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An item of interest....

Why is it that we say “through my fault...” three times in the Confession... isn’t that too repetitive?

The simplest answer is, because that is what the Latin has - but that does not really cast any light on the matter.

Simple versions of the Confiteor are found from the 700s. The phrase "mea culpa" (through my fault) first appeared in about AD 1080, and it remained in this single form in the liturgies of the Carmelites and Dominicans until modern times, and in the Roman missal until the 1500s.

The version "mea culpa, mea maxima culpa" is attributed to St Thomas Becket (died 1170). The triple form only entered the Roman Missal in 1570. We can only speculate about why it evolved into the triple form. It is sometimes said that we like to tripled things in honour of the Trinity, but intensifying by triplication seems to be a common human practice. In some contexts this results in the triple recitation of a whole prayer or an action.

Another example of triple intensification in our liturgy actually predates the liturgy because it is a direct citation of Isaiah 6:3, "Holy, Holy, Holy." Some three-fold elements result from reducing a litany to its minimum form. The best example is "Lamb of God" which we say three times, but when it was introduced in about AD 800 it was as a litany sung continuously until the breaking of all the consecrated bread was finished.

Other forms of intensifying triplication are found in our Mass, but with some variation each time, such as in the revised Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer 1) "these gifts, these offerings, these unblemished sacrifices". Similarly on Good Friday we find the ancient Trishagion (Thrice-holy) in "Holy is God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal."

It appears that the role of such triplications is to intensify our focus on some element. The repetition and expansion in "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous" thus has the effect of making us pause, in a sense, to really acknowledge what we are saying. It helps it "sink in", so to speak.