The Confiteor Prayer ("I Confess"): Meaning and Biblical Roots of the Penitential Act

The Confiteor — Latin for "I confess" — is the prayer of general confession in the penitential act at the start of Mass: "I confess to almighty God… that I have greatly sinned… through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault" (mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa). In this session of The Mass Explained, Dr. Brant Pitre shows its roots in two of Jesus' parables — the Prodigal Son, who returns saying "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you" (Luke 15), and the tax collector who "beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner'" and "went down to his house justified" (Luke 18). He traces how the prayer developed across the centuries and unfolds the mystical meaning of striking the breast, drawing on St. Augustine and Pope Innocent III.

Key passages & sources examined: the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–20); the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9–14); St. Augustine on striking the breast (Sermon 67); the medieval Missals and Pope Innocent III; St. Robert Bellarmine; and the Catechism on preparing to receive Communion (CCC 1385, 1394).