ABSTRACT
Ekkehard was writing with a purpose for his fellow monks at the monastery of St Gall on Lake Constance in southern Germany: his story shows how through voluntary penance Iso's parents saved not only themselves but also their unborn child from the consequences of their sin. Stories reveal how central the period c.800–c.1100 is for the history of penance. The chapter looks at the two questions: in whose favour did penance work, and how far was it a unique element in the Church's relations with the laity? Those people who have studied the penitential liturgy have adopted a teleological approach–they have been looking for the origins of the Roman Church's liturgical practice rather than looking at the penitential experience. The service for the reconciliation of penitents in manuscripts in the Romano-German Pontifical tradition is often sandwiched between that for the blessing of the holy fire and that for the consecration of the chrism.
