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CHAPTER IX

THE SACRAMENTS

HIS account of parochial life in pre-Reformation England requires some brief description of the Sacramental system, which had its effect on every soul in the district. From the time of his baptism as a child of the Church, till his body was laid to rest in its tomb, each parishioner was the constant recipient of some one of those mysterious rites, by which, as he was taught by the Church and as he believed, God's grace was received into his soul to enable him to lead the life of a good Christian. In the administration of these Sacraments, nothing is more clear in the teaching of the Church of the Middle Ages than that there was to be no question of money. They-the Sacraments were spiritual things, and to sell them for fees would be plain simony, which was prohibited by every law of God and man. If the administrator was permitted to take an offering, it was only with the plain understanding that the payment was made in regard to the service rendered, for which the recipient desired to make some return; and that the Sacrament should be given without the fee. In the case of such a Sacrament as Penance, for example, where the acceptance of a fee or offering might lead to a

misunderstanding of the judicial character of the rite, and so bring it into contempt, the reception of money was altogether prohibited by the ecclesiastical authorities, and any such abuse was sternly repressed. Thus, to take an example, in the acts of the Synod of Ely in 1364, the bishop, Simon Langham, says, "We have heard, and greatly grieve to have done so, that some priests exact money from the laity for the administration of penance or other Sacraments, and that some, for the sake of filthy lucre, impose penances " which bring in money to them. "These we altogether prohibit."

The Sacraments, according to the teaching of the Church, which every one who pretended to be a practical Christian was bound to receive, were Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, Holy Eucharist, Extreme Unction, and in the case of those desiring to marry, Matrimony. Something may, therefore, usefully be said about each of these.

BAPTISM." To those coming into the mare magnum of this world," says the legate Othobono, "Baptism must be regarded as the first plank of safety in this sea of many shipwrecks to support us to the port of salvation." It is, he continues, the gate through which all have to enter to enjoy the grace of the other Sacraments, and for this reason "any error in regard to it is most dangerous," and the possibility of any child dying without receiving the saving waters is to be zealously guarded against. Because of the priceless efficacy of the Sacrament, every parish priest was warned to teach his people in the vernacular the form of properly administering it, in case of need when a priest could not be had. On this matter also the Archdeacon in the time of his visitation of a parish was to inquire diligently whether these instructions

had been given, and whether the parishioners generally knew how to baptize in case of need.

The importance which the Church attached to this Sacrament is well illustrated by a Constitution of St. Edmund of Canterbury, which orders that when the expectation of childbirth becomes imminent, all parents should be warned to prepare a vessel and water to be ready at hand, in case some sudden need should require the administration of baptism.

Ordinarily speaking, there can be no doubt that the old English practice was that every child should, if possible, be baptized in the parish church on the day of birth. In the ancient "proofs of age," this practice is evident; one example will be sufficient. In 1360 it was requisite to prove the age of John, son and heir of Adam de Welle, and the first witness who was called, said that "he knew that he was born on the eve of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, because he was with his master who stood god-parent to the child on that day, which was Sunday 21 years ago." Another witness adds, that it was in the evening that the baptism took place; and another that it was performed by John de Scrubby, the chaplain.

There was, however, an exception. There were two days for public baptism in the church, namely, Holy Saturday and the Saturday before Pentecost, on which days the font in every parish church was solemnly blessed. Apparently among English mothers in the thirteenth century, this day was regarded as unlucky, and was avoided by them as far as possible for the baptism of their children, a superstition that the two legates Otho and Othobono endeavoured to

eradicate. It became consequently in England the practice, if children were born within eight days of either of these two vigils of Easter or Pentecost, that their baptism should be administered after the blessing of the font, if there were no danger in the delay. In the case of the baptism being held over, however, halfway between the day of birth and the day of baptism, the child was to have all the accompanying rites administered except only the actual baptism.

One of the demands of the Devon "rebels" in the time of the religious changes in Edward VI.'s reign had reference to this question of baptism. "We will," it ran, "that our curates shall minister the Sacrament of Baptism at all times, as well as in the week-day as on the holy-day." To this Cranmer, in his reply, says, "Every Easter and Whitsuneven, until this time, the fonts were hallowed in every church and many collects and other prayers were read for them that were baptized. But alas! in vain, and as it were a mocking with God; for at those times, except it were by chance, none were baptized, but all were baptized before."

The offering for the administration of baptism was strictly voluntary. Whenever any difficulty arose between the parson and his people on this matter, the bishop always took the opportunity of laying down as the common law of the Church that nothing could be exacted. Bishop Grandisson, for instance, in 1355, in a case at Moreton Hampstead, declared that no priest could deny, or presume to deny, any Sacrament to his parishioners by demanding money, but that he might afterwards take what the people chose to offer him."

The reverence with which our forefathers regarded