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Church and people at the close of the Middle Ages - Parish life around 1500

4 important questions on Church and people at the close of the Middle Ages - Parish life around 1500

How did the Church influence people's lives?

The influence of the Church in people's lives can hardly be overestimated: its calendar shaped people's perceptions of time and its rites of passage punctuated the journey from cradle to grave.
From about 1200, a rather uneven network of parishes served as the principal framework for local ceremonial life in general, and for the administration of the sacraments in particular.

What demands were there for parish membership?

People were expected to know basic prayers like the Our Father and Hail Mary in Latin as well as to memorize the Ten Commandments and the statement of faith known as the Creed.
Clergymen exhorted parishioners to avoid the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride) and attend to the seven works of mercy (feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, receiving the stranger, tending the sick, visiting prisoners, burying the dead).

What happened at the mass?

The mass was the cornerstone was the cornerstone of late medieval religion.
The faithful believed that at the moment when the priest standing at an altar repeated Christ's words, the bread and wine became the very body and blood of Jesus (transubstatiation). Worshippers at mass could therefore, in a literal sense, see their God, and, at Easter communion, receive Him into their own bodies.

What did churches provide in a cultural sense?

Late medieval churches were multimedia performance centres appealing to the senses: they provided colourful wall paintings of saints, sung masses with organ music and a smell of incense.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Early Modern History

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