76 LaCitadeSancta
canonical penance and traditional religious orders.^42 The multiplication of
such groups did not go unnoticed by canon lawyers. In the mid–thirteenth
century, the canonist Enrico of Susa, better known as Hostiensis, complained
that it was ‘‘absurd’’ (absurdum) to allow the multiplication of freelance con-
versi and independent lay religious associations—the bishop should, he said,
regulate the conversi and impose on them a standardized habit and rule.^43
The lay penitents had already anticipated Hostiensis’s complaint. The so-
called ‘‘Propositum of the Lombard Penitents’’ of 1215 is the earliest recover-
able collection of statutes for a group of Italian urban penitents and reflects
the fertile legislative climate among religious groups of the early thirteenth
century. Although the original text is lost, its form and contents are not hard
to reconstruct from later legislation. The penitents enlisted an anonymous
north Italian canonist to draft the document, probably in the wake of preach-
ing by Saint Francis in north Italy during 1215. The canonist borrowed heav-
ily from Innocent III’s provisions for Humiliati lay tertiaries in 1201. The use
of the money of Ravenna in the document suggests a Romagnol origin,
perhaps Faenza.^44 The ‘‘Propositum’’ stipulated a monthly convocation for
preaching and Mass in the association’s patronal church. It organized aid
for poor and sick members and required that all make a will ‘‘lest they die
intestate.’’ The members were to work for peace among themselves.^45 This
legislation, reflecting that from pious associations of the previous century,
was already notarial boilerplate. Identical provisions for Masses and votive
lamps are found in statutes of ‘‘secular’’ associations, such as the association
of the Bolognese teachers and students that contracted with Camoldolese
monks to provide religious services for them at about the same time.^46
The ‘‘Propositum’’ reflected the group’s penitential life. As befitting con-
verts from secular concerns, the ‘‘Propositum’’ forbade members to attend
shows, dances, indecent parties, and other ‘‘worldly’’ activities.^47 The most
rudimentary of habits, closed cloaks of undyed cloth, symbolized the mem-
bers’ commitment to a life of austerity.^48 The brothers bound themselves to
the recitation of the Divine Office if they were literate and had the books to
do so. Otherwise, if illiterate or when traveling, each said seven Pater Nosters
and seven Gloria Patris for each hour. For Prime and Compline they added
a Credo and the psalm ‘‘Miserere,’’ if they had them memorized. All recited
- Meersseman,Dossier, 86 ; for a typical statute formulary, see Boncompagno of Signa,Cedrus,
121 – 26 ; on which, see Meersseman,Ordo, 1 : 18 – 20. - Hostiensis (Enrico of Susa),Summa Aurea(Venice: Junta, 1581 ), 3. 3 , fol. 193 vb, reprinted in Meersse-
man,Dossier, 309. - Meersseman,Dossier, 83.
- ‘‘Propositum,’’ 19 – 22 , ibid., 89.
- Boncompagno of Signa,Cedrus, 125 , used these statutes as a formula; on which, see Meersseman,
Ordo, 1 : 189. - ‘‘Propositum,’’ 5 , Meersseman,Dossier, 88 ; cf. ‘‘Memoriale,’’ 5 , ibid., 95 – 96.
- ‘‘Propositum,’’ 1 – 4 , Meersseman,Dossier, 88.