FATHER
LIAM SAYS: When St Augustine and his monks arrived in Kent from
Rome – sent by Pope Gregory the Great – in 597 AD, they brought with them what
was needed for the worship of the Church – sacred vessels, altar linen,
ornaments and vestments. They also
brought relics of the apostles and martyrs. From the earliest times the bodies
of those who suffered for the Christian faith had been venerated. In Rome, churches such as St Peters and St
Pauls were built over the tombs of the saints, when the Christians were allowed
to worship publicly by the Emperor Constantine in 313 AD. The building of churches really took off when
Christianity became the state religion.
The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD lay down that no churches should
be consecrated without relics. As time
passed in this country the relics of English saints and martyrs were displayed
in special reliquary caskets. Very many
of these were destroyed at the Reformation.
Important relics were a major factor in making the great abbeys such as
Canterbury and Durham major places of pilgrimage. Some reliquary caskets survive from the late
12th Century, such as those containing the relics of St Thomas
Becket who was martyred in 1170 AD.
Until the 12th Century priests could be
married. After this time clerical
celibacy became compulsory in the Western Church while in the East married and
celibate clergy continued to exist side by side, as they still do. The choice of who would be appointed or
‘presented’ as priests of a parish could be in the hands of the local land-lord
– though the bishop would confirm the choice – or it could lie with the bishop
or the local monastery. Those who had the
right to present a priest to a parish or ‘benefice’ would also take the major
part of the endowment including the tithe.
Members of the congregation were required to give a tenth of their crops
and livestock towards the endowment of the church. So the clergy did not get this but they got
donations on the major feast days and they also had the use of the land known
as the glebe that belonged to the parish.
But in the early Middle Ages churches were often seen as sources of
enrichment. Fees were often exacted for
the Sacrament of Marriage by both the land-lord and the church authorities with
the result that many couples – especially those who were poor – set up home
together without getting married.
The Lateran Council of 1215 AD stipulated that there
had to be a large stone altar with five consecration crosses representing the
five wounds of Christ. At this time
people received Holy Communion rarely because there was great emphasis on our
unworthiness. This council stipulated
that everyone should receive the Sacrament at least once a year – at
Easter-time.
There were three stone seats arranged in a row in
each parish church for the clergy. On
special feasts, like that of the patron saint, two other priests would be asked
to take part in the celebration of the Mass as deacon and sub-deacon. Neighbouring choirs might also be asked to
ensure a worthy and joyful celebration of the High Mass. Only Monasteries would usually have a deacon
or sub-deacon but priests took their places.
We still can see these ancient seats in some churches.
There are some magnificent medieval churches to be
seen especially in wealthy villages which prospered, for example, from the
woollen trade and where the land-lord was very keen to share his wealth with
the Lord! But the inside of these
churches today bear little resemblance to what they looked like before the
Reformation. During the reign of
Elizabeth I, a member of one of the two wealthy families that had rebuilt the
magnificent church in Long Melford in Suffolk, Roger Martyn, was a
recusant. He had refused to attend the
established church services and left an account of what his beloved church had
looked like. Over the High Altar there
had been a triptych of gilded wood’ carved very artistically with the story of
Christ’s Passion ... lively and beautifully set forth’. It was ‘made of one great tree.’ It would have depicted scenes of the Passion
filled with a multitude of participants.
The triptych had ‘very fair boards, made to shut too, which were opened
upon high and solemn feast days which then was a very beautiful show.’ On either side of the altar were recesses
which reached to the roof of the chancel.
The one to the north showed an image of the Trinity to which the church
was dedicated; that to the south contained a statue of the Virgin. He described the wooden rood-screen which was
an almost universal feature in late medieval churches. Along its lower half was a frieze depicting
the Apostles. Above there was the Rood
itself, showing Christ on the cross flanked by Mary and John. There was a gallery with ‘a fair pair of
organs’ indicating that the services were accompanied by music and choral
singing. Roger Martyn spoke of the
priest singing the Gospel of the Passion from the gallery every good Friday and
spoke of the Easter Sepulchre – again a feature of most churches – erected
during Holy Week which served as what we would now call the Altar of Repose –
‘a fair painted frame of timber ... with holes for a number of fait tapers to
stand before the Sepulchre and to be lighted in service time’. Roger Martyn rescued what he could of the
glories of Long Melford Church – including the altarpiece from the family
chapel – ‘which I hope my heiress will repair and restore again one day’. Alas that day has never come!
I
am indebted to Roy Strong’s ‘Little History of the English Country Church’.
