Condition of RCC c.1500-17: Doctrine

Question 1

What were Heaven and Hell?

Answer 1

Heaven was seen as being reunited with God and Hell was eternal separation from God - excommunication, the worst possible punishment

Question 2

What was purgatory?

Answer 2

The realm where souls went to atone for their sins after death

Officially indoctrinated in 1214, though had been practiced and accepted theology long before - popularised by Black Death 1346-53 as people were dying before final confession

Question 3

Dante on purgatory:

Answer 3

‘perpetually chased and stung by bees’ - closer to Hell than Heaven

Question 4

What were indulgences?

Answer 4

First established by Urban II in 1099 for the First Crusade -based on the belief that a wrong action could be repaid by the pope conferring Christ’s grace on you

Question 5

How were indulgences commercialised?

Answer 5

People began to pay the clergy to reduce time spent in purgatory

Cult of the Saints (people known to be in heaven) developed as they supposedly had the power to reduce time in purgatory too - led to collections of remains and relics and pilgrimages e.g. Frederick the Wise’s collection was valued at taking off 1,900,000 years

Question 6

What was the Cult of the Dead?

Answer 6

Obsession with eventual destruction of one’s soul and reducing time spent in purgatory for oneself or loved ones

Rich would finance stained glass windows, altar decorations, priests to include them in prayers all to speed their journey in purgatory

Question 7

What did the Seven Sacraments purport to do?

Answer 7

Method of conferring God’s grace to enable entrance into Heaven

Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Confession, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders and Matrimony

All necessitated a member of the clergy, making the church intrinsic to obtaining Salvation

Question 8

Baptism:

Answer 8

Induction into RCC, absolution of ‘original sin’ - stillborns went to limbo

Question 9

Eucharist:

Answer 9

Method of getting closer to God, mirroring Last Supper - initiated by Christ

Bread and wine undergo transubstantiation, cannot be consumed in a state of sin

Question 10

Confirmation:

Answer 10

Effectively baptism at adolescence with vows made on ones own behalf - administered by a bishop

Question 11

Confession:

Answer 11

Priest absolves person of venal sins (accidental) through prayer and instruction

Cardinal sins (intentional) cannot be absolved

Question 12

Extreme Unction:

Answer 12

Blessing before death, with last Eucharist, anointed with Holy Oil and preparation for judgement

Question 13

Holy Orders:

Answer 13

Initiation into priesthood - requires vows of chastity, poverty and obedience

Administered by a bishop

Question 14

Matrimony:

Answer 14

Marriage