GoodCatholics atPrayer 373
people. The second group, still well represented but less so than the moraliz-
ing literature, consists of poems and treatises explaining the Creed or
Catholic doctrines. Among these are short expositions of theological topics
of popular interest, such as the end of the world or the causes of evil. I place
in this category the fragmentary biblical translations occasionally encoun-
tered after 1300. I call this grouping ‘‘catechetical literature.’’ Last in quan-
tity come meditations and pious reflections. Among these, two compositions
much outrank the rest in popularity. The first, and by far more common, is
the meditation on the life of Christ falsely ascribed to Bonaventure. The
second is a fascinating little work known as thePiato di Gesu Christo.^140 The
Pseudo-Bonaventure is a clerical work that appealed to the piety of the com-
munes; thePiatois probably a lay product and deserves special attention. I
will not undertake here an exhaustive analysis of these three types of devo-
tional literature. The small size of its audience counsels against that kind of
emphasis. Instead I will present an overview, give some examples, and posi-
tion these three categories within the piety that is the topic of this chapter.
For Zucchero Bencivenni, an understanding of the virtues and corre-
sponding vices was essential for right living.^141 Treatises on the vices and
virtues already existed in the Carolingian period, when Alcuin of York con-
tributed an effort of his own.^142 In the wake of Lateraniv, clerical authors
produced in great numbers updated versions, intended for use in sermons or
when hearing confessions. The most widely distributed of these was the
Tractatus de Virtutibusof the Dominican Guillaume Perault (Willielmus Per-
adus), which circulated in Latin. Other examples of the genre, including
anonymous abridgments and reworkings, are common.^143 Only in the early
1300 s did Francesco of Perugia, a Franciscan priest, produce a treatise of this
type intended specifically for lay use, theTractatus de Septem Vitiis Capitalibus et
Decem Preceptis.^144 It dwelt on the vices, said little of the opposing virtues, and
seemed mostly intended as an aid for going to confession. Like other clerical
productions, it lacked concrete examples and smelled of the scholastic lecture
room. As a popularizer, however, Fra Francesco was late off the mark. Vir-
- I have completely omitted three items from consideration: vernacularized saints’ lives, the
hymns known aslaudi,and the religious dramas known assacre rappresentazioni.Nearly all examples are
dated well into the 1300 s, outside our period. In the case oflaudi,of which thirteenth-century examples
survive, there is no evidence these were ever used in private prayer or meditation. - Zucchero Bencivenni,Trattato del ben vivere,ed. Giuseppe Manuzzi (Florence: Passigli, 1848 ), 6.
- HisDe Octo Vitiis Principalibus,which consisted of chapters 27 – 35 of his largerLiber de Virtutibus et
Vitiis(PL 101 : 613 – 38 ), circulated in thirteenth-century Italy. E.g., Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenzi-
ana,msMugellana 10 , contains this treatise. See Bloomfield et al.,Incipits, 304 , no. 3593 , on Alcuin’s
work. - Bloomfield’sIncipitsgives some idea of the extent of this literature. Merely for the sake of exam-
ples from our period, see Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana,msH 168 Inf., fols. 54 r– 116 v(Perault and other
anonymous examples); Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 2580(xivcent.), fols. 1 r– 14 v(anonymous
short treatment); Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 1563, fol. 9 r(anonymous one-folio summary);
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana,msTrotti 541 (xivcent.), fols. 135 v– 141 v(vernacular version similar to
Alcuin’s). - A copy is found in Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msMagl.xxxv.