Medieval Handbooks of Penance

by John Thomas McNeill

Guidelines for medieval clerics on how to assign appropriate penances for particular sins, in readable translations with detailed introductions.

Genres: Medieval, Nonfiction

476 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1990

Reviews

[Dan]

I saw this propped on a floor-display bookcase at a Kmart in Norwalk, Conn., many years ago, knew I had to have it, and obtained it simply by walking out of the store with it -- no one cared because the store didn't sell books, so it was the perfect crime, although I could probably stand to do penance myself. The highlight is definitely a passage (shared by several of the handbooks, to the point where you could call it a trope) setting out the increasingly onerous penances required in the event (a) you're a priest celebrating Mass and the Host falls on the floor; (b) a dog finds and swallows it; and (c) the dog then vomits it up. Entertaining and instructive.