medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: John Briggs <[log in to unmask]>
>>at Durham, two years after the Chapel of the Nine Altars was begun, in 1244,
the monks were pledged to 7332 masses a
year.
i find that to be an astonishing number.
is it unusual?
>I don't think it was that individual altars were limited to one mass per day,
although the priests probably were. ather, such continuous use would tend to
"clog up" the various altars and detract from whatever else was supposed to be
happening there. Not to mention taking up quite a bit of the monks' time...
well, the monks surely had quite a bit of time on their hands, so that's not
really a consideration, is it?
but that "one mass per altar per day" rule has been kicking around Art
Hysterical circles (eg., to explain Cluny III's size) for as long as i can
remember and i've always been curious about it.
are you saying that it was not a Firm & Universally applicable Rule, John, but
was only followed for purely practical considerations (as an "anti-clogging"
device)?
c
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