makes plain. In it the goddess Folly, in a formal oration,
addresses the multitude of her disciples and congratulates
herself on how all mankind is enrolled in her train:
princes, courtiers, statesmen, scholars, poets, lawyers,
philosophers, and, most pointedly, theologians. The satire
on the follies of churchmen was the heart of the work and
provoked much fury from its victims. The work was an
extraordinary best-seller: 42 Latin editions appeared in
Erasmus’s lifetime and it was soon translated into French
(1520), German (1520), and English (1549).
Prato A town in Tuscany 12 miles from Florence. It was a
prosperous wool-manufacturing center as early as the
13th century. Its cathedral exhibits fine work by DO-
NATELLO, MICHELOZZO, and Fra Filippo LIPPI, and from
1141 housed the famous relic known as the Holy Girdle of
the Virgin Mary. The church of Sta. Maria delle Carceri
(1485–91) is by Giuliano SANGALLO. The “Merchant of
Prato,” Francesco di Marco DATINI, is buried in the church
of San Francesco.
preaching The practice of delivering sermons underwent
some important changes during the Reformation, not least
in terms of their role within the church service. Although
formal Latin sermons were given in medieval monasteries
and universities, it was recognized early on that exposi-
tion of Christian doctrine also needed to be carried out in
the vernacular for the benefit of the unlearned. From its
foundation in the 13th century the Dominican Order (the
Friars Preachers; Latin: Ordo Praedicatorum) spread all
over Europe, with preaching and the hearing of CONFES-
SIONas key aspects of its mission. There is much anecdo-
tal evidence of the enthusiasm with which sermons were
attended in towns and cities, and celebrity preachers such
as BERNARDINO OF SIENAdrew large crowds. Sermons were
often delivered outdoors, sometimes from pulpits attached
to the exterior walls of churches; inside churches, preach-
ers often spoke from the rood-loft, although pulpits, nor-
mally placed on the north side of the nave, came into
increasing use from the later Middle Ages. Parish priests
were expected to supplement the instruction given by itin-
erant friars, and as some of them were ill-equipped to do
so manuals were written containing suitable material; in
England, for example, the Festial of John Mirk (or Myrc;
fl. c. 1400) provided sermons for all major occasions in
the Church calendar. The sermon on penitence delivered
as part of his contribution to the entertainment by the Par-
son in CHAUCER’s Canterbury Tales may seem to modern
readers a downbeat note on which to end the book, but,
like the Parson himself, it is exemplary of its kind and the
preamble makes it plain that it is to be taken seriously.
In their drive to educate the laity about their faith, the
reformers laid great emphasis on the “ministry of the
word”—that is, Bible readings and preaching. Pictures of
the austere interiors of Dutch Calvinist churches show the
pulpit as the building’s focal point, with the chancel—the
focal point of sacramental worship—almost irrelevant. A
mid-1560s painting of worship in the Huguenot “temple”
named “Paradis” at Lyons (1564–67; Geneva museum),
shows the whole building constructed around the high
wooden pulpit. Sermons expounding the Bible and apply-
ing scriptural doctrine to the hearers’ lives were preached
frequently and at length. However, religious and secular
authorities were both fully aware that, without some sort
of control, ignorant or disaffected preachers were a men-
ace to orthodoxy and civil order—as the example of
SAVONAROLAin Florence showed. For instance, in the
years preceding the uprising of the Dutch against their
Spanish Catholic overlords (see NETHERLANDS, REVOLT OF
THE) radical Calvinist preachers took to the fields to press
the religious case for rebellion. Some Protestant radicals,
reverting to what they believed was the practice of the
primitive Church, encouraged “prophesyings” in public
worship, thus allowing the laity, both men and women, to
speak publicly on doctrinal matters. A few doughty
Protestant women, such as the ex-nun Marie Dentière in
the first half of the 16th century, stood up for a woman’s
right to be heard in public on religious matters, but male
Protestant clergy were as insistent as their Catholic coun-
terparts on St. Paul’s injunction that women should keep
silent in church.
Various measures were taken to control preachers and
the content of their sermons. In Roman Catholic countries
the INQUISITIONcould investigate preachers who deviated
from the orthodox line. In England, approved set texts
were issued in the form of two books of homilies (1547,
1571), with the sermons written by distinguished contrib-
utors, among them Thomas CRANMERfor the first book
and JEWELand GRINDALfor the second. In article 35 of the
THIRTY-NINE ARTICLESthe titles of the homilies in the sec-
ond book are listed and they are recommended as “godly
and wholesome Doctrine...to be read in Churches by the
Ministers, diligently and distinctly, that they may be un-
derstanded of the people.” The books of homilies, of
course, did not preclude the learned from writing their
own texts; Lancelot ANDREWESand Richard HOOKERwere
both renowed for their sermons.
See also: LITURGYpredestination In Christianity, the doctrine or belief that
God has foreordained the salvation of certain individuals,
who have been chosen not for any merits of their own, but
wholly according to God’s purposes and grace. Such a doc-
trine is implied by several passages in the Bible and stated
explicitly by St. Paul (e.g. Romans 8: 28–30), who uses it
to bolster his central teaching that salvation is the free un-
merited gift of God. In later centuries, these hints were de-
veloped by systematic theologians (most notably CALVIN)
in ways that entail huge moral and intellectual difficulties.
In particular, predestination appears to destroy human33990 0 PPrraattoo