212 LaCitadeSancta
the priest raised the Host at Mass on his altar, she was cured of paralysis in
her arms. She gave in thanksgiving a wax arm and a candle as long as
herself. Her husband confirmed her testimony concerning the miracle.^223
Bertoldo di Pietro spent four days and nights at Saint Armanno’s tomb,
beginning on the very day of his burial. His paralyzed arm was healed.^224 In
Vicenza, Nicola de’ Pianecci, a paralytic, had himself carried to the tomb of
Saint Giovanni Cacciaforte, where he spent two nights before he was cured.
He stayed on for another week giving thanks.^225 Perhaps the record for long-
term petition is held by Palmeria di Gerardo de’ Fontanivi of Vicenza, who
prayed twenty-two days and nights at the shrine of Saint Giovanni Caccia-
forte before the saint cured her limp.^226
Such extended vigils can only be described as ‘‘incubation,’’ the ancient
practice of sleeping in a temple in hope for a cure, as at the famous shrine
of Asclepias at Epidaurus in the Peloponnese.^227 The practice of sleeping in
shrines was known elsewhere in Christian Europe. Fra Salimbene of Parma
spent a night in the cave of Saint Mary Magdalen near Marseilles.^228 The
Dominican preacher Bartolomeo of Braganze, bishop of Brescia, recorded
that while sleeping overnight at the tomb of Saint Peter in Rome, a hermit
learned the birth date of the Blessed Virgin.^229 But these are isolated exam-
ples. In communal Italy, examples of incubation multiply everywhere. In
antiquity, the devotees hoped for advice from the healing deity in dreams,
and dreams do sometimes figure in Italian miracle stories. Nicola of Tolen-
tino’s parents heard the prediction of their son’s birth from Saint Nicholas
of Myra while sleeping in his shrine at Bari.^230 But the incubators of the
communal shrines hoped for healing from extended contact with the rel-
ics.^231 At the shrine of Saint Giovanni Buono in Mantua, canonization re-
cords provide striking examples. One woman vowed to sleep five nights at
Giovanni’s tomb and, having done so, was cured of blindness.^232 At that
shrine, incubation usually took place in thefossa,the empty grave from which
the saint’s body had been translated, rather than at the shrine proper. This
- ‘‘Acta contra Armanum [Punzilupum],’’ 73. For another successful all-night vigil, seeProcessus
Miraculorum B. Philippi [Benitii], 1. 10 , fol. 51 v. - ‘‘Acta contra Armanum [Punzilupum],’’ 79 – 89.
225 .Inquisitio de vita Joannis Cazefronte, 246 – 47. - Ibid., 258.
- On ancient incubation, see Hans-Joseph Klauck,The Religious Context of Early Christianity: A Guide
to Graeco-Roman Religions,trans. Brian McNeil (Edinburgh: Clark, 2000 ), 154 – 68 , which includes bibliogra-
phy. On incubation in the Italian communes, see Golinelli,Citta`e culto, 63 – 65. - Salimbene,Cronica( 1283 ), 762 , Baird trans., 531.
- Bartolomeo of Vicenza,Sermones de Beata Virgine ( 1266 ),Sermo 34. 2 ,p. 207 ; also reported in
Giacomo of Varazze’sGolden Legend,trans. Granger Ryan and Helmut Ripperger (New York: Arno,
1969 ), 524 – 25. - Pietro of Monte Rubiano,Vita [S. Nicolai Tolentinatis], 1. 1 ,AS 43 (Sept.iii), 645.
- See examples in Bernardo Balbi,Vita [S. Lanfranci], 4. 40 ,p. 540 ; Recupero of Arezzo,Summarium
Virtutum, 12. 129 ,p. 226 ;Processus Ambrosii Massani, 33 ,p. 587 – 88 , and 90 ,p. 606 ;Processus... B. Joannis
Boni, 2. 1. 101 – 2 ,p. 798.
232 .Processus... B. Joannis Boni, 2. 4. 123 ,p. 803.