§ 104. PUBLIC WORSHIP AND ART.
Public worship had for a long time been popularly regarded as
a performance fraught with magical power. The ignorant character of
the priests led to frequent setting aside of preaching as something
unessential, so that the service became purely liturgical. But now
popes and synods urged the importance of rearing a race of learned
priests, and the carefully prepared and eloquent sermons of Franciscans
and Dominicans found great acceptance with the people. The Schoolmen
gave to the doctrine of the sacraments its scientific form. The
veneration of saints, relics, and images became more and more the
central point of worship. Besides ecclesiastical architecture, which
reached its highest development in the 13th century, the other arts
began to be laid under contribution to beautify the ceremonial, the
dresses of the celebrants, and the inner parts of the buildings.
§ 104.1. =The Liturgy and the Sermon.=--The Roman =Liturgy= was
universally adopted except in Spain. When it was proposed at
the Synod of Toledo in A.D. 1088 to set aside the old Mozarabic
liturgy (§ 88, 1), the people rose against the proposal, and the
ordeals of combat and fire decided in favour of retaining the
old service. From that time both liturgies were used side by
side. The Slavic ritual was abandoned in Moravia and Bohemia
in the 10th century. The language of the church services
everywhere was and continued to be the Latin. The quickening
of the monkish orders in the 11th century, especially the
Cluniacs and Cistercians, but more particularly the rise of
the Franciscans and Dominicans in the 13th century, gave a great
impulse to preaching. Almost all the great monks and schoolmen
were popular preachers. The crowds that flocked around them
as they preached in the vernacular were enormous. Even in the
regular services the preaching was generally in the language
of the people, but quotations from Scripture and the Fathers,
as a mark of respect, were made in Latin and then translated.
Sermons addressed to the clergy and before academic audiences
were always in Latin.--As a preacher of repentance and of the
crusades, Fulco of Neuilly, † A.D. 1202, regarded by the people
as a saint and a miracle worker, had a wonderful reputation
(§ 94, 4). Of all mediæval preachers, however, none can be
compared for depth, spirituality, and popular eloquence with
the Franciscan =Berthold of Regensburg=, pupil and friend of
David of Augsburg (§ 103, 10), one of the most powerful preachers
in the German tongue that ever lived. He died in A.D. 1272. He
wandered from town to town preaching to crowds, often numbering
100,000 men, of the grace of God in Christ, against the abuse
of indulgences and false trust in saints, and the idea of the
meritoriousness of pilgrimages, etc. His sermons are of great
value as illustrations of the strength and richness of the old
German language. Roger Bacon too (§ 103, 8), usually so chary
of praise, eulogises _Frater Bertholdus Alemannus_ as a preacher
worth more than the two mendicant orders together.
§ 104.2. =Definition and Number of the Sacraments=
(§§ 58; 70, 2).--Radbert acknowledged only two: Baptism
including confirmation, and the Lord’s Supper. Rabanus Maurus
by separately enumerating the bread and the cup, and counting
confirmation as well as baptism, made four. Hugo St. Victor again
held them to be an indefinite number. But he distinguished three
kinds: those on which salvation depends, Baptism, Confirmation,
and the Supper; those not necessary and forming important aids
to salvation, sprinkling with holy water, confession, extreme
unction, marriage, etc.; those necessary for particular callings,
the ordination of priests, sacred vestments. Yet he prepared the
way for the final ecclesiastical conception of the sacraments,
by placing its _Elementa Corporalia_ under the threefold
category as _divinam gratiam ex similitudine repræsentantia_,
_ex institutione significantia_, and _ex consecratione
continentia_. Peter the Lombard took practically the same
view, but fixed the number of the Sacraments at seven: Baptism,
Confirmation (§ 35, 4), the Supper, Penance, Extreme Unction,
Marriage, and Ordination (§ 45, 1). This number was first
officially sanctioned by the Florentine Council of A.D. 1439
(§ 67, 6). Alexander of Hales gave a special rank to Baptism
and the Supper, as alone instituted by Christ, while Aquinas
gave this rank to all the seven. All the ecclesiastical
consecrations and benedictions were distinguished from the
sacraments as _Sacramentalia_.--The Schoolmen distinguished
the sacraments of the O.T., as _ex opera operante_, _i.e._
efficacious only through faith in a coming Redeemer, from
the sacraments of the N.T. as _ex opera operato_, _i.e._ as
efficacious by mere receiving without the exercise of positive
faith on the part of all who had not committed a mortal sin.
Against old sectaries (§§ 41, 3; 63, 1) and new (§§ 108, 7, 12)
the scholastic divines maintained that even unworthy and
unbelieving priests could validly dispense the sacraments,
if only there was the _intentio_ to administer it in the form
prescribed by the church.[309]
§ 104.3. =The Sacrament of the Altar.=--At the fourth Lateran
Council of A.D. 1215 the doctrine of Transubstantiation was
finally accepted (§ 101, 2). The fear lest any of the blood
of the Lord should be spilt led to the withholding from the
12th century of the cup from the laity, and its being given
only to the priests. If not the cause, then the consequence,
of this was that the priests were regarded as the only full and
perfect partakers of the Lord’s table. Kings at their coronation
and at the approach of death were sometimes by special favour
allowed to partake of the cup. The withdrawal of the cup from
the laity was dogmatically justified, specially by Alex. of
Hales, by the doctrine of _concomitantia_, _i.e._ that in the
body the blood was contained. Fear of losing any fragment also
led to the substitution of wafers, _the host_, for the bread
that should be broken.--A consecrated host is kept in the
_Tabernaculum_, a niche in the wall on the right of the high
altar, in the so-called _liburium_ or _Sanctissimum_, _i.e._
a gold or silver casket, often ornamented with rich jewels. It
is taken forth, touched only by the priests, and exhibited to
the kneeling people during the service and in solemn processions.
§ 104.4. =Penance.=--Gratian’s decree (§ 99, 5) left it to
the individual believer’s decision whether the sinner could
be reconciled to God by heart penitence without confession. But
in accordance also with the teaching of the Lombard, confession
of mortal sins (Gal. v. 19 ff. and Cor. v. 9 f.), or, in case
that could not be, the desire at heart to make it, was declared
indispensable. The forgiveness of sins was still, however,
regarded as God’s exclusive prerogative, and the priest could
bind and loose only in regard to the fellowship of the church
and the enjoyment of the sacraments. Before him, however,
Hugo St. Victor had begun to transcend these limits; for he,
distinguishing between the guilt and the punishment of the
sinner, ascribed indeed to God alone the absolution from the
guilt of sin on the ground of sincere repentance, but ascribed
to the exercise of the priestly function, the absolution from the
punishment of eternal death, in accordance with Matthew xviii. 18
and John xx. 23. Richard St. Victor held that the punishment
of eternal death, which all mortal sins as well as venial sins
entail, can be commuted into temporal punishment by priestly
absolution, atoned for by penances imposed by the priests, _e.g._
prayers, fastings, alms, etc.; whereas without such satisfaction
they can be atoned for only by the pains of purgatory (§ 61, 4).
Innocent III., at the fourth Lateran Council of A.D. 1215, had
the obligation of confession of all sins raised into a dogma,
and obliged all believers under threat of excommunication to
make confession at least once a year, as preparation for the
Easter communion. The Provincial Synod at Toulouse in A.D. 1229
(§ 109, 2) insisted on compulsory confession and communion three
times a year, at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. The three
penitential requirements, enforced first by Hildebert of Tours,
and adopted by the Lombard, _Contritio cordis_, _Confessio oris_,
and _Satisfactio operis_ continued henceforth in force. But
Hugo’s and Richard’s theory of absolution displaced not only
that of the Lombard, but, by an extension of the sacerdotal
idea to the absolution of the sinner from guilt, led to the
introduction of a full-blown theory of indulgence (§ 106, 2).
As the ground of the scientific construction given it by the
Schoolmen of the 13th century, especially by Aquinas, the
Catholic Church doctrine of penance received its final shape
at the Council of Florence in A.D. 1439. Penance as the fourth
sacrament consists of hearty repentance, auricular confession,
and satisfaction; it takes form in the words of absolution,
_Ego te absolvo_; and it is efficacious for the forgiveness of
sins. Any breach of the secrecy of the confessional was visited
by the fourth Lateran Council with excommunication, deposition,
and lifelong confinement in a monastery. The exaction of a
confessional fee, especially at the Easter confession, appears
as an increment of the priest’s income in many mediæval documents.
Its prohibition by several councils was caused by its simoniacal
abuse. By the introduction of confessors, separate from the local
clergy, the custom fell more and more into disuse.
§ 104.5. =Extreme Unction.=--Although as early as A.D. 416
Innocent I. had described anointing of the sick with holy oil
(Mark vi. 13; Jas. v. 14) as a _Genus Sacramenti_ (§ 61, 3),
extreme unction as a sacrament made little progress till the
9th century. The Synod of Chalons in A.D. 813 calls it quite
generally a means of grace for the weak of soul and body. The
Lombard was the first to give it the fifth place among the seven
sacraments as _Unctio extrema_ and _Sacramentum exeuntium_,
ascribing to it _Peccatorum remissio et corporalis infirmitatio
alleviatus_. Original sin being atoned for by baptism, and actual
sins by penance, Albert the Great and Aquinas describe it as the
purifying from the _Reliquiæ peccatorum_ which even after baptism
and penance hinder the soul from entering into its perfect rest.
Bodily healing is only a secondary aim, and is given only if
thereby the primary end of spiritual healing is not hindered.
It was long debated whether, in case of recovery, it should be
repeated when death were found approaching, and it was at last
declared to be admissible. The Council of Trent defines _Extreme
Unction_ as _Sacr. pœnitentiæ totius vitæ consummativum_. The
form of its administration was finally determined to be the
anointing of eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hands, as well as
(except in women) the feet and loins, with holy oil, consecrated
by the bishop on Maundy Thursday. Confession and communion
precede anointing. The three together constitute the _Viaticum_
of the soul in its last journey. After receiving extreme unction
recipients are forbidden again to touch the ground with their
bare feet or to have marital intercourse.
§ 104.6. =The Sacrament of Marriage= (§ 89, 4).--When marriage
came generally to be regarded as a sacrament in the proper sense,
the laws of marriage were reconstructed and the administration
of them committed to the church. It had long been insisted upon
by the church with ever-increasing decidedness, that the priestly
benediction must precede the marriage ceremonial, and that bridal
communion must accompany the civil action. Hence marriage had to
be performed in the immediate vicinity of a church, _ante ostium
ecclesiæ_. As another than the father often gave away the bride,
this position of sponsor was claimed by the church for the priest.
Marriage thus lost its civil character, and the priest came to
be regarded as performing it in his official capacity not in name
of the family, but in name of the church. Christian marriage in
the early times required only mutual consent of parties (§ 39, 1),
but the Council of Trent demanded a solemn agreement between
bride and bridegroom before the officiating priest and two or
three witnesses. In order to determine more exactly hindrances
to marriage (§ 61, 2) it was made a law at the second Lateran
Council in A.D. 1139, and confirmed at the fourth in A.D. 1215,
that the parties proposing to marry should be proclaimed in
church. To each part of the sacrament the _character indelibilis_
is ascribed, and so divorce was absolutely forbidden, even
in the case of adultery (in spite of Matt. v. 32 and xix. 9),
though _separatio a mensa et toro_ was allowed. Innocent III.
in A.D. 1215 reduced the prohibited degrees from the seventh
to the fourth in the line of blood relationship (§ 61, 2).
§ 104.7. =New Festivals.=--The worship of Mary (§ 57, 2)
received an impulse from the institution of the Feast of the
Birth of Mary on 8th of September. To this was added in the
south of France in the 12th century, the Feast of the =Immaculate
Conception= on the 8th December. Radbert (§ 91, 4) by his
doctrine of _Sanctificatio in utero_ gave basis to the theory
of the Virgin’s freedom from original sin in her conception
and bearing. Anselm of Canterbury, however, taught in _Cur Deus
Homo?_ ii. 16, that Mary was conceived and born in sin, and that
she like all others had sinned in Adam. Certain canons of Lyons,
in A.D. 1140, revived Radbert’s theory, but raised the _Sanctif.
in utero_ into the _Immaculata conceptio_. St. Bernard protested
against the doctrine and the festival; sinless conception is a
prerogative of the Redeemer alone. Mary like us all was conceived
in sin, but was sanctified before the birth by Divine power,
so that her whole life was faultless; if one imagines that Mary’s
sinless conception of her Son had her own sinless conception
as a necessary presupposition, this would need to be carried
back _ad infinitum_, and to festivals of Immaculate Conceptions
there would be no end. This view of a _Sanctificatio in utero_,
with repudiation of the _Conceptio immaculata_, was also
maintained by Alex. of Hales, Bonaventura, Albert the Great,
and Aquinas. The feast of the Conception, with the predicate
“immaculate” dropped, gradually came to be universally observed.
The Franciscans adopted it in this limited sense at Pisa, in
A.D. 1263, but when, beginning with Duns Scotus (§§ 113, 112),
the doctrine of the immaculate conception came to be regarded
as a distinctive dogma of the order, the Dominicans felt
called upon to offer it their most strenuous opposition.[310]
(Continuation, § 112, 4.)--To the feast of All Saints, on
1st November, the Cluniacs added in A.D. 998, the feast of
=All Souls= on 2nd November, for intercession of believers
on behalf of the salvation of souls in purgatory. In the
12th century the =Feast of the Trinity= was introduced on
the Sunday after Pentecost. Out of the transubstantiation
doctrine arose the =Corpus Christi Festival=, on the Thursday
after Trinity. A pious nun of Liège, Juliana, in A.D. 1261,
saw in a vision the full moon with a halo around it, and an
inward revelation interpreted this phenomenon to indicate that
the festal cycle of the church still wanted a festival in honour
of the eucharist. Urban IV. gave effect to this suggestion in
A.D. 1264, avowedly in consequence of the miracle of the mass
of Bolsena. A priest of Bolsena celebrating mass spilt a drop
of consecrated wine, which left a blood-red stain on the corporal
or pall (§ 60, 5), in the form of a host. The festival did not
come into favour till Clement V. renewed its institution at
the Council of Vienne, in A.D. 1311. The church, by order
of John XXIII. in A.D. 1316, celebrated it by a magnificent
procession, in which the _liburium_ was carried with all pomp.
§ 104.8. =The Veneration of Saints= (§ 88, 4).--The numerous
=Canonizations=, from the 12th century exclusively in the
hands of the popes, gave an impulse to saint worship. It was
the duty of _Advocatus diaboli_ to try to disprove the reports
of virtues and miracles attributed to candidates. The proofs
of holiness adduced were generally derived from thoroughly
fabulous sources. The introduction of the name of accepted
candidates into the canon of the mass gave rise to the term
canonization. =Beatification= was a lower degree of honour,
often a preliminary to canonization at a later period. It
carried with it the veneration not of the whole church, but
of particular churches or districts. The Dominican Jacobus
a Voragine, who died in A.D. 1298, in his _Legenda aurea_
afforded a pattern for numerous late legends of the saints.
A Parisian theologian who styled it _Legenda ferrea_, was
publicly expelled from his office. The =Veneration of Mary=,
to whom were rendered _Hyperdoulia_ in contradistinction from
the _Doulia_ of the saints, not only among the people, but with
the most cultured theologians, publicly and privately, literally
and figuratively, in prose and poetry, was almost equal to the
worship rendered to God, and indeed often overshadowed it. The
angel’s salutation (Luke i. 28) was in every prayer. Its frequent
repetition led to the use of the _Rosary_, a rose wreath for the
most blessed of women. The great rosary attributed to St. Dominic
has fifteen decades, or 150 smaller pearls of Mary, each of which
represents an _Ave Maria_, and after every ten there is a greater
Paternoster pearl. The small or common rosary has only five
decades of beads of Mary with a Paternoster bead for each decade.
Thrice repeated it forms the so-called _Psalter of Mary_. The
first appearance of the rosary in devotion was with the monk
Macarius in the 4th century, who took 300 stones in his lap,
and after every Paternoster threw one away. The rosary devotion
is also practised by Moslems and Buddhists. In cloisters,
Saturday was usually dedicated to the Mother of God, and
was begun by a special _Officium S. Mariæ_. May was called
the month of Mary.--In the 11th century no further trace is
found of the Frankish opposition to =Image Worship= (§ 92, 1).
But this in no way hindered the growth of =Relic Worship=.
Returning crusaders showered on the West innumerable relics,
which notwithstanding many sceptics were received generally
with superstitious reverence. Castles and estates were
often bartered for pretended relics of a distinguished
saint, and such treasures were frequently stolen at the
risk of life. No story of a trafficker in relics was too
absurd to be believed.--=Pilgrimages=, especially to Rome
and Palestine, were no less in esteem among the Western
Christians of the 10th century during the Roman pornocracy
(§ 96, 1) or the tyranny of the Seljuk dynasty in Palestine
(§ 94). The expectation of the approaching end of the world,
rather gave them an impulse during this century, which reached
its fullest expression in the crusades.--Continuation, § 115, 9.
§ 104.9. The earliest trace of a commemoration of =St. Ursula
and her 11,000 Virgins= is met with in the 10th century.
Excavations in the _Ager Ursulanus_ near Cologne in A.D. 1155
led to the discovery of some thousand skeletons, several of
them being those of males, with inscribed tablets, one of the
fictitious inscriptions referring to an otherwise unknown pope
Cyriæus. St. Elizabeth of Schönau (§ 107, 1) at the same time
had visions in which the Virgin gave her authentic account of
their lives. Ursula, the fair daughter of a British king of
the 3rd century, was to have married a pagan prince; she craved
three years’ reprieve and got from her father eleven ships, each
with an equipment of a thousand virgins, with which she sailed
up the Rhine to Basel, and thence with her companions travelled
on foot a pilgrimage to Rome. On her return, in accordance with
the Divine instruction, Pope Cyriæus accompanied her, whose
name was on this account struck out of the list by the offended
cardinals; for as Martinus Polonus says, _Credebant plerique
eum non propter devotionem sed propter obtectamenta virginum
papatum dimississe_. Near Cologne they met the army of the Huns,
by whom they were all massacred, at last even Ursula herself
on her persistent refusal to marry the barbaric chief.--In
the absence of any historical foundations for this legend,
an explanation has been attempted by identifying Ursula with
a goddess of the German mythology. An older suggestion is
that perhaps an ancient inscription may have given rise to
the legend.[311]
§ 104.10. =Hymnology.=--The Augustan age of scholasticism
was that also of the composition of Latin hymns and sequences
(§ 88, 2). The most distinguished sacred poets were Odo of
Clugny, king Robert of France (_Veni, sancte Spiritus, et
emitte_), Damiani, Abælard, Hildebert of Tours, St. Bernard,
Adam of St. Victor,[312] Bonaventura, Aquinas, the Franciscan
Thomas of Celano, A.D. 126O (_Dies iræ_), and Jacopone da Todi,
† A.D. 1306 (_Stabat mater dolorosa_). The latter, an eccentric
enthusiast and miracle-working saint, called himself “_Stultus
propter Christum_.” Originally a wealthy advocate, living a life
of revel and riot, he was led by the sudden death of his young
wife to forsake the world. He courted the world’s scorn in the
most literal manner, appearing in the public market bridled like
a beast of burden and creeping on all fours, and at another time
appearing naked, tarred and feathered at the marriage of a niece.
But he glowed with fervent love for the Crucified and a fanatical
veneration for the blessed Virgin. He also fearlessly raised his
voice against the corruption of the clergy and the papacy, and
vigorously denounced the ambition of Boniface VIII. For this he
was imprisoned and fed on bread and water. When tauntingly asked,
“When wilt thou come out?” he answered in words that were soon
fulfilled, “So soon as thou shall come down.” =Sacred Poetry= in
the vernacular was used only in extra-ecclesiastical devotions.
The oldest German Easter hymn belongs to the 12th century.[313]
The Minnesingers of the 13th century composed popular songs
of a religious character, especially in praise of Mary; there
were also sacred songs for travellers, sailors, soldiers, etc.
Heretics separated from the church and its services spread their
views by means of hymns. St. Francis wrote Italian hymns, and
among his disciples Fra Pacifico, Bonaventura, Thomas of Celano,
and Jacopone followed worthily in his footsteps.
§ 104.11. =Church Music= (§ 88, 2).--The Gregorian _Cantus
firmus_ soon fell into disfavour and disuetude. The rarity,
costliness, and corruption of the antiphonaries, the difficulty
of their notation and of their musical system, and the want of
accurately trained singers, combined to bring this about. Singers
too had often made arbitrary alterations. Hence alongside of the
_Cantus firmus_ there gradually grew up a _Discantus_ or _Cantus
figuratus_, and instead of singing in unison, singing in harmony
was introduced. Rules of harmony, concord, and intervals were
now elaborated by the monk Hucbald of Rheims about A.D. 900,
while the German monk Reginus about A.D. 920 and the abbot Opo
of Clugny did much for the theory and practice of music. In place
of the intricate Gregorian notation the Tuscan Benedictine Guido
of Arezzo, A.D. 1000-1050, introduced the notation that is still
used, which made it possible to write the harmony along with
the melody, counterpoint, _i.e._ _punctum contra punctum_. The
discoverer of the measure of the notes was Franco of Cologne
about A.D. 1200. The organ was commonly used in churches. The
Germans were the greatest masters in its construction and in
the playing of it.--Continuation, § 115, 8.
§ 104.12. =Ecclesiastical Architecture.=--Church building, which
the barbarism of the 10th century, and the widespread expectation
of the coming end of the world had restrained, flourished during
the 11th century in an extraordinary manner. The endeavour to
infuse the German spirit into the ancient style of architecture
gave rise to the =Romance Style of Architecture=, which prevailed
during the 12th century. It was based upon the structure of
the old basilicas, the most important innovation being the
introduction of the vaulted in place of the flat wooden roof,
which made the interior lighter and heightened the perspective
effect. The symbolical and fanciful ornamentation was also richly
developed by figures from the plants and animals of Germany, from
native legends. Towers were also added as fingers pointing upward,
sometimes over the entrance to the middle aisle or at both sides
of the entrance, sometimes over the point where the nave and
transepts intersected one another, or on both sides of the choir.
The finest specimens of this style were the cathedrals of Spires,
Mainz, and Worms. But alongside of this appeared the beginnings
of the so-called =Gothic Architecture=, which reached its height
in the 13th and 14th centuries. Here the German ideas shook
themselves free from the bondage of the old basilica style.
Retaining the early ground plan, its pointed arch admitted
of development in breadth and height to any extent. The pointed
arch was first learnt from the Saracens, but its application to
the Gothic architecture was quite original, because it was not as
with the Saracens decorative, but constructive. The blank walls
were changed into supporting pillars, and became a magnificent
framework for the display of ingenious window architecture. A
rich stone structure rose upon the cruciform ground plan, and
the powerful arches towered up into airy heights. Tall tapering
pillars symbolized the heavenward strivings of the soul. The
rose window over the portal as the symbol of silence teaches that
nothing worldly has a voice there. The gigantic peaked windows
send through their beautifully painted glass a richly coloured
light full on the vast area. Everything in the structure points
upward, and this symbolism is finally expressed in the lofty
towers, which lose themselves in giddy heights. The victory over
the kingdom of darkness is depicted in the repulsive reptiles,
demonic forms, and dragon shapes which are made to bear up the
pillars and posts, and to serve as water carriers. The wit of
artists has made even bishops and popes perform these menial
offices, just as Dante condemned many popes to the infernal
regions.[314]
§ 104.13. The most famous architects were Benedictines. The
master builder along with the scholars trained by him formed
independent corporations, free from any other jurisdiction.
They therefore called themselves “=Free Masons=,” and erected
“=Lodges=,” where they met for consultation and discussion. From
the 13th century these lodges fell more and more into the hands
of the laity, and became training schools of architecture. To
them we are largely indebted for the development of the Gothic
style. Their most celebrated works are the Cologne cathedral
and the Strassburg minster. The foundation of the former was
laid under Archbishop Conrad of Hochsteden in A.D. 1248; the
choir was completed and consecrated in A.D. 1322 (§ 174, 9).
Erwin of Steinbach began the building of the Strassburg minster
in A.D. 1275.
§ 104.14. =Statuary and Painting.=--Under the Hohenstaufens
=statuary=, which had been disallowed by the ancient church,
rose into favour. Its first great master in Italy was Nicola
Pisano, who died in A.D. 1274. Earlier indeed a statuary school
had been formed in Saxony, of which no names but great works
have come down to us. The goldsmith’s craft and metallurgy were
brought into the service of the church by the German artists,
and show not only wonderful technical skill, but also high
attainment in ideal art. In =Painting= the Byzantines taught
the Italians, and these again the Germans. At the beginning
of the 13th century there was a school of painting at Pisa and
Siena, claiming St. Luke as its patron, and seeking to impart
more life and warmth to the stiff figures of the Byzantines.
Their greatest masters were Guido of Siena and Giunta of Pisa,
and the Florentine Cimabue, † A.D. 1300. Mosaic painting mostly
on a golden ground was in favour in Italy. Painting on glass
is first met with in the beginning of the 11th century in the
monastery of Tegernsee in Bavaria, and soon spread over Germany
and all over Europe.[315]--Continuation, § 115, 13.
§ 105. NATIONAL CUSTOMS AND THE NATIONAL LITERATURE.
It was an age full of the most wonderful contradictions and
anomalies in the life of the people, but every phenomenon bore
the character of unquestionable power, and the church applied the
artificer’s chisel to the unhewn marble block. In club law the most
brutal violence prevailed, but bowed itself willingly or unwillingly
before the might of an idea. The basest sensuality existed alongside
of the most simple self-denial and renunciation of the world, the most
wonderful displays of self-forgetting love. The most sacred solemnities
were parodied, and then men turned in awful earnest to manifest the
profoundest anxiety for their soul’s salvation. Alongside of unmeasured
superstition we meet with the boldest freethinking, and out of the
midst of widespread ignorance and want of culture there radiated forth
great thoughts, profound conceptions, and suggestive anticipations.
§ 105.1. =Knighthood and the Peace of God.=--Notwithstanding
its rude violence there was a deep religious undertone in
knighthood, which came out in Spain in the war with the Saracens,
and throughout Europe in the crusades. What princes could not do
to check savagery was to some extent accomplished by the church
by means of the injunction of the Peace of God. In A.D. 1034
the severity of famine in France led to acts of cannibalism
and murder, which the bishops and synods severely punished. In
A.D. 1041 the bishops of Southern France enjoined the Peace of
God, according to which under threat of anathema all feuds were
to be suspended from Wednesday evening to Monday morning, as the
days of the ascension, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
At a later council at Narbonne in A.D. 1054, Advent to Epiphany,
Lent to eight days after Easter, from the Sunday before Ascension
to the end of the week of Pentecost, as well as the ember days
and the festivals of Mary and the Apostles, were added. Even on
other days, churches, cloisters, hospitals, and churchyards, as
well as priests, monks, pilgrims, merchants, and agriculturists,
in short, all unarmed men, and, by the Council of Clermont,
A.D. 1095, even all crusaders, were included in the peace of
God. Its healthful influence was felt even outside of France,
and at the 3rd Lateran Council in A.D. 1179 Alexander III. raised
it to the rank of a universally applicable law of the church.
§ 105.2. =Popular Customs.=--Superstition resting on old
paganism introduced a Christian mythology. In almost all
the popular legends the devil bore a leading part, and he
was generally represented as a dupe who was cheated out of
his bargain in the end. The most sacred things were made the
subjects of blasphemous parodies. On =Fool’s Festival= on New
Year’s day in France, mock popes, bishops, and abbots were
introduced and all the holy actions mimicked in a blasphemous
manner. Of a similar nature was the _Festum innocentum_ (§ 57, 1)
enacted by schoolboys at Christmas. Also at Christmas time the
so-called =Feast of Asses= was celebrated. At Rouen dramatic
representation of the prophecies of Christ’s birth were given;
at Beauvais, the flight into Egypt. This relic of pagan license
was opposed by the bishops, but encouraged by the lower clergy.
After bishops and councils succeeded in banishing these fooleries
from consecrated places they soon ceased to be celebrated. Under
the name of =Calends=, because their gatherings were on the
Calends of each month, brotherhoods composed of clerical and
lay members sprang up in the beginning of the 13th century
throughout Germany and France, devoting themselves to prayer
and saying masses for living and deceased members and relatives.
This pious purpose was indeed soon forgotten, and the meetings
degenerated into riotous carousings.
§ 105.3. =Two Royal Saints.=--=St. Elizabeth=, daughter of
Andrew II. of Hungary, married in her 14th year to St. Louis IV.,
Landgrave of Thuringia, was made a widow in her 20th year
by the death of her husband in the crusade of Frederick II.
in A.D. 1227, and thereafter suffered many privations at the
hand of her brother-in-law. Her father confessor inspired her
with a fanatical spirit of self denial. She assumed in Marburg
the garb of the Franciscan nuns, took the three vows, and retired
into a house of mercy, where she submitted to be scourged by
her confessor. There she died in her 24th year in A.D. 1231.
Her remains are credited with the performance of many miracles.
She was canonized by Gregory IX., in A.D. 1235, and in the
14th century the order of Elizabethan nuns was instituted for
ministering to the poor and sick.[316]--=St. Hedwig=, aunt of
Elizabeth, married Henry duke of Silesia, in her 12th year.
After discharging her duties of wife, mother, and princess
faithfully, she took along with her husband the vow of chastity,
and out of the sale of her bridal ornaments built a nunnery at
Trebnitz, where she died in A.D. 1243 in her 69th year. Canonized
in A.D. 1268, her remains were deposited in the convent church,
which became on that account a favourite resort of pilgrims.
§ 105.4. =Evidences of Sainthood.=
1. =Stigmatization.= Soon after St. Francis’ death in A.D. 1226,
the legend spread that two years before, during a forty days’
fast in the Apennines, a six-winged seraph imprinted on his
body the nail prints of the wounded Saviour. The saint’s
humility, it was said, prevented him speaking of the miracle
except to those in closest terms of intimacy. The papal bull
canonizing the saint, however, issued in A.D. 1228, knows
nothing of this wonderful occurrence. What was then told of
the great saint was subsequently ascribed to about 100 other
ascetics, male and female. Some sceptical critics attributed
the phenomenon to an impressionable temperament, others
again accounted for all such stories by assuming that they
were purely fabulous, or that the marks had been deceitfully
made with human hands. Undoubtedly St. Francis had made
those wounds upon his own body. That pain should have been
felt on certain occasions in the wounds may be accounted for,
especially in the case of females, who constituted the great
majority of stigmatized individuals, on pathological grounds.
2. =Bilocation.= The Catholic Church Lexicon, published in
A.D. 1882 (II. 840), maintains that it is a fact universally
believed that saints often appeared at the same time at
places widely removed from one another. Examples are given
from the lives of Anthony of Padua, Francis Xavier, Liguori,
etc. This is explained by the supposition that either God
gives this power to the saint or sends angels to assume his
form in different places.
§ 105.5. =Religious Culture of the People.=--Unsuccessful
attempts were made by the Hohenstaufens to institute a public
school system and compulsory education. Waldensians and such
like (§ 108) obtained favour by spreading instruction through
vernacular preaching, reading, and singing. The Dominicans took
a hint from this. The Council of Toulouse, A.D. 1229 (§ 109, 2),
forbade laymen to read the Scriptures, even the Psalter and
Breviary, in the vulgar tongue. Summaries of the Scripture
history were allowed. Of this sort was the =Rhyming Bible=
in Dutch by Jacob of Maërlant, † A.D. 1291, which gives in
rhyme the O.T. history, the Life of Jesus, and the history of
the Jews to the destruction of Jerusalem. In the 13th century
=Rhyming Legends= gave in the vernacular the substance of the
Latin Martyrologies. The oldest German example in 3 bks. by
an unknown author contains 100,000 rhyming lines, on Christ
and Mary, the Apostles and the saints in the order of the
church year. Still more effectively was information spread
among the people during the 11th and subsequent centuries
by the performance of =Sacred Plays=. From simple responsive
songs they were developed into regular dramas adapted to
the different festivals. Besides historical plays which were
called =Mysteries==_ministeria_ as representations of the
_Ministri eccl._, there were allegorical and moral plays called
=Moralities=, in which moral truths were personified under the
names of the virtues and vices. The numerous pictures, mosaics,
and reliefs upon the walls helped greatly to spread instruction
among the people.[317]
§ 105.6. =The National Literature= (§ 89, 3).--_Walter v. d.
Vogelweide_, † A.D. 1230, sang the praises of the Lord, the
Virgin, and the church, and lashed the clerical vices and
hierarchical pretensions of his age. The 12th century editor
of the pagan _Nibelungenlied_ gave it a slightly Christian
gloss. _Wolfram of Eschenbach_, however, a Christian poet
in the highest sense, gave to the pagan legend of Parcival
a thoroughly Christian character in the story of the Holy
Grail and the Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur. His
antipodes as a purely secular poet was _Godfrey of Strassburg_,
whose Tristan and Isolt sets forth a thoroughly sensual picture
of carnal love; yet as the sequel of this we have a strongly
etherealized rhapsody on Divine love conceived quite in the
spirit of St. Francis.--The sprightly songs of the _Troubadours_
of Southern France were often the vehicle of heretical sentiments
and gave expression to bitter hatred of the Romish Babylon.[318]
§ 106. CHURCH DISCIPLINE, INDULGENCES, AND ASCETICISM.
The ban, directed against notorious individual sinners and foes
of the church, and the interdict, directed against a whole country,
were formidable weapons which rarely failed in accomplishing their
purpose. Their foolishly frequent use for political ends by the popes
of the 13th century was the first thing that weakened their influence.
The penitential discipline of the church, too (§ 104, 4), began to
lose its power, when outward works, such as alms, pilgrimages, and
especially money fines in the form of indulgences were prescribed as
substitutes for it. Various protests against prevailing laxity and
formality were made by the Benedictines and by new orders instituted
during the 11th century. Strict asceticism with self-laceration and
mortification was imposed in many cloisters, and many hermits won
high repute for holiness. The example and preaching of earnest monks
and recluses did much to produce a revival of religion and awaken
a penitential enthusiasm. Not satisfied with mortifying the body by
prolonging fasts and watchings, they wounded themselves with severe
scourgings and the wearing of sackcloth next the skin, and sometimes
also brazen coats of mail, heavy iron chains, girdles with pricks, etc.
§ 106.1. =Ban and Interdict.=--From the 9th century a
distinction was made between _Excommunicatio major_ and
_minor_. The latter, inflicted upon less serious offences
against the canon law, merely excluded from participation in
the sacrament. The former, called =Anathema=, directed against
hardened sinners with solemn denunciation and the church’s
curse, involved exclusion from all ecclesiastical communion
and even refusal of Christian burial. Zealots who slew such
excommunicated persons were declared by Urban II. not to be
murderers. Innocent III., at the 4th Lateran Council A.D. 1215,
had all civil rights withdrawn from excommunicates and their
goods confiscated. Rulers under the ban were deposed and
their subjects released from their oath of allegiance. Bishops
exercised the right of putting under ban within their dioceses,
and the popes over the whole church.--The =Interdict= was first
recognised as a church institution at the Synod of Limoges in
A.D. 1031. While it was in force against any country all bells
were silenced, liturgical services were held only with closed
doors, penance and the eucharist administered only to the dying,
none but priests, mendicant friars, strangers, and children
under two years of age received Christian burial, and no one
could be married. Rarely could the people endure this long. It
was therefore a terrible weapon in the hands of the popes, who
not infrequently exercised it effectually in their struggles
with the princes of the 12th and 13th centuries.
§ 106.2. =Indulgences.=--The old German principle of
composition (§ 89, 5), and the Gregorian doctrine of purgatory
(§ 61, 4), formed the bases on which was reared the ordinance
of indulgences. The theory of the monks of St. Victor of the
12th century regarding penitential satisfaction (§ 104, 4),
gave an impetus to the development of this institution of
the church. It copestone was laid in the 13th century by the
formulating of the doctrine of the superabundant merit of
Christ and the saints (_Thesaurus supererogationis Christi
et perfectorum_) by Alexander of Hales, Albert the Great, and
Aquinas. The members of the body of Christ could suffer and
serve one for another, and thus Aquinas thought the merits of
one might lessen the purgatorial pains of another. Innocent III.,
in A.D. 1215, allowed to bishops the right of limiting the pains
of purgatory to forty days, but claimed for the pope exclusively
the right of giving full indulgence (_Indulgentia plenaria_).
Clement VI. declared that the pope as entrusted with the keys
was alone the dispenser of the _Thesaurus supererogationis_.
Strictly indulgence was allowed only to the truly penitent,
as an aid to imperfect not a substitute for non-existent
satisfaction. This was generally ignored by preachers of
indulgences. This was specially the case in the times of the
crusaders. Popes also frequently gave indulgences to those who
simply visited certain shrines.
§ 106.3. =The Church Doctrine of the Hereafter.=--All who
had perfectly observed every requirement of the penances
and sacraments of the church to the close of their lives
had the gates of =Heaven= opened to them. All others passed
into the =Lower World= to suffer either positively=_sensus_,
inexpressible pains of fire, or negatively=_damnum_, loss of
the vision of God. There are four degrees corresponding to
four places of punishment. =Hell=, situated in the midst
of the earth, _abyssus_ (Rev. xx. 1), is place and state of
eternal punishment for all infidels, apostates, excommunicates,
and all who died in mortal sin. The next circle is the purifying
fire of =Purgatory=, or a place of temporary punishment positive
or negative for all believing Christians who did not in life
fully satisfy the three requirements of the sacrament of penance
(§ 104, 4). The =Limbus infantum= is a side chamber of purgatory,
where all unbaptized infants are kept for ever, only deprived
of blessedness in consequence of original sin. Then above this
is the =Limbus Patrum=, “Abraham’s bosom,” where the saints of
the Old Covenant await the second coming of Christ.
§ 106.4. =Flagellation.=--From the 8th century discipline was
often exercised by means of scourging, administered by the
confessor who prescribed it. In the 11th century voluntary
=Self-Flagellation= was frequently practised not only as
punishment for one’s own sin, but, after the pattern of Christ
and the martyrs, as atonement for sins of others. It originated
in Italy, had its great patron in Damiani (§ 97, 4), and was
earnestly commended by Bernard, Norbert, Francis, Dominic,
etc. It is reported of St. Dominic that he scourged himself
thrice every night, first for himself, and then for his living
companions, and then for the departed in purgatory. The zealous
Franciscan preachers were mainly instrumental in exerting an
enthusiasm for self-mortification among the people (§ 98, 4).
About A.D. 1225, Anthony of Padua attracted crowds who went
about publicly lashing themselves while singing psalms. Followers
of Joachim of Floris (§ 108, 5) as =Flagellants= rushed through
all Northern Italy in great numbers during A.D. 1260, preaching
the immediate approach of the end of the world.[319]
§ 107. FEMALE MYSTICS.
Practical mysticism which concerned itself only with the
salvation of the soul, had many representatives among the women of
the 12th and 13th centuries. Among them it was specially characterized
by the prevalence of ecstatic visions, often deteriorating into
manifestations of nervous affections which superstitious people
regarded as exhibitions of miraculous power. Examples are found
in all countries, but especially in the Netherlands, and the Rhine
provinces, in France, Alsace and Switzerland, in Saxony and Thuringia.
Those whose visions pointed to the inauguration of reforms are of
particular interest to us, as they often had a considerable influence
on the subsequent history of the church.
§ 107.1. =Two Rhenish Prophetesses of the 12th
Century.=--=St. Hildegard= was founder and abbess of a
cloister near Bingen on the Rhine, where she died in A.D. 1178
in her 74th year. Grieving over clerical and papal corruptions,
she had apocalyptic visions of the antichrist, and travelled
far and engaged in an extensive correspondence in appealing for
radical reforms. St. Bernard and pope Eugenius III. who visited
Treves in A.D. 1147 acknowledged her prophetic vocation, and
the people ascribed to her wonderful healing power.--Hildegard’s
younger contemporary was the like-minded =St. Elizabeth
of Schönau=, abbess of the neighbouring convent of Schönau,
who died in A.D. 1165. Her prophecies were mostly of the
apocalyptic-visionary order, and in them with still greater
severity she lashed the corruptions of the clergy. She also
gave currency to the legend of St. Ursula (§ 104, 9).
§ 107.2. =Three Thuringian Prophetesses of the
13th Century.=--=Mechthild of Magdeburg=, after thirty years
of Beguine life, wrote in a beautiful rhythmical style in German
her “Light of Deity,” setting forth the sweetness of God’s love,
the blessedness of glorified saints, the pains of purgatory and
hell, and denouncing with great moral earnestness the corruptions
of the clergy and the church, and depicting with a poet’s or
prophet’s power the coming of the last day. Influenced by the
apocalyptic views of Joachim of Floris (§ 108, 5), she also gives
expression to a genuinely German patriotism. With her it is a new
preaching order that leads to victory against antichrist, and the
founder of this order, who meets a martyr’s death in the conflict,
is a son of the Roman king. In contrast with Joachim, she thus
makes the German empire not a foe but the ally of the church.
Mechthild’s prophecies largely influenced Dante, and even
her name appears in that of his guide Matilda.--=Mechthild of
Hackeborn=, who died in A.D. 1310, in her _Speculum spiritualis
gratiæ_ published her visions of a reformatory and eschatological
prophetic order, more subjective and personal than those of the
former.--=Gertrude the Great=, who died in A.D. 1311, is more
decidedly a reformer than either of the Mechthilds or any other
woman of the Middle Ages. A diligent inquirer into the depths
of Scripture, she renounced the veneration usually shown to Mary,
the saints, and relics, repudiated all the ideas of her age
regarding merits, ceremonial exercises, and indulgences, and
in the exercise of simple faith trusted only to the grace of
God in Christ. She seems to belong to the 16th rather than to
the 13th century. Her visions, too, are more of a spiritual kind.