CommunalPiety and theMendicants 445
1297 , she made her will, giving as her largest monetary bequest £ 200 bon.
for distribution to Christ’s poor. In addition she provided 100 s. for Masses
and prayers for her soul. All her property in Verona she left to her niece,
Bonafiglia.^168 When the end came, Don Giacomo gave her the last rites and
buried her in the cemetery of San Tommaso del Mercato.^169 One would
have thought it an edifying story of a genuine return to orthodoxy and a
pious death.
The inquisitor did not think so. The priest of San Tommaso had buried a
penanced heretic without permission of the Holy Office; never mind that
she was his parishioner. We have no record of her posthumous condemna-
tion for relapse, but it had occurred before Giacomo’s arrest. At his interro-
gation, Fra Guido grilled Giacomo on his behavior. Yes, Don Giacomo
admitted that some people had said she was a heretic; yes, he knew that
Guido had interrogated her and her niece Bonafiglia at home concerning
possible relapse into heresy. Why did he give her the last rites and burial
without permission of the inquisition or the bishop? As far as he knew, Ro-
safiore had lived a blameless life after being penanced. Indeed, Rosafiore’s
good name was known throughout her parish. On Easter Sunday, 19 April,
in the church of San Domenico, when her posthumous condemnation had
been read by the inquisitor, a Sister of Penance from San Tommaso del
Mercato, Sor Agnese, was heard to mutter in disbelief that Rosafiore was ‘‘a
good woman, among the best in that contrada.’’^170 The inquisitor was im-
pressed neither by pubic opinion nor by the parish priest’s excuses. Don
Giacomo was excommunicated, suspended from office, required to post bail
of £ 200 bon., and given ten days to prepare a defense. Guido would eventu-
ally fine him £ 25 imp. for his act of compassion.^171
More humiliating for the rector was the order that he personally exhume
the body of his parishioner and turn her bones over to the inquisition.^172 On
Sunday, 3 May, in the presence of Fra Guido and the agents of Ottolino of
Mandello, after the Gospel at the principal Mass in San Tommaso del Mer-
cato, the order was read to exhume Rosafiore’s bones on the following Satur-
day, 9 May, for burning. They would go into the fire along with Giuliano
and Bompietro on 13 May. Although present, the parish’s pastor could not
even sing the Mass—his excommunication would not be removed until he
showed proper contrition four days later. Fra Guido’s order included a judg-
ment against Rosafiore’s niece Bonafiglia.^173 We have no documents from
- Her testament, found in Bologna, Archivio di Stato,msMemoriali 92 ( 1297 ): fol. 535 v, is tran-
scribed in Paolini,Eresia, 109 – 10 n. 86. - Don Giacomo described his ministries to Rosafiore inASOB,no. 15 , 1 : 37 – 39.
- Ibid., no. 122 , 1 : 149 , ‘‘Dicta Roxaflore fuerat bona mulier et de melioribus, que essent in contrata
illa.’’ - Giacomo’s process is found in ibid., nos. 15 , 103 , 806 , 564 , 565. On his case, see Paolini,Eresia,
40 – 45. - Part of the penalty provided by canon law for burying heretics:Liber Sextus 5. 2. 2.
173 .ASOB,no. 117 , 1 : 145 – 46.