270 BuoniCattolici
This text beautifully expresses the sacramental mysticism that complemented
the visual mysticism of the Eucharist in the piety of communal Italy.
These examples focus on sacramental Communion as a private devotional
act. For most of the laity, Communion, however mystical and sacred, was a
corporate event. In Siena, after the general Communions on each of the
three great feasts, the cathedral canons and clergy led the people in a thanks-
giving procession through the city to the ringing of bells.^216 General Commu-
nion was a citywide celebration. As a sign of membership in the society,
these rites could not exclude even secret sinners; they were not to be denied
Communion if they approached on the day of a general Communion.^217
Communion was the sacrament of unity. In 1266 , a general Communion
was held to seal the making of peace among factions at Piacenza. Mass was
chanted before the relics of Saint Justina at the duomo for the people and
clergy of the city. Some sixty leading men, after exchanging the kiss of peace,
received Communion. Then, reconciled to each other, they took an oath on
the relics of the saints to keep the peace.^218
The ordo of Siena described the general Communions of Christmas and
Epiphany. The general Communion occurred at a ‘‘popular Mass,’’ before
the solemn Mass, so as to make the fasting less burdensome. The celebrating
priest gave a brief instruction to the people. He invited all to communicate,
save those with unconfessed sins requiring penance. He reminded the assem-
bly that those receiving Communion should also attend the solemn Mass
and hear the bishop’s sermon. He led the people in the Confiteor and gave
the absolution.^219 The people approached, men first, then women. Kneeling,
they received the sacred Host on the tongue—to touch it with profane hands
smacked of irreverence. A minister followed the priest and gave each a sip
from a chalice of unconsecrated wine. This assured that all particles of the
Host had been swallowed, and it recalled the cup of wine Christ had prom-
ised to drink with his followers in the kingdom.^220 The Sienese ordo com-
menting on the rite urged that during Communion each recipient recall
Christ’s promises to the church, pray for its present unity, and look forward
to the descent of the celestial Jerusalem at the end of time.
Reception of the sacred Host as part of a general Communion proved
one’s place in the city. To abstain was to set oneself apart. It was to be a
heretic, not a citizen. When Armanno Pungilupo was posthumously accused
of heresy, the most powerful evidence in his defense came in the testimony
- Kempers, ‘‘Icons,’’ 95.
- Novara Synodii( 1298 ), 1. 2. 1. 4 , pp. 184 – 86.
- Muzio of Modena,Annales( 1266 ), 520 ; unfortunately, the peace later failed. For another example
(between the Lombard cities and the Palavicino in 1269 ), see ibid., 532.
219 .Ordo Senensis, 1. 46 ,p. 42 ; 1. 71 ,p. 65. - Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msMagl.xiv. 49 , fol. 58 v; perhaps distribution of
consecrated wine continued even into the thirteenth century. At Milan in the late 1100 s, the two were
still given together by dipping the Host in the chalice; seeManuale Ambrosianum, 1 : 152 , 147.