Curiosities of Christian History Prior to the Reformation

by James Paterson

THE ANCIENT CHURCH PRAYING FOR THE DEAD.

Bingham, in his “Christian Antiquities,” says that the Ancient Church used prayers for all the saints, martyrs, confessors, patriarchs, apostles, and even the Virgin Mary herself. But the practice was not founded in a belief in purgatory, but upon a supposition that they were going to a place of rest and happiness, the soul being supposed to be in an imperfect state of happiness till the Resurrection. Moreover, many of the ancients held the opinion of the millennium, or the reign of Christ a thousand years upon earth before the final day of judgment. There was also a kindred practice by which the holy books or diptychs used to be rehearsed during the service. These recited the names of famous bishops, emperors, and magistrates connected with the district; also the names of those who had lived righteously, and had attained to the perfections of a virtuous life. And this was done partly to excite and conduct the living to the same happy state by following their example, and partly to celebrate the memory of them as still living according to the principles of religion, and not properly dead, but only translated by death to a more Divine life.

OLD CUSTOM OF SIN-EATERS AT FUNERALS.

In Kennet’s “Parochial Antiquities” it is stated by an old person living about 1640 that “in the county of Hereford there was an old custom at funerals to hire poor people, who were to take upon them all the sins of the deceased party, and were called sin-eaters. One of them lived in a cottage near Ross, in Herefordshire. The manner was this: When the corpse was brought out of the house and laid on the bier, a loaf of bread was delivered to the sin-eater over the corpse, as also a mazar bowl (gossips’ bowl) full of beer, which he was to drink up, and sixpence in money. In consideration whereof he took upon him at once all the sins of the defunct, and freed him or her from walking after they were dead. In North Wales the sin-eaters were frequently made use of; but there, instead of a bowl of beer, they have a bowl of milk. This custom was by some people observed even in the strictest time of the Presbyterian government.”

PRAISING THE LORD DAY AND NIGHT.

About 400 or soon after, a monk, Alexander, projected a new order of monks, who were to be detailed into companies for the performing of Divine offices day and night without intermission. This order acquired the name of watches, dividing the twenty-four hours into three watches, each relieving the other, and thus keeping a perpetual course of Divine service. This order attained great esteem and veneration, and many monasteries were built for their use at Constantinople. Among others one Studius, a nobleman of Rome of consular dignity, renounced the world and joined the order, erecting a famous monastery for their use, which was called after him Studium. In course of time, however, these monks were believed to be led away by the Nestorian heresy, and lost credit. We are also told that Sigismund, Burgundian king, after renouncing Arianism about 524, restored the ruined monastery of Agaune at the entrance of the principal passage of the Alps, the gorge of the Valais on the Rhone. It was built in honour of St. Maurice and the Theban Legion, whose relics were collected and there deposited. A hundred monks were obtained from Condat to give a beginning, and eight hundred more were brought together and bound under conditions, the chief of which was, that a service of praise was to be kept up without a break, day and night. For the purpose the nine hundred monks were divided into nine choirs, who sang alternately and without intermission the praises of God and the martyrs. The king, to expiate an offence in his own family, himself become a monk for a time. This notion of keeping up the praise of God every day and night during the whole year was also carried out in the seventeenth century by an English gentleman, Nicholas Ferrar, who with his family made up a small colony, all having semi-monastic tendencies, and lived at the retired parish of Little Gidding, eighteen miles from Cambridge. He was the son of a wealthy London merchant, was born about 1586, and educated at Cambridge, and for some time was a Member of Parliament, and had also travelled. He, with his mother, sister, nephews, nieces, and servants, numbering thirty, at last took vows of celibacy, settled at this rustic abode, decorated their little chapel with great care, and devoted their time to works of charity; but one peculiarity was always in view—namely, that all day and night they relieved each other in turns, and kept up constant services of prayer and praise. Isaac Walton says that in this continued serving of God the Psalter or whole Book of Psalms was in every twenty-four hours sung or read over from the first to the last verse, and this was done as constantly as the sun runs his circle every day about the world, and then begins again the same instant that it ended. The ritual was that of the Church of England. And there were candles of white and green wax, and suitable decorations. At every meeting every person present bowed reverently towards the Communion table. The community was called “The Protestant Nunnery” by the peasants living near. In that age the Puritans were developing their power, and there were also reactions, so that both parties had their zealous champions in turns.

CHRISTMAS DAY AND EASTER DAY.

One of the most universally cherished customs of Christians was to keep in remembrance the day of Christ’s nativity, and celebrate and hold it in honour by some special service of praise and thanksgiving of a religious character. A kind of feast was celebrated on that day, and in the fourth century it was very generally observed. But the correct date was long matter of doubt in the early centuries. Some reckoned it on January 6th; some in April and May. The Western Christians soon accepted December 25th as the proper anniversary, while the Oriental Churches preferred January 6th. But by the time of the sixth century all Christians concurred in observing December 25th. Almost every country has some peculiar custom of a religious or festive character connected with Christmas Day. Another commemoration day of universal observance was Easter Day, the anniversary of the Resurrection, the preceding Friday being called Good Friday. And in the early centuries there were also controversies as to the correct mode of fixing the date. It was a day on which good Christians observed the solemn Communion, as well as baptisms and acts of hospitality and almsgiving. Choral processions and singing of hymns and anthems were thought fit exercises for this memorable anniversary. The Sunday before Easter Sunday, called Palm Sunday, in commemoration of the strewing of palms on Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, is also attended with particular observances. In Italy it is called Olive Sunday; in Spain, Portugal, and France it is called Branch Sunday; in Russia, Sallow Sunday; in Wales, Flower Sunday; in Hertfordshire, Fig Sunday, in allusion to the cursing of the fig tree.

FESTIVAL OF ALL SAINTS.