Confiteor
The Confiteor (Latin for "I confess") is a penitential prayer recited as part of the Act of Penance during the Introductory Rites of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, in which the priest and assembly collectively acknowledge their sins committed in thought, word, deed, and omission, while seeking mercy from God and intercession from the Blessed Virgin Mary, the angels, saints, and one another.[1] This communal confession, followed by the priest's formula of absolution, fosters a spirit of humility and reconciliation, preparing the faithful for the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist, though it does not confer sacramental forgiveness.[1][2] The prayer's origins date to the early Middle Ages, appearing in the oldest surviving liturgical books as a private act of contrition recited by the priest in the sacristy or at the foot of the altar before beginning Mass, likely emerging around the 10th century as a preparation for the sacred rites.[3] By the 10th or 11th century, it had evolved into a shared recitation involving the server or congregation, reflecting the growing emphasis on communal participation in the liturgy, and it became a fixed element at the start of the Mass in the Latin Rite.[3] The form was further developed through regional variations until standardization in the 1570 Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Pius V following the Council of Trent, which suppressed non-traditional versions and enshrined the Confiteor with its invocations to specific intercessors such as St. Michael the Archangel, St. John the Baptist, and the Apostles Peter and Paul.[4] In the current Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, revised after the Second Vatican Council, the Confiteor serves as one of three options for the Penitential Act (described in the first form), with a streamlined English text introduced in the 2011 Missal translation: "I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God."[1][2] Accompanied by gestures such as striking the breast during the "through my fault" repetition in traditional settings, it underscores personal responsibility for both mortal and venial sins, while the Extraordinary Form retains the fuller pre-conciliar version with Latin invocations and mutual absolution between priest and people.[3][4] Beyond the Mass, the Confiteor has historically appeared in other contexts, such as monastic night prayer (Compline), preparation for Communion, and the rite of anointing of the sick, highlighting its enduring role in fostering contrition across Catholic devotional life.[3]Overview
Etymology and Meaning
The Confiteor derives its name from the Latin verb confiteor, the first-person singular present indicative of confiteri, meaning "I confess" or "I acknowledge." This verb is formed from the intensive prefix con- (indicating "together" or completeness) combined with fateri (to admit or confess), signifying an open admission of faults.[5][6] Theologically, the Confiteor embodies a public or private act of contrition in Christian liturgy, where the individual humbly professes sinfulness to God and invokes the intercession of the Virgin Mary, angels, saints, and the faith community, thereby fostering a sense of shared repentance and divine mercy.[5] This prayer highlights humility as essential to spiritual renewal, positioning confession not merely as personal remorse but as a communal acknowledgment of human frailty before the divine.[7] Within penitential rites, the Confiteor operates as a general confession addressing overall sinfulness rather than specific transgressions, distinguishing it from the Act of Contrition, a more individualized prayer of sorrow typically used in sacramental reconciliation.[8] It first appeared in early monastic prayers as a preparatory devotion for worship.[3]Text and Translations
The Confiteor, derived from the Latin verb confiteor meaning "I confess," exists in distinct textual forms across liturgical periods, with the Tridentine version emphasizing intercession by named saints and the post-Vatican II revision streamlining the structure for collective use while retaining core penitential elements.[9]Tridentine Form (Pre-1970)
The longer Tridentine Confiteor, as found in the 1962 Roman Missal, is recited individually by the priest and then by the ministers, invoking specific heavenly intercessors. The full Latin text is as follows:Confiteor Deo omnipotenti,A literal English translation renders it thus:
beatae Mariae semper Virgini,
beato Michaeli Archangelo,
beato Ioanni Baptistae,
sanctis Apostolis Petro et Paulo,
omnibus Sanctis, et vobis, fratres,
quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere:
mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem,
beatum Michaelem Archangelum,
beatum Ioannem Baptistam,
sanctos Apostolos Petrum et Paulum,
omnes Sanctos, et vos, fratres,
orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum. Amen.[9]
I confess to almighty God,
to blessed Mary ever Virgin,
to blessed Michael the Archangel,
to blessed John the Baptist,
to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul,
to all the Saints, and to you, my brothers,
that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed:
through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.
Therefore, I beseech blessed Mary ever Virgin,
blessed Michael the Archangel,
blessed John the Baptist,
the holy Apostles Peter and Paul,
all the Saints, and you, my brothers,
to pray for me to the Lord our God. Amen.[9]
Post-Vatican II Form (1970 Missal, Revised 2011)
The revised Confiteor in the 1970 Roman Missal (with the 2002 typical edition underlying the 2011 English implementation) omits invocations to individual saints beyond Mary and generalizes the appeal to "all the Angels and Saints," facilitating its recitation by the entire assembly. The Latin text is:Confiteor Deo omnipotentiThe official English translation, approved by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) and implemented in the third edition of the Roman Missal in 2011, is:
et vobis, fratres,
quia peccavi nimis
cogitatione, verbo, opere et omissione:
mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem,
omnes Angelos et Sanctos,
et vos, fratres,
orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum.[10]
I confess to almighty GodA hallmark of both forms is the emphatic repetition of mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, underscoring the confessor's profound acknowledgment of personal fault, with the phrase literally translating to "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault" and traditionally accompanied by breast-striking gestures to signify contrition.[9]
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,
[striking the breast three times]
through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault;
therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
all the Angels and Saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.[11]