confessor

noun

Etymology: From Middle English confessor, confessour, from Anglo-Norman confessour, and its source, Latin cōnfessor, from cōnfiteor (“confess, admit, acknowledge”). By surface analysis, confess + -or.

1. One who confesses faith in Christianity in the face of persecution, but who is not martyred.

   “Long before Edward I, the English had a King Edward who they considered a martyr and a King Edward who they considered a confessor.”

   “Confessors provided the troubled Church with an alternative sort of authority based on their sufferings, particularly when arguments began about how and how much to forgive those Christians who had given way to imperial orders – the so-called ‘lapsed’.”

2. One who confesses to having done something wrong.

   “Near-synonym: confessant”

3. A priest who hears confession and then gives absolution.
4. Someone who acts as listener and helper.

   “They do not feel connected to any gay/lesbian communities. Nor do they feel able to establish relationships with anyone who can support them. Thus an inexperienced but sincere young heterosexual actor can find himself playing not only role model but also confessor and phantom friend to people in great need.”