TheMotherChurch 41
along without a cleric. Perhaps he was looking for help. On the other hand,
the small San Clemente had a priest, Don Giovanni (£ 10 ), and a cleric,
Bresciano (£ 81 s. 4 d.). This seems common: a single chaplain and one or
two clerics. Occasionally, an ordained deacon or subdeacon replaced the
cleric. In contrast, a rural pieve was home to a large community of priests.
Outside the city walls, in the Paduan contado, at the pieve of Santa Maria
of Merlaria, where Don Rolandino was prior, he supervised a staff of four
priests, Don Giacomo, Don Floriano, Don Antonio, and Don Enrico.^151
Within the city, collegiate church staffs rivaled in size those of the rural
pievi. At Padua, again, the collegiate church of Sant’Andrea in the Ponte
Altinate Quarter was home to the prior, Don Gerardo (who paid £ 16 in
tithe), his assistant, Don Pietro Bagno (£ 824 s.), and three nonpriest canons,
Don Oliverio Rappresaglia, Don Manfredo Mascara, and Don Muzello de’
Ingleschi.^152 Written constitutions governed the common life of a collegiate
church. Bishop Girardo Scannabecchi’s Santa Maria Maggiore at Bologna
had new constitutions approved in 1310 by Bishop Uberto, and these afford
a glimpse at the clerical life of a collegiate church.^153 Santa Maria had en-
dowment for up to seven benefices. The prior, Don Giacobino (who received
the revenues from two benefices), and his associates, Ubaldino, Tancredo,
Bondo, and Andrea, divided these among themselves. The five priests also
shared the rents that the church received on property.^154 Since these men
were ‘‘secular’’ canons, not monks, each kept his finances for himself.^155
They received daily stipends at the celebration of the daily Office—prorated
for Mass and the other hours. Absence from Mass or Office meant no sti-
pend. These stipends totaled 6 d. bon. on an ordinary day. There was a
bonus on feasts— 20 s.—which certainly ensured better attendance in choir
on those days. The canons had assigned rooms, and that of the prior (the
best one) was guaranteed to his successor.^156 Each canon had an assigned
duty. Along with prior, positions included treasurer, sacristan, and chaplain,
of which the constitution accommodated two for the church.^157 With this
large number of clerics, the neighborhood of Santa Maria Maggiore boasted
a far more impressive ecclesiastical establishment and more ceremonious
worship than little Sant’Agnese in Padua. Even more lavish than Santa
- Ibid., 129.
- Ibid., 109.
- Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 89.vi. 5 (xviiicent. copy ofxivcent. original), fols. 1 r– 18 r:
Constitutiones Ecclesiae S. Mariae Majoris Anno 1310. - Ibid., fols. 15 r– 16 r.
- For another example of statutes given to ‘‘regular’’ canons, see Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana,ms
1335 (copied 1272 ), theCostituzioni date ai canonici di S. Maria di Torellopromulgated by Guglielmo della
Torre, bishop of Como in 1217. The constitutions treat the novitiate ( 1 v– 3 v), choral office ( 3 v– 9 r), the
practice of communal poverty ( 9 r– 11 r, 11 v– 12 v), and prohibitions of worldly involvements ( 15 r– 16 v). The
canons also acceptedconversi—lay brothers ( 17 r– 18 v). There is nothing on the laity or pastoral responsibili-
ties. - Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 89.vi. 5 , fols. 12 v– 14 v.
- Ibid., fols. 9 v– 10 v.