284 BuoniCattolici
would remain until Good Friday. On the evening before the first Sunday of
Lent, clerics covered the images and crosses in the churches.^79 Even the
buildings symbolically donned their sackcloth and ashes. Padua forbade her
citizens the pleasure of hunting rabbits.^80 Lent was the time to put an end to
animosities. At Parma in Lent, the bishop and city fathers jointly held court
sessions once a week to end feuds and contract reconciliations ‘‘in good faith
and without deceit.’’^81 The more devout entered into the spirit of the time
with gusto. Margherita of Cortona redoubled her fasting and works of pen-
ance on the first Sunday of Lent, when the Gospel recounted Christ’s victory
over the Evil One’s temptation to break his fast. But even penance had to
have a limit. Christ himself appeared to her and told her not to overdo her
mortifications.^82 The Savior must have sympathized somewhat with the
more indulgent tradition.
Lenten fasting was an external sign; the season demanded more, repen-
tance from sin. Each year anew, Lent demanded a change of heart. Contem-
porary observers recognized that the best penance provoked tears; this was
an age that cried easily. The common view was the more tears, the better.
When Ranieri of Pisa repented of his frivolous life, the saintly Alberto, to
whom he had unburdened himself, sent the would-be penitent to confess to
the prior of the church of San Giacomo dell’Orticaria. Ranieri’s confession
brought on a crying jag that lasted several days. The convert took to sleeping
on the ground in the piazza, and his family thought him insane. His teacher,
Enrico, interceded for Ranieri, but his family locked him in his room. The
poor man went blind from crying, but Christ restored his sight so that he
could take up a life of service.^83 Such stories captured the attention of hagiog-
raphers and historians, but authentic penance, so long as the sinner was
contrite, required only simple acts with a humble heart. The preacher Gior-
dano of Pisa said as much in a Lenten sermon at Santa Maria Novella on 23
February 1306 : ‘‘Merely alms given to the poor, merely kneeling before God
or the Virgin Mary, these are worthy of eternal life. Just striking your breast
merits eternal life. And not only these works. Just say an Ave Maria with a
good heart, if you are repentant. Just say ‘Blessed be God’ and nothing more,
and you are worthy of eternal life. I do not want you reading books or lots
of psalms. No, and not to go to Rome or far away. No, just do the littlest
work.’’^84 Pietro Pettinaio would have agreed. When a priest asked him
- Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 5 , col. 260 ;Ordo Senensis, 1. 108 ,p. 96.
- Padua Stat. (pre- 1236 ), 3. 25 ,p. 289 , no. 589.
- Parma Stat.i, 3.
- Giunta Bevegnati,Legenda... Margaritae de Cortona, 3. 6 ,p. 214.
- Benincasa of Pisa,Vita [S. Raynerii Pisani], 1. 15 – 21 ,p. 350 ; 1. 17 ,p. 350.
- Giordano of Pisa,Quaresimale fiorentino 1305 – 1306 ,ed. Carlo Delcorno (Florence: Sansoni, 1974 ),
16 ,p. 84 : ‘‘Solo un danio chettu dei al povero, solo uno ingnocchiare dinanzi a Dio, a la Vergine Maria,
edegna di vita eterna; solo uno picchiare di petto merita vita eterna. E non solamente opere attuali, ma eziandio pur una avemaria chettu dichi di buon cuore, essendo in istato di penitenzia, o dichi pur ‘Benedetto Idio’, non piu, e se’ degno di vita eterna. Non ti pongo leggere libri o molti salmi, no, ne ́ire
a Roma o a la lunga, no, ma pur la minima opera.’’