Parish life in mediæval England

by Francis Aidan Gasquet

Thenne schale he wyth hys owne hondes

Brenne that ylke same bondes,

And wassche the chylde over the font

There he was anoynted in the front.”

Finally, the greatest care was taken not only to see that all Christians should receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, but that there should be no doubt as to its valid reception. An instance of this is to be found in Bishop Brantyngham’s Register. In 1382, some unknown person, calling himself a bishop, went about the diocese of Exeter giving the tonsure, and confirming children, and in other ways, as the bishop says, “putting his sickle into other men’s harvest.” Under these circumstances, the parents of all children presented for confirmation to this unknown person were to be warned from every parish pulpit to come and give evidence, in order that it might be determined what should be done.

Penance.—The Sacrament of Penance, or, in other words, “Confession,” was obligatory on all at least once a year. The obligation, however, was obviously not considered the full measure of duty for those who desired to lead good Christian lives. Bishop Brunton, of Rochester, in a sermon preached about the year 1388 on the first Sunday of Lent, whilst laying down the law of Confession at the beginning of Lent, strongly urges upon his audience the utility of frequently approaching that Sacrament, but reminds them that a mere formal Confession without a firm purpose of amendment is worse than useless.

In the Synod of Exeter, in 1287, parish priests are charged “to warn their parishioners, and frequently to exhort them in their sermons, to come to Confession to their own priest thrice in the year—at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, or at the very least at the beginning of Lent.” The same synodal instruction warns the parish priests, moreover, to grant permission generously and freely to any one wishing to confess to some other priest, and it adds, “that if any one shall not have confessed himself and communicated once in the year, he shall be prohibited coming to the church, and when dead be refused ecclesiastical burial.”

All, rich and poor, noble and simple, on coming to the Sacrament of Penance, were treated alike. An old fifteenth-century book of Instructions says—

“Every body that shall be confessed, be he never so hye degree or estate, ought to shew loweness in herte, lowenes in speche and lowenes in body for that tyme to hym that shall hear hym; and or he begynne to shew what lyeth in hys conscience, fyrste at hys beginnyng he shall say, Benedicite: and afturwards hys confessor hath answered Dominus. Sume than, whych be lettered, seyn here Confiteor til they come to Mea culpa: sume seyn no ferthere, but to Quia peccavi nimis; some seyn no Confiteor in latin till at the last end. Of these maner begynnings it is lytyl charge, for the substance of Confession is in opyn declaration and schewyng of ye synnes, in whyche a mannus conscience demyth hym gulty agenst God. In thys declaration be manye formes of shewyng, for some scheme and divyde here confession in thought, speche and dede, and in thys forme sume can specyfye here synnes, and namely in cotydian confession, as when a man is confessed ofte; oythes as every day or every othur day or onus in sevene nyght. Also sume schewe and here confession by declaration of ye fyve wyttes, and all may be well as in such cotydyan confession. Also sume, and the most parte lettyred and unletteryd, schewe openly her synnes be confession of ye sevene dedly synnes, and thane they schewe what they have offendyd God agenste Hys precepts, and then in mysdyspendyng of here fyve wyttes, and thanne in not fulfyllyng ye seven dedus of mercy. And so, whanne they have specyfyed what comyth to here mynde, then yn ye ende, they yelde them cowpable generally to God and putte hem in Hys mercy, askyng lowly penaunce for her synnnes and absolution of here confessor in the name of holy church.”

The instructions, given by the Canons of the English Church, as to the method to be followed by priests in hearing confessions, are simple and to the point. They are to remember that they are doctors for the cure of spiritual evils, and to be ever ready “to pour oil and wine” into the wounds of their penitents. They are to bear in mind the proverb, that “what may cure the eye need not cure the heel,” and are to apply the proper remedy fitting to each disease. They are to be patient, and “to hear what any one may have to say, bearing with them in the spirit of mildness, and not exasperating them by word or look.” They are “not to let their eyes wander hither and thither, but keep them cast downwards, not looking into the face of the penitent,” unless it be to gauge the sincerity of his sorrow, which is often reflected most of all in the countenance. Women are to be confessed in the open church, and outside the (lenten) veil, not so as to be heard by others but to be seen by them.