Mea culpa

At the sight of the crucifixion of Jesus in the Gospels, "the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned".{{bibleverse|Luke|23:48|NKJV}} in the New King James Version

In the present form of the Confiteor as used in the celebration of Mass, mea culpa is said three times, the third time with the addition of the adjective maxima ("very great", usually translated as "most grievous"), and is accompanied by the gesture of beating the breast.

{{verse translation|lang=la|

Confíteor Deo omnipoténti

et vobis, fratres,

quia peccávi nimis

cogitatióne, verbo,

ópere et omissióne:

mea culpa, mea culpa,

mea máxima culpa.

Ideo precor beátam Maríam semper vírginem,

omnes angelos et sanctos,

et vos, fratres,

oráre pro me ad Dóminum Deum nostrum.

|

I confess to almighty God

and to you, my brothers [and sisters],

that I have greatly sinned,

in my thoughts and in my words,

in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,

through my fault, through my fault,

through my most grievous fault;

therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,

all the Angels and Saints,

and you, my brothers,

to pray for me to the Lord our God.{{cite web|url=http://www.universalis.com/static/mass/orderofmass.htm|title=The Order of Mass |publisher=Universalis.com|access-date=24 February 2015}}

}}

The Latin phrase mea culpa was used, even in an English context, earlier than that. Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th-century Troilus and Criseyde uses it in a way that shows it was already a traditional religious phrase: "Now, mea culpa, lord! I me repente."[http://mcllibrary.org/Troilus/troilus2.html Troilus and Criseyde, Book II, 525]

Although the Confiteor was not then part of the Mass, it was used in administering the sacrament of Penance. In some forms it already included the phrase mea culpa. Thus the 9th-century Paenitentiale Vallicellanum II had a thrice-repeated mea culpa (without maxima) in its elaborate form of the Confiteor.{{cite book|last1=Wasserschleben|first1=Friedrich Wilhelm|title=Die Bussordnungen der abendländischen Kirche|date=1851|publisher=Ch. Graeger|location=Halle|page=[https://archive.org/details/diebussordnungen00cath/page/555 555]|url=https://archive.org/details/diebussordnungen00cath|quote=mea culpa.|access-date=24 February 2015}}

In about 1220, the rite of public penance in Siena for those who had committed murder required the penitent to throw himself on the ground three times, saying: Mea culpa; peccavi; Domine miserere mei ("Through my fault. I have sinned. Lord, have mercy on me").{{cite book|last1=Schmitz|first1=Herm. Jos.|title=Die Bussbücher und das Kanonische Bussverfahren, vol. 2|date=1898|publisher=L. Schwann|location=Düsseldorf|pages=53–54}}

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{{Wiktionary|mea culpa}}

• [http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/tutorial/ordo-missae-1.html Sancta Missa – Prayers at the Foot of the Altar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620102506/https://sanctamissa.org/en/tutorial/ordo-missae-1.html |date=2019-06-20 }}, Latin and English, sanctamissa.org

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Category:Latin religious words and phrases