TheCityWorships 255
a twenty-four-pound focaccia made with saffron and cumin (aromata groci et
cumini). The swordmakers preferred a white loaf made of fine flour, valued
at 18 d. bon. The societies enacted more legislation on their Eulogia’s quality,
size, and production than that on the Mass itself.^127 This was natural. The
priest chanted the Mass; the blessed bread was a distinctive work of the laity.
All partook of it together. They took it home for the sick and the elderly.
People kept pieces as a divine protection in times of distress. In emergencies,
it might have to replace the sacramental Communion of the dying. The
Eulogia extended the fruits of the Mass to all who believed but could not be
present.^128
TheFaithful atChurch
Instructions emanating from the medieval Church hierarchy instructed the
faithful to be silent and still during Mass. The impression is one of imposed
passivity. Since the people were quite active when presenting their offerings,
kissing the Pax, and sharing the Eulogia, the image of passivity is certainly
deceptive. How silent were they? Not very. Well-known strictures against
noise and motion concern, not the adults, but the children they brought
with them.^129 Italian devotional literature expected not passive presence but
attentive engagement, and stipulated that this be signaled by bodily gestures.
The thirteenth-century writer Bonvesin de la Riva, after advising readers to
attend Mass as frequently as possible, urged them to arrive at church in time
for the sprinkling of holy water, the Asperges. Entering the building, the
faithful first directed their eyes to the image of Christ Crucified above the
screen and, after coming forward, knelt in view of the altar. They made the
sign of the cross as the priest sprinkled them.^130 While hearing Mass, they
stayed in one place and avoided unseemly acts, such as spitting. Bonvesin
told them to direct their ears to what was chanted and to greet the singing
of the Gospel by making a small cross on their foreheads. Whenever the
priest or deacon chanted the name of Jesus or Mary, all bowed their heads.^131
To catch audible cues like the holy names and respond with a gesture asks
a level of attention uncommon at modern church services. These instructions
flatly contradict the notion that the Italians of the communes paid, or were
expected to pay, little attention to Mass except at the offertory and the Con-
secration.^132 One anonymous treatise on the Mass dating to the mid- 1200 s
focused on the words of Mass as of the greatest importance. The author
compared negligence in listening to the Gospel to allowing the Body of
- Bol. Pop. Stat., 1 (Toschi, 1256 ,c. 16 ), 96 ; 2 (Spadai, 1283 ,c. 33 ), 342.
- On the fruits of Mass, see Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana,msPl.xix 29(xivcent.),
fol. 257 v. - E.g., Grado Council ( 1296 ), 3 ,p. 1166.
- Bonvesin de la Riva,Vita Scholastica, 62 – 63 , lines 321 – 326 , 331 – 36.
- Ibid., 65 , lines 381 – 94.
- E.g., Cattaneo, ‘‘Partecipazione,’’ 411.