How has Roman Catholic Confession changed throughout the centuries?

Currently, the common practice of confession in the U.S. is... A person completes an examination of conscience, tells the priest how long it has been since their last confession, and then makes their confession, whereupon the priest absolves their sins and gives them a penance, usually to say a few Hail Marys or Our Fathers. In texts written by Catholic Saints, at times they talk about confession. Specifically St. Therese of Liseaux and [St. Gemma](http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2010/08/similarities-between-st-therese-st.html) both mention their confessor in their autobiographies. Implying that they usually confessed to one specific priest, which is not a practice currently taught in U.S catholic schools. St. Francis de Sales also talks about making a general confession in his Introduction to the Devout Life, which he describes as confessing all of one's sins, from their entire life, to one confessor. Then keeping the same confessor, for subsequent confessions. He also describes a very detailed way of making a confession, including stating motives behind sins, etc... A detailed description of his writing on everyday confession can be found in this article: [On Confession](http://www.ccel.org/d/desales/devout_life.iv.xix.html) . Currently, Catholic Schools do not teach to go to one confessor. In fact they do not even mention the term "confessor", but rather "priest." Also, Catholic Schools do not teach to state one's motives, or to make a general confession, if switching confessors. It seems to me that, based on reading the texts of Saints, that Catholic confession has changed somewhat throughout the centuries. If it has not changed then these saints must be describing optional ways of confessing. My specific question is, has confession changed throughout the centuries, specifically since the 16th century, and if so how?