Popular Religion in an Age of Adversity
Due to the mistakes made by Church as they elected three popes, stressed money and fought with monarchical rulers the respect that people had for the Church began to diminish and in the 14th century during the Black Death the Church failed yet again both to offer any explanation for the reason of the many deaths and to comfort those emotionally damaged by the epidemic. As mentioned in the Black Death section previously, people reacted in multiple ways when it came to the 14th century. Though the most common result was a greater emphasis on salvation through works instead of faith because the people of the time were trying to figure out why God was punishing them. Another common result was that people began to fear and think about purgatory more and more. This was due to the fact that so many people were dying and their relatives had to worry over their afterlife.
Mysticism and Lay Piety
Mysticism became regularly apparent in the 14th century with the downfall of the Church and the spread of the Black Death. A leader in the field of mysticism was one Meister Eckhart (1260-1327). Eckhart was considered a scholar, a Dominican theologian. He taught about mysticism itself and the attainability of it. He was called upon to preach and focused his sermons on the aspect of becoming one with God which is typical of mysticism. He was a convincing speaker and sold the belief of mysticism well to the Germans.
Eckhart spoke so well to the Germans that one man Gerard Groote (1340-1384) took his messages to heart and started his own form of mysticism called Modern Devotion. He taught people about becoming like Jesus, sacrificing for others, living humbly and ignoring the pesky problem of theology. Like Eckhart, Groote's speeches were infatuating and soon he had accumulated followers. This groups of people was divided into two smaller groups, men and women groups. The men groups were called the Houses of the Brothers and the women groups were called the Sisters of the Common Life.
Eckhart spoke so well to the Germans that one man Gerard Groote (1340-1384) took his messages to heart and started his own form of mysticism called Modern Devotion. He taught people about becoming like Jesus, sacrificing for others, living humbly and ignoring the pesky problem of theology. Like Eckhart, Groote's speeches were infatuating and soon he had accumulated followers. This groups of people was divided into two smaller groups, men and women groups. The men groups were called the Houses of the Brothers and the women groups were called the Sisters of the Common Life.
Unique Female Mystical Experiences
A popular fad among women at that time was to receive communion as a type of meal, and in fact in many cases the eucharist became the only source of food a young woman, like Catherine of Siena, would consume. Catherine, like many others, believed that by living off of only the nourishments God's, "body," provided that she achieved oneness with God.