Transcript The Medieval Church - smsk

The Medieval Church
traditioninaction.org
Presentation created by Robert L. Martinez
Primary Content Source: Prentice Hall World History
Images as cited.
history.org.uk
In 597, Pope Gregory I sent Augustine to
convert the Anglo-Saxons in England. From
Britain, missionaries went back to the
continent to spread their faith among Germanic
tribes.
ephesians4-15.blogspot.com
• In manor villages, the
priest of the parish was
usually the only contact
people had with the
Church.
• The priest cared for the
souls of his parishioners by
celebrating the mass and
by administering the
sacraments of the Church.
• Christians believed that
faith in Christ and
participation in the
sacraments would lead
them to salvation
.
1st-art-gallery.com
Church as part of everyday life.
• Christian rituals and
faith were part of the
fabric of everyday life.
Priests:
– married peasants and
nobles,
– baptized their children,
– buried the dead in
sacred ground.
godecookery.com
Importance of the Church in everyday
life.
• The church was a social
center as well as a place
of worship.
– some priests ran
schools.
– Villages took pride in
their church buildings
and decorated them
with care.
myaudioschool.com
Indulgences in the Middle Ages
• The people in medieval
times in Europe were
very religious.
• Most believed the
Church knew best how
they should behave and
what they should
believe.
Heaven in the Middle Ages
• ". The Church also
made it very clear that
if you wanted to get to
heaven, you had to
participate in the
sacraments.
This was very comforting to
people in medieval times.
• did not understand a word
of the mass,
– because the mass was in
Latin, a language they did not
understand.
• could not read or write.
• did understand that if they
followed the sacraments,
they would get to heaven.
• The life of most people in
medieval times was a harsh
one. The thought of
escaping to heaven was
most attractive.
Indulgences – paying for sacraments
• The Catholic Church
charged people money
for some of the
sacraments and
accepted (required)
donations to feed the
poor and to build new
churches.
• The sacraments
controlled daily life.
• Some like baptism were
done once, others - like
penance - were done
many times.
• there was a charge for
each sacrament
– the sacraments
generated enormous
wealth for the church
• The local priest and
other church officials
worked very hard.
• wealth flowed into the
church because
Christianity was at the
core of medieval life.
• Everything revolved
around religion.
Relics
• Some churches housed
relics, or remains of
martyrs or other holy
figures.
• Local people, as well as
visitors, might make
pilgrimages to pray before
the relics.
• A holy relic is something
that belonged to or was
touched by Jesus or a saint.
A treasured relic might be
bone fragment or a tiny
piece of the cross.
1 OF 3. The tunic of Saint Francis of
Assisi is seen during a exhibition in
ubbio in this September 30, 2006 file
photo. Carbon dating has cast doubt
on the authenticity of one of four
robes kept by Italian churches as
relics of the medieval Saint Francis of
Assisi, though another tunic, a belt
and a cushion were found to be the
khm.uio.no
right vintage.
• Tales of miracles that
supposedly happened
because of the presence
of a holy relic were very
popular.
• Since there were a great
many parish churches and
cathedrals, some of the
relics may not have been
real.
• But all relics had a story,
and all were treasured.
Foot of St. James Nemur, France
Tithe
• To support itself and its
parishes, the Church
required Christians to
pay a tithe, or tax equal
to a tenth of their
income.
• The tithe had its
origins in the Bible.
bookglutton.com
women
• The Church taught that
men and women were
equal before God.
• But on Earth, women
were viewed as
“daughters of Eve,”
weak and easily led
into sin.
• Thus, they needed the
guidance of men.
medievalists.net
women
• The Church tried to
protect women.
– set a minimum age for
marriage.
– Church courts could fine
men who seriously
injured their wives.
– Yet they often punished
women more harshly
than men for the same
offense.
karenswhimsy.com
Monasteries and convents performed a vital role in preserving
the writings of the ancient world.
• Monks and nuns
copied ancient works
as a form of labor.
• Educated monks and
nuns kept learning
alive.
microsites2.segfl.org.uk
• In the centuries after
the fall of Rome, the
Church carved out a
unique position in
Western Europe.
– It controlled the
spiritual life of
Christians
– became the most
powerful secular force
in medieval Europe.
middle-ages.org.uk
• During the Middle
Ages, the pope was the
spiritual leader of the
Roman Catholic
Church.
– As representative of
Christ on Earth,
medieval popes
eventually claimed
papal supremacy over
all secular rulers.
stsmarthaandmary.org
• The pope headed an
army of churchmen who
supervised Church
activities.
– High clergy, such as
bishops and archbishops,
were usually nobles.
• Like other feudal lords,
some had their own
territories.
• The pope himself held
vast lands in central Italy,
later called the Papal
States.
mrgrayhistory.wikispaces.com
• Church officials were
closely linked to secular
rulers.
– Because churchmen
were often the only
educated people,
– feudal rulers appointed
them to high
government positions.
forum.paradoxplaza.com
• The medieval Christian
Church was dedicated to
the worship of God.
– The only way to avoid the
tortures of hell was to
believe in Christ and
participate in the
sacraments.
– Because the medieval
Church administered the
sacraments, it had
absolute power in
religious matters.
english.cam.ac.uk
• The medieval Church
developed its own
body of laws, known as
canon law, as well as its
own courts.
• Canon law applied to:
–
–
–
–
religious teachings,
the clergy,
marriages,
morals.
romanchristendom.blogspot.com
• The most severe and
terrifying was
excommunication. If
excommunicated,
people could not
receive the sacraments
or a Christian burial.
newworldencyclopedia.org
• A powerful noble who
opposed the Church
could face the interdict.
– an order excluding an
entire town, region, or
kingdom from receiving
most sacraments and
Christian burial.
– Even the most powerful
ruler gave in rather than
face the interdict.
medievalchurchhistory.blogspot.com
• The Church tried to use its
authority to end feudal
warfare.
• It declared periods of
truce, known as the Peace
of God.
• It demanded that fighting
stop between Friday and
Sunday each week on
religious holidays.
• Such efforts may have led
toward the decline of
feudal warfare in the
1100s.
shsworldhistory.wikispaces.com
.
• As the Church’s wealth
grew and power grew,
discipline weakened.
• Pious Christians left
their wealth and lands
to monasteries and
convents, leading some
monks and nuns to
ignore vows of poverty.
• Some clergy lived in
luxury
hemaalliance.com
• Priests could marry
– some spent more time
on family matters than
on Church duties
– some even treated the
priesthood as a family
inheritance.
Throughout the Middle
Ages, voices called for
reform in the Church.
• In 1703, Pope Gregory
VII, a former monk,
outlawed marriage for
priests and prohibited
simony
– the selling of Church
positions. He insisted
that the Church, not
kings or nobles, choose
Church officials.
medievalfamilyck.blogspot.com
.
• In the early 1200s,
Church reformers
Francis of Assisi and
Dominic took a new
approach.
– They set up orders of
friars, monks who did
not live in isolated
monasteries but
traveled around
Europe’s growing towns
preaching to the poor
conservation.catholic.org
• Francis of Assisi set up
the Franciscan Order,
preaching poverty,
humility, and love of
God.
• Soon after, Dominic,
set up the Dominican
Order. Its chief goal
was to combat heresy
by teaching official
Roman Catholic beliefs.
freerepublic.com
Saint Francis of Assisi
• Champion of poor
• Model of living spiritual
life of poverty
• Vow of poverty – more
as a detachment of
material goods rather
than living in rags and
penniless
• Detachment of material
goods we are able to
recognize that God’s
grace truly sustains us.
• This allows us to share
whatever we have with
others more freely
• Mendicant ordermonks who lived like
Christ w/o land or
money.
Religious Communities
•
•
•
•
Dominicans
Carmelites
Capuchins
Augustinians
– Lived in cities
– Benedictines seldom left
monastery
– Begged for their food
– Guides us spiritually
Prayer of St. Francis
• Lord, make me an
instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let
me sow love;
where there is injury,
pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair,
hope;
where there is darkness,
light;
and where there is sadness,
joy.
• Jews flourished in Spain.
The Muslims who
conquered Spain in 711
were tolerant of both
Jews and Christians.
• Muslim Spain became a
center of Jewish culture
and scholarship.
• These Jews served as
officials in Muslim royal
courts.
historyforkids.org
• For centuries, Christians
and Jews lived side by
side in relative peace.
• Early German kings gave
educated Jews positions
at court.
• Many rulers in northern
Europe valued and
protected Jewish
communities, although
they taxed them heavily.
library.yale.edu
• In bad times, antiSemitism, or prejudice
against Jews,
worsened.
• Faced with disasters
they could not
understand, such as
poor economic woes,
illness or famine, many
Christians blamed the
Jews.
lssu.edu
• In response to growing
persecution
– thousands of Jews
migrated to Eastern
Europe. rulers
welcomed the
newcomers’ skills and
knowledge.
– Jewish communities
thrived in Eastern
Europe until modern
times.
sephardicseminary.org