Catholic Church Wielded Much Power During the

¶ … Catholic Church wielded much power during the Middle Ages, and was a big part of the people living at the time. The popularity of the Catholic Church was partly due to the widespread illiteracy among the population of Europe. Literacy was common among the nobility and the clergy, but such was not the case with the working class public, who often did not have access to education. Since the majority of the population was illiterate, churchgoers acquired their knowledge of the bible from sermons.

In order to further instill Biblical stories into the minds of the general population, the very structure of the church was used as an instrument to further advance the biblical knowledge of the general public. Thus, the stained glass windows of many Catholic churches served the purpose of reminding churchgoers of Biblical narratives through visual means, and the Chartres Cathedral was no exception. Upon entering the Chartres Cathedral, a peasant living in the thirteenth century would easily notice the prominent glass stained windows.

On the west side of the cathedral, the peasant would see the passion window that shows, among others the Passion of the Christ. The story of the Passion of the Christ was meant to remind the average churchgoer about the sacrifice of Christ to save the mankind and his miraculous resurrection. The significance of this specific window is increased as it reminds the peasants visiting the Chartres Cathedral that the divinity they worship is benevolent enough as to sacrifice his only son, Jesus Christ, for the salvation of the humankind.

They are reminded that their own existence is made possible due to the benevolence and omnipotence of God and Christ, and witnessing this message every time they enter the Chartres Cathedral motivates them to follow the tenets of Christianity. The necessity for establishing a connection with God was not only limited to the illiterate peasants in Medieval Europe.

In fact, whereas the peasants had to rely on the Church's guidance to establish a connection with God because of lack of literacy, educated individuals sought to find and establish personal connections with God in the course of their studies of divinity. A student living in the thirteenth century would find himself plagued with the need to find a way to be closer to God and guarantee his salvation.

The studies of a medieval student would likely include an examination of the Bible leading to some kind of universal truth and bring one closer to God. The student's course of study started with an examination of dialectic, such as Socratic debate methods because only by establishing the validity of theory with absolutely certainty could a student of religion be sure in his own scholastic achievements.

The experience that a student would have during the medieval era was based on the Classical Greek model, with the only exception being that the Christian study of the world should lead to closeness to God, to a better understanding to divine nature. In order to get closer to God, the student would study astronomy, for example, to earn a better understanding of his work and his greatness.

The study of astronomy would allow the student to have a better understanding of the workings of God and appreciate his work better. Thus, the scholarship of any kind allowed a student a better understanding of the things around him, and subsequently a better understanding and closeness to God. One of the most famous examples of scholarship meant to bring one closer to God is Dante's Divine Comedy. Dante began his work as a way to establish a better connection with God and to earn salvation.

Dante starts out by dividing sinners into one of the nine circles of Hell according to their crime. The system that Dante establishes is based on the idea that one's punishment has to fit their crime, but this system is not perfect because it gives a sterner punishment to some crimes than others. Thus, the lightest form of punishment is given to pagan or people that were not baptized.

This includes a number of philosophers and many people that were otherwise virtuous but were born before the existence of Christianity, yet are prohibited from entering Purgatory and eventually Heaven. One such example is that of Virgil, who is tasked with.