Feasting,Fasting,andDoingPenance 307
with a deacon at his side. His clergy assembled in silence around him. The
bishop rose and chanted ‘‘Venite, venite, venite!’’—‘‘Come, come, come!’’
At each ‘‘Venite,’’ the penitents prostrated themselves, prayed, and rose as
the deacon directed. The Pisans elaborated the rite: the bishop chanted
‘‘Venite’’ once, then twice, and then three times, and each time the penitents
prostrated themselves. At the last ‘‘Venite,’’ the deacon brought the penitents
forward to prostrate themselves at the bishop’s feet. The clergy chanted a
psalm, and the deacon addressed the bishop, asking him to accept the sin-
ners’ penances. At Padua, the bishop then preached a sermon, explaining
the nature of penance and warning the penitents that they could only un-
dergo solemn penance once in their lives. At Siena and most other cities, the
sermon came at the end of the service.^226 The clergy chanted psalms and
prayers over the penitents, who remained prostrate on the ground.
Then the deacon formally requested that the bishop accept the penitents
back into the bosom of the church.^227 The bishop went to the great door,
and the archdeacon raised each penitent by the hand and presented him to
the bishop, who passed him through the great door to a priest, normally the
pastor of his own chapel. The rite dramatically reversed the expulsions of
Ash Wednesday and could not but be deeply affecting. Don Giovanni di
Bolgare of Sant’Alessandro in Bergamo fondly recalled the very many times
(sepissime) when he had helped Bishop Ghirardo and Bishop Guala reconcile
penitents by passing them through the doors of the duomo.^228 The reconciled
penitent’s parish priest placed him within the congregation in the nave and
indicated that he was again to prostrate himself. The clergy entered the
church in procession and took their place in the choir. Led by the choir, all
sang the litany. The bishop then chanted five collects, each imploring God’s
mercy and forgiveness. At Verona, the last of these celebrated Christ’s vic-
tory over sins from which the penitents were now free: ‘‘pride, anger, envy,
impatience, disobedience, lust, avarice, discord, vainglory, sloth, false wit-
ness, bitterness, the spirit of fornication, and all the machinations of the
ancient foe.’’ Then, using a long and solemn prayer, the bishop absolved
each penitent individually, addressing him by name. The choir intoned the
antiphon ‘‘Surge qui Dormis’’—‘‘Arise O Sleeper!’’ As ministers sprinkled
the penitents with holy water and incensed them, the bishop touched each
with his pastoral staff, signaling him to arise. As they did so, their candles,
snuffed out on Ash Wednesday, were relighted.^229
- Ibid., 1. 145 , pp. 126 – 27 ; Pont. Rom. (xii), 30 a. 26 ,p. 219.
- In Verona, the sermon was delayed until this point: Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare,ms xciv,
88 r– 89 r. - ‘‘Instrumentum Litis,’’ 3. 27 ,p. 175 ; 3. 29 ,p. 177.
- No manuscript source includes the relighting of the candles, found in Pont. Rom. (Durandus),
- 13 – 18 , pp. 560 – 61. But since all the Italian rites included a snuffing of the candles on Ash Wednesday,
it is reasonable to assume that the reconciliation rite included their relighting. On the use of the staff, see
Marte`ne,De Antiquis, 1 : 820 (Ordo 17 ).
- 13 – 18 , pp. 560 – 61. But since all the Italian rites included a snuffing of the candles on Ash Wednesday,