TheCityWorships 251
took its name. As the priest blessed incense and a procession with censer and
candles left to accompany the deacon to the great pulpit in the screen, the
choir sang the Alleluia or, in penitential seasons, another scriptural chant
composition called the Tract. Unlike the modern Roman liturgy, the medie-
val Italians chanted the Nicene Creed (the Credo) immediately after the
Gospel. It provided ‘‘traveling music’’ as the deacon and his procession re-
turned to the choir so that the celebrant could kiss the sacred text. During
the Credo, both clergy and laity genuflected at the verse recalling Christ’s
Incarnation, ‘‘Et homo factus est.’’^101 An almost universal practice in north
Italy had the people express their acceptance of the Creed by singing the
Kyrie a second time.^102 If there was a sermon, as stipulated by synodal law
for Sundays and feasts, it usually came at this point. But a ‘‘solemn sermon’’
by a famous preacher might be delayed until after Mass, lest it overly extend
the service.^103
After the Credo, the celebrant led the congregation in a rite acknowledg-
ing their sins. The people knelt, and the clerics chanted the Confiteor, a
liturgical general confession of sin, in the name of the people. The Confiteor
confessed the people’s sinfulness before God and the Virgin by ‘‘thought,
word, and deed.’’ The priest or bishop then chanted the absolution, to which
the response was ‘‘Amen.’’ In many places, the priest then led the whole
congregation in a spoken recitation of the Pater Noster and Ave Maria,
prayers known to all good lay faithful. Since Christ had told those coming to
the altar to be reconciled first to their brothers and sisters, and since sin was
the foundational cause of dissension, this rite prepared all for presentation of
their offerings. The celebrant then came out through the door of the screen
to accept these, whether in coin or in produce, from each member of the
congregation individually. The gifts were dedicated to the support of the
church and the poor. More than at any other point in the Mass, this gave
laypeople an individual and direct role in the Mass. One troubled student at
Bologna about the year 1219 made his offering along with the people at the
Dominican church. The celebrating priest was the founder of the order,
Dominic himself. As the man gave his gift and kissed the saint’s hand, he
received the grace to avoid sins of the flesh.^104 Coming forward with one’s
offering was a moment charged with sacred power. Meanwhile, the ministers
prepared the bread and wine at the altar.^105 The celebrant then performed
the offertory, placing the chalice and Host on the altar and incensing them.
- Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msMagl.xxxvi. 81 bis, fol. 36 v.
102 .Ordo Senensis, 2. 56 , pp. 458 – 59 ; Sicardo,Mitrale, 3. 4 , col. 113 D. - Siena placed the sermon after the Sanctus on nonfeast days.Ordo Senensis, 2. 54 ,p. 454 , objects
strongly to it; see Jean-Baptiste Molin, ‘‘Le prie`res du proˆne en Italie,’’Ephemerides Liturgicae 76 ( 1962 ): 41.
104 .Vitae Fratrum Ordinis Praedicatorum, 2. 26 ,p. 82 , trans. Placid Conway asLives of the Brethren of the
Order of Preachers, 1206 – 1259 (New York: Benziger, 1924 ), 69 – 70.
105 .Ordo Senensis, 2. 55 – 57 , pp. 457 – 60. Some Italian churches prepared the bread and wine earlier,
during the chants between the Epistle and Gospel; Sicardo,Mitrale, 3. 6 , col. 116 C, rejects this practice.