Christianity started as a small sect within the Roman Empire in the first century. It spread slowly by winning converts at first from the wretched within the empire. By the end of the first century it had started winning converts from the upper classes. With the conversion of Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, Christianity conquered the Roman Empire. Soon it became a state religion, the only religion permitted in the empire Christianity had developed an administrative structure similar to that of the Roman Empire so that its representative officials were scattered across the extent of the empire. The authority of the church was highly respected by the time the empire collapsed. Indeed the church remained as the only force that held society together and gave hope to the word full of hopelessness.
Catholic Church Education
Early Christianity did very little in enhancing the educational foundations of the Greeco-Roman society.This was mainly caused by the antagonism that it developed towards Hellenism as well as the intolerance occasioned by the persecutions of the Roman authorities towards the Church. The notion of the chosen forced the first Christians to focus more on religious than temporal matters. Education therefore was not so important compared to their struggles for salvation. By the 3rd century however, most of the church fathers had come to realise the importance of education and were not willing to see their children remain ignorant. And since the church had not established schools of its own, they advised their followers to be more tolerant to the Hellenistic world by allowing their children to attend those institutions. St. Augustine was among the leading educators who brought about the synthesis of the two worlds. He also went ahead to develop the guidelines for the Christian curriculum as well as for writing class books.
Although most of the knowledge developed by the Greeks and Romans was lost with the disappearance of Roman schools, some of it survived in monasteries. The church was, particularly in the early medieval period, forced to play the role played by the state today-in providing education. It had to do this mainly because of self-interest; it required catechists, teachers, theologians, administrators, lawyers, managers of its vast landed estates and diplomats.
Educational institutions set up by the Church
The church set up the following educational institutions throughout Western Europe during the medieval period.
a) Parish schools
Parish schools, set up in the villages within a given parish, are the fore runners of present day village schools. At first the parish priest was supposed to be in-charge but he normally appointed people to run the schools. His role was that of supervision.
The curriculum in these Parish Schools comprised; reading, writing and arithmetic, some elements of Latin (the language of the church as well as learning), religious instruction, church music and in rituals.
b) Chantry schools
Chantry schools provide an excellent summary of medieval worldview that was God-centered. Life on earth was regarded as not important in itself except in so far as it was a preparation for life to come after death. The world, according to medieval man, was full of temptations as the devil tried to draw the good Christian away from the teachings of the Church. To safeguard the faithful from these temptations, the custodian of salvation, the Church had constructed a web of guardian angels who protected every Christian from the devil, in addition to the tireless and motherly service of the Virgin Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus.
Death was not perceived as an evil but a form of deliverance. But there was a little problem. Since all human beings are tainted with the original sin, none, however good, can go to heaven directly following departure from this world. All have to be cleansed of this stain before appearing before the Holy One. There was therefore a period of suffering, through the intensity differed from those who were condemned to hell, in purgatory. The custodian of salvation, the Church, taught that if the relatives and friends of the departed offered regular and truly authentic payers, the period of suffering could be shortened. The soul would now complete its sentence and stand ready to join the happy ones in heaven.
Chantry schools have their foundation in this medieval worldview. A wealthy man (rarely a woman) would give some money or a piece of land to the parish priest and such money or income from the land would be used to train boys to sing in the choir when mass was offered for his soul. The parish priest would faithfully train the boys for the prescribed purpose, but in addition he would teach them reading, writing, arithmetic and religious doctrine. From such beginnings, an elementary school, similar to the parish school, would develop to provide education for the lowest of medieval society.
c) Monastic schools
Monasteries first started in Egypt in the fourth century and by the tenth century they had spread across Western Europe. Monastic schools existed within the monasteries. At the beginning they were only for those within the monasteries but later admitted boys from the surrounding villages.
In the early stages monastic schools offered all the courses that dominated the parish schools. This was necessitated by the fact that some of those who joined monasteries had not acquired literacy. Later monastic schools came to specialize in offering what is today regarded as secondary education. The curriculum comprised the liberal arts which from the seventh century were referred to as the "Seven Liberal Arts". These were divided into two; the elementary and the advanced parts.
The elementary part was referred to as the trivium; mainly logic, grammar and rhetoric. Each of these courses had its own value in the education of church men. For example rhetoric was regarded as extremely important because a priest was supposed to be a good public speaker, a speech needed to be organized logically if it was to be effective; hence the importance of logic. Furthermore, a very good command of language is an imperative for a public speaker. These elementary courses, which were in essence language arts, were the foundation for the advanced part of the liberal arts.
The advanced part, the Quadrivium, comprised arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. All these, like the elementary ones, met the needs of the church. For instance, the medieval church owned about a third of all the land in Western Europe. Land was at the time the main source of wealth. Relationship to land determined a person's place in the social hierarchy. Consequently the church needed bookkeepers to maintain records of its land and income derived from it.
Geometry was essential for those who specialized in surveying church land as well as designing buildings. In addition, a priest was required to be a good singer to guide the congregation in singing hymns. Astronomy provided the skills required in fixing the various feast days - what are today referred to as holidays. This was important because the Church followed the Julian lunar calendar.
d) Convent schools
Like the monastic schools, convent schools were in their early stages intended for the education of those within the convents. Later they started admitting girls from the surrounding mobile families.
The courses offered ranged from reading writing, arithmetic, religious instruction, church music and rituals to the seven liberal arts. In addition, domestic (today's' home) science was regarded as an important component. This was because the students, coming from the aristocratic families, needed to learn how to run homes with many domestic servants. Furthermore, family clothing was in most cases made at home and the house mistress needed the skills of a dressmaker so that she could teach the servants.
e) Cathedral schools
The cathedral school was the pinnacle of medieval educational institutions before the rise of universities. These schools were to be found in the main towns particularly in the high middle ages. At first they were only for those intending to spend their life in the church as priests. The local bishop was in charge.
The curriculum of the cathedral schools revolved around the seven liberal arts. A student would first be thoroughly grounded in the language arts before he ventured into other specialized courses. Thus in addition to the liberal arts other courses like history, science, philosophy, law, theology, church administration and mathematics would be offered. Whether or not these additional courses were offered depended on the availability of qualified masters to teach them. Cathedral schools like those of the city of Paris which had many famous masters would attract students from across the whole of Western Europe. Indeed, the most famous of these cathedral schools later became universities.
marto answered the question on March 19, 2019 at 08:51