Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes 1125-1325

(Darren Dugan) #1

 204 LaCitadeSancta


Any publicity was good publicity. The bishop of Mantua was preaching


a sermon in honor of Saint Giovanni Buono when suddenly Armellina of


Descanzano interrupted it to announce that Saint Giovanni had healed her


from dropsy the night before. Witnesses described her running and jumping


down the nave of the cathedral, calling attention to her cure.^157 One wonders


what the bishop thought. Perhaps he was pleased to have his message con-


firmed from heaven. The notary Ser Guglielmo di Francesco, who had an


unhealed broken leg, came to the tomb of Saint Margherita in the choir of


the Dominican church at Citta`di Castello. He prayed, shed tears of repen-


tance, and swore on the Gospels that ‘‘as much as human frailty permitted,’’


he would avoid sexual sin. He was immediately healed and made it his spe-


cial vocation to spread the saint’s cult, repeating ‘‘with tears’’ the story of his


healing to all and sundry. He filed a deposition regarding his cure (notarized


by Giovanni di Francesco) at Margherita’s shrine.^158 Armellina and Gugli-


elmo were individual devotees. The establishment of a recognized cult de-


manded a dedicated, preferably local, group of admirers. This was easy for


those belonging to a religious order, even an unofficial one. Saint Galgano,


genuine hermit that he was, had attracted a group ofsocii,who attended him


in his last illness. They promoted the cult after his death.^159 Saint Peter of


Verona, the Dominican preacher martyred by the Cathars in 1252 , had his


order to organize protests after his murderer escaped and then to promote


his shrine and cult.^160 Members of Saint Giovanni Buono’s lay-hermit con-


gregation testified at his canonization inquest, and eventually the Augustini-


ans adopted the cause.^161 But canonization process or not, the ex-minstrel’s


cult, like that of other lay saints, was spread the old-fashioned way—by the


people who had known him and for whom he had worked miracles. The


canonization acta of his never-completed process show that it was artisans,


workmen, and paupers who testified. There were no merchants, no nobles,


and very few clerics.^162 Saint Giovanni was a man of the people.


The Franciscan Salimbene and an anonymous chronicler of Parma both


provide vivid descriptions of the growth and establishment of the popular


cult of Alberto of Villa d’Ogna ‘‘the wine porter’’ in the 1280 s.^163 Alberto, a


humble and pious laborer, had died at Cremona in 1279. Reports of the


multiplying miracles at his tomb threw his hometown into religious exalta-


tion. The reports reached Piacenza, where a chronicler recorded the death


of ‘‘Saint Alberto, a man splendid for his miracles.’’^164 Throughout Lom-


157 .Processus... B. Joannis Boni, 2. 6. 140 – 42 ,p. 807.
158 .Vita Beatae Margaritae Virginis de Civitate Castelli, 10 ,p. 30.
159 .Vita Sancti Galgani, 16 – 18 , pp. 203 – 4.
160. Galvano Fiamma,Manipulus Florum( 1252 ), 286 , col. 684.
161. On the activities of these groups in his cult, see Golinelli, ‘‘Dal santo,’’ 26 – 29.
162. See ibid., 29 – 31.
163. On Alberto, see the negative reports in Salimbene,Cronica( 1279 ), 733 – 34 , Baird trans., 512 , and
the positive one inChronicon Parmense( 1279 ), 34 – 35. The facts reported complement each other perfectly.
164. Giovanni de’ Mussi,Chronicon Placentinum( 1278 ), col. 481.

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