!!!Predigt

Sermon, religious instruction of lay people, since the Councils of 813 
also held in vernacular language. Became more and more important 
during the 12%%sup th/%  and 13%%sup th/%  centuries 
(crusades, founding of new orders, such as the Dominicans, later 
Franciscans). Medieval sermons, which were enriched with exemplary 
tales (called "Maeren" in German), dealt with subjects from 
the Bible and also exhorted the congregation to atone for their sins, 
seek indulgence, and make donations; sermons also dealt with concrete 
social problems and the written records are thus an important source 
of cultural history. One of the first German collections of sermons 
probably dates back to the 2%%sup nd/%  half of the 12%%sup th/% 
 century in Tyrol and was written by a priest called Konrad; the 
Penitential Sermons of Klosterneuburg (end of the 12%%sup th/% 
 century) and the Sermons of St. Paul (Carinthia, before 
1230) have also been preserved. Berthold of Regensburg, who was the 
most important preacher during the Middle Ages, worked in Austria 
around 1260. The most outstanding preacher in the Baroque era was  
Abraham a Sancta Clara. The literary significance of sermons has 
diminished since those days and preachers have been focusing more on 
religious issues.

!Literature
J. B. Schneyer, Geschichte der katholischen Predigt, 
1969; V. Mertens and H.-J. Schiewer, Die deitsche Predigt im 
Mittelalter, 1991; F. P. Knapp, Die Literatur des Frueh- und 
Hoch-Mittelalters, 1994.


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