The Catholic Church firmly believed in labor and in
prayer. People were taught that "to labor is to pray". The
church also made it very clear that if you wanted to get to heaven, you had to
participate in the sacraments. But what were the sacraments? The sacraments
were a simple set of steps that, if followed, would open the doors to heaven.
This was very comforting to people in medieval times.
They did not understand a word of the mass, but they did understand that if
they followed the sacraments, they would get to heaven. The life of most
people in medieval times was a harsh one. The thought of escaping to heaven
was most attractive.
The Catholic Church charged people money for some of the
sacraments and accepted (required) donations to feed the poor and to build new
churches.
The Sacraments:
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Baptism
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Confirmation
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Marriage
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Penance. You had to confess your sins to a priest,
and you paid money to do this. Penance also included acts of
"good" behavior. For example, you might ask a visiting monk to
dine with you. You might enjoy his company, but the invitation was an act
of penance, an act of kindness.
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Communion. This was the most important sacrament.
Each mass, those who had confessed all their sins and had not yet
committed new ones could participate in communion. During mass, people
taking communion would receive a blessed wheat wafer and a sip from a
specially blessed cup of wine. If you had not done ample penance in
the eyes of the church, you could not participate in communion. If you did
not participate in communion frequently, you could not go to heaven.
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Taking Care of the Sick
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Holy Orders. You could take holy orders at any time.
A woman might have been married several times, yet she could still become
a nun, provided she could find a convent to accept her. Once accepted into
a monastery (monks) or a convent (nuns), you could not return to your
former life. Not everyone took holy orders. But that
was allowed as long as you balanced this by acts of penance.
The sacraments controlled daily life. Some like
baptism were done once, others - like penance - were done many times. Since
there was a charge for each sacrament, the sacraments generated enormous
wealth for the church. The local priest and other church officials worked
very hard. The church kept reading and writing alive. It's not that the church
did not earn their success, but wealth flowed into the church because
Christianity was at the core of medieval life. Everything revolved around
religion.
