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    Christian Worship

    When did Christians worship?

    Seasons of the Liturgical Year: Temporal Cycle
    1. Advent
    2. Christmas (first mentioned in Chronograph of 354)
    Christmas Day, Circumcision of Jesus (1 January), Epiphany (6 January), Candlemas (2 February)
    3. Lent, including Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Spy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Vigil
    4. Easter, including Ascension, Pentecost

  • sanctoral cycle
  • martyrs, confessors, bishops
  • addition of new saints into sanctoral cycle: starting with St. Thomas Becket (ca. 1098-29 Dec. 1170), Archbishop of Canterbury, canonized 1174; St. Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373), canonized 1391, confirmed 1415

    What was the focus of Christian worship?

  • 1 Corinthians 11: 17-34, Didache, Justin Martyr: Eucharist = communion = sacrament of the altar
  • from agape to Sunday morning liturgy; the Mass
  • house church (Dura Europos), basilica
  • two developments in the West: from Greek to Latin, an exclusively clerical act
  • Real Presence
  • tabernacle
  • Mass of St. Gregory, Miracle at Bolsena (1263), Corpus Christi (1264)
  • monstrance, altarpiece

    Seven Sacraments

  • Sacrament: “an invisible grace in a visible form” (Augustine)
  • Baptism
  • Confirmation
  • Penance: confession, absolution, satisfaction
  • Eucharist
  • Holy Orders
  • Anointing of the Sick = Extreme Unction
  • Marriage

    What were some common forms of Christian devotion?

  • Pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Compostela, local or regional shrines
  • relics, reliquaries
  • Books of Hours

    NB Key terms are underlined.