Until the 13th century, the Church exalted poverty as a holy state and engaged in distributions of alms, trying to convince the rustics to accept their situation and not envy
the rich. In Sunday sermons, priests were prodigal with tales like that of the poor
Lazarus sitting in heaven at the side of Jesus, and watching his rich but stingy neighbor burning in flames.The exaltation of sancta paupertas ("holy poverty") also served
to impress on the rich the need for charity as a means for salvation. This tactic procured the Church substantial donations of land, buildings and money, presumably
to be used for distribution among the needy, and it enabled it to become one of the
richest institutions in Europe. But when the poor grew in numbers and the heretics
started to challenge the Church's greed and corruption, the clergy dismissed its
homilies about poverty and introduced many 'distinguo." Starting in the 13th century, it affirmed that only voluntary poverty has merit in the eyes of God, as a sign
of humility and contempt for material goods; this meant, in practice, that help would
now be given only to the "deserving poor," that is, to the impoverished members
of the nobility, and not to chose begging in the streets or at city gates. The latter
were increasingly looked upon with suspicion as guilty of laziness or fraud.
From Caliban and the Witch