Bayard, Florence <br/><br/>
The Bilder Ars, a tool for Preaching and Christianization 

 -  2003.<br/>							 
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<br/><br/> This paper highlights two of the main functions of the Ars Moriendi: how to coach and how to guide. Its audio-visual technique, which combines written and spoken texts as well as images, is also analyzed. This leads to a consideration of the use of images in preaching and the ways the message was transmitted and received in a booklet that promoted the Church's role as a mediator, as well as the use of intercessors and the sacraments. The Ars Moriendi played a part in the individualization of death and in the Christianization of attitudes connected to death. It appears as a practical and normative guide, laying out proper devotions and providing the basic religious knowledge required for a good life and a good death. Its pocket-sized format made it easy to refer to by the preachers who could thus base their sermons on an iconographical program which, through references to the psalms in particular, provided a structure to their words.