That's how it was done when most people couldn't read. They "heard" the preaching and "saw" the pictures.
“That’s how it was done when most people couldn’t read. They “heard” the preaching and “saw” the pictures.”
That’s assuming four things:
1) Preaching occurred. Sermons were not regular features of worship in the Middle Ages (something the Order of Preachers tired to correct).
2) The person doing the preaching could read and knew what he was preaching about. Clergy training was pretty thin in the Middle Ages. The more educated clergy were usually found in monasteries and universities with poorly educated clerics serving the parishes.
3) The preaching was done in a language the people could understand.
4) The people were actually paying attention. Medieval churches did not have pews for people to sit quietly in while the Word was being read aloud or preached. Instead, they would sort of mill about, talk to each other, sell stuff, or sneak out to the tavern.
King Henry VIII ordered that an English language Bible be placed in every parish and be made available for anyone to read. The result was astonishing. Men and women would sit in the churches for hours listening while someone read the Bible in English. They had never heard the Beatitudes, the Decalogue or the Lord’s Prayer.