Confessional

Confessional, a word sometimes used to denote - among its enemies - the practice of auricular confession, but more specially signifying in ecclesiastical architecture a small building, generally of wood, within a church for the convenience of penitents and their confessors. It generally consists of a central compartment, in which the priest sits, and which has upon one or both sides a grating, which communicates with a recess occupied by the penitent, who makes his communication through the grating. The confessional has given occasion to the display of some exquisite wood-carving.