The musings and meandering thoughts of a crotchety old man as he observes life in the world and in a small, rural town in South East Nebraska. I hope to help people get to Heaven by sharing prayers, meditations, the lives of the Saints, and news of Church happenings. My Pledge: Nulla dies sine linea ~ Not a day without a line.
You might think you have a high opinion of the Eucharist, but medieval Catholics have you beat. In late medieval England, the Blessed Sacrament wasn't just a weekly ritual; it was the gravitational centre of the entire social order.
In this episode of Medieval Mindset, we are diving deep into "The Stripping of the Altars" by Eamon Duffy to understand the intense, trembling devotion that laypeople had for the Body of Christ. From running between altars to catch a glimpse of the Elevation, to the terrifying "bleeding host" miracles meant to scare off Lollard heretics, we uncover why the visual experience of the Host was often prized more than the actual consumption of it.
We explore how the doctrine of Transubstantiation shaped the Middle Ages, the strange superstitions surrounding the Mass, and how the fear of sudden death drove a deep piety that defines the Catholic faith to this day.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Do we take the Eucharist seriously enough?
0:42 - Yearly Communion vs. Daily Viewing
2:02 - The Elevation: Running to see the Host
2:54 - Who were the Lollards?
4:01 - Superstition: Can the Host cure blindness?
5:29 - The Robber who couldn't see Jesus
7:24 - "Handlyng Synne" and the Doubting Monk
8:17 - Why Bleeding Host miracles were terrifying
10:48 - The Croxton Play of the Sacrament
13:00 - The Priest’s role and handling the Sacred Vessels
14:55 - Why Transubstantiation was defined (The Cathars)
16:00 - The Miracle of Bolsena & Corpus Christi
17:05 - Fear of Sudden Death & The Last Rites
18:44 - Conclusion: The center of Catholic life
Works Cited:
The Stripping of the Altars by Eamon Duffy
Blood and Baptism: Kinship, Community and Christianity in Western Europe from the Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries by John Bossy
English Works by John Fisher
Handlyng Synne by Robert Mannyng
The Works of Margery Kempe
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Leo XIV as the Vicar of Christ, the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Leo XIV as the Vicar of Christ, the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.