Mass in the Middle Ages for Families

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CommonWeal

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Greetings,

Allow me to preface my question by saying that I am a Catholic father with an interest in the Extraordinary Form. The following question is one primarily of historical curiosity but hopefully also practical in the days to come, when I begin going to Mass with my wife and daughter, who is now one and a half.

I am trying to figure out what the experience of Mass was like for ordinary Catholic families from the Middle Ages until the Council of Trent. In particular, I want to learn what it was like for large families with very young children to hear Mass, especially at a time when the rite, we may presume, was a more solemn and spiritual thing.

Did the entire family go to Mass together, or was it common that the father go on their behalf? Would most mothers go to Sunday Mass if they were nursing infants? What about parents with toddlers? Though the Mass may be subject to change, human nature – especially toddler nature – will be the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Who is watching the 2 year old while mom is praying her rosary (like we see in all those beautiful old paintings)? And what about all those silent prayers and serene moments for which the Extraordinary Form is known and loved? I cannot imagine the sound of babies and young children filling a large cathedral or small country parish in the days of the old Mass.

These are the kinds of questions I have about religious practices among the laity. If anyone can point me to any books or other resources that discuss these themes I would greatly appreciate it. Your opinions and practical advice are also appreciated, though I am really looking for something in print, preferably Catholic. 👍
 
corsair said:
Try this video. Its a reenactment of the Mass from about 1450ad. The introduction is done in a Nordic language (?) But the Mass is easy to follow.

youtube.com/watch?v=fIODLdz6vEc

Hope this helps.
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Wow that’s a really interesting, evocative video! Thanks for posting that.

From my understanding that’s probably a relatively accurate depiction of the mediaeval mass. Or, at least following a particular rite - before the Council of Trent, of course, there was a significant degree of latitude allowed regarding the liturgy, the Tridentine Mass representing a kind of counter-reformation standardisation (where a rite demonstrably older than 200 years years wasn’t in use).

The other thing I feel obliged (as a history graduate!) to point out, is that we sadly, simply, do not know what ordinary people “felt” about the Mass…partly because although it is safe to say belief was nearly-universal, (religious) education probably wasn’t always that effective so the general population may not have understood the significance of everything…but mostly because, in a generally illiterate age, the “average person” whose understanding and feelings we’d all be fascinated to learn, simply didn’t record what he or she felt.

As for books, I think a really good one to try to get a hold of would be Eamon Duffy’s The Stripping of the Altars. It focuses on English religion between about 1400 and 1580 (most of it is on the pre-Reformation period so should be right up your street!). It is an academic book (Duffy is an Irish - Catholic - historian based at Cambridge University, specialising in the religion of the later middle ages and Renaissance), but it’s pretty accessible and easy to read. I can also recommend Marking the Hours - again as it happens by Eamon Duffy (I’m not being paid, honestly!). I’m not sure where you are located in the world but they’re certainly both in print (and available as cheap-ish paperbacks or ebooks for around £10/$15-20), and hunting around online I’m sure some well-loved second hand copies can be found! I recommend either/both as one of Duffy’s interests is to try to recreate or understand popular religion before the Reformation. His thesis is essentially that English religion and the Church in England wasn’t as corrupt in its clergy and incomprehensible to the people as the reformers liked to portray…so while it is kind of revisionist in a way, it is generally fair and probably as good an analysis of popular religion in the middle ages as we are likely to get!

Hope that’s helpful? I’m interested in what other people might suggest!
 
I’m watching the video now, and I love it. But what the video does not depict is the presence of children, particularly young children. Can you imagine the piercing beauty of chant and quiet prayer interrupted by the (equally beautiful) sounds of crying babies and toddlers? I can’t either. And that’s basically what I’m trying to discover: did mothers with small children simply stay home and not go to Mass? That doesn’t seem likely either. What’s the answer? 🤷
 
CommonWeal said:
I’m watching the video now, and I love it. But what the video does not depict is the presence of children, particularly young children. Can you imagine the piercing beauty of chant and quiet prayer interrupted by the (equally beautiful) sounds of crying babies and toddlers? I can’t either. And that’s basically what I’m trying to discover: did mothers with small children simply stay home and not go to Mass? That doesn’t seem likely either. What’s the answer? 🤷
Click to expand...
I would imagine that the Middle Ages were similar as to how they are today in most of South American, Central America, and Asia. If the mother or child was sick or too young, they would stay at home. Depending on the culture, I would say many men were in the back or outside talking and came back in during the important parts, while the women were with their children. I take issue with the pews in the video. Most churches had few pews for the vast majority of the laity. The seats were reserved for the wealthy and powerful, I would guess, and most common people in attendance would have been standing and then kneeling when they were required.
 
My opinion is that people and Mass probably have not changed that much. From my experience at frequent and sometimes large Latin Masses I have a few things
  1. The old cathedrals were big. There was plenty of room for toddlers to be running around pillars on the edges with mothers watching them and not disturbing the Mass at all.
  2. When faith is strong Mass is crowded. There is a lot going on but the Mass is central even if everyone can’t see or hear it at all.
    I know I was at the Chartres Mass in the video below a few years ago and there were definitely a lot of toddlers but there was limited space even in a huge church like Chartres. I was tucked in a corner and could only see a large pillar in front, but I was really lucky and there were many families outside as well. Technically they were supposed to have a TV but something broke and it didn’t do anything after the Epistle. I have a feeling they were experiencing the mass very much like in the Middle Ages, people following along and definitely knowing what is happening but not really able to see or hear anything except what can be hear through open doors.
    I’m pretty sure toddlers and mothers were there though probably in the back and not sitting down or quiet.
    youtube.com/watch?v=JVgFa7999EE
 
according to biographies of example leading individual’s the mothers and children (sometimes

with domestics ) went to the once a month mass of a frequenter occasion than the patriarchs on account of business, running, etc …

God bless
 
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