The Catholic Church is seen as such a holy place and when most people think of it, they think of a sacred place with holy people, especially the ones who devote their lives to the church like priests, monks, and nuns. They are typically described are perfect and follow every rule of God. These holy beings should be the examples on how to live good catholic lives. They are not expected to be perfect but people do see them as the standard and look to them as examples on how to live their lives in a Christian orderly fashion. Now a days, few times it is heard of in the news where a priest or any other church member is doing something that contradicts their religious duties. Like a priest or any other church member doing something that is frowned upon for their way of living. A priest for example, having an affair or a deacon stealing money from the church, these are examples of church corruption. However during the medieval times it was not uncommon for priests or deacons to do things like us. Even though it was very wrong no one said anything. People would have rather just turned the other cheek rather then confessing to the corruption they witnessed or knew about. The story The Canterbury Tales illustrates many examples of how the church was corrupt during the medieval times. Corruption angered the people of those days, it is stated that, "Christian thought had penetrated deep and irradiated government, law, education, the structure of society, even trade and war. " (Brewer 262) In the medieval time period there were not only corruptions in the church but in the government's legal system as well. This frustrated the people because it made everything unjust whether it was through the church, government, or society. Nothing was fair for the common hardworking people.
In the beginning of The Canterbury Tales, a nun is introduced, the Prioress. Back in the medieval times and still today Nun's and other church members are said to take a vow of poverty and "A brooch of shining gold; inscribed thereon was, first of all, a crowned, ˜A' and under, Amor vincit omnia.
