336 BuoniCattolici
preach at daily Mass ‘‘without any preparation.’’^170 He would get his superi-
or’s blessing and recite the Ave Maria all the way to church. He invoked
God’s help as he entered the pulpit. If Cristoforo of Parma is to be believed,
Francesco’s sermons were ‘‘glorious.’’ Francesco himself used to say, ‘‘Not
paper but love teaches theology.’’^171 But by Saint Francesco’s time, in the
late 1200 s, things had changed since the days of Bishop Sicardo, who spoke
of preaching only when treating the duties of a bishop.^172
Busy city leaders considered themselves exempt from attending ser-
mons.^173 Indeed, the ordinary Italian faithful were known for avoiding ser-
mons, if the criticisms of moralizing preachers can be taken at face value.^174
On the other hand, if we believe the hagiographers, the lay saints of the
communes were avid sermon-goers. Omobono was widely known for his
love of sermons, as well as his love for the poor.^175 Lucchese of Poggibonsi
happily heard the Office each day, and any preaching that might follow.^176
Saint Ranieri of Pisa supposedly loved sermons, but the only actual sermon
mentioned in his vita was one by Bishop Fulcher of Chartres during the
pilgrim saint’s journey to the Holy Land.^177 Serious preaching, a ‘‘solemn
sermon,’’ was expected not of the parish clergy but of professionals, the
religious. Pope Innocent IV reminded the Dominicans and Franciscans of
Paris in the mid- 1200 s that just as parish priests had the task of celebrating
Mass for the people on Sundays, so it was the friars’ duty to preach to
them.^178 In saints’ lives, descriptions of preaching usually involve ‘‘solemn
sermons’’ by mendicants, the kind of preaching that the Dominican Gior-
dano of Pisa called the ‘‘food of the soul.’’^179 In sermons, Jesus came knock-
ing at the door of the soul.^180 Giordano could fill the piazza in front of Santa
Maria Novella in Florence with hearers twice in a single day.^181 Giordano’s
were bravura performances, not routine preaching on elementary morals or
doctrine. Even the pious had to be reminded occasionally that they should
attend sermons. Margherita of Cortona intended to spend the feast of Saint
Thomas the Apostle begging for the poor. Jesus appeared to her in a vision
and recommended that she go to church and hear a sermon instead. She
- Cristoforo of Parma,Legenda Beati Francisci, 10 ,p. 178.
- Ibid.: ‘‘Non charta sed charitas docet theologiam.’’
- E.g., Sicardo,Mitrale, 3. 4 , col. 112 C.
- Pisa Stat.ii( 1313 ), 3. 92 ,p. 382 , forbade clerical attempts to force city officials to attend sermons.
- Murray, ‘‘Piety and Impiety in Thirteenth-Century Italy,’’ 93 – 95.
175 .Vita di s. Omobono, 164 – 65.
176 .Vita Sancti Lucensis Confessoris, 454. - Benincasa of Pisa,Vita [S. Raynerii Pisani], 2. 26 ,p. 351.
- Innocent IV, inChartularium Universitatis Parisiensis,ed. Heinrich Denifle ( 1891 ; rpt., Brussels:
Culture et Civilisation, 1964 ), 1 : 268 ; on this text, see Maccarrone, ‘‘Cura Animarum,’’ 126. - Giordano of Pisa,Quaresimale, 10 ,p. 51.
- See Zelina Zafarana, ‘‘Cura pastorale, predicazione, aspetti devozionali nella parrocchia del
basso Medioevo,’’Pievi e parrocchie,ed. Erba et al., 1 : 469 n. 8 , on this trope in Florence, Biblioteca Medicea
Laurenziana,msPl.xxxiiiSin. 1 , fol. 46 v. - See Giordano of Pisa,Quaresimale,pp. 368 – 418.