Confessor

From LanceaSanctum

Jump to: navigation, search

The practice of a Confessor will vary widely according to the interpretation an invidual places upon the rite. However, an important commonality is that confession is not a means to absolution from God, but rather a spiritual tool to strengthen the faith of the individual Kindred.

The general orthodoxy of the Lancea Sanctum is that vampires exist in a state of damnation, meaning they have been condemned by God instead of forgiven by him. The general orthodoxy also states that IF there is absolution waiting, the only hope for receiving it is to follow the Testament of Longinus and remain alive until Judgment Day, when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. This is why “sin” remains a meaningful concept for vampires – because when you act in ways that aren’t in keeping with the Testament of Longinus, you risk your immortal soul at Judgment Day, hence, acting against the Testament is sin.

Confession among the Sanctified isn’t about forgiveness from God. Confession among the Sanctified is about acknowledging your sin, and in some cases, receiving counseling on what is and is not a sin, since it’s not always clear. It’s also about receiving forgiveness from your peers, because no vampire is strong enough to follow the Testament of Longinus on his own. Part of the “brotherhood of faith” is recognizing that you NEED your fellow Sanctified to help keep you on the narrow path, even though as predators Kindred are inherently always in competition with each other. The ritual around confession and accepted practices of confidentiality provides a structure of trust among inherently untrustworthy creatures.

Although confessors can and do use the knowledge they gain in confession to advance their personal agendas, being caught doing leads to very nasty consequences. It is safe to say, however, that the majority of those who are called to be confessors do not ever breach the confidence vested in them.

So what about the actual rite of confession? The ritual practice is going to vary from one confessor to the next, and an individual confessor will even have different practices for different penitents. For confession to be effective, the confessor must give counsel and assign penance that will speak to and strengthen the faith of the penitent, even if that differs in some way from the confessor’s own faith.

The most important part is that the penitent speaks aloud and in detail the sin which he desires to confess. This is usually followed by discussion between the confessor and the penitent, to be certain the penitent truly understands his actions and how they were sinful. Once the confessor is satisfied that the penitent understands the sin or the situation, the confessor may prescribe penance. This is where there is no uniform practice – penance can be physical, social, mental, or some combination, and not all confessors prescribe penance at every confession. Sometimes, it is enough that the penitent understands what he has done wrong, and is forgiven by the confessor, and no additional lesson is needed.


Confessors are often called upon to give spiritual counsel outside the strictures of confession. Sometimes, a vampire just needs someone to talk to. Relying on your confessor as a sort of confidante is a way of admitting weakness and exposing vulnerabilities, but with minimal risk, as these conversations are just as privileged as confession. This is why few sires are confessors to their childer. Even though sires are ultimately responsible for teaching their childer to be good Sanctified, the childe often cannot risk exposing her failures, doubts, or confusions to her sire.

In most instances, Confessor is not a formal title of the Lancea Sanctum, but is instead a statement of the fact that an individual is known to take confession regularly and readily from anyone willing to seek them out for confession. Any member of the Sanctified may hear confession from any Kindred (even from Kindred who are not Sanctified). A penitent chooses who to confess to. Those who feel themselves called to be confessors may take it as an informal title or moniker, such as “Edward the Confessor.”

A much more rare instance is the Title of Confessor. For those Diocese which are large enough to support multiple sanctified of sufficent standing, it is possible that to free up individuals to deal with covenant related tasks, a Confessor might be titled specifically to recieve confession from those in the parish. However, more likley, an individual may be chosen, and thus likley Anointed, by a Bishop to be a Confessor. Once titled as Confessor, this individual is tasked with not only recieving confession, but going out and getting confession from every individual in the Diocese regardless of covenant, and sometimes regardless of if they want to give it or not in the case of the Confessor-Inquisitor. As with an Inquisitor, this indiviudal may or may not be Anointed. The key point of being Titled Confessor as opposed to being called the confessor is the fact that this indiviual has been tasked to go out and get confessions. Their Bishop has confered in them their backing and thus a support of power to persuade those around the Confessor to comply with his requests. As one can imagine, more likley than not an individual tasked as Confessor is likley done by the Sanctified to persue a unique avenue to weed-out plots agains the covenant, and in some cases, give the covenant an upper hand in protecting their plans vis detecting plots agains the Prince of the city they are in. It was quite common to find Confessors in cities ruled by the First of State where Sanctified filled some, if not all of the Secondary positions as thus, the Second of State.


Retrieved from "http://www.lanceasanctum.org/Confessor"
Player Created
Characters