414 BuoniCattolici
her death to her friend Gisla of Mucello in a dream. She told Gisla not to
slacken in doing penance for her sins. Umiliana said, ‘‘Twelve days before
my own death I foresaw it; and I passed through purgatory as innocent
children do.’’^222 It was a mild purgatory because of Umiliana’s penance on
earth, but it was purgatory nevertheless. The Blessed Virgin’s intercessory
power for souls was celebrated, but it was safer to heed Umiliana’s warning
to do penance than merely to rely on the Virgin’s help. A prior of San
Salvatore at Pavia was lax in his life and talk, it is said, but he sang praises
of the Virgin after every Office. One year after his death, the sacristan, Fra
Uberto, heard someone calling his name in the night. It was the prior, who
had gone to purgatory and suffered for a year before the Blessed Mother
could rescue him.^223 The prior may have gotten out early, but even one year
in what seemed like hell was a frightful prospect. It was good to pray for
everyone—at least until they started working miracles. The most powerful
aid to souls was the Mass, especially when said by a holy priest. God revealed
to Saint Nicola of Tolentino that it had taken him only seven days of Masses
to pray a soul out of purgatory.^224
According to the Church calendar, the day to pray for the dead was 2
November, All Souls Day, following the solemnity of All Saints. This was a
day of public fasting. The ritual books provided three Masses to be said for
the dead by every priest.^225 At Siena, the last Mass ended with the chanting
of the ‘‘Libera’’ and a procession to the cemetery to bless the graves with
holy water.^226 At Verona, the clergy of the duomo had a similar procession
every Friday. They chanted the ‘‘Libera’’ before the high altar and went to
the cemetery to chant a short litany of the Blessed Virgin and an antiphon
in honor of the cross before an image of the crucified Savior.^227 The people
did come to these rites, but they had not achieved the popularity they would
enjoy in later centuries. People preferred particular Masses for their own
relatives and neighbors. The traditional days for such Masses were the burial
day, the third day after, and the seventh day after. Bishop Sicardo suggested
that the Masses on these three days purged the three parts of the soul, the
concupiscible, irascible, and rational faculties. More likely, the Mass on the
third day symbolized Christ’s Resurrection, that on the seventh the Sabbath
rest of the just. Bishop Sicardo also knew of Requiems on the fortieth day—
supposedly a symbol of the Ten Commandments and the four Gospels—and
on the fiftieth day—the Ten Commandments and the five senses. These
memorial Masses were not so common, and Sicardo did not like them.
- Vito of Cortona,Vita [B. Humilianae], 6. 1 ,p. 400 : ‘‘Duodecim diebus prius mortem meam praes-
civi, et per purgatorium transivi sicut pueri faciunt innocentes.’’ - Pisa, Biblioteca Cateriniana del Seminario Arcivescovile,ms 139, fol. 144 r.
- Pietro of Monte Rubiano.Vita [S. Nicolai Tolentinatis], 2. 12 ,p. 647.
- Sicardo,Mitrale, 9. 50 , cols. 424 – 30.
226 .Ordo Senensis, 1. 421 ,p. 379 – 80. - Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare,ms dccxxxvi, fols. 55 v– 57 v.