FromConversion toCommunity 71
asceticism was an individual act, and organization was very informal. In
1204 , chroniclers tell that a ‘‘Fra Alberto of Mantua’’ preached for six weeks
in Bologna, and ‘‘many persons converted.’’ Although many may have con-
verted from heretical tendencies, this certainly meant that some were in-
spired to enter the ‘‘state of penance,’’ that is, became conversi.^9 Francis of
Assisi’s almost contemporary conversion, when viewed against the back-
ground of the earlier conversi, looks remarkably traditional.^10 The saint, on
renouncing his inheritance, took up a life of ‘‘penance’’ under the protection
and jurisdiction of Bishop Guido of Assisi. This position granted Francis a
privilegium foriat law, as an ‘‘ecclesiastical person.’’^11 When Francis’s disciple
Clare left her wealthy family to imitate the ‘‘Little Poor Man,’’ she herself
described her decision as entering a state of penance, that is, ‘‘doing pen-
ance’’ (poentientiam facerem).^12
Some conversi adapted monastic forms of mortification, including prac-
tices extreme even for the most austere of monks. Benvenuta Bojani wore a
hairshirt from the age of twelve, along with a chain discipline, which ‘‘mirac-
ulously’’ broke off as she grew. She avoided wine and never slept in a bed.
She flagellated herself, at least until her confessor forbade it.^13 The young
Pietro of Foligno also flagellated himself, apparently without objection from
his confessor. His biographer tells that Pietro gave himself the discipline ‘‘in
secret’’—perhaps his clerical director did not know about it.^14 During his
canonization process, witnesses to the life of the Mantuan converso Giovanni
Buono all commented on his one threadbare robe, which he wore both
summer and winter. They mentioned his naked feet, his wooden clogs, and
the board on which he slept. Giovanni made no fetish of his poverty, but in
simplicity he could rival any early Franciscan. His personal penances were
savage. On one occasion, when tormented by the memory of a former lover,
he drove splinters under his nails and beat the fingertips with a rock. He
fainted for three days from the pain. After he revived, the temptations—
thank goodness—left him permanently.^15 But no witness dwelt extensively
on such extravagances. For them his regularity in prayer and fasting made
him a saint. Moderate asceticism was the normal road to conversi holiness.
Simplicity was essential to the life of penance. This did not imply the
absolute poverty typical of Francis, Clare, and others in the Franciscan
movement. Although conversi practiced asceticism and took vows before a
local priest, they remained laypeople and continued to live at home, earn a
9 .CCB( 1204 ), 67.
10. Meersseman,Dossier, 7 ; Giovanna Casagrande, ‘‘Un ordine per i laici: Penitenza e penitenti nel
duecento,’’Francesco d’Assisi e il primo secolo di storia francescana(Turin: Einaudi, 1997 ), 246.
11. As noted by Meersseman,Dossier, 1 – 2 , and id.,Ordo, 1 : 355 – 56.
12. Meersseman,Dossier, 5 ; id.,Ordo, 1 : 358.
13. Corrado of Cividale,Vita Devotissimae Benevenutae de Foro-Julii, 1. 4 – 6 ,AS 61 (Oct.xiii), 153.
14. Giovanni Gorini,[Legenda de Vita et Obitu Beati Petri de Fulgineo], 2. 11 ,AS 31 (Jul.iv), 667.
15. Antonino of Florence, ‘‘De Joanne Bono Cive Mantuano’’ (Chronicae, 24. 13. 2 ),AS 57 (Oct.ix), 747.