The Medieval and Modern (Dis)Connection: Penance

Upon the reformation of doctrine of penance, purgatory came to be defined as the place where the souls of the repentant “pay in torment the debt due for venial sins and for the mortals of which the guilt was absolved in the sacrament of penitence, with the performance of sufficient satisfaction.” Just as the early doctrine had characterized it, the idea of penance completion in purgatory made very logical sense to the medievalist. If the place of purgatory was a continuance of a soul’s life before entrance into Heaven, clearly the deeds and works of the penitent were continual as well. Christians in the late medieval period came to believe that if they as sinners were not fully contrite and their penance insufficient they could make up for it in purgatory. This new linkage between purgatory and penance had two primary consequences on the medievalist. First, it required a deeper understanding of one’s sins individually. Medieval Catholics became forced to recognize their own sinfulness and their inadequacy to completely be contrite for those sins. Second, it resulted in a pragmatic attitude taken by most Catholics in regards to their penance and imminent death, primarily in reference to the commissioning of intercessory prayer and indulgences.
For example, chantries and monasteries were built and financed by local gentry in return
for prayers for their souls. It became the obligation of such establishments so to recite prayers for their benefactor’s souls in order to lessen the punishment in purgatory. Historians find such successful accounts in literature from the period in the early works of Gregory the Great and the Venerable Bede, as well as profuse mentionings in later works such as Vitalis’s account of the Hellequin and didactic poems. It was in indulgences, however, where the greatest impact on Catholicism was made.
In 1343 A.D., the Doctrine of Indulgences granted total or partial remission of temporal punishment for sin to those who were truly penitent and had been to confession. Suddenly, to the Catholic mind, there was no longer any need to worry about death or whether or not the penance enjoined by the papacy was sufficient for their sins. As this doctrine and practice proliferated throughout Europe in the later Middle Ages, the practical and varied nature of indulgences, specifically taking hold in the 14th and 15th century, made is possible for the laity to face individual death with some confidence. No longer was the fear of Hell embedded in the hearts and minds of Catholics, but rather a new conviction that even the matter of death and salvation could to a certain extent be handled with a “calm practicality.”
This doctrine and practice appealed just as much to the later medieval and early modern Church as to their members. Matsuda writes that “It suited the Church to encourage prayers for the dead and pro anima bequests with the promise of a reward in the afterlife, in view of considerable profits these practices yielded.” Towards the end of the Middle Ages churches across Europe became dependent on tithes and endowments for their basic incomes. In the earlier modern church, acts of penance significantly dwindled and the extravagance and convenience of indulgences became a major point of criticism to the early Protestant reformers. 21