356 BuoniCattolici
of Forlı`flocked to her funeral and crowded around the bier. They all wanted
to touch their own Pater Noster cords to her body.^83 The spiritual appeal of
these repeated prayers is perhaps also explained by their resemblance to a
‘‘mantra,’’ a repeated formula that can induce states of profound contempla-
tion. Even in modern America, Buddhist-inspired versions of the same kind
of practice have an ever-increasing vogue, as the Rosary has had among
young Catholics. The simple Italian laity with their Pater Noster cords may
be the forgotten mystics of the Middle Ages.
According to their ability, Christians added other prayers to the Pater and
Ave. The sign of the cross marked pivotal points of the day. Bonesvin de la
Riva, writing for students, told them that on sleeping and rising they should
protect themselves with the cross. Even a woman, like Umilta`of Faenza,
might use the sign of the cross for imparting blessings.^84 Bonesvin provided
short prayers to use with it. In the morning one could say, ‘‘I beg you,
merciful Jesus, by the prayers and merits of Mary, to save me along the way
and rule me each day.’’ In the evening he suggested saying four times: ‘‘Jesus,
living God, for the love of your holy Mother, be the guardian of my body
and soul, and protect me from all snares of the Devil this night. I have
sinned, I confess, have mercy on me.’’^85 Both Bonesvin and Filippo recom-
mended using the sign of the cross as a blessing at table—where one made
it with a knife over the bread before cutting it.^86 When Margherita of Cor-
tona sat down to eat, after making the sign of the cross, she recited five
Paters and five Aves over her food, recalling the five wounds of Jesus. She
said the same five Paters when she was about to take Communion, so her
prayer linked her material food with the spiritual food of Christ’s true body
and blood.^87 Most common at table was the recitation of an Ave Maria. In
another version of the story of the miraculous tree whose leaves bore the
word ‘‘ave,’’ the man who died earned the marvel by always saying an Ave
Maria over his food.^88
Nonvocal forms of prayer were not unknown in communal Italy. Zuc-
chero Bencivenni thought it fitting that priests, at least, set aside time to
- Corrado of Cividale,Vita Devotissimae Benevenutae, 12. 94 ,p. 175.
- Biagio of Faenza,Vita [S. Humilitatis Abbatissae], 3. 31 ,p. 213.
- Bonvesin de la Riva,Vita Scholastica, 60 , lines 291 – 302 : ‘‘Sugens ac intrans lectum crucis exprime
signum, ut stertas, vigiles tucius ipse tibi. Hec subscripta tuo Domini reverenter honore omni, cum surgis,
carmina mane feras: ‘Te rogo, Christe pie, precibus meritisque Marie, per loca salva vie me rege quaque
die.’ Ast omni sero, cum vis dare membra quieti, tucius ut stertas, quattuor ista canas: ‘Christe, Deus
vere, sancte Genitricis amore corporis ac anime sit tibi cura mee. Hostis ab insidiis cunctis hac nocte
tuere. Peccavi, fateor, tu miserere mei.’ ’’ - Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 1552, Filippo of Ferrara,Liber de Introductione Loquendi, 1. 4 ,
fol. 3 r; Bonvesin de la Riva,Vita Scholastica, 60 , lines 303 – 4. - Giunta Bevegnati,Legenda... Margaritae de Cortona, 3. 4 , pp. 212 – 13 ; on her special devotion to the
five wounds, see ibid., 4. 19 ,p. 236. - Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 1552, Filippo of Ferrara,Liber de Introductione Loquendi, 1. 2 ,
fol. 2 r; and see the version in Creytens, ‘‘Le manuel de conversation,’’ 115 – 16 , transcribing Vatican City,
Biblioteca Vaticana,msPal. Lat 960 , fol. 71 r.