Meaning & Analysis
Literally, the proverb states that without a penny (money), there will be no 'paternoster' (the Lord's Prayer)—implying that spiritual services or prayers are withheld unless paid for.
Insights
Monetization of Religion
The saying criticizes the practice of making spiritual or religious benefits conditional upon financial payment, reflecting the commercialization of faith and religious rituals.
Social Inequity
It highlights the unfairness of a system in which spiritual comfort, prayer, or access to religious rites is reserved for those who can pay, leaving the poor excluded.
Cynicism toward Institutions
The proverb expresses skepticism or disillusionment toward religious or institutional authorities who prioritize profit over genuine compassion or service.
Historical Symbolism
The phrase gained particular force during the Reformation, when abuses such as the sale of prayers, indulgences, and other church services for money were hotly contested. 'Paternoster' (the Lord’s Prayer in Latin) was symbolic of essential spiritual aid, making its commodification especially controversial.
Cultural Resonance
Variants such as 'No penny, no pardon' and similar sayings exist in many languages and cultures, reflecting a widespread suspicion of institutions that demand payment for what should be acts of grace or charity.
Psychological Dimensions
The proverb captures the disappointment, resentment, or alienation felt when essential spiritual or emotional needs are commodified, and challenges the sincerity of relationships built on such terms.
Rhetorical Devices
Parallelism
The phrase’s balanced structure ('No penny, no paternoster') makes it rhetorically forceful and memorable.
Alliteration
The repetition of the 'p' sound enhances the saying’s musicality and impact, aiding oral transmission.
Antithesis
The stark juxtaposition of the material (penny) and the spiritual (paternoster) heightens the sense of moral tension.
Transcription
Quotations
(After the common saying, No).
No grote no Pater noster, no penye no placebo.
(For they say, No).
Pitie nor pencion, peny nor pater noster, shoulde ever have made Nurse once to open hir mouth in the cause.
Nothing shall alter my minde, neither penny nor Pater noster.
His Penny gets no Paternoster.
Remembering the olde saying of the popysh Priestes, that wont to make money of their Mattens, No pennie, no Pater noster.
No penny, no pater-noster, pay the old score and fetch a new.
No penny, no Pater Noster, as the saying is.
It is the reproach of Rome; No peny, no Pater noster.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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