What is "general confession"

Confession \Con*fes"sion\, n. [F. confession, L. confessio.]

1. Acknowledgment; avowal, especially in a matter pertaining to one's self; the admission of a debt, obligation, or crime.

   With a crafty madness keeps aloof, When we would bring him on to some confession Of his true state.
   --Shak.

2. Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith.

   With the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
   --Rom. x. 10.

3. (Eccl.) The act of disclosing sins or faults to a priest in order to obtain sacramental absolution.

   Auricular confession . . . or the private and special confession of sins to a priest for the purpose of obtaining his absolution.
   --Hallam.

4. A formulary in which the articles of faith are comprised; a creed to be assented to or signed, as a preliminary to admission to membership of a church; a confession of faith.

5. (Law) An admission by a party to whom an act is imputed, in relation to such act. A judicial confession settles the issue to which it applies; an extrajudical confession may be explained or rebutted.
   --Wharton.

   Confession and avoidance (Law), a mode of pleading in which the party confesses the facts as stated by his adversary, but alleges some new matter by way of avoiding the legal effect claimed for them.
   --Mozley & W.

   Confession of faith, a formulary containing the articles of faith; a creed.

   General confession, the confession of sins made by a number of persons in common, as in public prayer.

   Westminster Confession. See Westminster Assembly, under Assembly.

A General Confession, as understood by St. Ignatius of Loyola is a form of Confession whereby one spends 3 to 10 days preparing for a confession of all one's 'sins up to that time.' The main goal of the "general confession" is to turn one's life from one of sin to a more devout one. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius have done much to popularise this form of confession, with such a confession being the significant end-point of the First Week of his Spiritual Exercises.

In Anglicanism, the expression "General Confession" is also used for the act of contrition in Thomas Cranmer's 1548 order of Communion and later in the Book of Common Prayer.