TheCityWorships 247
silently, so as not to distract from the main service. And he was not to begin
until the deacon of the people’s Mass had chanted the Gospel.^76 To replace
the people’s Mass with some other celebration so as to convenience the
clergy was a serious abuse. The saintly minister general of the Franciscans,
Fra Giovanni of Parma, put an immediate stop to the practice in some Fran-
ciscan houses of replacing the people’s Mass with a Requiem when one had
to be said.^77 The time for solemn Mass was early to mid morning. Mostly,
the proper hour fell after Matins but before Terce, but a later time, just after
Terce, was common on Sundays and feasts. Then the canons at Siena chan-
ted Sext immediately following Mass as a thanksgiving. Because the Mass
celebrated both Christ’s Passion on Good Friday and his Resurrection on
Easter morning, it was almost never said after None, lest the connection with
that Resurrection morn be lost.^78 People frequented Masses other than the
solemn Mass when these were available. These Masses had the attraction of
being more intimate, especially when celebrated at nave altars or in small
side chapels, and of being briefer, since they were celebrated with lesser
solemnity, although still sung.
In a practice probably nearly universal, the canons of Siena celebrated a
‘‘Mary Mass’’ a little after the solemn Mass of the day during most of the
year. It complemented their recitation of the daily Office of the Virgin. They
omitted this devotional Mass only from Advent to Epiphany, Palm Sunday
to Pentecost Octave, and on a few of the most solemn feasts. It attracted so
many laypeople that the clerics called it the ‘‘popular,’’ or ‘‘people’s,’’ Mass
(Missa popularis), although that title really belonged to the Mass of the day or
the Mass during which there was a general Communion.^79 The ancient
Roman practice had been to repeat the Sunday Mass each day of the follow-
ing week, but in a shorter version (without the Gloria and Credo), unless the
week included a feast or saint’s day. The clerics of the communes broke this
monotony by celebrating a ‘‘votive Mass,’’ that is, a Mass with a special
theme, on each weekday. On Monday, this was usually the Mass of the Holy
Trinity; on Tuesday, that of Charity; on Wednesday, that of the Holy Spirit;
on Thursday, that of the Angels; on Friday, that of the Holy Cross; and on
Saturday, that of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Everywhere, the choir added a
Gloria to the votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin on Saturday as a way of
giving her special honor. Local churches, however, in other ways enjoyed
freedom to establish their own customs. Bishop Sicardo knew of some Italian
churches that sang a Requiem Mass on Tuesday, a Mass for Peace on
Wednesday, and a Mass against Tribulations on Thursday.^80 Since choice of
- Grado Council ( 1296 ), 4 ,p. 1166 , and Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 1785(latexiicent.),
Rolando the Deacon,Liber de Ordine Officiorum,fol. 35 v. - Salimbene,Cronica( 1248 ), 439 , Baird trans., 301.
- See ibid. ( 1250 ), 608 , trans., 425 ;Ordo Senensis, 1. 14 ,p. 14.
79 .Ordo Senensis, 2. 12 – 15 , pp. 413 – 15. - Sicardo,Mitrale, 8. 1 , cols. 388 – 89.