A history of the English Language

Ecclesiastical Words.
The church was scarcely second to the government as an object of Norman interest and 
ambition. The higher clergy, occupying positions of wealth and power, were, as we have 
seen, practically all Normans. Ecclesiastical preferment opened the way to a career that 
often led to the highest political offices at court. In monasteries and religious houses 
French was for a long time the usual language. Accordingly we find in English such 
French words as 
religion, theology, sermon, homily, sacrament, baptism, communion, 
confession, penance, prayer, orison, lesson, passion, psalmody;
such indications of rank 
or class as 
clergy, clerk, prelate, cardinal, legate, dean, chaplain, parson, pastor, vicar, 
sexton, abbess, novice, friar, hermit;
the names of objects associated with the service or 
with the religious life, such as 
crucifix, crosier, miter, surplice, censer, incense, lectern, 
image, chancel, chantry, chapter, abbey, convent, priory, hermitage, cloister, sanctuary;
words expressing such fundamental religious or theological concepts as 
creator, savior, 
trinity, virgin, saint, miracle, mystery, faith, heresy, schism, reverence, devotion, 
sacrilege, simony, temptation, damnation, penitence, contrition, remission, absolution, 
Middle english 157

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redemption, salvation, immortality,
and the more general virtues of
 piety, sanctity, 
charity, mercy, pity, obedience,
as well as the word 
virtue
itself. We should include also a 
number of adjectives, like 
solemn, divine, reverend, devout,
and verbs, such as 
preach, 
pray, chant, repent, confess, adore, sacrifice, convert, anoint, ordain
.