Parson
Canterbury Tales
Occupation
A parson is someone that is a member of a clergy from a church that can vary from peasant churches to royal churches.
Effect on the time period
After all the stories of indulgence, sin and cheating, the Parson seems to point to a lesson. The Parson seems to say that paradise is only attainable through spiritual poverty and by avoiding sin.
[Various Research]
Social Standing
A parsons social standing varies on the church that he is preaching to. The higher class the church, the higher class the Parson.
Every day Life
Overall, the parsons life was typically a busy one. Most of them tought at local schools and were in charge of babtisms and weddings in their church, which happened quite frquently.
Other info
The parson would also be in charge of keeping track of buisness records from most of the local buisnesses and performing final rites on the deceased.
What would they be now?
A modern parson would most likely either still be a preist or an accountant of some type. They would probably be the people that run the church from behind the scenes and do the actuall work rather than just tell people they're saved.
Paraphrase
There was a poor Parson of a small country church who only thought holy things and only did good deeds. He was sensitive to the needs and conditions of his parishioners, who were mostly poor. When he had very little he would would give to those in need, and would often scold people for being too stubborn. Even in the worst of conditions,he would walk miles to go house to house to check up on his parishioners. He was the prime example of jesus christs teachings and lived as he preached, teaching his flock how to live a happy life. The thought of leaving to join a more prestigous church or make more money never even crossed his mind. He diddnt care about material objects and wasnt obsessed with philosophy or morals either. He was a living good example and the finest preist in the world.
Personality
He was very gentle, diligent, and always patient in the face of adversity. He diddnt think himeslf above others, but he would scold people for being too stubborn in their own ways. He was truly the embodiment of the teachings of jesus christ. He wasn't interested in wealth or status and wasn't obsessed with the philosophy of ethics or morality.
Main personality words
Good man; Gentle
Diligent; Patient
The perfect example; Finest priest in the world
Chaucer's opinion
In Chaucer's eyes, the parson is one of the most kind hearted and pure people alive. He portrays him to be the definition of a good and honest person and disproves the steriotype. This is significant because at this point in history the catholic church was known for its corruption and deception; him making the parson a preist of morality and honesty shows that its the people within the church that are evil, not the church itself.
Evidence from the text.
Chaucer litterally calls the parson "the finest priest in the world".