Suspect Saints and Holy Heretics by Janine Larmon Peterson;

Author:Janine Larmon Peterson;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 3)

Compagni described horizontal social networks based on common cause and self-interest as well as blood ties that aided in destabilizing the region due to the urban milieu, in comparison to a place like Languedoc in southern France.49

It was in this context that saint’s cults became important for healing the fractures in social networks through communal rituals. All Italian towns had their special patron saints connected to their past and usually a particular veneration to one of the more universal saints, such as the Virgin Mary or one of the apostles.50 Carrie E. Beneš persuasively argued that towns also promoted classical symbols to develop campanilismo, the localized civic pride.51 Contemporary saints’ cults joined these traditional devotions and foundation myths as markers of a town’s identity as forged in the recent past. For instance, Michelina of Pesaro (d. 1356) joined the Virgin Mary and Terence, the mythical first bishop of the town, as guardian of Pesaro by the late fourteenth century, based on a fresco dated to that period.52 The creation of a regional saint’s cult was a source to renew civic pride, since acts of communal veneration, such as feast day celebrations, came to represent the might of a community, often under a new ruler. A public exhibition of devotion could be a unifying force because, as Miri Rubin explained, such practices were “cemented by the promise of intercession and independence in moments of crisis, as well as through shared experiences in prayer, feasts, and administration.”53 Ritual acts were an outward expression of loyalty and bonded the participants, even if this feeling of communitas was fleeting.54

Public and ceremonial acts followed the consensus that someone was a saint. First, a religious institution had to erect a tomb or chapel for the saint. Thus the monks of Chiaravalle built one for Guglielma of Milan, the cathedral chapter of Ferrara for Armanno Pungilupo, the cathedral chapter of Foligno for Peter Crisci, the cathedral chapter of Cremona for Facio of Cremona, and the parish of S. Matteo of Cremona for Albert of Villa d’Ogna. The tomb served as an offering to the saint, expressing the community’s loyalty and support, and as a pilgrimage site and gathering place for the saint’s devotees. Celebrations such as feast days quickly followed, and the city government officially recognized them. Statutes of Foligno from 1340 and 1381 mention the feast of Peter Crisci and include the expenses paid by the commune for the festivities.55 Padua issued a statute suspending work on the feast day of Anthony Peregrinus, while André Vauchez argued that the vita of Facio of Cremona was composed originally as a sermon for his communal feast day.56 Processions, such as those that occurred in Parma for Albert of Villa d’Ogna, were another way to glorify the saint and display local pride. Probably one of the clearest connections between new cults, civic rituals, and political patronage is that of the cult of Margaret of Cortona. Cardinal Napoleone Orsini formally approved Margaret’s vita by her former confessor Giunta Bevignati, the

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