Besides this confession in a loud tone, for which all faults in the least serious are reserved, they have for their venial offences what they call the coulpe . To make one’s coulpe means to prostrate one’s self flat on one’s face during the office in front of the prioress until the latter, who is never called anything but “our mother,” notifies the culprit by a slight tap of her foot against the wood of her stall that she can rise. The coulpe or peccavi , is made for a very small matter⁠—a broken glass, a torn veil, an involuntary delay of a few seconds at an office, a false note in church, etc. ; this suffices, and the coulpe is made. The coulpe