PENANCE PSALMS, PSALMS. — Group of psalms (Ps. 6; 31; 37; 50; 101; 129; 142 [Vulg.]) that express trust in God’s infinite mercy toward the sinner and the persecuted. They formed a liturgical collection from the earliest centuries of the Church; already in use in the time of St. Augustine, it is mentioned by Cassiodorus; it was commented upon, it seems, by St. Gregory the Great. The series of penance psalms was recited on Fridays of Lent after Lauds, on Ash Wednesday for the dismissal of penitents, and on Holy Thursday for their reconciliation. It forms part of the prayers for Extreme Unction, the consecration of churches, the blessing of cemeteries, and the blessing of an abbot. It is given as a penance to clerics promoted to tonsure and to minor orders.
Considered in itself, the series of penance psalms is not a homogeneous group. It includes strictly penitential psalms (6; 37; 50; 129), psalms of lamentation (101; 142), and a sapiential psalm (31). Yet the common character that unites them explains the function they received in Christian liturgy.