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Confession, specifically the practice of confessing one's sins to a priest, is a quite common practice in the Catholic Church. When and how did this sacrament first originate and become codified as standard Catholic practice?

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The "ear confession" as we know it today is an invention of Irish monks (some 6th century? I'm not sure). Before that time, only heavy sins (especially renouncing Christ) were confessed in front of whole congregation. Private confession allowed to confess all sins. This practice spread with Irish missionaries quickly. It was codified as mandatory (at least once a year) on IVth Lateran council (1215).

EDIT: wikipedia on the Sacrament of Penance (Catholic Church) focuses on penance, so the beginning of the practice of confession is bit obscured, but it gives further details and approves the codification in 1215.

EDIT 2: wikipedia article on Celtic Christianity gives more details and cites Medieval Handbooks of Penance.

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Can you cite some sources? – svidgen Nov 27 '12 at 23:28
This account seems implausible given that the Eastern Orthodox practice of confession is essentially the same as the Roman Catholic. – Ben Dunlap Nov 28 '12 at 23:17
What exactly is implausible? If it's the origin of individual confession in Ireland, I'll try to find some other sources, preferebly some explaining how it spread throughout Europe. I've read at least two books on this topic, one of them written by an Orthodox priest (unfortunately, the books were in Czech, so I can't just link them). – Pavel Nov 29 '12 at 10:08
@BenDunlap By all accounts I've heard, this is one of the few practices which the East learned from the West. Those have happened you know. – Ignatius Theophorus Nov 29 '12 at 18:41
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@Alypius Good point. (Clearly the rest of us didn't take the time to actually check the resource.) You should submit an answer! – svidgen Mar 26 at 20:58
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