PENANCE, a punishment, either voluntary, or imposed by authority, for the faults a person has committed. Penance is one of the seven sacraments of the Romish church. Besides fasting, alms, abstinence, and the like, which are the general conditions of penance; there are others of a more particular kind, as the repeating a certain number of ave-marys, pater-nosters, and credos, wearing a hair-shirt, and giving one's self a certain number of stripes. In Italy and Spain it is usual to see Christians almost naked, loaded with chains and a cross, and lashing themselves at every step.