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CONFESSOR (liturgical)

A Christian in the early Church who had suffered much for the sake of Christ but did not die as a result of torture or ill-treatment. Such a person "confessed" his or her faith under trial and persecution. In present-day vocabulary all the men saints are called confessors who are not martyrs.

All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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