TheMotherChurch 39
few feet wider than its single western door. Five small bays deep, the east
end terminated in a tiny rectangular sanctuary entered through an arch. It
held perhaps fifty persons without excessive crowding. Even smaller was the
church of San Marino della Croce dei Santi, built about 1142 and located at
what is now Via Val d’Aposa 13.^140 Worshipers entered this church through
a typical Bolognese portico a mere three arches broad. From the door to the
main altar was no further than the width of the sidewalk under the portico.
The space allowed a nave about twice as wide as it was deep. Again, columns
and an arch opened into the minuscule sanctuary. A congregation greater
than twenty would have found itself crowded. Both churches had room for
no more than two secondary altars, one for each nave wall.
As in the cathedral and monastic churches, small chapels also had a
screen dividing the choir and sanctuary from the nave. In a church belong-
ing to a religious order, the divider or screen between the choir and nave
was more or less solid, so that the friars or monks could chant the Office
more privately.^141 Parish priests and their clerics chanted the Office too, but
they placed no special emphasis on privacy. The screen in one of their build-
ings might consist of a row of columns with a beam on top or of open
ironwork (cancella;fig. 29 ), both allowing a more or less unobstructed view of
the altar. The screen was sometimes more solid, so worshipers viewed the
altar through its door. Nevertheless, this barrier did not prevent the laity, or
at least the men, from entering the sanctuary with relative frequency. Infants
and mothers entered the sanctuary during the rite of thanksgiving for deliv-
ery (known in English as ‘‘churching’’), and married couples received their
nuptial blessing there. In Giotto’sSaint Francis at Greccio,the viewer can see a
group of pious laymen venerating the first Nativity cre`che inside the screen
near the main altar (fig. 30 ). The rear of the screen, with the steps up to the
pulpit, and the reverse of the great painted crucifix mounted above the
screen’s door are clearly visible. The main altar in the image is typically
medieval, square, flat-topped, and covered by a baldachino rising on four
columns, each attached to a corner of the altar. Saint Francis lays the image
of the Christ Child into the manger, and some of the friars sing Christmas
chants. One can easily imagine similar scenes in the tiny, almost domestic
chapels of medieval Bologna. Outside the screen lay the nave, the preserve
of the people. They decorated the nave as they wished. Some congregations,
if their means were sufficient, suspended crown-shaped chandeliers studded
with gems between the columns to provide light and remind Christians of the
crowns awaiting them in heaven.^142 Guilds or confraternities erected benches
against the columns of the nave for the elderly or for use during their meet-
140. Ibid., 19 ( 1969 ): 164 – 67.
141 .ACGOP( 1249 ), 47.
142. Sicardo,Mitrale, 1. 13 , col. 51 B.