Lecture 30: Cathedrals and Chapters
dialectic: The controversy was a stepping-stone on the way to
medieval Scholasticism.
o More important, the controversy reveals that attention was
given to the Eucharist as an “object” to be worshiped and
adored, rather than as the element of a meal to be eaten.
o The more the Eucharist was understood in this fashion, the
more the distinction between clergy and laity consisted in the
“mysterious/magic” power to effect the “transformation” of
bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Note that
the Protestant taunt that yielded the phrase “hocus-pocus” for
something magical and phony was based on the solemn words
of consecration in the Catholic Mass in Latin: Hoc est Corpus
Meum, “This is my body.”
Clark, Medieval Cathedrals.
Scott, The Gothic Enterprise.
- How can disputes over the Eucharist (transubstantiation) be connected
to the character of Christian liturgy as performed in the great
medieval cathedrals? - Discuss the role of cathedral chapters as centers for Christian life in the
towns and cities of medieval Europe.
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider