"By the year 1000, the Irish-Scottish system of fixed-rate penances, with its heavy, long punishments, combined with the success of what can only be termed a theology of unworthy communication, caused laypeople to communicate very infrequently—perhaps only annually at Easter, if even then. Nonetheless, medieval parishioners knew well enough that the divine was made present in the Eucharist, and most would have made an effort to be present for the canon. At those rituals, they could behold their Savior and plead his sacrifice for their needs and for the destiny of their souls."
(Medieval Christianity, de Kevin Madigan).