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the created things anyone might find matches in beauty a priest celebrating
Mass. Nevertheless, they dare to touch me with polluted hands; even more,
they make no more of me than they do mud from the piazza.’’^190
But the clergy were coming along. Already in the 1100 s, Bishop Sicardo
of Cremona prescribed that chalices to hold the Precious Blood be of un-
breakable, nonporous metal, preferably silver or gold. Early-thirteenth-cen-
tury councils reiterated his concerns.^191 To spill the Precious Blood was
clearly a fault, if not a crime. In 1210 , Bishop Guglielmo della Torre of
Como named it one of the major faults a priest could commit, one worthy
of excommunication if deliberate. He specified how to clean the floor where
the Precious Blood had fallen. The priest washed and scraped the stone lest
any of the Blood soak into it. He then burned the scrapings and washed
them down a special sink in the sacristy.^192 Mid-thirteenth-century legislation
at Lucca reflected this growing reverence for the Sacrament. The synod
prescribed that the corporal on which the Host rested during Mass be clean
and perfect, that special candles be lit on the altar after the Consecration,
and that incense be used in all churches during the elevation of the Host and
chalice—poverty was no excuse for nonobservance of the last require-
ment!^193 In 1257 , Bishop Sigeberto of Novara introduced the ringing of the
great cathedral bell at the Consecration and commanded special marks of
respect as the Host was carried through the streets to the sick.^194
Salimbene of Parma gave three arguments for reservation of the Sacra-
ment in churches. It allowed convenience in taking Communion to the sick,
it allowed the faithful to show devout and due reverence to Christ’s Body,
and it was a tangible sign of Christ’s promise to stay with us always.^195 The
Novara synod mandated reservation for the first time in 1210. This legislation
directly served the people’s growing desire for access to the reserved Sacra-
ment in the church. Clerical convenience as much as lay devotion encour-
aged reserving the Sacrament. Fra Salimbene noticed that easy access to the
reserved Sacrament freed the priest on days of general Communion from
having to count out the proper number of Hosts for those communicating.
He needed only to consecrate a few, or only one, and then use the reserved
sacrament for the rest. Likewise, adding Hosts to the pyx was an easy solu-
- Ibid., 7. 179 ,p. 340 : ‘‘Filia, inquit, conqueror tibi multum de irreverentia sacerdotum, qui me in
tam magna multitudine quotidie tangunt, nec me diligunt, nec agnoscunt. Sit enim me veraciter agnosc-
erent, scirent quod nulla posset in rebus creatis similitudo, pulchritudo, reperiri per aliquem, cui debet
Sacerdos celebrans comparari. Et tamen me pollutis manibus tangere non verentur: sed majus faciunt de
me forum, quam de luto facerent platearum.’’ - Sicardo,Mitrale, 1. 13 , col. 55 D; Novara Synodi( 1210 ), 29.
- Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana,ms 1335(copied 1272 ), Guglielmo della Torre,Costituzioni date ai
canonici di S. Maria di Torello( 1217 ), fol. 15 v. - Lucca Synod ( 1253 ), 3 – 6 , pp. 54 – 55.
- Novara Synodi( 1257 ), 32.
- Salimbene,Cronica, 493 – 94 , Baird trans., 339. On reservation legislation, see Maccarrone, ‘‘Cura
animarum,’’ 32 and 88 n. 20.