vestra culpa

alternative vostra culpa

1. uncommonYour fault, due to your error; you are to blame.

   The exponents of guilt routinely exempt themselves from their accusations; they do not speak of mea culpa but of nostra culpa, or rather vestra culpa.

   1984, P[eter] T[homas] Bauer, “Ecclesiastical Economics: Envy Legitimized”, in Reality and Rhetoric: Studies in the Economics of Development, Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 85

   5 more examples

   No doubt it is the natural prejudice of an Englishman (unless he belongs to the modern school of historians who like to beat their forefathers’ breasts with the cry Vestra culpa!) to believe in the benefit to our colonies of British institutions.

   1992, Philip Glazebrook, “Bokhara”, in Journey to Khiva: A Writer’s Search for Central Asia, New York, N.Y.; Tokyo; London: Kodansha International, published 1994, →ISBN, section I, page 137

   Your reasoning, p’raps, was theological, / When apostolicum near ground to halt. / But I believe it quite illogical, / Nay – vestra culpa! – ’twas a grievous fault.

   2005 April, Jill Mitchell with ‘Cardinall’ [Andrew] Carwood, “Trust Me, I’m the Conductor”, in Early Music Review, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire: King’s Music, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 25, column 1

   The failure of Lucky Lady was somehow greater than most. The Huycks [films by Willard Huyck] were so accustomed to success […] that Gloria [Katz] was reported in the LA Times as saying that the movie was badly directed, Stanley [Donen] had bungled their script, and all the usual vestra culpa stuff that cornered spoilt shits come out with.

   2009 October, Frederic Raphael, “Correspondence”, in Frederic Raphael, Joseph Epstein, Distant Intimacy: A Friendship in the Age of the Internet, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, published 2013, →ISBN, page 257

   When I posted the blog link, I Tweeted “Where I shoot down (kinda’) daily devotional reading for most (not all) young adults.” […] Many people read it as if the parenthetical caveats didn’t exist. Perception is reality. Mea culpa. As far as I can tell, some folks also reacted solely to that Tweet and not much in the blog post. Vestra culpa.

   2019 May 21, Sperob [pseudonym], quoting Dru Johnson, “A Scholar’s Devotion with Dru Johnson Redux”, in spoiledmilks, via WordPress, archived from the original on 21 Aug 2019

   Vestra culpa / IRRLÆUFER – Inspired by the great artists of the time and by the human desire for cruelty, works are created that address current themes in the guise of ancient lines.

   2025, IRRLÆUFER, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2025

plural vestra culpas · alternative vostra culpa

1. uncommonAn instance of blaming others.

   What good can it do the Right, I wonder, to get itself bogged down in defenses of the Iraq war?; to become embroiled in personalized debates over Middle Eastern chaos?; to hear repeated vestra culpas apropos 9/11?

   2015 October 20, Charles C[hristopher] W[illiam] Cooke, “Jeb [Bush]’s Malign Influence”, in National Review, New York, N.Y.: National Review, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2019

   5 more examples

   Ours is one of the “leftist and liberal Catholic publications (who) beat their breasts with an editorial nostra culpa whenever Red gains ate chalked up anywhere in the world.” She [Gretta Palmer] inserted a parenthetical remark in the above sentence: “(or, staring fiercely at the Hierarchy, an even more vigorous vestra culpa)”—sentiments which I decline to accept as mine.

   1951 April, Ed Willock, “Reform and Conversion”, in Edward Willock, Carol Jackson, editors, Integrity, volume 5, number 7, New York, N.Y.: Integrity Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 31

   Many progressive Catholics believe that by stressing the black side of the history of the Church — that is, the failure of many to live up to the call of Christ — they are being very objective and humble: after all, they are accusing their own Church. But in fact, this attitude is not at all the humble mea culpa of the Confiteor, but an arrogant vestra culpa; for these Catholics have given up their solidarity with the Church of yesterday.

   1967 March 8, Dietrich von Hildebrand, “Tradition”, in Trojan Horse in the City of God, Chicago, Ill.: Franciscan Herald Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, part IV (Sacred and Secular), page 211

   According to the New York Times, the two [Robert Steiner and Jonathan Walters] later testified that “they simply wanted to mock their virtually all-white neighborhood and its attitudes about race by appearing on a float that depicted what they called an ‘integrated’ Broad Channel a century from now.” Walter^([sic]) offered a Clintonesque vestra culpa: “If it was perceived to be offensive, or was represented by the media in an offensive manner, then I apologize for that.”

   2002, Shawn-Marie Garrett, “Return of the Repressed”, in Theater, volume 32, number 2, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27

   Jayson Blair (search) wants to write a book. He wants to blame others, in both the New York Times (search) newsroom and the society at large, for the lies, evasions, distortions, frauds, fictions, fabrications, fairy tales, scams and plagiarisms with which he infected the Times in his years as an employee. […] So far, in what seems an unexpected show of decency and good sense, the American publishing industry has reacted with indifference to Blair’s vestra culpa (search).

   2003 June 3, Eric Burns, “Book of Lies — [Jayson] Blair, Books and Blame”, in Fox News, New York, N.Y.: Fox News Network, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2026

   Madam, — Imagine the confusion of many members of the clergy and their faithful congregations on Christmas morning, as many of us shuttled to various services across ever-expanding benefices and mission communities, […] to hear the Archbishop of York [Stephen Cottrell] tell us what we really need to do is strip ourselves of all our finery and kneel in penitence and adoration at the nativity — during his sermon in the beautifully ornate York Minster. The irony probably couldn’t be more profound. But perhaps he had been inspired by Archbishop [Justin] Welby’s tone-deaf final speech in the House of Lords? Not so much as a mea culpa as a vestra culpa, really.

   2025 January 3, Marc Kerslake, “[Letters to the Editor] Safeguarding scandals and episcopal resignations”, in Church Times, London: GJ Palmer & Sons, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Jan 2025