penitent

adj

1. Feeling pain or sorrow on account of one's sins or offenses; feeling sincere guilt.

   “Be penitent, and for thy fault contrite.”

   “If thou be penitent and grieved, or desirous to be so, these heinous sins shall not be laid to thy charge.”

2. Doing penance.

   “[…] But we that know what ’tis to faſt and pray, / Are penitent for your default to day.”

noun

1. One who repents of sin; one sorrowful on account of their transgressions.
2. One under church censure, but admitted to penance; one undergoing penance.

   “Wamba, who defeated the Saracens in an attempt upon Spain, was deprived of the crown, because he had been clothed in the habit of a penitent, while labouring under the influence of poison, administered by the ambitious Erviga!”

3. One under the direction of a confessor.