Chapter 13. Jomala church, Åland Islands – Coin offerings to the Virgin Mary and the long Reformation




Jonsson Eeva

Gullbekk, Svein H. & Kilger, Christoph & Kristensen, Steinar & Roland, Håkon

1.

Lontoo

2021

Coins in Churches. Archaeology, Money and Religious Devotion in Northern Medieval Europe

Religion and money in the Middle Ages

3

351

375

25

978-0-367-55706-5

978-1-00-309481-4

2576-6643

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.4324/9781003094814

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003094814-15/jomala-church-%C3%A5land-islands-eeva-jonsson?context=ubx&refId=af1b4a9d-7096-4323-ac5a-44c2c3ba207c



Jomala church is a rural church dating to the thirteenth century. It is the only church in Finland representing the Romanesque period. An archaeological excavation of the medieval nave and the choir was carried out in 1961. It yielded a total of 594 coins of which at least 134 are medieval. The impact of the Lutheran Reformation on church doctrine and practice, and the effects on liturgy and the church interior in relation to the use of money, form the central questions of the chapter. After the Lutheran Reformation in 1527, individual communion through the mediation of the saints was gradually superseded by the celebration of the Eucharist. However, it is evident that coin offerings around the altar dedicated to the Virgin Mary continued in Jomala after the Reformation. A second issue that is addressed in the study is the continuation of offerings into the Early Modern period. The post-Reformation offering practices described in Finnish written sources reflect the Catholic faith in the miracle of transsubstantio, when the entire substance of the bread and wine are changed into the substance of the body and blood of Christ. This was seen as the most sacred moment during the divine service, and also the most suitable moment to give coin offerings. A post-Reformation coin offering put on the altar cloth during the Eucharist can be described as a kind of a ceremonial payment. This habit lasted at least until the period of the Great Wrath in Finland. It has been emphasised that 'altar cloth offerings' clearly continued after the period of the Great Wrath (1713−1721) in Jomala.



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