Throughout the medieval period, the process of organization of the Catholic Church determined the formation of a complex normative hierarchy of attributions delegated to each of the members of such institution. The creation of religious orders determined the formation of a clergy whose primary function was to establish the spread of Christianity throughout the European continent.
In this process, the Church ended up occupying not only the position of the most important and influential institution of medieval times. The training offered by members of the clergy drew a huge contrast to a population that, for the most part, lived in rural areas and was far from the literate universe. Because they were the few who had access to reading and writing, the Church's priests, monks, bishops and cardinals also came to occupy the place of the intellectual elite of those times.
A large part of the conceptions and explanations offered to the population was the result of what the members of the Church determined to be true. Dogmas or such “eternal truths” were embraced by the faithful as a reliable explanation for the most diverse aspects of life. Every time a new question arose, the most prominent clergy gathered in so-called councils.
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In this situation, the power and support of the Church were extended to such an extent that Church members began to discuss matters that were, to say the least, strange. In the 15th century, for example, a meeting of clerical authorities took place in the city of Constantinople. While debating various themes of theological and religious order, the Ottoman Turks launched the violent attacks that led to the loss of those territories controlled by Christian kingdoms.
In such a situation, many would imagine that the clerics were cloistered there to decide matters of great urgency and relevance. However, the documents of the time revealed that, among other things, the religious present there discussed whether or not angels had a sex. At the end of the clash, no one could reach a safe conclusion. Not by chance, the expression “discussing the sex of angels” is still quite used to define those discussions that never seem to come to an end!
By Rainer Sousa
Master in History
Brazil School Team
Curiosities - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SOUSA, Rainer Gonçalves. "Discussing the Sex of Angels"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/curiosidades/discutindo-sexo-dos-anjos.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
