38 www.scientia-sanbeda.org Dates: Received: January 14, 2019 Accepted: January 31, 2020 Published(Online): March 31, 2020 Published(Printed): April 30, 2020 Keywords: Exclusion, Penance, Mercy, History, Confessional JAN GRESIL S. KAHAMBING LEYTE NORMAL UNIVERSITY MUSEUM LEYTE NORMAL UNIVERSITY vince_jb7@hotmail.com How to cite this article: Kahambing, Jan Gresil, “Exclusion, Penance, and the Box: Retracing Mercy in the Birth of the Confessional”, Scientia Vol 9 no. 2. (2020), p. 38-49. Copyright: Online: Asean Citation Index, DOAJ. Tis work is licensed under the Creative Common Attribution License © 2020. Print: Philippine Copyright © March 2020 San Beda University Read online Scan this QR code with your smart phone or mobile device to read online EXCLUSION, PENANCE, AND THE BOX: RETRACING MERCY IN THE BIRTH OF THE CONFESSIONAL It is the concern of this paper to retrace, rather than diachronically expound, some of the events that substantiate the forging of the confessional box within the historicity of confession. It exposes that the birth of the confessional (box) is an issue of how confession evolved from the varying historical instances that project man’s yearning for reconciliation and salvation. It thereby retraces the formulations of mercy within such context. Hence, the paper will delve into confession’s history vis-à-vis its roots, practices, and evolution from its ancient, medieval, and eventual modern institutionalization in the Council of Trent. Te paper runs in two parts: 1) it discusses the art of exclusion and control of penance that is distinctive of the ancient and medieval practices of reconciliation respectively, and 2) it proceeds into a discussion of the crisis of mercy and the eventual forging of the confessional box.