358 BuoniCattolici
poraries had other ideas about prayer should be clear. But laypeople did feel
the attraction of written prayers and devotions. The attraction grew stronger
as literacy increased. As a young penitent, Oringa Cristiana recited a set
number of Paters and Aves daily, since she was absolutely illiterate. After the
founding of her convent, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her in the middle
of the night. The Virgin was sitting in the ‘‘turn’’ where Oringa met with
visitors. The Virgin held in her hands a beautiful book written in letters of
gold. Oringa knelt beside the Virgin, who offered her the book and said,
‘‘Read this.’’ Oringa responded, ‘‘Lady, I cannot read.’’ This exchange hap-
pened three times, and the Virgin disappeared. Oringa took it as a sign that
she should learn to read. She and six other lay sisters organized a study circle
and eventually learned to read the first twelve psalms. Latin being spelled
phonetically, it was not hard for the women to learn the entire Office. They
probably never got the full sense of what they were reading—they consulted
a priest to find out what the rubrics of the Office meant. Eventually, they
sang the Office very well. On one occasion, a priest who had come to preside
at the first Vespers of the feast of Saint John the Baptist failed to intone
correctly the hymn ‘‘Ut Queant Laxis’’ in three attempts. The young sisters
jumped in and intoned it so beautifully that the priest never forgot the sweet-
ness.^95 Did they understand what they were singing by this time? Perhaps
better than we might credit them.
Some people living in the world also supplemented their Paters and Aves
with prayers from written, ‘‘learned,’’ compilations. The first step to using
these collections was to master proper pronunciation of the words. Learned
prayer was just as ‘‘vocal’’ as unlearned prayer.^96 When still in her teens,
Benvenuta Bojani had already learned to recite the little Office of the Blessed
Virgin. She did so aloud—sometimes with help from Saints Catherine and
Margaret, who appeared to make the responses. The noise woke up one of
the servants, whom Benvenuta sent back to bed, saying, ‘‘Go to sleep and
be still, there is nothing to worry about.’’^97 Margherita of Citta`di Castello
learned to recite the little Offices of the Holy Cross and the Virgin. Eventu-
ally, she knew the entire Psalter.^98 These women were exceptional, not be-
cause they learned to read their prayers, but because of their choice in texts.
In northern Europe, the classical thirteenth-century lay devotional book is
the book of hours—the Little Office of the Virgin. Beyond Benvenuta and
Margherita, one would be hard-pressed to find examples of its use in Italy.
Among the confraternities, where one would most expect to find the Little
Office, devotions took other forms, usually recitations of Paters and Aves.^99
95 .Legenda Beatae Christianae, 26 – 29 , pp. 208 – 11.
96. Trexler,Christian at Prayer, 35.
97. Corrado of Cividale,Vita Devotissimae Benevenutae, 1. 9 ,p. 153 : ‘‘Dormi, quiesce et noli curare.’’
98 .Legenda B. Margaritae de Castello,ed. Laurent, 21 ,p. 125.
99. Meersseman,Ordo, 2 : 948 – 49.