Ermenfrid Penitential
Okay kiddo, so an ermenfrid penitential is like a rule book for priests back in the old days. It was made by a guy named Ermenfrid who wanted to help the priests know what was the right thing to do when people came to them to confess their sins.
You see, back then people used to go to priests to confess their sins and get forgiveness from God. But sometimes the priests didn't know how to respond because there were so many different sins and situations that could happen! So Ermenfrid made this rule book to help them out.
The penitential had different sections for different sins, like if someone stole something or told a lie. It also had instructions for what the priests should tell the people to do to make up for their sins, like saying prayers or fasting.
But why was this rule book important? Well, back then people believed that sins could send you to hell if you didn't confess and make up for them. So the penitential was a way for the priests to help people avoid that and keep their souls safe.
Nowadays, we don't use penitentials like Ermenfrid's as much because we have different ways of forgiving sins. But it's still really interesting to learn about how people used to do things in the past!
You see, back then people used to go to priests to confess their sins and get forgiveness from God. But sometimes the priests didn't know how to respond because there were so many different sins and situations that could happen! So Ermenfrid made this rule book to help them out.
The penitential had different sections for different sins, like if someone stole something or told a lie. It also had instructions for what the priests should tell the people to do to make up for their sins, like saying prayers or fasting.
But why was this rule book important? Well, back then people believed that sins could send you to hell if you didn't confess and make up for them. So the penitential was a way for the priests to help people avoid that and keep their souls safe.
Nowadays, we don't use penitentials like Ermenfrid's as much because we have different ways of forgiving sins. But it's still really interesting to learn about how people used to do things in the past!