154 LaCitadeSancta
adapted to processional use by the laity. The cantors invoked each saint by
name, and all answered with the simple chant ‘‘Ora pro nobis’’ (Pray for us).
The litany, one of the most popular of Catholic lay devotions in the commu-
nal age, remained this popular until the Vatican Council of the 1960 s. In the
manuscript of the Pisan ritual at the University of Bologna library, the litany
of saints is the most worn and soiled part, evidence of heavy use—some
leaves have even fallen loose and been pasted back in.^75 In the late Middle
Ages the Milanese produced a marvelous scroll, with ever-growing numbers
of Lombard saints, for use by the cantors on Rogation Days.^76 As the proces-
sions grew longer, even the seemingly endless list of saints was not enough.
The psalms and litany might be repeated as many times as necessary to
provide suitable ‘‘traveling music.’’
In their original agricultural use, the rogation processions circled the fields
of the village and returned for final prayers at the village church. This was
not practical in an urban environment like that of the communes. So the
Italians adapted the ritual, each city mapping out routes to the sacred sites
of the city. Rogations in Italy sanctified the city itself and mapped its sacred
geography. The procession circled minor churches along the route, to the
sound of their bells. On the way, the clergy entered particular ‘‘stational’’
churches through their great western doors, singing a chant to honor each
patron. At the conclusion of the chant, the bishop intoned a collect invoking
the protection of the church’s saint.^77 Bishop Sicardo of Cremona said of the
rite: ‘‘As we approach any church, it is as if we were entering the Promised
Land. So we enter the church singing, as though we were joyfully returning
to our homeland. When we carry the reliquaries around the church to the
sound of bell ringing, it is as if we have circled Jericho with the sound of
trumpets and the shouts of the people.’’^78 The peculiarities of streets and the
size of the churches determined the selection of stational churches, but sa-
cred numbers gave an overall symbolism. At Milan during the Minor Lita-
nies, the processions of the first and third days stopped at twelve stational
churches, in honor of the Twelve Apostles. The middle procession stopped
at nine: the square of the Trinity, the principal article of faith. Each proces-
sion passed through a different third of the city.^79 Even in small communes,
- Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 1785, Rolando the Deacon,Liber de Ordine Officiorum,has
these pasted in out of order; the proper order would be fols. 56 r–v, 54 r–v, 61 r–v. - Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana,msZ 256 Sup.,Rotulus Letaniarum in Letaniis Minoribus Ambrosianis
(xiv–xvcent.). - See ‘‘Instrumentum Litis,’’ 3. 28 ,p. 172 , for Verona practice in 1187. For a late example, see
Giuseppe Ferraris, ‘‘Le chiese ‘stazionali’ delle rogazioni minori a Vercelli dal sec.xal sec.xiv,’’Bollettino
storico vercellese 4 / 5 ( 1975 ): 9 – 92. - Sicardo,Mitrale, 7. 6 , col. 370 C: ‘‘Cum ad aliquam ecclesiam tendimus, tunc quasi ad terram
promissionis accedimus. Cum ecclesiam cantantes introimus, quasi gaudentes ad patriam pervenimus.
Cum circa ecclesias feretrum campanarum compulsione portamus, quasi cum arca, cum sono tubarum,
cum cangore populi, Jericho circuimus.’’
79 .Manuale Ambrosianum, 2 : 245 – 69. Day 1 (ibid., 245 – 54 ): From the main gate to ( 1 ) S. Simpliciano,
( 2 ) S. Carpoforo, ( 3 ) S. Protesio in Campo, ( 4 ) S. Vittore ad Ulmo, ( 5 ) S. Vittore a Corpo, ( 6 ) S. Martino,
( 7 ) S. Vincenzo, ( 8 ) S. Ambrosio, ( 9 ) S. Vitale, ( 10 ) S. Valerio, ( 11 ) S. Naborre, ( 12 ) S. Vittore a Refugio.