The Roman Catholic Church’s Late Medieval Teaching on Eschatology as the Basis for Visual Catechesis

This article reflects on the Catholic Church’s teaching on eschatology at the end of the Middle Ages. These teachings serve as the preliminary basis of an analysis of the visual catechesis depicted in medieval frescoes and paintings of the Last Judgment. The article will examine the Second Council of Lyons (1274), apostolic constitution Benedictus Deus (1336), and the Council of Florence’s (1439) teaching on eschatology. The specific teachings that this article will address are: particular judgment and the Last Judgment, the essence of the beatitude experienced by those who are saved (visio beaticifa), and the existence of purgatory and what, precisely, it is.