Analysis Of The Conversion Of Waldo

In the Middle Ages, conversion stories acted as a means to enlist more lay brethren to help sects like the Dominicans with preaching and recruiting activities in urban cities. The main character in "The Conversion of Waldo" specifically was influenced by the conversion story of Saint Alexis. Saint Alexis gave up all of his possessions from his secular life and lived the life holy man as a beggar, where he eventually became canonized after he died at the entrance of his parents ' home. Although "The Conversion of Waldo" mainly focuses around a man 's self-inflicted penance of giving up his possessions, since he previously practiced usury, it incorporates the theme of the urbanization of education in the Roman Catholic Church, the revival of practices set forth in the Christian Bible, and Waldo challenges set social conventions of acceptable behavior in both the lay and religious communities. "The Conversion of Waldo" includes themes of urbanization in the Roman Catholic Church. For instance, Waldo hears a troubadour preaching on a street corner about the story of Saint

Although leaders in the Roman Catholic Church did not determine canonical law about how often an individual should go to Church until a few decades later than this work, Waldo acts as a precedence for how individuals treated religion in an urban setting. Like Waldo, they would rely on masters from theology schools and troubadours telling stories in the streets. This increased exposure to knowledge would have given the people more access to biblical teachings, as displayed through Waldo 's revival of biblical stories he performs his penance. However, since he was a predecessor in this tradition, his actions were not always perceived in a positive light, as he had to prove that he was not crazy. Waldo, ultimately, demonstrates how any man can obtain a closer relationship to God through his conversion