Francis Aidan Gasquet

“ I can only suppose that the brotherhood tie was so strongly realized by the community (of the parish) that the weaker were succoured by the stronger, as out of a family store. The brotherhood tie was, no doubt, very much stronger then, when the village community was from generation to generation so unalloyed by anything foreign, when all were knit together by one faith and one worship and close kindred, but, further than this, the Guild-fellowship must have enhanced all the other bonds in drawing men to spare their worldly goods as a common stock. ”

“ CHAPTER IV THE PARISH CLERGY
The head of every parish in pre-Reformation days was the priest. He might be a rector or vicar, according to his position in regard to the benefice; but in either case he was the resident ecclesiastical head of the parochial district. The word “parson,” in the sense of a dignified personage—“the person of the place”—was, in certain foreign countries, applied in the eleventh century, in its Latin form of persona, to any one holding the parochial cure of souls. ”

“ It seems to us, indeed, almost strange in these days to see what was the teaching of the mediæval Church about the claims of the poor, and to remember that this was not the doctrine of some rhetorical and irresponsible preacher, but of such a man of law and order as was the great Canonist Lyndwood. There can be no doubt that the proceeds of ecclesiastical benefices were recognised in the Constitutions of legates and archbishops as being in fact, as well as in theory, the eleemosynæ, the spes pauperum—the alms and the hope of the poor. ”

“ It is unnecessary to follow the Sunday congregation of a pre-Reformation church through the singing of the parochial Mass. The church itself, as the bequests in the wills of the fifteenth century and other documents show, will have been gay with a profusion of candles burning on the rood beam, on the altars, and before each picture or shrine or image, whilst in many places the great “rowell,” or candle-wheel, would have been lit up, and with its crown of candles have added to the general appearance of festivity, which the people of mediæval England loved so much to see in their churches. ”

“ Any account of parish life in mediæval England must include much more than might at first sight be supposed. To imagine that the story of the parson and his church could adequately represent the story of the parish, even with all that the one had to do for his people and all that in the other was contained and done, is somewhat like thinking that the biographies of kings and nobles and the chronicle of their battles and achievements would tell properly the story of a people or a country. ”

“ As the church was from the earliest times the centre of the parish, and the priest the head of his flock and the chief person—the parson—of the district, it is natural to look for the first indications of all parochial life in the church itself. From the cradle to the grave, as it has often been said, through the clergy, religion extended its care to every soul, and exerted its influence over man, woman, and child in every parochial district, mainly by means of the Church services and the administration of the Christian Sacraments. ”

“ For the priest Sunday was the day when by law he had to visit the aged, infirm, and sick in his parish. “Let the priests,” says the Constitution of Gilbert, Bishop of Chichester, in 1289, “see the sick every Sunday and feast day, and let them visit them with diligence. Let them take heed that they make no difficulty about attending to the sick at whatever hour they may be asked for.” This same order is repeated in the Constitutions for the Province of York in 1518, more than two centuries after. ”

“ In these days, no doubt, such a curious mingling of things sacred and profane will appear incongruous; but in the Middle Ages Christian life was a much simpler organization than it became after the days of Henry VIII. Religion was before that period a part of the people’s daily life, and its influence overflowed into all the social amusements of the people. As already pointed out, the authority of the Church settled most of the minor difficulties, disputes, and quarrels of the nation without the assistance of the State. ”

“ Their chosen representatives were the guardians of the jewels and plate, of the ornaments and hangings, of the vestments and tapestries, which were regarded, as in very truth they were, as the property of every soul in the particular village or district in which the church was situated. It is no exaggeration to say that the parish church was in Catholic times the care and business of all. Its welfare was the concern of the people at large, and it took its natural place in their daily lives. ”

“ By the Synod of Exeter, in 1267, Bishop Quevil ordered that all the cemeteries in his diocese should be enclosed securely, and that no animal was to be allowed pasturage on the grass that grew in them, and even the clergy were warned of the impropriety of permitting their cattle to graze in “the holy places, which both civil and canon law ordered to be respected.” For this reason, the bishop continues, “all church cemeteries must be guarded from all defilement, both because they are holy (in themselves) and because they are made holy by the relics of the Saints.” ”

“ From the time of his baptism as a child of the Church, till his body was laid to rest in its tomb, each parishioner was the constant recipient of some one of those mysterious rites, by which, as he was taught by the Church and as he believed, God’s grace was received into his soul to enable him to lead the life of a good Christian. In the administration of these Sacraments, nothing is more clear in the teaching of the Church of the Middle Ages than that there was to be no question of money. ”

“ On high day and feast day, when all that was best and richest in the parochial treasury was brought forth to deck the walls and statues and altars, the display of parish ornaments recalled to the minds of the people assembled within its walls to worship God the memory of good deeds done by generations of neighbours for the decoration of their sanctuary. ”

“ Wherever rectors do not reside in the place of their cures, says Archbishop Peckham, they are bound to keep proctors or agents to exercise proper hospitality or charity as far as the means of their churches will allow, and at the very least to relieve every parishioner in extreme necessity; and the gloss adds that the rector of a church on the high-road and in a frequented place will obviously have to spend much more than one whose cure lies off the beaten track. ”

“ The obligation of all to contribute to the common work of God’s house was well understood, and it was taught in many books of instructions popular in those days. For example, in Dives and Pauper the former is made to declare that “many say, God is in no lond so well served in holy Church, nor so much worshipped in holy Church, as He is in this lond of England. For so many fair churches, ne so good aray in churches, ne so fair service, as many say is in none other lond as it is in this lond.” ”

“ Besides the above-named qualities, by ordinary law of the English Church, any one presented as a rector was bound to be a cleric; to be at least five and twenty years old; to be commendable in his life and knowledge; and if not a priest, he was at least to be fit to receive the priesthood within a year. As a rule each rectory, or benefice for a rector, had but a single rector; but there are instances where in one place, at Leverton, for example, there were two parsons appointed to one church, with two houses, with the tithes divided, and, of course, with the obligations distinct. ”

“ From the long list of voluntary subscriptions, it appears that all were eager to have a part in the work of building up their church—a church which should be a credit to Bodmin. All sorts and conditions of men and women are entered as contributors on the roll of parishioners, more than 460 in number. Servants appear as well as masters and mistresses, sons and daughters as well as their fathers and mothers.
The same sort of story is told in every set of parish accounts that we possess—a story of popular devotion to the material fabric of the parish church. ”

“ ARCHIDIACONAL VISITATION SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
To take another example: the Acts of the Synod, held by Simon Langham at Ely in A.D. 1364, order that every parish priest frequently preach and expound the Ten Commandments, etc., in English (in idiomate communi) , and all priests are urged to devote themselves to the study of the Sacred Scriptures, so as to be ready “to give an account of the hope and faith” that are in them. Further, they are to see that the children are taught their prayers; and even adults, when coming to confession, are to be examined as to their religious knowledge. ”

“ Dives.—Why more a crucifix than another thing?
“Pauper.—For every Mass saying is a special mind-making of Christ’s passion.
“Dives.—The skyle is good; say forth.
“Pauper.—Before the image the priest says his Mass and maketh the highest prayer that Holy Church can desire for salvation of the quick and the dead; he holds up his hands, he leneth (i.e. bows down) , he kneels, and all the worship he can do, he does. Overmore, he offereth up the highest sacrifice and the best offering that any heart can devise; that is Christ, God’s Son from Heaven, under the form of bread and wine. ”

“ In 1287, for instance, Bishop Quevil, of Exeter, in his synodical Constitutions, condemns the practice altogether.
“We have heard,” he says, “that many quarrels have arisen amongst members of the same parish, two or three of whom have laid claim to one seat. For the future, no one is to claim any sitting in the church as his own, with the exception of noble people and the patrons of churches. Whoever first comes to church to pray, let him take what place he wishes in which to pray.” ”

“ In the country the parochial clergy undertook the services of these chantries.... The establishment of a Mass or chantry priest at a fixed stipend, in a church with which he had no other relation, was a common form of endowment. The residue, if any, of the revenue derivable from these tenements was made the common property of the Guild, and as the continuity of the service was the great object of its establishment, the donor, like the modern trustee of a life income, took care that there should be a surplus from the foundation. ”

“ The Holy Eucharist.—All adults of every parish were bound to receive the Holy Communion at least once a year under pain of being considered outside the benefits and privileges of Holy Church and of being refused Christian burial, if they were to die without having made their peace. Besides the Easter precept, all were strongly urged to approach the Holy Eucharist more frequently, and especially at Christmas and Easter, and, as has been already pointed out, there is some evidence to show that, in point of fact, lay people did communicate more frequently, and especially on the Sundays of Lent. ”

“ In the Constitution of Cardinal Otho on this point, after recalling the saying of St. Gregory that “the guidance of souls is the art of arts,” the cardinal [Pg 83] goes on to say that “our Catholic art” requires that there “should be one priest in one church,” and that he should be a fitting teacher, “by his holy life, his learning, and his teaching,” and upon this last quality Lyndwood notes that he should be able to adapt his instructions to his audience. ”

“ If there was a procession, as seems generally to have been the case, the assistants and clerks, with the servers, followed the celebrant singing the anthems proper for the day. The parish processional cross was carried first, with two servers bearing candles, and with the thurifer and the clerk “water-bearer.” In the smaller churches, when the weather permitted, no doubt the procession would wend its way outside, and pass along, followed by the people, amidst the graves of those former parishioners who had gone before, and who were taking their long rest in God’s acre. ”

“ Whatever the origin, it is certain that long before the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries the parish church had practically come to be the property of the parishioners generally in a very definite manner, and, with certain exceptions, to which reference will presently be made, upon the inhabitants of a parochial district as a corporation lay the duty of repairing and rebuilding the fabric, of beautifying the edifice, of maintaining the services, and of seeing generally to its well-being. ”

“ From the earliest days of English Christianity the care of the helpless poor was regarded as an obligation incumbent on all; and in 1342 Archbishop Stratford, dealing with appropriations, or the assignment of ecclesiastical revenue to the support of some religious house or college, ordered that a portion of the tithe should always be set apart for the relief of the poor, because, as Bishop Stubbs has pointed out, in England, from the days of King Ethelred, “a third part of the tithe” which belonged to the Church was the acknowledged birthright of the poorer members of Christ’s flock. ”