Confessor

CONFESSOR. - From the Latin confessor (from confiteri = to declare openly, a term proper to Christian Latin; Greek ὁμολογητής) is the title that today, in liturgy, is given to all non-martyr saints (bishops, doctors, priests and even simple faithful who are not women). This specific meaning was reached through a threefold evolution.

1. In the first centuries, Christians who had confessed the faith in prison, under torture, in exile, in the labor of the mines without the sacrifice of life, were called by the generic title of "martyres," like those who had shed their blood for Christ. Eusebius (Hist. eccl., III, 32; cf. III, 20) thus calls the descendants of Judas, "brothers" of the Lord, whom Domitian judged harmless and sent back to their homes. In the refutation of the Cataphrygian heresy, Apollonius (d. 97) denounces Themison and Alexander who claim the title of martyrs (Eusebius, op. cit., V, 18). Among heretics the title of martyr served to obtain offerings and money (Eusebius, op. cit., V, 18, 7). Another example of this extension of meaning is found in the subscription of a letter of Serapion of Antioch (Eusebius, op. cit., V, 19, 3).

2. In the second half of the 2nd century, the clear distinction, in concept and terminology, between martyrs and confessors is encountered for the first time, in the letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons (a.d. 178), reported by Eusebius (op. cit., V, 2, 2). Although the heroes celebrated there had borne witness several times, after being led to the beasts, exposed to burning coals, covered with bruises and wounds, nevertheless they did not proclaim themselves martyrs nor permit this title to be given to them; indeed if anyone by letter or in conversation called them so, they reproved him severely. They gladly gave the title of martyr to Christ... and recalled the memory of the martyrs who had already left the world and said: true martyrs are those whom Christ deigned to receive in the very act in which they bore witness, after having marked in them, as with a seal, the profession of faith through death. As for us we are but humble and simple confessors (= ὁμολογηταί).

The distinction, however, did not enter current language immediately. The two terms "martyr" and "confessor" continued to be used indiscriminately. Hippolytus (c. 160-235) opposes martyrs to confessors (In Dan., II, 37), gives the title of confessor to Natalios who had suffered for the faith and later became bishop of a heretical sect (Eusebius, op. cit., V, 28, 8). Tertullian (c. 197), addressing to confessors a book entitled Ad martyras, calls them candidates for martyrdom: "benedicti martyres designati" (Ad mart., 1). "Martyr," in the sense of

"confessor," returns frequently from his pen (De praescript. haeret., 3; Ad mart., 1; De pudic., 22; etc.). Almost everywhere, moreover, people spoke of martyrs in a broad sense, and Origen (d. 253) pointed out that the word μάρτυς can rightly be applied to all those who in one way or another bear witness to the truth (In Ioh., II, 210). In the Passio ss. Perpetuae et Felicitatis (ch. 11, ed. Barra, Turin 1945, p. 66), Quintus, who died in prison, is qualified as a martyr; likewise Primolus and Donatian, who die in chains, run "ad martyrii coronam immaculato itinere" (Passio Montani et Lucii, ch. 2, ed. Barra, Turin 1945, p. 119). Cyprian (c. 200-258) has a more precise conceptual distinction. He distinguishes between the confessor Numidicus and those who form the "gloriosum martyrum numerum," prepared for death by his exhortations (Epist., 40, 1). To those who died in prison, even if they did not undergo torture, he wishes the same honors to be rendered as to martyrs. This is not, moreover, a novelty. Cyprian habitually gives the name of "confessores" to those who languish in prisons (Epist., 32, 1; cf. Epist., 31), sends letters "Sergio et Rogatiano et ceteris confessoribus" (Epist., 6; 13), receives some from Moses, Maximus and Nicostratus in the name of "universi confessores" (Epist., 26). He admits two degrees in confession: a public one before the judges and a private one, of those who by flight withdraw from the obligation to sacrifice (De lapsis, 3); in De lapsis, 4, martyrs and confessors are clearly distinguished. But Cyprian is not always faithful to this terminology. He confuses one term with the other not because he is ignorant of their value, but because he wishes to cut short or to please the recipients of his writings (P. de Labriolle, Martyr et confesseur, in Bull. d'ancienne littér. relig. et d'arch. chrét., 1 [1911], p. 54).

Notable exactness in the use of the two terms is found in Dionysius of Alexandria (d. c. 264) and is accentuated in the writers of subsequent ages. In Eusebius we read of a certain Seleucus first confessor then martyr (De mart. Palest., II, 20). Optatus of Milevis (4th century) recalls the persecution "quae alios fecerit martyres, alios confessores" (De schism. Donat., I, 13) and elsewhere poses the question: "quomodo dicitis martyres qui non fuerunt confessores" (op. cit., III, 8); St. Jerome (349?-420) speaks of "Aegyptios confessores, voluntate iam martyres" (Epist., 3, 2).

A confused terminology returns in the field of inscriptions. At times the title of confessor is given to martyrs as in the case of St. Ennatha (also called 1967) who is a martyr and is called ὁμολογήτρια (Mark the Deacon, Vita Porphirii Gazensis, Leipzig 1895, p. 18). The Damasian inscription in the Crypt of the Popes concerning the Greek martyrs should also be recalled: "Hic confessores sancti quos Graecia misit" (A. Ferrua, Epigrammata Damasiana, Vatican City 1942, n. 16) where, however, "confessores," perhaps (this is the common opinion after De Rossi) has no greater value than a metrical necessity. An epitaph from Tarquinia (Bull. arch. crist., 2nd series, 5 [1874], pp. 101-102) speaks of an "Euticius confessor," in whom De Rossi recognized one of those Christians who survived the persecutions, who, after tortures and imprisonment, were freed in time of peace. To this should be compared a sarcophagus from Milan prepared for himself, while still living, by a certain Diogenes "confessor" and whose inscription, now mutilated, begins: "et a domino coronati sunt beati confessores comites martyrum"

(ibid., p. 109): Diogenes is a confessor in the strict sense of the word. Another category of inscription attributes the title of martyr to persons who did not shed their blood. Thus for Pontian, Cornelius, Pope Eusebius, Eusebius of Vercelli, Maximus of Naples, Dionysius of Milan, Apollinaris of Ravenna, Felix of Nola. In the struggle against heresies "confessor" (especially in the East the corresponding ὁμολογητής) becomes the title of one who has suffered for orthodoxy. This is the sense found in the Peregrinatio Aetheriae (Peregrinatio, in Itinera Hierosol., ed. Geyer, CSEL, XXXIX, 62, 65), in Pseudo-Ambrose (Precatio, II) and in St. Augustine when he speaks of a "liberi confessor arbitrii et Dei Conditoris" (Contra Iulian., I, 73). Sidonius Apollinaris remains in this tradition when he gives St. Martin the title of "pontifex confessorque" (Epist., 4, 18, 4), likewise when one reads: "Ego Ulfila episcopus et confessor" (Maximinus, Contr. Ambr., 63).

As one moves away from the rigor of the terms, arbitrariness in the distribution of titles of honor begins to reign more and more. But the title of "confessor" tends to be reserved exclusively for saints who did not suffer martyrdom and passes gradually from the proper to the metaphorical and spiritual sense of ascesis.

3. Already Clement of Alexandria (d. before 215) speaks of the wise man or of the Christian who bears witness to Christ by a kind of spiritual martyrdom, consisting in a pure life and in the observance of the commandments (Strom., IV, 15, 3). St. Cyprian (Epist., 13, 5) says: "qui pacifica et bona et iusta secundum praeceptum Christi loquitur, Christum quotidie confitetur." This meaning becomes established thereafter. Confessors are the ascetics (ascesis-martyrdom) who in a life of penance and prayer confess the faith, in particular the monks or anchorites, whether isolated or gathered in communities.

L. Duchesne (Origines du culte chrétien, Paris 1920, p. 442) maintains, not without reason, that the prayer of Good Friday must be interpreted in this sense: "Oremus, et pro omnibus episcopis... ostiariis, confessoribus, virginibus, viduis et pro omni populo Dei," as must the canons of the Council of Elvira (ca. 300; can. 25), of Arles (314; can. 9) and of Toledo (400; cann. 6, 9). This opinion has recently been contradicted by B. Botte (Arch. latin. medii aevi, 16 [1941], p. 140), but without convincing arguments.

4. Finally, one last meaning should be noted, which establishes the equivalence "confessor" = "cantor." It is an opinion that goes back to Hugues Ménard (d. 1644), who formulated it on the basis of can. 11 of the Fourth Council of Carthage (Statuta Ecclesiae antiqua) and of cann. 6 and 9 of the Council of Toledo. Ménard's opinion was accepted with reservations by Tommasi, combated by M. Gerbert and by L. Lesley, taken up again by Morin and popularized by Leclercq (DACL, III, col. 2514). Recently Botte has demonstrated its groundlessness (art. cit. in bibl., p. 145).

In the East, in public worship, the first to receive the title of "confessores" are Anthony (d. 356), Hilarion (d. 371), Athanasius (d. 373); in the West, the bishops of the 4th century: Eustorgius (d. 331) at Milan, Sylvester (d. 335) at Rome, Martin (d. 397) in Gaul, Severus (d. ca. 409) at Naples, Augustine (d. 431) in Africa, Apollinaris (5th century) at Ravenna. The bishops of the 4th century were the defenders of the faith against Arianism. If they had not suffered martyrdom, they had often endured violent persecutions; the anniversary of their "depositio" was celebrated, their bodies rested beneath the altar; so great was their resemblance to the martyrs. It was right that the title of "confessores" should be given to them, in a broader sense but one quite close to the original. From the bishops the title extended to non-bishops. At this point the concept of ascesis-martyrdom must have had an influence. Gregory of Tours in the De gloria confessorum speaks of bishops, abbots, monks, virgins, holy women.