 Penitents were divided into a separate part of the church during liturgical worship, and they came to Mass wearing sackcloth and ashes in a process known as "exomologesis" that often involved some form of general confession.There is evidence that this public penance was preceded by a private confession to a bishop or priest ("sacerdos"), and it seems that, for some sins, private penance was allowed instead.Nonetheless, penance and reconciliation was prevailingly a public rite (sometimes unrepeatable), which included absolution at its conclusion.