Where and/or How would I learn about the Catholic Church before the Catechisms?

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Nanotwerp

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The Catechisms were created comparatively recently for us laity. I was just wondering, before the first catechisms were made, how would people learn about the Catholic Church? Ex: Doctrine, Magisterium, Tradition
 
There wasn’t even a written New Testament until approximately 300 years after Christ’s time on earth. Yet, the faith was passed down from generation to generation by church teachings and tradition. Parents instructed their kids and the apostolic successors performed the sacraments, preached sermons, etc. I’d imagine the same is true with something like the catechism–as all it is basically is a written compilation of what the Catholic church teaches and what we are to believe.🤷
 
In the home, Catholic schools, religious education classes, weekly sermons at Mass, reading the catechisms that existed at the time, reading other Catholic books or theology textbooks, asking questions of knowledgeable Catholics, listening to speakers such as Bishop Sheen, attending Eucharistic conferences, parish missions, etc. etc.
 
ClaireS said:
In the home, Catholic schools, religious education classes, weekly sermons at Mass, reading the catechisms that existed at the time, reading other Catholic books or theology textbooks, asking questions of knowledgeable Catholics, listening to speakers such as Bishop Sheen, attending Eucharistic conferences, parish missions, etc. etc.
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👍
 
1ke said:
There have been catechisms as long as there has been a church.
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Not true. Catechesis was done from works of early Church fathers and the Bible, among other sources, but there was no formal catechism (in book form) until the inventing of the printing press.

Even then, as late as the 17th century, the rate of illiteracy in, say, France, was close to 70%. Most teaching had to come from the pulpit.
The invention of printing and the revival of learning naturally had great influence on catechetical instruction. The first great name to be mentioned, though indeed it belongs to a slightly earlier period, is that of John Gerson (1363-1429). He realized that the much-needed reform of the Church should begin by the instruction of the young; and though he was chancellor of the University of Paris he devoted himself to this work. He composed a sort of little catechism entitled “The A B C of Simple Folk”. To enable the clergy to catechize he also composed the “Opus Tripartitum de Præceptis Decalogi, de Confessione, et de Arte bene Moriendi”, in which he briefly explained the Creed, the Commandments of God, the sins to be mentioned in confession, and the art of dying well. This was printed many times and was translated into French. It was the forerunner of the Catechism of the Council of Trent.
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(source: Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909)
 
OraLabora said:
Not true. Catechesis was done from works of early Church fathers and the Bible, among other sources, but there was no formal catechism (in book form) until the inventing of the printing press.
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The Didache is the first known catechism. It is from the first century.
 
1ke said:
The Didache is the first known catechism. It is from the first century.
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Is it a complete catechsim though? That is one manual that contains all the necessary for learning the faith?
 
You nailed exactly what I was going to ask! Anyways, it seems like during the early church days, they didn’t have much tradition like we had, and they had to ‘develop’ it per se, like how the biblical canon was developed.
 
Also I completely forgot about stained glass and frescoes. I saw some amazing frescoes in Italy at Subiaco, dating back to the 8th century, including one of St. Francis painted when he visited there and before he received the stigmata. The frescoes told the story of the Bible and the saints.

Most folks were illiterate back then, so images were necessary, besides oral teaching.
 
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