Reaching God without priests?
St Francis of Assisi by Jusepe de Ribera
The 13th. century saw the emergence of the Friars: Franciscan, Dominican, Carmelite, Augustinian, representing – to generalise – poverty, learning, spirituality, mission. They flourished in the revitalised towns, spearheading the developing Universities which supplanted the old monastic schools. Rural diocesan clergy sank to the bottom.
It was ironical that the followers of Francis – who rejected urban wealth – now began to thrive in its midst. There was an inevitable reaction from those who styled themselves the Poveretti – the little poor ones – who caused much upset in the Church to the extent that Pope John XXII (+1334), in exasperation, declared that it was heretical to say that Jesus had promoted total poverty! Some Franciscans even suggested that it was possible to reach God without priests, setting in motion little waves which would gradually swell in size.
The later Middle Ages (i.e. post 1200) had an extremely strong sense of the priest as intermediary, aided by the philosophical notion (to simplify somewhat) of “potency” and “act”. The Sacrament of Baptism, for example, gave one the “potency”, but the priest enabled the “act”. Or, if you prefer, the Sacrament gave one a car, but the priest gave one the petrol and ignition key.
Medieval Western spirituality had a very strong sense of the Passion of Christ, but little of the Resurrection – which was seen as a proof of Christ’s divinity without real impact on us. So the Mass was intensely seen as Christ’s sacrifice, and that alone. The priest, isolated in the sanctuary, silently offered the sacrifice as on Calvary; the people’s Eucharistic (=Thanksgiving) Prayer had now become inaudible. There was a danger of the mechanical in all this, which could lead to one medieval thinker, William of Ockham (+1349), saying with total lack of irony that God chose to save us in Christ, but could just as well have chosen a stone or a donkey [aut lapis aut asinus].
A very influential text, attributed to St. Paul’s Athenian convert Dionysius but in fact of much later date, “The Heavenly Hierarchy”, provided the springboard for the notion that the priest was, as it were, the one who went up and down the ladder between Heaven and Earth, bringing divine favour. Without the priest, the link was broken. But when the Black Death bore away up to 50% of Europe’s population (1348-50), some wondered if this priestly ‘activity’ could be genuine. The doubters included John Wyclif at Lutterworth in England (+1384) and the Czech Jan Hus, disgracefully burnt at the Council of Constance (1415) despite having a safe-conduct.