The sinner who repents of sin and seeks forgiveness (1451). In the early Church, public sinners belonged to an "order of penitents," who did public penance for their sins, often for years (1447). Penitential acts or practices refer to those which dispose one for or flows from interior penance or conversion; such acts lead to and follow upon the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance (1434). See Satisfaction (for sin).