GoodCatholics atPrayer 363
de Christo,’’ fols. 1 r–v) and a prayer to be recited before the cross (fol. 1 v). The
longest items (fols. 2 r– 3 v, 5 r– 7 r, 9 v– 12 v) in the collection are penitential. Two
prayers recall Christ’s sacrifice for sin and the need for repentance. The
second of these is a truncated vernacularization of the ‘‘Miserere Mei’’
(Psalm 50 of the Vulgate). The rubric to the first penitential prayer promises
that its use in times of sorrow will bring forgiveness and happiness (alegreza).
The collection ends with litanic verses praising the Holy Name of Jesus, to
which devotion was growing around 1300.
The second early-fourteenth-century collection is bound into the front
of a codex in Siena.^112 Like those already examined, the format is small
( 4 6 ). It uses a mixture of Latin and vernacular. The collection opens
with a series of Latin prayers under vernacular rubrics, including the ever
popular ‘‘Anima Christi.’’ All are Christological or Marian, except for a
prayer to Saint Brendan, perhaps the owner’s patron (fig. 56 ). The core of
the collection (fols. 18 r– 34 r) is a set of five long vernacular prayers to the
Blessed Trinity, each to be recited with a Pater and a Credo. Then comes a
miscellaneous collection of devotions (fols. 34 r– 41 r): three Marian prayers
(each again to be followed by a Pater and an Ave), the litany of the saints, a
prayer against lightning, and a confessional formula (using the seven capital
sins). On the last folio, the compiler has copied the Apostles’ Creed in Latin.
While the evidence of these manuscripts is admittedly fragmentary and
sometimes problematic, some tentative conclusions about the content of lay-
people’s prayer books at the end of the communal period are possible. First,
in terms of content, the prayers and devotions chosen tend toward the peni-
tential, focusing on the cross and repentance from sin. The Passion of Christ,
his mercy, and his presence in the Blessed Sacrament figure prominently. As
we will see, some of these prayers emphasize unexpected aspects of Christ’s
person, his nature as wisdom incarnate, for example. Second to the focus on
the cross and repentance, and sometimes surpassing them in quantity, are
added prayers and hymns to the Virgin Mary. Marian piety seems especially
appealing to women, but it is present in all collections. Finally, other than
the litany of the saints, these booklets of devotion do not give much space to
the lesser saints. Only occasionally do they include prayers for special protec-
tion or against evils. While we do find rubrics stipulating repetitions and
promising indulgences, these appear in the later manuscripts. The content is
remarkably orthodox and ‘‘theologically correct.’’
As to the form of the prayers, compilers of Latin devotions show a predi-
lection for litanic and simple prayers, suggesting that intelligibility was im-
portant to those using them. Vernacular manuscripts sometimes contain
lengthy prayers. These are often especially penitential and resemble exami-
- Siena, Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati,msI.viii. 21 (xivcent.), fols. 1 r– 42 v. For another
example of a macaronic prayer book of the fourteenth century, see Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universi-
taria,ms.R. 2. 3.