TheHolyCity 131
inducted new members in the chapel of San Cristoforo before the group’s
own altar, that of Saint Eustace. That altar was also their usual place of
meeting.^202 On the feast of their patron, the society elected as leaders eight
ministers. These received an annual compensation of 10 s. bon.^203 Given its
worldly purpose, the group’s statutes come as something of a shock to mod-
ern readers. This commercial entity is structurally and devotionally identical
to the early penitent confraternities. Its statutes first provided for devotion to
the patron saint. The treasurer (massarius) was to assure that an oil lamp
burned perpetually before the patronal altar. He procured ‘‘the two large
wax candles’’ that burned during the Masses of the society. At the vigil Mass
of Saint Eustace, each member personally presented a candle, to be valued
at least 18 d. bon., to the patron—failure to do so resulted in expulsion from
the society.^204 The society met each month on the last Sunday for a votive
Mass of Saint Eustace, for which the statutes provided a 6 d. bon. stipend to
the priest engaged to chant the service.^205 The Mass ended with abenedizione,
that is, a loaf of fine white bread, which was blessed and shared by the
members as a nonsacramental communion. After the service, the members
met to conduct society business if there was any. The major social affair of
the year was the annual banquet in honor of Saint Eustace.^206 The statutes
appropriated a sum of 15 s. bon., which paid for the dinner and allowed the
priest of the chapel to hire a suitable choir to chant the solemn Mass that
preceded it. A smaller dinner was held in the fall, in preparation for the
annual candle offering. The society members were obliged to say five Paters
and Aves daily in honor of the blessed martyr Saint Eustace. One might
easily mistake this vineyard society for a religious confraternity. That would
not be wholly mistaken. It would be a worse mistake to see it as a business
corporation with some pious trappings.
In the Society of Saint Eustace, sacred and worldly elements formed a
seamless whole, and they did so from its very foundation. The societies of
the Popolo should be understood in the same way. The statutes of the Bolog-
nese Societa`delle Armi present the same merging of secular purpose (mili-
tary and police functions) with religious forms. Their organization is identical
to that of the later vineyard society and earlier penitent associations. The
founders used the religious forms that were ready to hand. For only one
society, the Lombardi, does the group’s origin by itself explain its religious
character. The ‘‘Lombards’’ were localized in the university district toward
Porta Ravenna and limited to those of north Italian family origin. The soci-
ety was in origin a true religious confraternity, formed by the students of the
202. Ibid., fol. 123 r.
203. Ibid., fol. 123 r(repeated: fols. 140 r–v).
204. Ibid., fols. 123 v– 124 v(repeated: fols. 140 v– 141 r).
205. Ibid., fols. 124 r–v(repeated: fols. 141 v– 142 r).
206. Ibid., fol. 125 r(repeated: fols. 142 v– 143 r).