Priests and Laymen

Abstract

Little is known of the actual character of preaching before the thirteenth century. As the pastoral functions passed from the bishop to the parish priests, presumably some sort of instruction arising out of the day’s scriptural reading, the Epistle and Gospel, was given. Doubtless this was very rudimentary, though canonists continued to repeat ancient injunctions to priests to be supplied with suitable sermon material. Toward the end of the twelfth century, Maurice de Sully (d. 1196), bishop of Paris and an effective preacher in the vernacular, provided his priests with a collection of homilies. Presumably other bishops did likewise.