Religious Practices of the Masses During the Renaissance Essay

Religious Practices of the Masses During the Renaissance - Essay Example Some significant advances that are famous that time are in the elements of paintings through the introduction of linear perspective painting and the reformation of education which was gradual and widespread. This intellectual revolution period was said to be the connection between Middle Ages and Modern Era. Their influences were seen in science, literature, politics, art, philosophy, religion, and other intellectual inquests. Some of the noblest works of religious art, like the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo, Madonnas by Raphael and those of Fra Angelico and Grunewald were products of the Italian renaissance. Participants studied the great civilizations of ancient Rome and Greece, and realized that their art and civilization were related to those of the distant past. Their thinking was also persuaded by the importance on human thoughts and worth as an individual or it is simply called humanism; and one's intellectual growth relies on classic education. These said teachings depended on various disciplines including poetry, history, rules on writing, and moral philosophy. The Renaissance is also the age where there are conflicts between the Church and other religious sects such as the Reformists and Humanists, with regards to their beliefs, practices, and dogmas. The English word religion has been used since the 13th century which means "reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, piety, the res divinae (for the service of God)." (Wikipedia, Religion) It is also said that it is a way of life or signifying the attitude towards life. With that, religion covers the various human behaviors on beliefs, practices, moral codes, values, tradition, institution, and rituals that have the function of addressing the basic questions of human identity, ethics, death and the existence of a Divine being. Religion's definition has an immensely great extent that it is sometimes hard to perceive that medieval people are part of a religion. However, the Church became the "source of education entertainment, most social occasions, and of course, faith." (Louis Dudley 3) Although the southern humanists were preoccupied redefining the relationship between God and humans, the Northern Europeans still took the Church's practices seriously. Ther e transpired various religious practices that the Church performed during the ancient times that were sources of "re-categorization" and reformation to some amount. These are usually in the form of the Sacraments, which are visible to the paintings and architectural designs of artists among them are famous painters Michelangelo, Leonardo. One of the religious practices is the rituals. Rituals are said to be set of actions that are performed either on a regular basis or on certain occasions. These acts, suggested to have symbolic implications, are the performances of which is prescribed by a certain religion or culture. Baptism is one form of practice of the Church, in which a person is briefly submerged in water with the implication of cleansing him of the original sin. Simply stated, this is a purification rite. During the 16th century, while various Reformers challenged most of the Church beliefs, they re-categorized the sacraments except baptism and the Eucharist. This religious rite was portrayed in a fresco painting on the catacomb of Saints Marcellinus and Peter at Via Labicana in Rome, Italy. As time progresses, minor changes of the ritual took place especially on the setting to which the immersion transpired. Before, several adults are immersed together in a Baptismal pool which is usually a pond or a lake, until the said pool was reduced to a smaller basin-like vessel and