Repentance

[khalliday181]

Could someone decipher the missing word and tell me what might have happened/ what it means? About 2 weeks before and on the same page they were proclaimed for the final time.

I read it as:

Christopher Holiday and his wife Jean Smith appear before the congregation to profess their sorrow and repentance for their ________? guilt and was rebuked and absolved.

Thanks

[Mort29]

antinuptial, or today ante-nuptial ....... I could hazard a guess at the meaning   

[veeblevort]

As written: antinuptial. We would write antenuptial - before marriage.

Looks like the greatest sin in those days was getting caught.

[khalliday181]

Ooohh naughty naughty.

Thanks for that.

[kathb]

I have never seen that before. WOW! that was one way to increase the church congregation.  What year was it please?  Given no family planning and the number of people who were already pregnant when they married, these poor souls must have been caught 'in the act' so to speak.
Regards
Kathb

[khalliday181]

It was in the OPR for Moffat, Dumfrisshire 1752. There is another one on the page. Got to wonder how they got caught.

[GR2]

You were reported to the kirk session who investigated. If guilty of antenuptual fornication (because your first child was very, very, very 'premature') you would have to appear in the place of repentance during the weekly church service, sometimes in sackcloth - a loose smock of sacking. The number of weeks you had to appear depended on the seriousness of the offence. You were also fined and the money went to the fund for assisting the poor. Offences such as Sabbath breaking and the like were punished in the same way. If things got very bad, for example if someone had produced a third illegitimate child or committed adultery, they would be referred to the Presbytery.

Graham.

[kathb]

Thanks very interesting
Regards
Kathb

[Redroger]

In 1731 a relative of mine Isobel Luffman did penitence in Holme Parish church in Huntingdonshire for insulting a woman in the parish. Apparently from reading between the lines she had called her a whore or similar after a family tiff! Must have been quite an ordeal making this appearance as a penitent dressed in sackcloth etc. before the entire congregation.