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

(Darren Dugan) #1

 328 BuoniCattolici


Christ died at that hour and those baptized entered into his death.^118 The


urban chapels, even those that enjoyed special exemptions, closed this day


as the city clergy attended the vigil baptisms with their congregations.^119 On


Holy Thursday, the church had extinguished all lamps and candles save


those of the Tenebrae hearse; the vigil began with the kindling of the new


fire of Easter. Most commonly, the archpriest struck it from flint and steel in


the piazza before the duomo and blessed it. This rite was usually performed


without solemnity, but at Modena the archpriest struck the new fire as the


clergy chanted a litany of the saints, invoking the seven most important


patrons of the city.^120 The people carried tapers, but these were not lighted


until later, at the baptisms. People kept the Easter tapers and brought them


home to light during storms and times of illness.^121 The vigil service itself was


conducted in a darkness recalling that of Christ’s tomb and of sin.^122 The


archdeacon carrying the new fire led the people into the semidarkness of the


cathedral, chanting three times ‘‘Lumen Christi’’—‘‘The Light of Christ.’’


He then lighted the great towering Easter candle next to the pulpit and


ascended to chant the Exultet, the solemn proclamation of Christ’s Resurrec-


tion. During the Exultet, it was common to fix grains of incense into the


candle and anoint it with holy chrism.^123


At Siena, the new fire was struck in the confessional below the altar of


Saint Crescentius. The cathedral clergy, who had gathered in the confes-


sional, chanted None. A deacon took a clump of candles, lest a draft extin-


guish a single flame, lighted them from the new fire, and carried them along


with a lighted wick (arundinus) to the bishop at his throne. The bishop blessed


the new fire and sprinkled it with holy water. Then the canons, preceded by


the cross, led the bishop and the deacon carrying a small Easter candle to


the great western doors. There he showed the new fire to the people assem-


bled outside, and all entered the church. The clergy returned to the choir


before the high altar of the Blessed Virgin. The deacon lighted the great


candle near the pulpit and chanted ‘‘Lumen Christi’’—‘‘Light of Christ.’’


He then ascended the pulpit to chant the Exultet. The Exultet blessing


traced the history of salvation and praised the bees who had produced the


wax of which the candle was made. During this long prayer, the clergy came



  1. Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 14 , col. 337 ; Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare,ms lxxxiv, fol. 103 v; for Caroling-
    ian witness to the hour, see Amalarius,Liber Officialis, 5. 29. 1 ,Amalarii Episcopi Opera Liturgica Omnia,ed.
    Jean Michel Hanssens (Rome: Biblioteca Vaticana, 1948 ), 1 : 499.

  2. E.g., the exempt church of Santa Vita in Vicenza, whose clergy attended ‘‘sicut et alii Capellani
    nostri’’: Vicenza Stat., 168 n. 1 ; document edited in Francesco Barbarano dei Mironi,Historia ecclesiastica
    della citta`, territorio e diocesi di Vicenza(Vicenza: Cristoforo Rosio, 1649 ), 1 : 250.

  3. Parma, Biblioteca Palatina,msPar. 996 , 47 r–v.

  4. On these rites, see Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 14 , cols. 322 – 23 ; ‘‘Instrumentum Litis,’’ 1. 1 ,p. 129 ;Ordo
    Officiorum della cattedrale [volterrana], 113 – 26 (Volterrams 222, fols. 44 r– 50 v). On the people’s keeping the
    candles, see Sicardo,Mitrale, 6. 14 , col. 325.

  5. Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msMagl.xiv. 49 , fols. 60 v– 61 r.

  6. As at Modena; see Parma, Biblioteca Palatina,msPar. 996 , fols. 50 v– 51 r.

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