192 LaCitadeSancta
very first sentence. Omobono was a ‘‘rose among thorns.’’^72 The witnesses
at Giovanni Buono’s canonization inquest emphasized his dislike of heretics.
He worked suitably edifying and orthodox miracles: on Easter, the day of
new birth, he planted a stick cut from an apple tree. It put forth buds within
an hour.^73 For learned clerical observers, anidiota et illiteratuslike Giovanni
Buono presented difficulties. He could not formulate theologically sophisti-
cated statements of belief.^74 But for lay neighbors, the communal saint’s or-
thodoxy was less problematic. It manifested itself in reverence for the name
of God and the sacraments. As a child, Oringa Cristiana miraculously vom-
ited whenever anyone uttered blasphemies or obscenities (verba turpia) in her
presence. As an adult, she got sick whenever a priest in mortal sin came to
give her Communion or anointing.^75 Sibyllina Biscossi counted Communion
one of the rare justifications for leaving her anchorhold.^76
But extravagances raised eyebrows. Sibyllina, the fiercest of ascetics, mod-
erated her self-flagellation when friends criticized it as excessive and bad for
her health. But her genuflections and prostrations were not extreme, she
protested; they kept her warm in cold weather.^77 No affectation caused Pietro
Pettinaio to call his wife hispatrona.He came straight home after work rather
than hang out with the boys.^78 His marital devotion proved, in spite of the
combmaker’s proclivity for self-mortification, that he held the duties of mar-
riage in high regard. Layman that he was, Pietro honored monasticism: he
named one of his sons Monacho—‘‘Monk.’’^79 Armanno Pungilupo (d. 1269 ),
the holy man of Ferrara whose cult would attract the attention of inquisitors
in 1301 , was known for his prayers and vigils in church.^80 He was ‘‘devoted
to God and to the glorious Virgin, as is pleasing to the Lord.’’^81 Saints also
respected the clergy. When Pietro Pettinaio wanted to go on retreat, he took
a cell in the infirmary of the Franciscan monastery and placed himself under
the tutelage of the priests.^82 But mostly Pietro wandered out to various
shrines of the Sienese contado to pray. There the locals could catch glimpses
of him rapt in ecstasy.^83 Raptures aside, shrine visiting was a devotion acces-
sible to everyone.
72 .Vita Sancti Homoboni, 111.
73 .Processus... B. Joannis Boni, 1. 10. 79 ,p. 792 ; 1. 11. 89 ,p. 794 ; on the importance of orthodoxy in the
saint’s canonization process, see Golinelli,Citta`e culto, 65 – 66.
74. Golinelli, ‘‘Dal santo,’’ 33 – 34 , thinks that anxiety over orthodoxy caused the shelving of Giovanni
Buono’s case.
75 .Legenda Beatae Christianae, 1 – 2 ,p. 192.
76. Tomasso of Bossolasco,Vita [B. Sibyllinae], 2. 7 ,p. 69.
77. Ibid., 2. 8 – 10 ,p. 69.
78. Pietro of Monterone,Vita del beato Pietro Pettinajo, 1 ,p. 8 – 9.
79 .Vita di s. Omobono,ed. Giuseppe Bertoni, in ‘‘Una vita di s. Omobono,’’ 169.
80. On his cult, see ‘‘Acta contra Armanum [Punzilupum],’’ ed. Gabriele Zanella,Itinerari ereticali:
Patari e catari tra Rimini e Verona,Studi storici, 153 (Rome: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, 1986 ),
48 , 67.
81. So said one of the witnesses in his favor during the posthumous inquisition into his orthodoxy:
ibid., 72.
82. Pietro of Monterone,Vita del beato Pietro Pettinajo, 4 ,p. 22.
83. Ibid., 4 , pp. 23 – 27.