentials in which we find the commutations are: Irish Canons (Canones Hibernenses, c. 650); Poenitentiale Cummaeani (seventh century); Discipulus Umbriensium; Capitula Theodori; Excarpsum de canonibus catholicorum Patrum vel Poenitentiale ad remedium animarum domini Egberti archiepiscopi Eburacae civitatis (732–766); Sancti Egberti Eboracensis archiepiscopi poenitentiale libri V (eighth century). Most of the commutations give opportunity to change the long and difficult prescribed penance of fasting on bread and water for a shorter and less difficult one and to change its form to repeated prayers (i.e. psalms, canticles, Our Father), genuflections or even in the case of a prosperous man by giving a specified quantity of money as alms to the poor, monks or a church. The commutations could easily be used to minimize and formalize accepted penance. It means, practicing the Christian religion without real metanoia, as Jesus thought.

Author Biography

  • Beata Jadwiga Szpetkowska, Uniwersytet Papieski Jana Pawła II w Krakowie
    Beata Jadwiga Szpetkowska (ORCID: 0000-0002-5867-867X) – mgr inż. nauk rolniczych w zakresie fizjologii roślin na Uniwersytecie Rolniczym w Krakowie, mgr nauk teologicznych, aktualnie doktorantka Wydziału Teologicznego UPJPII w Krakowie. Zainteresowania naukowe autorki dotyczą historii dogmatu i zagadnień moralnych. Opracowała problematykę jałmużny w Kazaniach do ludu (1–80) św. Cezarego z Arles. Obecnie zajmuje się zagadnieniami praktyk pokutnych w Kościele starożytnym. Adres: ul. Bronowicka 44/skr. poczt. 91, 30–093 Kraków. E-mail: szpetkow@op.pl.

References

Baron A., Świętość a ideały człowieka (Ojcowie Apostolscy, Klemens Aleksandryjski, Orygenes). Studium teologiczne na tle modeli filozoficzno-religijnych, Kraków 2013.

Bieler L., The Irish Penitentials: Their Religious and Social Backgrand, Berlin 1966, s. 329–340 (Studia Patristica, 8).

Binchy D.A., The Old-Irish Table of Penitential Commutations, „Eriu” 19 (1962), s. 47–72.

Castiglioni L., Mariotti S., Vocabolario della lingua latina, Milano 1990.

Collins R., Europa wczesnośredniowieczna 300–1000, tłum. T. Szafrański, Warszawa 1996.

Kent J.P.C., Gold coinage in the late Roman Empire, w: Essays in Roman coinage presented to Harold Mattingly, Oxford 1956, s. 190–204.

Libri poenitentiales, układ i oprac. A. Baron, H. Pietras SJ, Kraków 2011 (Synodi et Collectiones Legume, 5).

Pietras H., La genesi delle indulgenze, „Gregorianum” 99 (2018) no. 2, s. 315–333.

Szulc F., Syn Boży w „Pasterzu” Hermasa: świadectwo chrystologii judeochrzescijańskiej, Katowice 2006 (Studia Antiquitatis Christiana, 2).

Vogel C., En rémission des péchés. Recherches sur les systèmes pénitentiels dans l’Eglise latine, Aldershot 1994 (Collected Studies, 450).

Vogel C., Il peccatore e la penitenza nel medioevo. II Edizione italiana riveduta e ampliata a cura di Clara Achille Cesarini, Torino 1988.

Vogel C., Les „Libri paenitentiales”, Turnhout-Belgium 1978 (Typologie des sources du Moyen Age occidental, 27).

Wright Ch.D., The Irish Tradition in Old English Literature, Cambridge 1993.

Downloads

Published

2020-04-30

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 1 (2020): Mercy in the Teaching of the Church

Section

Theological research

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain the copyright and full publishing rights without restrictions, and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).