Medieval Roman Catholicism taught that confession and forgiveness taken together include four elements. Contrition, or a heartfelt remorse over sin, was to be followed by verbal, private confession of sins before a priest of the church. Following this confession, the priest was expected to administer absolution or forgiveness, one of the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. The final movement of confession and absolution was the assignment and completion of an act of penance on the part of the penitent. This was usually some form of devotion. The Protestant reformers reduced the complex of confession and absolution to three parts: contritition, confession, and absolution. This took a variety of forms. As the Augsburg Confession attests, the Lutherans, for example, generally intended to retain private confession as the norm and in many places did so. In the Reformed tradition, on the other hand, a general, communal confession linked to stringent church and communion discipline generally prevailed. The radical and Anglican traditions employed a variety of forms as well.