250 BuoniCattolici
dualists were willing to go entirely without, but theirs was the most extreme
dissenting option available in high medieval Italy.
The Mass, in its basic structure and parts, has changed little since the
earliest days of the Western Church, although each age has added unique
flourishes or emphasized different aspects of the rite. The churches of com-
munal Italy, with the exception of Milan, where the distinctive Ambrosian
Rite held sway, followed a north Italian variant of the liturgy of the city of
Rome. This local Italian usage has characteristics that distinguish it from the
modern Roman rite, as well as from the old ‘‘Tridentine’’ rite that was used
by nearly all Roman Catholics from the sixteenth to the mid–twentieth cen-
tury. So recovering the experience of worship in the communes demands
first an overview of this Mass’s rituals and peculiarities. The following sketch
assumes Mass in a cathedral or larger church, one with the staff necessary
to provide the fullest solemnity. Smaller churches did what they could.
Before Mass, men and women entered the church, not by the great west-
ern door, but by separate, smaller doors in the north and south aisles. The
women took their place on the ‘‘Gospel side,’’ in the northern part of the
nave; the men stood on the ‘‘Epistle side,’’ on the south. A rite known as the
Asperges preceded the solemn Mass of Sunday. In it, the priest, in surplice
and stole, walked through the church sprinkling the people with holy water.
As he did so, the choir chanted an antiphon, normally ‘‘You Sprinkle Me’’
(Asperges) but during Easter season ‘‘I Saw Water’’ (Vidi Aquam). This rite
recalled the congregation’s common baptism. Even more, it expelled
demons and by its very power forgave venial sins.^99 In cathedral churches,
the prayers and psalms that accompanied the entrance of the canons and
bishop also preceded Mass. These chants continued as the clergy kissed the
altar, which represented Christ, and the book of the Gospels held by the
deacon, which represented his word.^100 During the opening chant of the
Mass itself, the Introit, the celebrant incensed the altar, going around it
counterclockwise, imitating the movement of the heavens. The chanting of
the ninefold litany called the Kyrie followed, joined in nonpenitential seasons
by the Gloria, a hymn of praise. These chants completed, the celebrant
greeted the congregation and sang the opening prayer, or ‘‘collect,’’ at the
altar. If the celebrant was the bishop, he then went to his throne in the east;
a priest sat on the south side of the choir.
The subdeacon, standing in the middle of the choir and facing east, then
sang the Epistle. The choir responded to this with a chant taken from the
psalms, the Gradual, from which the book of Mass music, the Graduale,
- It was obligatory every Sunday: Ravenna Council ( 1311 ), 9 ,p. 455. On its power to forgive venial
sins, see Thomas Aquinas,Summa Theologiae,iii,Q. 87 ,a. 3. - E.g., at Modena, as seen in the great altar missal of the duomo: Parma, Biblioteca Palatina,ms
Par. 996 (latexiicent.), fols. 83 v– 89 v. For psalms before Mass in a noncathedral liturgy, see Sicardo,
Mitrale, 4 , col. 149.