Re: Angels in Heaven, Danceing, and Other Religious Moments

["Joyce A. Baldwin" <jocetta@ibm.net>]

Poster: "Joyce A. Baldwin" <jocetta@ibm.net>

>Poster: "Michael Jeffrey Looney" <barderic@mailcity.com>
> I have some religious questions to through out now:
>
>1.  Were their services then as they are now? (I'm speaking from the
Catholic side of things, since that's what my persona is.)

Good lord, no!  The Counter Reformation in the 16th-17th c. and the Vatican
II council of the early 1960's both radically changed the way Roman
Catholic religious services were conducted.  Try asking a local priest -
they probably learned about historical services in seminary, or at least
knew someone who researched the subject.

A few years ago the  Episcopal church I attended did a workshop trying to
recreate services from different eras.  According to them, in the Middle
Ages the sacrament of the Eucharist was a Big Thing and most ordinary
people didn't qualify for one reason or another (too many sins, too little
time to repent between confesssions.....).  Anyway, getting sprinkled with
holy water got you good and blessed and was an important part of the
service. Everybody stood (only the clergy and bigwigs got chairs or even
benches)  and in big city churches people would come and go during various
parts of the service.  Things seemed to get a bit slipshod anyway in the
more backwards rural parishes (the priest's Latin was not always so
hot...on the other hand there wasn't anybody there who could tell anyway).


>2.  How would they have prayed?
Just about everybody learned their paternoster (Pater Noster=Our Father). A
sovereign way to drive of devils, you know.  There were a number of
standard Latin prayers that were memorized and repeated.

>3.  Are the Crusaides reinacted from period??
Clarify, please.  MSR/Acre up in NY is a reenactment group that focuses on
the Crusades eras.  There may be others.  We are more recreators than
reenactors.

>4.  What did they do aobut the un-educated peasents that fell asleep
durring the service?  Was it considered a sin to allow that to happen to
you, or did they jsut ignore it?

Depends on where and when -- see above.

>5.  What did they believe got you into heaven? 
This one's  been answered pretty well, I think

>6.  Do you think they'd lookat me strange and through me out if I went to
church in Garb? 
Yes

> Has anyone ever tried that before?
Probably.

>  Might we have a service of our own in gard, to reinact a church service
from period?

Been done at Pennsic, but privately.  We do not publicly and officially
include religious elements in our events, despite their importance in
medieval life because with all the religious varieties in our modern
pluralistic society it's just too dangerous for modern folks.   In period a
lot of people got genuinely and very authentically dead over these
differences.  We don't emulate medieval sanitary practices in our kitchens
for similar reasons.  There are limits.

Jocetta, Lady Thrushleigh 

 (Note I've been reading Eogan-the-bard-not-the-herald's postings about
titles.  Knew about them, actually, just decided to change from SCA custom
to a very likely more period usage)
Joyce A. Baldwin
Diva Extraordinaire

In the Society for Creative Anachronism:
Lady Jocetta Thrushleigh of Rowansgarth
Exchequer, Canton of Buckston on Eno
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