Reparation (Catholic Church)
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Reparation is a Roman Catholic theological concept that humans are creatures who have fallen from an original state of justice in which they were created, and that through the Incarnation, Passion, and Death of Jesus, they have been redeemed and restored again in a certain degree to the original condition. It is closely connected with the doctrines of atonement and satisfaction. Catholics believe that they are restored to grace through the merits of Christ's Death, and that grace enables them to add their prayers, labours, and trials to those of Jesus "and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ" (Colossians 1:24). They also believe that they can make some sort of reparation to the justice of God for what they perceive to be their own offences against Him, and for the sins of others. The idea of reparation is an essential element in the devotion of the Sacred Heart. The Mass is an example of reparations for sin.
The Archconfraternity of Reparation for blasphemy and the neglect of Sunday was founded 28 June, 1847, in the Church of St. Martin de La Noue at Saint-Dizier in France by Mgr. Pierre Louis Parisis, Bishop of Langres. With a similar object, the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face was established at Tours, about 1851, by M. Dupont, the "holy man of Tours". In 1883 an association was formed in Rome to offer reparation to God on behalf of all nations. A religious widow of Paris conceived the idea of promoting the Mass as reparations in 1862. By the authority of Pope Leo XIII the erection of the Archconfraternity of the Mass of Reparation was sanctioned in 1886.
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
