Pastoral Care in Medieval England

Interdisciplinary Approaches

Peter Clarke, Sarah James, Peter Clarke, Sarah James

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781317083405
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Pastoral Care, the religious mission of the Church to minister to the laity and care for their spiritual welfare, has been a subject of growing interest in medieval studies. This volume breaks new ground with its broad chronological scope (from the early eleventh to the late fifteenth centuries), and its interdisciplinary breadth. New and established scholars from a range of disciplines, including history, literary studies, art history and musicology, bring their specialist perspectives to bear on textual and visual source materials. The varied contributions include discussions of politics, ecclesiology, book history, theology and patronage, forming a series of conversations that reveal both continuities and divergences across time and media, and exemplify the enriching effects of interdisciplinary work upon our understanding of this important topic.

1
Reform and dedication of churches in eleventh-century Exeter

Erika Corradini

Dedication of a church

The ecclesiastical reforms introduced by the papacy in the eleventh century had a significant impact on the spiritual mores and social life of Christians. The changes encouraged centrally by the pope and a closer scrutiny of the clergy’s work across Christendom resulted in some bishops becoming more actively involved in their dioceses. In England, Leofric of Exeter seems to be particularly responsive to the campaign against the ‘unlawful’ conduct of bishops initiated by Pope Leo IX in the early 1050s. This attitude is certainly in evidence in his seeking papal approval for some of the reforms he introduced into his diocese and in the way he administered his power. His episcopal authority is reflected in his pastoral programme in support of which a whole collection of homiletic texts was assembled. The following discussion analyses one of his homilies for dedicating churches against the backdrop of papal reforms and the changing spiritual landscape in mid-eleventh century England.

In Dedicatione Æcclesiae is a composite homily. The text consists of a selection of passages excerpted from different sources and chained together in a composition of which only one copy has survived.¹ This homily is bound together with other texts of the same type into London, Lambeth Palace MS 489, an episcopal homiliary compiled in the mid-eleventh century, quite possibly in the early 1050s, at Exeter.² In Dedicatione Æcclesiae is a rather understudied text, yet it is crucial to an understanding of bishop Leofric’s engagement with the spiritual welfare of his diocese. At a time when information about the role of bishops and their pastoral duties is fragmentary, studies centred on preaching texts explicitly compiled for episcopal use provide some useful evidence for an apprehension of the pastoral role of a bishop. Consecration rites, during which In Dedicatione Æcclesiae was delivered, represented ideal opportunities for the bishop to assert his authority. Documentary sources indicate that the ceremonials involved in the dedication of churches had developed by the eleventh century into liturgically elaborate rituals, which fell within a bishop’s pastoral remit.³ Even in towns and villages, consecrations of churches were public events, which attracted large crowds of faithful. The text of the Lambeth homily attests to such crowds taking part in the ceremony and suggests that the audience included laymen as well as men in orders.⁴ Of equal, if not greater interest, is the potential correlation between use of In Dedicatione Æcclesiae and the reforming policies initiated by Leofric at Exeter, seemingly echoing some of pope Leo IX’s ecclesiology. This text may thus be studied as an expression of how the bishop exercised his spiritual and pastoral leadership over newly established churches in his diocese. Whether or not in doing so Leofric engaged with or was responsive to the ecclesiastical policies of his day is what I will try to determine, by reading this text against the backdrop of the changes affecting the Catholic church in the eleventh-century.

The homily

Rubricated in Lambeth MS 489 as IN DEDICATIONE ÆCCL<ESI>Æ ‘MINE GEBROÐRA ÐA LEOFESTAN WE WILLAÐ’, fols 38r to 44v⁵ the homily in question is one of three texts for the same occasion collected between the covers of a single codex.⁶ The text explains the meaning and function of a church. Moving from how receiving baptism underpins the formation of a congregation of souls the homily proceeds to explaining that care for the souls is provided in church through administration of the sacraments. Admonition to attend mass is then followed by a sequence of recommendations on how one should behave in church by refraining from foolish behaviour and by maintaining the purity of body and soul. A rather forceful recommendation against the sale of churches and the purchase of ecclesiastical offices closes the homily.

Although it is not possible to provide a full edition of In Dedicatione Æcclesiae in the space of this essay, it may be useful to look closely at the sources of this text in order to illustrate the compilation process. The main source for In Dedicatione Æcclesiae is a homily for the dedication of a church written by Ælfric, Dedicatio Ecclesie, appearing amongst his Catholic Homilies.⁷ This text provides the opening, extending from fol. 38 to 40r/l. 13, and the conclusion, appearing on fols 44r/l. 5–44v/l. 10, to the Lambeth text of the dedication homily. The Ælfrician homily was probably well known at the time of copying as versions of it survive in several manuscripts. While the essence of the text does not change in all the codices in which it appears, Godden has suggested that the Lambeth excerpts show a connection with Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 343, a manuscript of the mid twelfth century probably originating from the West Midlands.⁸

On fol. 40r/l. 13 of the Lambeth recension, the Ælfrician dedication homily breaks up after this preamble, and the reader encounters a variety of extracts copied into this text mostly from anonymous sources. A reconstruction of the text of In Dedicatione Æcclesiae has shown that passages copied on fols 40/l. 14–41/l. 16; 41v/l. 4–43v/l. 16 are also present in a homily contained in a pontifical used at Sherborne at the beginning of the eleventh century and later expanded in the mid-eleventh century, now Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale MS lat. 943.⁹ Just as Lambeth MS 489 is a collection of homilies for a bishop, so too, BN, MS lat. 943 contains a range of materials which would have been used by a bishop. The passages appearing in the two dedication homilies, in Lambeth MS 489 and in BN, MS lat. 943 respectively, were probably derived from a common source and copied at approximately the same time in the mid-eleventh century by different hands.¹⁰ As evidence for these passages is only to be found in Lambeth MS 489 and in BN, MS lat. 943, it is perhaps legitimate to think that there was a shared pastoral interest in possessing and using these materials for dedicating churches which the bishops of Exeter and Sherborne had in common. Another two interpolations taken from Ælfric’s materials appear on fols 41r/l. 17–41v/l. 4 and fols 43v/l. 23–44r/l. 5. The former is a passage about drinking moderately taken from Ælfric’s De Oratione Moysi, a prayer for mid-Lent about attending church and engaging in prayer.¹¹ While good church conduct is the general context in which the passage in question is set, in the Lambeth dedication homily the excerpt is integrated into an argument focussed on the abstinence from bodily pleasures and purity of the body and the soul. The excerpt from the prayer of Moses is also present in Ælfric’s first pastoral letter addressed to Wulfsige, bishop of Sherborne (996–1002) and the first recipient of the core part of the Sherborne pontifical discussed above and later augmented in the mid-eleventh century.¹² The context of Ælfric’s letter is in line with the tone of the Lambeth homily in that it is concerned with the ordering of the church as seen from an episcopal point of view. Inclusion of this passage in a letter addressed to Wulfsige perhaps suggests that it pertained to bishops to admonish the faithful against too much drinking when in church, a notion that Leofric, too, stressed in his episcopal capacity when dedicating churches.

The second passage extracted from Ælfric and copied on fols 41v/4–43v/16 is taken from the Passio Sancti Albani Martyris, a text centred on the good conduct of judges who are admonished not to sell justice for money.¹³ The text excerpted from the Passio and copied into the Lambeth dedication homily focuses on the sale and hire of churches, a not uncommon phenomenon in the eleventh century. In the Lambeth dedication homily the excerpt from the life of St Alban is inserted in the middle of Ælfric’s conclusion to his dedication homily, and in a rather more specific context than that of the Passio, to reinforce the message not only that churches must not be sold or hired out for money, but that laymen must not have authority over any church. This message resonates quite strongly with the papal campaign against the purchase of religious offices and sacred spaces launched assertively by Leo IX in two subsequent synods in 1049 and in 1051, right at the beginning of his pontificate.¹⁴

The way in which the extracts discussed above are incorporated into a new homily shows a twofold trend: firstly, the excerpts collected to compile In Dedicatione Æcclesiae are at some level associated with visions of an ordered church as imagined at episcopal level; secondly, they are re-contextualised in such a way that these themes resonate with notions forcefully stressed by the Roman church at a central level. For example, right at the point where the Ælfrician preamble ends, on fol. 40r/l. 13, the homilist inserted the following linking passage, unique to this text as far as we know, through which the preacher addresses the laymen in the audience and explains the meaning of dedicating churches: ‘You have now heard about the consecration of churches as it was celebrated in ancient times according to the old law. And since this exposition has holy meaning it is difficult for you, laymen, to understand’.¹⁵ This passage, which does not appear in Ælfric’s recension nor any other version than the one contained in Lambeth MS 489, is particularly interesting in the context of this discussion because it dwells on a theme which becomes key to the reforms introduced by the papacy in the mid-eleventh century: the superiority of the ecclesiastical orders over the laity and the separation of the priesthood from the rest of society. Here a typical duty of priests is described, that of elucidating scripture for the laity and explaining the meaning of a church’s dedication. The bishop explains it for the layman: ‘Now we want to tell it in such a way that you may be able to understand the feast of this church because this is consecrated to praise and to honour God and is much necessary to all the people for in this they ought to beg forgiveness for their sins before God’.¹⁶ The responsibility of the clergy to explain to the laity and ignorant the meaning of the scriptures is exemplified in the plural ‘we’, used not only in opposition to ‘you/eow’, but also as a majestic plural designating the power of the ecclesiastical community as a whole, which ultimately emanates from episcopal authority. Manuscript evidence such as that herein mentioned shows that in the higher tiers of the ecclesiastical hierarchy there was a desire to reform the manners and morals of church life through regulation and exhortation. However, the principles voiced by prelates at synods or in their preaching reflect the way in which ecclesiastical authority was perceived by bishops rather than describe a realistic scenario. There is scanty evidence, indeed, suggesting that these values were any more realistic than programmatic. Nonetheless, bishops were influential figures and had a major role in disseminating models, principles and rules of conduct through their pastoral leadership.

Re-defining the social classes according to roles and duties seems to be a topic of renewed interest in the Church and of great concern to Leofric. For example, separating out the three orders of society into oratores, bellatores and laboratores is the theme of a quando volueris homily, i.e. a text for any occasion, copied by Exeter scribes for the episcopal collection and added to Leofric’s homiliary during his episcopacy.¹⁷ Although distinctions between these three social groups had been a concern of Ælfric’s (and Wulfstan’s), especially in regard to defining the category of those who pray, these divisions became ever more imperative during Leofric’s episcopacy. In the mid-eleventh century, demarcations between lay and clerical behaviour were reinforced, for example, by Pope Leo’s prohibition of clerical marriage. In the Roman council of 1049 the pope declared the marriage of priests sinful as co-habitation or sexual intercourse could contaminate the sacred spaces priests came into contact with and, in addition, the offspring of such unions could jeopardise the wealth of the Church by inheriting and thereby alienating lands which would otherwise be the property of the Church.¹⁸ There was great concern among the ecclesiastical authorities that the clergy could become too involved with the secular world beyond their didactic and pastoral roles.¹⁹ Exercising control over the personal life of priests aimed to keep roles and behaviour separate, as a matter of principle if not in practice.

At Exeter, the demarcation between the clerical and secular is echoed in the regula followed by the cleric...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of contributors
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Reform and dedication of churches in eleventh-century Exeter
• 2 Old English confessional prayers for the clergy and the laity
• 3 Making books for pastoral care in late eleventh-century Worcester: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius MS 121 and Hatton MSS 113 + 114
• 4 What to ask in confession: a list of sins from thirteenth-century England
• 5 Songs and sermons in thirteenth-century England
• 6 Pastoral care, pastoral cares, pastoral carers: configuring the cura pastoralis in pre-Reformation England
• 7 Enforcing religious conformity in late medieval England: Lateran IV canon 21 and the church courts
• 8 Robert Mannyng and the imagined reading communities for Handlyng Synne
• 9 Unclean priests and the body of Christ: the Elucidarium and pastoral care in fifteenth-century England
• 10 The priest and the patronage of stained glass in late medieval Norfolk
• Index