Excommunication -- history question

[nwink]

I have a question for you history buffs. What about excommunication would make it a fearful thing to the common church-goer in the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages? The reason I ask is because it's hard for me to fully understand this concept since we today live in an individualistic society and one where you aren't required to be a member of the church (and a society where the Church doesn't control the State).

That said, I understand how popes used excommunication as a powerful weapon against rulers and nations, but what would be the scary repercussions of the common person in some town being excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church? What would the societal implications be? How would people treat an excommunicated person?

 

[jwithnell]

The Roman church held that salvation could only be found inside the church -- so if you were living the fairly miserable life of the average European, to go from this life into hell was an unbearable thought. At least purgatory gave some hope of eventually reaching heaven. But with excommunication, you had no hope.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

I suspect that in certain places, one concern someone might have was that a "heretic" would be turned over to the civil authority, in the expectation that he would be imprisoned, banished, or executed. One legacy of a difficult "marriage" of church and state.

We are far closer today to the reality of the early church, where there was no state-sponsorship. Then, as should be now and in every age, the great terror is spiritual. For as we ourselves confess in our Confession, outside the visible church "there is no ordinary possibility of salvation." It is in the church, a faithful church may I add, that God promises to be present with his gifts for us. To shun the gathered church is doing despite to the thing Christ loves.

 

[Philip]

In the Middle Ages, the Church was seen as the glue that held society together. It was supposed to be the protector of the defenseless and of the downtrodden. Most importantly, though, the church was supposed to ensure justice and that those in power did not abouse it or take advantage of it.

So, when a person was excommunicated, he (or she, though usually he) would then be outside the protection of law. Habeas Corpus did not apply, he did not have to be tried by a jury of peers, and could not appeal his case. In addition, anyone who killed him could not be prosecuted, and his wife and children could not inherit his property. In addition, all contracts with that person were legally null and void.

If the person were of noble birth, it meant that all feudal obligations to that persons were null and void. In other words, it functioned like outlawry or revokation of citizenship.