CONFESSIONAL. A box, cabinet or stall, in which the priest in Roman Catholic churches sits to hear the confessions of penitents. The confessional is usually a wooden structure, with a centre compartment (entered through a door or curtain) in which the priest sits, and on each side a latticed opening for the penitents to speak through, and a step on which they kneel. By this arrangement the priest is hidden, but the penitent is visible to the public. Confessionals sometimes form part of the archi tectural scheme of the church, but, more usually, they are mov able pieces of furniture.
The confessional in its modern form dates no farther back than the 16th century, and Du Cange cites the year 1563 for an early use of the word confessionale in this sense. Originally the term was applied to the place where a martyr or "confessor" (in the sense of one who confesses Christ) had been buried. Confessional boxes were devised to guard against scandals by securing at once essential publicity and a rea sonable privacy, and by separating priest and penitent. In the middle ages stringent rules were laid down, in this latter respect, by the canon law in the case of confessions by women and especially nuns. In England, before the Reformation, publicity was reckoned the best safeguard, the priest usually hearing confessions at the chancel opening or at a bench end in the nave near the chancel.
With the revival of auricular confession in the English Church, confessionals were introduced into some Anglican churches. The question of their legality was raised in 190o in the case of Davey v. Hinde (vicar of the church of the Annunciation, Brighton), tried before Dr. Tristram in the consistory court of Chichester. They were condemned as illegal.