Medieval Christianity to the Cluny Reform Movement • Monasticism • Conversions within Europe • Popular Piety and Personal Religious Practice • Reform Efforts in the 11th and 12th Centuries
Monasticism • Asceticism • Eastern: St. Anthony of Egypt (@251-356) • Celtic: St. Patrick (5th C.; dies in 490)
St. Anthony of Egypt: Ascetic Monasticism The Temptation of St. Anthony by Bosch
Monasticism • Asceticism • Eastern: St. Anthony of Egypt (@251-356) • Celtic: St. Patrick (5th cent.; dies in 490) • Communal • Celtic: St. Columba (521-597) • St. Benedict: Rule for Monasteries (c. 530)
Celtic Communal Monasticism: St. Columba (521-597) • Very ascetic • AKA St. Colmcille • Columba founded the Monastery at Iona off coast of Scotland, and his students traveled throughout Europe
St. Benedict of Nursia • Rule for Monasteries, (@529-530) • Monastery at Monte Cassino • His rule promoted as model for communal monasticism based on prayer, study, and physical labor
Monastic Legacy: Sacred Texts The Book of Kells (Ireland)
Monasticism • Asceticism • Eastern: St. Anthony of Egypt (c. 251-356) • Celtic: St. Patrick (5th cent., dies in 490) • Communal • Celtic: St. Columba (521-597) • St. Benedict: Rule for Monasteries (c. 530) • Other Members of the Clergy: The “Secular” Clergy
Christian Conversions in Europe • Methods • By the Sword: Role of the papal alliance with the Franks
The Conversion of Clovis (c. 495) by St. Remi at Reims
Christian Conversions in Europe • Methods • By the Sword: Role of the papal alliance with the Franks • By the Cross: missionaries and monks: St. Boniface (680-754) Results: Syncretic Christianity
Medieval Christianity to the Cluny Reform Movement • Monasticism • Conversions within Europe • Popular piety and personal religious practice • Reform efforts in the 11th and 12th centuries
Popular Piety: Witnessing Syncretic Christianity • Calendar Christianity: Holy-Days • Followed Pagan/Agricultural Calendar • Hallowe’en (All Hallows Eve) • Christmas • Carnival (Carne vale or goodbye to meat) • Easter (St. Jerome “Against Vigilantius”) • Pentecost • Veneration of saints
Veneration of the Saints • Saints of Local Interest • Often Individuals who had impact in the area • May or may not be “officially” Canonized by Church • Example: Ursula of Cologne
St. Ursula, Cologne • “St. Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins” • 4th c. British princess avoiding marriage to a pagan prince and dies after visit to Rome • Legend mixes pagan with Christian • 12th c. re-emergence
Veneration of the Saints • Saints of Local Interest • Often Individuals who had impact in the area • May not be “officially” Canonized by Church • Example: Ursula of Cologne • “International” Saints • Individuals with wide reputations • Generally acknowledged by Church • Mary: Mother of Jesus, esp’ly from 11th c.
Popular Piety: Witnessing Syncretic Christianity • Calendar Christianity: Holy-Days • Veneration of saints • Local or International (Mary) • Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage • Sites associated with Saints or Key Events • Long and Short Pilgrimages • Longer trips could last up to a year • Longer trips often performed by or organized by the wealthy/landed classes • Financial aid • Shorter Trips “counted” less, but allowed for more participation
Popular Piety: Witnessing Syncretic Christianity • Calendar Christianity: Holy-Days • Followed Pagan/Agricultural Calendar • Examples: Hallowe’en, Christmas, Carnival, Easter (St. Jerome “Against Vigilantius”), Pentecost • Saint Veneration: Local or International (Mary) • Pilgrimage • Sites Associated with Saints or Key Events • Long and Short Pilgrimages • Relic Veneration
Relic Veneration • Blend of “High” Church and “Low” Church • Not unique to Christian churches • Christian doctrine develops over time: NOT worship of the object itself, but connection to the divine through object associated with a holy person • Reliquaries
Reliquaries with Slivers of the True Cross
Relic Veneration • Blend of “High” Church and “Low” Church • Not unique to Christian churches • Christian doctrine develops over time: NOT worship of the object itself, but connection to the divine through object associated with a holy person • Reliquaries • Incorporates Veneration of Saints and Magic: • Differences between East and West
The Foot of St. Basil, @4th C.
Relic Veneration • Blend of “High” Church and “Low” Church • Not unique to Christian churches • Christian doctrine develops over time: NOT worship of the object itself, but connection to the divine through object associated with a holy person • Reliquaries • Incorporates Veneration of Saints and Magic: • Differences between East and West • Other Examples • The “True Cross”: St. Helena (326) • Gregory of Tours
Discovery of the True Cross, St. Helena (326 CE)
Veneration of a Relic of the True Cross
Gregory of Tours (c. 588) “Often I heard how even the lamps [at Poitiers] that were lit in front of these relics bubbled up because of the divine power and dripped so much oil that frequently they filled a vessel underneath. But because of the foolishness of my closed mind I was never motivated to believe these stories until that power which is at present being revealed reproved my slow-witted hesitation. . .”
Clunaic Reforms and Medieval Society • Church Reform in the 11th and 12th centuries • Papacy of Innocent III • Impact of Emphasis on Spirituality: New Orders • Medieval Society (c. 1000 – 1300)
Church Reform in the 11th & 12th Centuries • Practices open to dispute • Investiture • Simony • “Concubinage” (clerical marriage) • The Monastery at Cluny (910) • Papal Support: Leo IX and Nicholas II • Election Decree (1059) • Gregory VII (1073-1085), Henry IV (1056-1106) and the Investiture Conflict • Canossa (1077) Who won? • Concordat of Worms (1122)
Papacy of Innocent III (1198-1216) • Firm believer in papal authority • Built up the Business of the Papacy • Added taxes: Peter’s Pence, Annates • Reserved right to forgive certain sins • Extended crusades inside Europe to attack Heresy • Albigensians (Cathars) in southern France • Fourth Lateran Council (1215) • Established transubstantiation as doctrine • Formalized penance and eucharistic requirements
Sign of Spirituality: New Orders • Several Ascetic Orders Founded in 11th century. • Carthusians (1084) • Cistercians (1098) • New Mendicant Orders of 13th century • Friars not monks • Franciscans (1210) • Dominicans (1216)
Monastic Reforms: the Cistercians Founded 1098 in Citeaux Robert of Molesme and Benedictine Monks Led by Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) Return to asceticism and strict discipline Distance from secular society Monasteries in Wilderness
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
Dominicans (sanctioned 1216)
Sign of Spirituality: New Orders • Several Ascetic Orders Founded in 11th C. • Carthusians (1084) • Cistercians (1098) • New Mendicant Orders • Friars not Monks • Franciscans (1210) • Dominicans (1216) • Tertiaries: Lay people following the rule of an order • Women: Monastic (Hildegard of Bingen) and lay religious (Beguines)
