Resurrection andRenewal 337
heard preaching on ‘‘Sundays and major feasts,’’ but Jesus did not think that
enough.^182 Most churches probably had a preacher like Margherita’s, who
gave a paraphrase or reflection on the Gospel each Sunday.^183 Perhaps she
did not go on other days because the weekly fare tended to be somewhat
repetitive. Diocesan statutes directed the clergy to preach regularly on the
twelve articles of the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the
seven deadly sins—a routine that probably became stale in short order.
Repetition is the mother of memory, and so perhaps it had catechetical
effect. Nevertheless, most catechesis of communal Catholics occurred not
from the pulpit but in the home. All the newly baptized became the god-
children of those who received them from the font. Godparenthood had
religious responsibilities, although from the lay point of view its primary
utility was the creation of yet another web of social and familial alliances.^184
I emphasize the religious role here. When Bartolomeo of Vicenza preached
on the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, he paralleled the holy couple,
Mary and Joseph, offering their two doves in the temple, with godparents.
The two godparents presented a holy child, the newly baptized, in the tem-
ple, the Mother Church, and, by their profession of the child’s baptismal
vows, offered a Christian version of the two doves. In the vows, they re-
nounced Satan and accepted the faith of the Creed, which they had to teach
to their godchild.^185 The Sienese church expected godparents to know the
Pater Noster in Latin, or at least in Italian, since they had to teach it to the
godchild. Anyone who could not recite this prayer was not a true Chris-
tian.^186 In theory, the parish priest carefully examined godparents-to-be be-
fore allowing them to serve. Florentine synodal law acknowledged the
importance of this task when, in limiting the multiplication of godparents to
three, it stipulated that there be two godfathers for each boy and two god-
mothers for each girl. Males had to teach males, and females had to teach
females—without a backup, one death could rob the child of proper religious
education.^187 Everyone admitted that a heretical godparent (God forbid!) did
not invalidate the power of the sacrament.^188 But heresy or ignorance ren-
- Giunta Bevegnati,Legenda... Margaritae de Cortona, 2. 1 e, pp. 191 – 92.
- See Maccarrone, ‘‘Cura animarum,’’ 124 , on the practice of paraphrasing the readings in the
vernacular. I suspect most Italians could say of their parish priest what some Englishmen told Bishop
Walter of Exeter, England, in the early 1300 s: ‘‘He preaches in his own way’’; quoted in Zafarana, ‘‘Cura
pastorale,’’ 503. - For the social (and religious) functions of godparenthood, see Joseph H. Lynch,Godparents and
Kinship in Early Medieval Europe(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986 ), and, closer to our period,
Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, ‘‘Parrains et filleuls: Une approche compare ́e de la France, l’Angleterre et
l’Italie me ́die ́vales,’’Medieval Prosopography 6 : 2 ( 1985 ): 51 – 77. - Bartolomeo of Vicenza,Sermones de Beata Virgine ( 1266 ),Sermo 107. 3 ,p. 709.
186 .Ordo Senensis, 1. 184 ,p. 167. - See Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 14 , col. 335 ; on the duties of godparents, see Richard Trexler,Synodal Law
in Florence and Fiesole, 1306 – 518 (Vatican City: Biblioteca Vaticana, 1971 ), 67 – 68 , and Lett,Enfant, 228 .In
the postcommunal period, this concern seems to have disappeared. Aquileia Constitutiones ( 1339 ), 12 ,p.
1120 A, limited each child to one godparent. - E.g., Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msMagl.xiv. 49 , fol. 64.