Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes 1125-1325

(Darren Dugan) #1

 256 BuoniCattolici


Christ to fall on the ground at Communion. Which was greater in the faith,


the author asked his brothers and sisters, the Word of God or the Body of


Christ? The Word was no less important than the Body.^133 Peter the


Chanter, in his little booklet on prayer, prescribed that those present should


‘‘think of nothing at Mass except God.’’ This might suggest a certain distrac-


tion from the liturgical action. But his directive was addressed to the priest


rather than to the laity. ‘‘Thinking of God’’ meant attention to both prayers


and the God to whom they were offered.^134


The laity punctuated every part of the Mass by physical gestures. Chil-


dren learned these gestures by watching and imitating adults.^135 They be-


came second nature. Medieval churches, free as they were of pews, gave


worshipers considerable liberty of physical expression. During penitential


seasons like Lent, people listened for the deacon’s command to kneel at the


collects, and all knelt.^136 The author of the treatise on the Mass recom-


mended a short biblical verse (Eph. 3 : 15 ) to say, which recalled why one


knelt: ‘‘I bend my knee to the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, from which


all fatherhood in earth or heaven takes its name.’’^137 Kneeling was the proper


posture of devotion when the deacon commanded it, when the priest ele-


vated the Host, and when the choir sang the Agnus Dei. Different postures


distinguished the grade of feast. People stood when the priest chanted the


Pater Noster on feasts, but they knelt on ordinary days.^138 Otherwise all were


free to kneel or stand as they chose. Although some stood when the rubrics


permitted it, the humility of kneeling suggested it to layfolk generally as the


most suitable posture of prayer. After all, the Pharisee of the Gospel stood,


and the publican knelt; the former was not heard, the latter was.^139 Everyone


knew the story.


The congregation imitated the deacon as he made a large sign of the cross


at the beginning and end of the Gospel. As he chanted it, all stood out of


reverence for the proclamation of the Word of God. ‘‘Let none sit for the


Gospel,’’ said Bishop Sicardo.^140 As it began, men removed their hats and


put aside their staffs. The first gesture showed respect for Christ’s teaching;


the second, acceptance of his command never to return evil for evil, even if


that meant accepting physical blows without striking back.^141 The faithful


also expressed their piety and responded to the service as they wished. The


treatise on the Mass also suggested a fitting response to the Gloria—the



  1. Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msMagl.xxxvi. 81 bis, fol. 35 v.

  2. Peter the Chanter,De Oratione, 204 – 5.

  3. Bonvesin de la Riva,Vita Scholastica, 68 , lines 415 – 19.

  4. Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana,msConv. Soppr. 137 (latexiicent.), fols. 59 r– 60 r.

  5. Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msMagl.xxxvi. 81 bis, fol. 35 v: ‘‘Flecto ienua mea ad
    Patrem Domini nostri Iesu Christi, ex quo omnis paternitas in celo et in terra nominatur.’’

  6. Sicardo,Mitrale, 3. 5 , col. 134 D.

  7. Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana,msConv. Soppr. 137 , fols. 59 r– 65 v.
    140 .Ordo Senensis, 1. 13 ,p. 14 ; Sicardo,Mitrale, 3. 4 , col. 111 A.

  8. So Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msMagl.xxxvi. 81 bis, fol. 36 r.

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