Confessor and died in peace. A notable example of this usage is the English king St. Edward the Confessor. During the Diocletianic Persecution, a number of Christians had, under torture or threat of torture, weakened in their profession of the faith. When the persecutions ceased under Constantine the Great, they wanted to be reunited with the Church. It became the practice of the penitents to go to the Confessors, those who had willingly suffered for the faith and survived, to plead their case and effect their restoration to communion. Thus, the word has come to denote any priest who has been
Iste confessor all others, 3 Brother was he to all the world’s forgotten; 4 One, then, in songs of praise we sing his glory, 5 Glory and praise be to our God forever, </poem> The translations below are non-metrical, and literal line by line translations. Iste confessor Domini colentes <poem> 1 Iste confessor Domini colentes // Quem pie laudant populi per orbem: [If it is not the day of his death, the last line is changed to:] 2 Qui pius, prudens, humilis, pudicus, // Sobriam duxit sine labe vitam, 3 Cuius ob præstans meritum frequenter // Ægra quæ passim iacuere membra, 4