378 BuoniCattolici
ment of the penitent in confession (vices). Pietro da Bescape ́’s poetry served
a catechetical purpose by elaborating on the Creed. But the people of the
communes were not monks. Their prayer and reading had to fit into a day
filled with work, community, and family responsibilities. Nonetheless, some
people, a tiny spiritual ‘‘elite,’’ probably spent time in meditation and mental
prayer. What did they read? Versions of Gospel stories were probably the
most important. The earliest life of Saint Francis, the first of the two by
Tommaso of Celano, contains numerous allusions that reflect Francis’s own
taste in pious reading.^167 The allusions are almost exclusively from the synop-
tic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These are devoid of abstract doc-
trine and highlight Christ as an example of virtue or as the suffering Savior.
When the life cites Paul or gives a doctrinal lesson, the voice is that of Cel-
ano, not Francis. Contemporary lay readers’ taste in scripture was probably
similar to that of Francis. Extant fragmentary translations of Scripture into
the vernacular show a similar preference for the Gospels, especially those
used at Mass.^168
It is, then, no surprise that the text for contemplative reading most popu-
lar in communal Italy was the Pseudo-BonaventurianMeditationes Vitae Cristi.
These meditations appeared in Italian by the early 1300 s, and manuscripts
of them are found in nearly every major Italian library.^169 The meditations
are affective, moving readers’ attention from Christ’s actions to the experi-
ences of his disciples, in particular those of John the Evangelist, Mary Mag-
dalene, and the Blessed Virgin. Women’s encounters with Christ outnumber
those of men by nearly two to one. The work, especially in its vernacular
adaptation, pivoted on the Virgin Mother’s sorrow that she would not be
present for Jesus’ celebration of the Passover. She asked that he hold a cele-
bration of it for her and the other women, and Christ obliged.^170 As with
Albertano of Brescia and theFior di virtu`,one might suspect a female reader-
ship. But, for all their adaption to lay and feminine sensibilities, theMedita-
tions were a clerical product. They had more in common with the
anchorhold than the palazzo.
One composition for devotional reading might conceivably be traced to a
- See E ́tienne Delaruelle, ‘‘Saint Franc ̧ois d’Assise et la pie ́te ́populaire,’’San Francesco nella ricerca
storica degli ultimi ottanta anni, 13 – 16 ottobre 1968 ,Convegni del Centro di studi sulla spiritualita`medievale 9
(Todi: Accademia Tudertina, 1971 ), 128 – 30. - E.g., see the translation of the Gospels of Mass in Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,ms
Palat. 4 , fols. 1 r– 50 r(mid- 1300 s). Translations of other books, such as the Psalter, are even later. Florence,
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale,msPalat. 2 , contains a vernacular Psalter that might date to the late 1300 s. - I counted four versions in the Riccardiana of Florence alone. The LatinMeditationsare edited
in Bonaventure,Opera Omnia(Paris: Vives, 1868 ), vol. 12. The vernacular version is edited inMistici del
duecento e del trecento,ed. Arrigo Levasti (Milan: Rizzoli, 1935 ). On this work’s impact on Italian art, see
Millard Meiss,Painting in Florence and Siena After the Black Death: The Arts, Religion, and Society in the Mid–
Fourteenth Century(New York: Harper & Row, 1973 ), 125 – 30 , esp. 128. - Meditazione 72 ,Mistici del duecento,ed. Levasti, 203 ; this motif of the women’s Passover also
appears in other meditations on the Passion, e.g., Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana,msGaddi
187 (earlyxivcent.), fols. 36 r– 37 r.