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ences connected to sacramental Communion. Writing about 1140 , the can-
onist Gratian observed that lay Christians made three Communions a year,
at Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, ‘‘unless impeded by grave crime.’’^201
Bishop Sicardo lamented this three-times-a-year Communion as too infre-
quent. He compared it unfavorably to the ancient practice of Communion
at every Mass. But he considered infrequent Communion an unavoidable
given and suggested that more frequent lay Communion was spiritually dan-
gerous at best. But he did consider infrequent reception ‘‘defective’’ and
counted on three remedies to compensate for the missing Communions: the
Pax, the blessed bread, and the prayers over the people at the end of Mass
during Lent. Remarkably, he saw nothing wrong with a devoutly prepared
layperson’s taking Communion several times a day.^202 Although Lateran
Councilivin 1215 reduced the mandatory lay Communions to one, Gra-
tian’s three annual Communions remained a standard for even the mildly
devout laity. Most Italian confraternities of the communal period required
three or four Communions a year, and penitents in Umbria had monthly
Communions.^203 Bishop Guglielmo della Torre of Como prescribed the tra-
ditional three Communions in his rule for canons of 1217.^204 Admittedly,
various expectations militated against even triannual lay Communion—in
particular, the requirement that those receiving fast not just from food and
water but also from sexual relations.^205 Italian devotional writers of the pe-
riod did not interpret the ‘‘daily bread’’ of the Pater Noster as sacramental
Communion the way the Fathers of the Church had.^206
Nonetheless, it would be a mistake to read legal minimums as actual prac-
tice. Bishop Jacques of Vitry, writing in the early 1200 s, repeated Sicardo’s
remarks about the decline to thrice-yearly Communion, and the further re-
duction to once a year ‘‘because of the growth of sin.’’ Nevertheless, he
refused to condemn daily Communion and strongly urged weekly Commu-
nion.^207 Fra Salimbene, expressing what was probably the conventional wis-
dom at midcentury, thought it suitable to communicate whenever the
recipient felt free of mortal sin—although he did recommend abstaining
occasionally, out of recognition that no one is ever truly worthy of so great
a gift.^208 An anonymous Italian instruction on Communion written in the
- Gratian,Decretum,De cons. D. 2 c. 16.
- Sicardo,Mitrale, 3. 8 , col. 148.
- See the tabulations in Guiseppina De Sandre Gasparini, ‘‘Movimento dei disciplinati, confra-
ternite e ordini mendicanti,’’I frati minori e il terzo ordine, 95 – 97 : Caro’s rule for Franciscan Penitents: three
to four times a year; flagellant rule: three times a year. On the Umbria penitents, see ibid., 111 n. 98.
‘‘Propositum,’’ 15 , Meersseman,Dossier, 89 , prescribed three times a year. - Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana,ms 1335, Guglielmo della Torre,Costituzioni date ai canonici di S.
Maria di Torello,fol. 11 v. - See Gratian,Decretum,De cons. D. 2 c. 19.
- E.g., Zucchero Bencivenni,Sposizione, 10 – 12.
- Jacques of Vitry,Historia Occidentalis, 38 ,p. 244.
- Salimbene,Cronica( 1250 ), 492 , Baird trans., 338.