“That all rectors, vicars, or chaplains holding ecclesiastical offices shall expound clearly and plainly to their people, on all Sundays and feast days, the Word of God and the Catholic faith of the Apostles; and that they shall diligently instruct their subjects in the articles of faith, and teach them in their native language the Apostles’ Creed, and urge them to expound it and teach the same faith to their children.”
STONE PULPIT BRACKET, WALPOLE ST. ANDREW, NORFOLK
Again, in A.D. 1357, Archbishop Thoresby, of York, anxious for the better instruction of his people, commissioned a monk of St. Mary’s, York, named Gatryke, to draw out in English an exposition of the Creed, the Commandments, the seven deadly sins, etc. This tract the archbishop, as he says in his preface, through the counsel of his clergy, sent to all his priests—
“So that each and every one, who under him had the charge of souls, do openly in English, upon Sundays teach and preach them, that they have cure of the law and the way to know God Almighty. And he commands and bids, in all that he may, that all who have keeping or cure under him, enjoin their parishioners and their subjects, that they hear and learn all these things, and oft, either rehearse them till they know them, and so teach them to their children, if they any have, when they are old enough to learn them; and that parsons and vicars and all parish priests inquire diligently of their subjects at Lent-time, when they come to shrift, whether they know these things, and if it be found that they know them not, that they enjoin them upon his behalf, and on pain of penance, to know them. And so there be none to excuse themselves through ignorance of them, our father, the Archbishop, of his goodness has ordained and bidden that they be showed openly in English amongst the flock.”
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.