268 BuoniCattolici
later 1200 s took a similarly permissive line. That author claimed that Saint
Thomas Aquinas himself had said that only two things were necessary for a
worthy daily Communion—freedom from serious sin and a desire for Christ.
But he acknowledged that many devout laypeople communicated only three
times a year and abstained otherwise.^209 Nevertheless, that was still more
than the once-a-year minimum of Lateraniv.
These authors actually discussed daily lay Communion. That suggests
that attitudes had changed since the time of Sicardo. Anecdotal evidence
confirms the impression of more frequent reception, at least among the de-
vout. Pietro Pettinaio was known for his frequent Communions, and people
did not find this very unusual, at least in comparison with his daily atten-
dance at Matins.^210 Fra Vitale, a witness at the canonization of Giovanni
Buono, thought it laudable that the holy man communicated every Sunday,
although he admitted that some considered this excessive.^211 When Margher-
ita of Cortona began to skip Communions out of reverence for the Sacra-
ment (the Salimbene principle), Jesus appeared and told her to receive as
often as she could, provided that she had first gone to confession.^212 This link
of Communion and confession was a conventional and important limiting
factor. In practice, the required confession before every sacramental Com-
munion inhibited frequent reception. If the laity of the communes were mak-
ing increasingly frequent use of confession, as I will suggest in the next
chapter, the vogue of more frequent Communions becomes more intelligi-
ble. Confessing more frequently had the side effect of allowing more frequent
Communion. And a desire to communicate never seemed lacking.
One early-fourteenth-century devotional book contains a vernacular trea-
tise on how to receive Christ’s body in the Eucharist.^213 It suggests how the
devout prepared for Communion. Preparation began a week before, with
meditations on the great gift to sinners of the true Body and Blood of Christ.
The communicant called this to mind as often as possible during the week.
A day or two before the Communion, he either set aside time for meditation
and devotional reading conducive to a proper disposition or, at least, recited
some preparatory prayers. The book gave, for use at Matins on the day of
the Communion, a long prayer on personal unworthiness and the grandeur
of the Sacrament. After many protests of unworthiness and petitions for
forgiveness and mercy, the prayer ended with a declaration of faith in the
Sacrament:
- This treatise is preserved in a fourteenth-century French codex: Florence, Biblioteca Medicea
Laurenziana,msPl.xx 17, fols. 176 r–v. - Pietro of Monterone,Vita del beato Pietro Pettinajo, 5 ,p. 59.
211 .Processus... B. Joannis Boni, 1. 4. 66 ,p. 789 ; Antonino of Florence, ‘‘De Joanne Bono Cive Mantu-
ano’’ (Chronicae, 24 : 13 : 3 ), p. 747. - Giunta Bevegnati,Legenda... Margaritae de Cortona, 7. 4 ,p. 321.
- Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana,ms 1419, fols. 70 v– 71 r.