Religious community, belief and services (Religion in the reign of Henry VII)

What did clergy men monopolise?

Some offices of State, especially that of the chancellor (the highest adviser to the king) were monopolised by clergymen

How educated were senior clergymen?

The most senior clergymen were highly competent and conscientious professionals, often with legal training

What duty did clergy men do?

They performed their duties to both Church and State effectively

How were abbots and bishops connected?

The abbots, who were heads of the wealthiest religious houses, shared membership of the House of Lords with the bishops

What skills did Abbots have to obtain?

Abbots had to possess a range of management and administrative skills to keep their complex organisations running effectively, as well as demonstrating the spirituality necessary to maintain the reputation of their houses

Why was criticism of monastic life increasing?

Not all heads of house lived up to all of these demands, and criticisms of the monastic life were increasing

Religious community, belief and services

What was central to the the religous experience?

The parish church was central to religious experience

How did the church influence community life?

The church provided the outward structures of community life

• It was believed that the prayers made together, as part of the collective unit of the parish, were more powerful than those from the individual alone

• The church provided a framework for controlling how an individual thought, reasoned and behaved

What advice did the church give?

Its function was not only to spread and uphold Christian teaching, it also offered various ways by which an individual could acquire grace in order to reach heaven and minimise the time a soul would spend in purgatory

What were the 7 ways of getting into heaven?

To reach heaven, it was necessary to observe as many of the seven sacraments as possible:

1. Baptism, which welcomed the newly born infant into the community

2. Confirmation, which marked the transition from childhood to adulthood

3. Marriage

4. Anointing of the sick, which prepared the dying for their passage into the next world

5. Penance, during which the individual sought God’s forgiveness for the sins which’s/he had committed

6. Holy Orders, the process by which the priest himself became empowered to deliver the sacraments (rituals) to others

7. Eucharist, in which church members received Christ’s body and blood in the form of bread and wine to be nourished physically and spiritually and brought closer to God.

Penance

The individual sought God’s forgiveness for the sins which’s/he had committed

Holy orders

The priest himself became empowered to deliver the sacraments (rituals) to others

Eucharist

Church members received Christ’s body and blood in the form of bread and wine to be nourished physically and spiritually and brought closer to God.

What was central to Catholicism?

The central religious experience of the Catholic Church was mass also known as Eucharist (thanksgiving)

What was the climax of mass?

The climax of the ceremony was when the priest consecrated the bread and wine which afflicts believed that the point of this was to show the bread and wine transforming figuratively and literally into the body of Christ

What was wine and bread representative of?

• Wine represented there's a lot of Jesus and the bread is the body this is known as transubstantiation

What did the priest get to consume?

The priest consumed both the bread and the wine

What did the laymen get to consume?

The layman only consumed the bread

Why was mass important?

The Mass was important for two reasons:

• It was a sacrifice performed by the priest on behalf of the community

• It was a sacred ritual in which the whole community participated

What was the breads importance?

The importance of the consecrated bread was emphasised at the feast of Corpus Christi, which was one of the important festivals of the 15th century Church