In implementing the directions of Lateran IV and other papal decrees, bishops not only ordained priests, appointed parish clergy, and oversaw their life and activity but also did a fair amount of preaching themselves. They gave an occasional sermon at their cathedrals; they visited parishes and religious houses in their dioceses and preached on that occasion; they regularly called together their diocesan clergy and began the convocation with a sermon; and they might also say a few fitting words on less regular yet important occasions, such as ordinations of new priests and elections of some officials.

CATHEDRAL PREACHING

The primary function of a cathedral was to act as the liturgical center of a diocese, in which a specially appointed clergy would regularly celebrate Mass and perform the canonical office. Though in medieval England in all cases the bishop was the legal and administrative head of a diocese, his relationship to the primary church of the diocese, his “see,” was usually not a very close one, and it varied from place to place. Of the seventeen cathedrals in late-medieval England nine were “secular,” where the liturgical services as well as other items of cathedral business were carried out by a dean and chapter, including a number of canons. The other eight were in the hands of a monastic order, either Benedictine (seven) or Augustinian Canons (one, Carlisle); here the liturgy was performed by the monastic congregation led by its prior or abbot.