 The Irish penitential practice spread throughout the continent, where the form of public penance had fallen into disuse.Saint Columbanus was credited with introducing the "medicamenta paentitentiae", the "medicines of penance", to Gaul at a time when they had come to be neglected.Though the process met some resistance, by 1215 the practice had become established as the norm, with the Fourth Lateran Council establishing a canonical statute requiring confession at a minimum of once per year.