Confessional

Confessional, the seat or recess in which the priest sits to hear confession in a Roman Catholic church. It is probable that the confessionals in English churches, previous to the Reformation, like those still often found in Catholic use, were slight wooden erections, because they have so entirely disappeared that their form is a matter of dispute among ecclesiologists. It would seem that confessionals were not always used, as in an old painting on the walls of St Mary's Chapel, in Winchester, a woman is represented kneeling to a priest, who is seated in his stall. The confessional commonly has a door in front for the priest to enter by, and an opening on one or both sides, like a small window, with a grating of wire or zinc, for the penitents to speak through.