86 LaCitadeSancta
covered a loophole in the rule against parties. But money saved by fasting
helped the poor or could be laid up for famine relief.^111
Individual penitents enjoyed freedom to elaborate on the generally ob-
served fasts. Sora Pacifica de’ Guelfuzzi of Assisi described Saint Clare’s
fasts, which seem typical of lay penitents. Clare fasted three days a week, on
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.^112 This was hardly extravagant; the later
two days were already traditional days of penance. Margherita of Citta`di
Castello, from the age of seven and while living privately at home, observed
the traditional monastic fast from the feast of the Holy Cross ( 14 September)
to Easter and added Saturday to the penitential days observed by Clare.^113
Typically, the penitent merely observed traditional and neglected fasts of the
Church with greater devotion. Umiliana dei Cerchi, her biographer tells us,
observed the ‘‘customary church fasts’’ and fasted on the same four week-
days as Margherita. Umiliana added the ancient ‘‘Apostles’ Fast’’ after Pen-
tecost, ‘‘Saint Martin’s Lent’’ before Advent, and a short fast before the
Assumption in August. She also fasted on the vigils of her favorite saints.^114
Even the ‘‘private’’ fasting of the penitents was itself traditional and liturgical
in origin. Among the recorded practices, only the Monday fast lacks ecclesi-
astical inspiration. To fast or ‘‘do penance’’ was to do what any Christian
might do. If a lay penitent wanted to fast, she did so according to ‘‘the
mind of the Church.’’ The penitents’ discipline was rigorous, but hardly self-
imposed starvation.^115 To fast did not mean absolute abstinence from food
and water. Medieval Italians avoided flesh and dairy products, eating a sin-
gle meal, usually in the early afternoon. That meal might include fish. Cor-
porate fasting also followed the traditional fasts of the Church, often adding
a social dimension lacking in private observances. A confraternity at Pavia,
for example, observed only the Church fasts, adding that members unable
to fast because of illness should provide enough food to feed a poor person
for each day they were dispensed from fasting.^116
Communities of conversi and penitents cared for the material as well as
spiritual needs of their members. The ‘‘Memoriale’’ stipulated that when
any member heard that another had fallen sick, he should tell the ministers
so they could provide for a weekly sick-call visit and, if the sick member were
poor, supply his needs from the common fund. Should the sick member die,
- Meersseman,Dossier, 88 ; on which, see Powell,Albertanus, 95. Cf. Gratian,Decretum,D. 42 c. 1.
112 .El processo della canonic ̧atione de sancta Chiara,ed. Zeffirino Lazzeri, 1. 8 , in ‘‘Il processo di canoniz-
zazione di S. Chiara d’Assisi,’’AFH 13 ( 1920 ): 444.
113 .Legenda B. Margaritae de Castello,ed. M.-H. Laurent, 11 , in ‘‘La plus ancienne le ́gende de la b.
Marguerite di Citta`di Castello,’’AFP 10 ( 1940 ): 121. - Vito of Cortona,Vita [B. Humilianae], 3. 27 ,p. 392.
- Cf. later extreme fasting practices in Caroline Bynum,Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious
Significance of Food to Medieval Women(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987 ), and
Rudolf Bell,Holy Anorexia(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985 ). - Milan, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense,msAC.viii. 2 , fols. 8 v– 9 r.