This chapter discusses religious and moral ideas about charity, sanctity, and salvation, largely emanating from the University of Paris during the thirteenth century. Medieval representations of charity tended to focus on the almsgiver, not the recipient of charity. Much of the discussion about charity built on a long tradition of associating charity and the works of mercy with penance for sin. Thirteenth-century developments in confessional practices and a growing preoccupation with Purgatory as a real and terrifying place heightened the significance of the works of mercy. Moreover, confessional manuals and treatises on the virtues and vices identified charity as the virtue that most closely corresponded to the vice of avarice; in the increasingly commercial, profit-oriented economy of thirteenth-century Europe, charity therefore had additional social and religious appeal. The growing veneration for charitable work, for example, is reflected in “the sanctification of charity” during the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as sanctity increasingly became tied to the practice of charity. Indeed, popular representations of the saints canonized during this period depicted their extraordinary willingness to make personal sacrifices, debasing themselves and suffering in an effort to alleviate the suffering of others. Hagiographical accounts exalted these charitable saints' selfless service as holy and Christ-like and served as a role model for others to follow.
The University of Paris in the Sermons of the Thirteenth Century
