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Mass in a church of the district from which it drew its members.^214 The
Quartieri, who met at Sant’Ambrogio, even had benches installed there for
the members.^215 The group’s standard-bearer, as the military leader of the
society, called out and rallied the members in front of the society’s chapel
or, less commonly, at the neighborhood cross.^216 Chanting of Mass preceded
business meetings, elections, and discussion of whatever ‘‘touched the honor
of the society and the city of Bologna,’’ including financial reports.^217 A few
societies also joined Mass with the distribution of poor alms, but that does
not seem universal.^218 Mass alone was essential. The societies sometimes
chose their church because of their patron, as did the Balzani. This group
came from the area around Santo Stefano but decided to meet in the church
of San Giovanni in Monte because they preferred Saint John’s patronage.^219
Other societies too chose patrons different from those of their home chapels.
The Aquila, whose church was San Salvatore, chose Saints Peter and Paul.^220
As an associative principle, the place and patron were secondary to the act
of worship. One of the oldest Bologna societies, that of the Traverse di Porta
San Procolo, was not originally localized in any particular church. Meetings
moved monthly from chapel to chapel. The Traverse later adopted Saint
Proculus as their particular patron. Only then did they meet exclusively in
his church. The members’ monthly Mass and their annual candle offering
established the society’s corporate identity.^221 In extant Bologna society stat-
utes, the monthly Mass, held on the first or second Sunday of the month,
was constitutive of membership; all provided a stipend for the priest, usually
stipulated at 6 d. bon.^222 If necessary, because of the numbers present, Mass
could be sung outdoors using society tents.^223 Societies fined those who failed
- Lombardi at S. Stefano; Tusci at S. Giovanni di S. Stefano; Balzani at S. Giovanni in Monte;
Traverse di Porta S. Procolo at S. Procolo; Delfini at S. Salvatore; Castelli at S. Damiano; Schise at S.
Caterina delle Muratelle; Chiavi at S. Pietro; Sbarre at S. Sismondo (other than for Mass, at S. Cecilia);
Traverse di Barberia at S. Barbaziano and S. Isaia; Cervi at S. Leonardo; Aquila at S. Salvatore; Branca
at S. Maria Maggiore; Leoni at S. Felice; Quartiere at S. Ambrogio; Spade at S. Giovanni Battista and
S. Tommaso; Vari at S. Martino dell Aposa. At Biella, the churches of the societies were protected against
vandalism by special fines: Biella Stat. ( 1245 ), 1. 3. 10 ( 69 ); but I find nothing like that for Bologna. - Bol. Pop. Stat., 1 (Quartieri, 1256 ), 1 : 295.
- Ibid. (Branca, 1270 ,c. 1 ); (Castelli, 1255 ,c. 29 ), 1 : 165 – 66 ; (Schise, 1254 ,c. 24 ), 1 : 177 ; (Lombardi,
1255 , cc. 25 – 27 ), 1 : 11 – 12. - Ibid. (Schise, 1254 ,c. 6 ), 1 : 171. For elections after the Mass, see ibid. (Sbarre, 1255 ,c. 28 ),
1 : 195 – 96 ; (Branca, 1255 ,c. 21 ), 1 : 270. For finances, see ibid. (Balzani, 1230 ,c. 43 ), 1 : 130. - Ibid. (Toschi, 1256 ,c. 13 ), 1 : 95 – 96.
- Ibid. (Balzani, 1230 ), 1 : 121 – 31.
- Ibid. (Aquila, 1255 ,c. 3 ), 1 : 237 (the Aquila later added Saint Francis of Assisi as patron, p. 253 ).
- Ibid. (San Procolo, 1231 ), 1 : 135 – 45.
- Ibid. (Aquila, 1255 ,c. 3 ), 1 : 237 ; (Barberia, 1255 ,c. 3 ), 1 : 204 ; (Delfini, 1255 ,c. 1 ), 1 : 149 ; (Spade,
1262 ,c. 14 ), 1 : 329 – 30 ; (Castelli, 1255 ,c. 4 – 6 ), 1 : 159 ; (Quartieri, 1256 ,c. 8 ), 1 : 298 ; (San Procolo, 1231 ,c. 2 ),
1 : 135 ; (Schise, 1254 ,c. 6 ), 1 : 171 ; (Vari, 1288 ,c. 11 ), 1 : 351 ; (Quartieri, 1256 ,c. 8 ), 1 : 298. Lack of documents
makes it difficult to say if a monthly Mass for societies of the civic militia was normative in other commu-
nes. Nevertheless, that was the case when the Florentines expelled the Medici in 1527 ; the most important
public ritual of the new republican militia was the Communion Mass of the young soldiers. On this, see
Trexler,Public Life, 541. - Bol. Pop. Stat., 1 (Toschi, 1256 ,c. 24 ), 1 : 99.