The confessionals

One of the seven sacraments in Catholicism is confessionThe sacrament of reconciliation. The believer [or penitent] confesses his / her shortcomings to a priest [the confessor] and expresses his / her regret. On behalf of God the priest grants forgiveness [absolution] and imposes a form of penance. This may include several prayers, an order to reconcile with the other party or, in the past, sometimes a pilgrimage.: ‘the sacramentIn Christianity, this is a sacred act in which God comes to man. Sacraments mark important moments in human life. In the Catholic Church, there are seven sacraments: baptism, confession, Eucharist, confirmation, anointing of the sick, marriage and ordination. of reconciliation’.  As ‘penitents’ Catholic Christians go to a priestIn the Roman Catholic Church, the priest is an unmarried man ordained as a priest by the bishop, which gives him the right to administer the six other sacraments: baptism, confirmation, confession, Eucharist, marriage, and the anointing of the sick. to confess their sins and he gives forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (John 20:23). To further increase the personal character of confession, a new piece of furniture was created by the CouncilA large meeting of ecclesiastical office holders, mainly bishops, presided by the pope, to make decisions concerning faith, church customs, etc. A council is usually named after the place where it was held. Examples: the Council of Trent [1645-1653] and the Second Vatican Council [1962-1965], which is also the last council for the time being. of Trent (1545-1563): the confessionalA piece of furniture that was especially designed to facilitate the sacrament of confession, especially by avoiding that confessor and penitent come face to face. To the left and right are kneeling pews for penitents; in the middle is a small booth where the confessor sits. Both are separated from each other by a partition with a grid, so that the confessor can hear the penitent, but cannot see him / her.. Adapted to the body-language of repentance, the penitent kneels down to humbly show his remorse. The priest, the ‘confessor’, sitting in the middle with a penitent at each side, listens to them one after the other indirectly. Because the conscience-stricken man is not looked at directly, free conversation is stimulated: tactful psychology long before Freud’s conversations on the couch…

In 1798 all original confessionals disappeared at the cathedral’s forced clearance sale under the French Revolutionary Rule. Soon after the 1801 Concordat the churchwardens could buy confessionals of abolished churches and convents. So, against the wall of the uttermost northern aisleLengthwise the nave [in exceptional cases also the transept] of the church is divided into aisles. An aisle is the space between two series of pillars or between a series of pillars and the outer wall. Each aisle is divided into bays. there is a series of Baroque confessionals originating from former SaintThis is a title that the Church bestows on a deceased person who has lived a particularly righteous and faithful life. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church, saints may be venerated (not worshipped). Several saints are also martyrs. Bernard’s AbbeyA set of buildings used by monks or nuns. Only Cistercians, Benedictines, Norbertines and Trappists have abbeys. An abbey strives to be self-sufficient. in Hemiksem: works by Willem Ignatius Kerricx and Michiel I van der Voort from 1713. At each confessional the outer statues represent virtues, which recommend man’s reconciliation with God. In the two inner statues we recognize apostles with the attributes of their martyrdom. They stand for ‘apostolic tradition’ and emphasize that Jesus’s promise of forgiveness is passed on to every generation  through the Church.