Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes 1125-1325

WorldWithoutEnd.Amen. 389 

meet the Lord. The priest reformulated the Latin questions of his ritual in a

vernacular form. He inquired about the dying person’s beliefs and spiritual

disposition. A fourteenth-century model took the form of eight questions,

and probably reflects as well as any the actual dialogue on the deathbed.

Here the one dying was assumed to be a nun:

First Question:Do you believe, my sister, those things which are of

the Christian faith according to the teaching of the holy Church of

God?Answer:I believe.

Second Question:Are you happy to die in the Christian faith?Answer:

I am very happy.

Third Question:Do you acknowledge that you have not lived as

well as you should have lived and have many times and gravely

offended Christ?Answer:I acknowledge it and confess it.

Fourth Question:Are you sorry for and do you repent of your of-

fenses?Answer:For certain, I repent of them, and I am very sorry for

them.

Fifth Question:Do you have the will to amend your life, should you

recover?Answer:I do.

Sixth Question:Do you believe that Jesus Christ our Lord died for

you?Answer:I firmly believe so.

Seventh Question:Do you give him thanks?Answer:I give him all the

thanks I can, and I would that I could and would do so even better.

Eighth Question:Do you believe and hope that you cannot achieve

the salvation of your soul except by the death of Christ and by his

merits, and not by your own?Answer:I believe that and am certain

of it.^42

One could hardly find a more evangelical confession in the writings of the

sixteenth-century reformers. The minister then reminded the penitent of

God’s mercy, and that salvation came from him alone, to which the penitent

was to reply: ‘‘O my Lord, into your hands I commend my spirit; O Lord

42. Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msPalat. 150 (earlyxivcent.), ‘‘Ademande le quale sono
    da fare ad quello cristiano lo quale morira tosto,’’ fols. 34 v– 35 r:‘‘Ademanda prima:Creditu, sorella mia,
    quelle cose le quale sono della fede cristiana secundo la determinatione della sancta Ecclesia di Dio?
    Responsione:Credo.Ademanda secunda:Sei lieta che muori in la fede cristiana?Responsione:Sono molto
    lieta.Ademanda tercia:Recognoscite tu non avere cosi bene vixutu come debesti vivere et avere offeso
    Cristo spesse fiate et gravemente?Responsione.Recognoscolo et confessolo.Ademanda quarta:Doliti et
    repentiscite delle tue offensioni?Responsione:Certamente me ne pento et molto me ne doglio.Ademanda
    quinta:Ai voluntade de emendarte se scamperai?Responsione:Abio.Ademanda sexta:Credi tu che per te
    sia morto Iesu Cristo nostro signore?Responsione:Credolo fermamente.Ademanda septima:Rendili gratie?
    Responsione:Rendoli gratie quanto posso et vorreagli meglio potere et volere.Ademanda octava:Creditu et
    speri non potere pervenire alla salute dell’anima tua, excepto che per la morte de Cristo et per li suoi
    meriti et non per li tuoi?Responsione:Credolo et sonne certa.’’