110 LaCitadeSancta
peror Frederick II. The holy war against Ezzelino and Frederick revealed
new celestial friends of the communes. At Vicenza, the liberation of the
commune came on 29 September 1264 , obviously by the intercession of Saint
Michael. The archangel became a patron of the city, and the commune gave
£ 50 to the Augustinians to build a church in his honor. The city had his
image added to those of other city patrons above the gates.^52 At Milan in the
late 1200 s, the city commissioned the workshop of Giovanni di Balduccio to
decorate Porta Ticinese with the protectors of the commune Saint Law-
rence, Saint Ambrose, Saint Eustorgius, Saint Peter of Verona, and, en-
throned in the center, the Virgin Mary and child Jesus (fig. 36 ). At Bologna,
where the commune captured Frederick’s son Enzo in battle on the Transla-
tion of Saint Augustine, they appropriated five years of alms for construction
of the Augustinian church, which they hoped would be rededicated under
the title of Saint Augustine (it was not and remains San Giacomo Maggiore
to this day). The city raised its offering of £ 40 bon. to £ 50 the following
year; the war was going well.^53 During the early 1250 s, Ezzelino entered
Padua, expelled the republican government, and established personal rule.
The army of the Lombard League commanded by the papal legate Filippo
Fontana, archbishop of Ravenna, besieged the city, but without success. Fra
Bartolomeo di Corradino, the sacristan, was keeping vigil on 19 June 1252 at
the tomb of the Franciscan saint Anthony of Padua, praying for deliverance
of his city. In a dream or vision—the source is unclear—Fra Bartolomeo
heard a voice promising liberation of the city before the octave of Anthony’s
feast, that is, by the very next day. And so it came to pass. In recognition of
the deliverance from Ezzelino, the Paduans translated his body and placed
it inarcaraised on columns in 1263. The saint confirmed this favor by a
miracle—the great preacher’s tongue was found miraculously incorrupt.^54
But on Anthony’s feast in 1272 , the combined pro-imperial forces of Faenza
and the exiled Bolognese Lambertazzi faction defeated the Bolognese com-
mune’s army (led by the more pro-papal Geremei faction) at the Battle of
Porta San Procolo.^55 Never again would the Bolognese ‘‘party of the
Church’’ willingly hear the saint’s name mentioned. Present at victory and
defeat, saints could preside over peacemaking, too. In 1286 Cardinal Latino
finally brought an end to a long war between Parma and Modena. The
- Vicenza Stat. ( 1264 ), 3 ; on the cult of Saint Michael at Vicenza, see Webb,Patrons, 150 – 51.
- Bologna Stat.i( 1251 ), 5. 21 , 1 : 454 – 55.
- The source for this story is late:ChronicaxxivGeneralium Ordinis Fratrum Minorum, 157 – 58. On the
translation of 1263 , see the vita attributed to John Peckham,Legendae Sancti Antonii Presbyteri et Confessoris
‘‘Benignitas,’’ 21. 1 – 5 ,Vita del ‘‘Dialogus’’ e ‘‘Benignitas,’’ed. Virilio Gamboso (Padua: Messaggero, 1986 ),
562 – 66. For references to the arca on columns, seeVita prima di S. Antonio o ‘‘Assidua’’ (c. 1232 ),ed. Vergilio
Gamboso (Padua: Messaggero, 1981 ), 136 – 37. For city recognition of Saint Anthony, see Padua Stat.
(pre- 1238 ), 2. 28 ,p. 193 , no. 599. - Salimbene,Cronica( 1250 ), 573 , Baird trans., 399 ; ibid. ( 1275 ), 716 , trans., 501. The Lambertazzi
and Geremei are often contrasted as ‘‘pro-imperial’’ and ‘‘pro-papal’’; in fact, both factions were oppor-
tunistic.