MEDIEVAL SERMON STUDIES, Vol.

54, 2O1O, 38-5O

Margherita of Cortona: Women,

Preaching, and the Writing of
Hagiography
BEVERLY MAYNE KIENZLE
Harvard Divinity School, USA

This article examines Margherita of Cortona (1247-97), v^/ho took a penitent

habit in the late 1270s. In 1290 Margherita was granted permission to rebuild
the church of San Basilio near her cell and a secular priest became her con-
fessor. After her death in 1297, her former confessor, the Franciscan Giunta
Bevegnati, composed Margherita's Legenda, which provides an account of
her life, conversion and penitence, her conversations with Christ, and her
charitable works. In addition to the Legenda, there is also an altarpiece,
portraying Margherita and scenes from her life, and the seventeenth-century
watercolour paintings that reproduce the frescos which once decorated the
church of Santa Margherita, the former San Basilio. Following a short intro-
duction to Margherita's life, and a brief examination of preaching for women
in the Middle Ages and its prohibitions, the article examines how the biog-
rapher, Giunta Bevegnati, represents the relationship of Margherita to
preaching and sermons, in particular focusing on passages in Margherita's
Legenda, where her efficacious speech or performance has a clear impact
on an audience and her biographer does not use the term 'preach' for
her utterances. Finally, the extent to which Margherita's biographer uses
hagiography for homiletic purposes is discussed.

The Legenda of Margherita of Cortona (1247-97) reports her many conversations

with Jesus. In one of them, Jesus calls upon her to 'cry out peace among the people
of Cortona', for she has been made a voice for peace {clamatrix pads). Jesus asks
her to tell her Franciscan confessor, on the other hand, to 'preach peace publicly in
Cortona'.' Both Margherita and her confessor are charged with advocating peace

' lunctae Bevegnatis Legenda de vita et miraculis beatae Margaritae de Cortona, ed. by Fortunato Iozzelli,
Bibliotheca Franciscana Asctica Medii Aevi, 13 (Rome, 1997), 8. 13, p. 360, 1. 335: 'Clama pacem inter homi-
nes de Cortona'; p. 360, 11. 337-39: 'Die ergo confessori tuo quod publice pacem predicet in Cortona, et ex
parte mea omnes inuitet ad unanimem concordiam Cortonenses'. Alison More, University of Nijmegen, has
an English translation of the Legenda in progress. I am grateful to Alison More and Carolyn Muessig for
suggestions to the current article, and to Christopher Jarvinen for his generous support of my research.

International Medieval Sermon Studies Society 2010 DOI 10.1179/136606910X12798085080217

 MARGHERITA OF CORTONA 39

publicly in Cortona, but the biographer phrases Jesus's instructions carefully to

differentiate each mode of delivery according to gender roles.
This article will examine Margherita's Legenda with a view to how her biographer
represents the relationship of this lay penitent woman to preaching and sermons
her own utterances, the sermons she hears, and the advice on preaching that she
conveys from Jesus to her confessor, Giunta Bevegnati. After a short introduction
to Margherita's life and biography, I look briefly at the question of preaching for
women in the Middle Ages: the prohibitions and the evidence that women found
ways around them. I then focus on two episodes in Margherita's Legenda, where
she speaks to an audience and her biographer does not use the term 'preach' for her
utterances. Finally, I consider passages that deal with the art and responsibility of
preaching to examine to what extent Margherita's biographer uses hagiography for
homiletic purposes.

Life and sources

Margherita of Cortona arrived in that city around 1272 with her son. She had fallen
in love with a man whose superior social status made their marriage impossible, and
they lived together for nine years. When Margherita's companion died, her family
rejected her. She was taken in by two noble women in Cortona and experienced a
conversion. She took a penitent habit in 1275 and until 1288 she resided in a cell at
the oratory of San Francesco in Cortona. In 1288 Margherita's Franciscan confessor,
Giunta Bevegnati, was ordered to see her only once a week.^ The same year she
moved to a cell located above the town. In 1290 Margherita was granted permission
to rebuild the church of San Basilio near her cell. A secular priest became her con-
fessor as her Franciscan confessor left for Siena. After her death in 1297, Giunta
Bevegnati composed her Legenda which provides an account of Margherita's life,
conversion and penitence, her conversations with Christ, and her many works of
charity.^ Alongside the written narrative of Margherita's life, stand an altarpiece,

' Legenda 5. 9, p. 149, II. 119-33.

' On Margherita and her Legenda, see Alison More, 'Plntula Francisa, plntula mei: Margaret of Cortona as
a Model Penitent' in Festschrift in Honour of Ingrid Peterson, ed. by M. Meany (forthcoming); Alison More,
'According to Martha: Extra-Regular Women and the Gospel Life', Franciscana, 10 (2,008), 255-80; Mary
Harvey Doyno, 'A Particular Light of Understanding: Margaret of Cortona, the Franciscans, and a Cortonese
Cleric', in History in the Comic Mode, ed. by R. Fulton and B. Holsigner (New York, 2007), who attempts to
isolate the relationship between Margaret and Ser Baida; David Burr, The Spiritual Franciscans (University
Park, PA, 2002), pp. 32534; Mario Sensi, 'Margherita da Cortona nel contesto storico-sociale cortonense'.
Collectanea franciscana, 69 (1999), 22362 (on the complicated context of Margherita's move to San Basilio);
Bernhard Schlager, 'Foundresses of the Franciscan Life: Umiliana Cerchi and Margaret of Cortona', Viator, 29
{1998), 141-; Daniel Bornstein, 'The Uses of the Body: The Church and the Cult of Santa Margherita da
Cortona', Church History, 62 (1993), 163-77; Anna Benvenuti Papi, 'Cristomimesi al femminile', in 'In castro
poenitentiae': Santit e societ femminile nell'ltalia mdivale, Italia Sacra, 45 (Rome, 1990), pp. 141-68
(p. 141); Enrico Menesto and Roberto Rusconi, 'Margherita da Cortona, Peccatrice redenta e patrona citta-
dina', in Umhria sacra e civile (Turin, 1989), pp. 89-104. On Giunta Bevegnati's hagiographical portrayal of
Margaret of Cortona, see John W. Coakley, Women, Men and Spiritual Power: Female Saints and Their Male
Collaborators (New York, 2006), pp. 130-48. Other recent studies that include Margherita are: Antonella
degli'Innocenti, 'Mistica e agiografica', Aiessandra Gianni, 'Iconografia delle same mistiche nei secoli XII-XIV,
in // Liber di Angela da Foligno e la mistica dei secoli xiiixiv in rapporto alle nuove culture, Atti del
XLV Convegno storico internationale, Todi, 11i^ ottohre 1008, ed. by Enrico Menesto, Atti dei Convegni
del Centro italiano di studi sul basso medioevo Accademia Tudertina, Nuova serie, 22 (Spoleto, 2009),
PP- 355-83. 517-58-
40 BEVERLY MAYNE KIENZLE

portraying Margherita and several scenes from her life, and the seventeenth-century
watercolour paintings that reproduce the frescos which once decorated the church of
Santa Margherita, the former San Basilio."

Medieval women and preaching

Before exploring and appreciating Margherita's apostolate in Gortona, it is useful to
recall that medieval women were barred from preaching in its strictest sense: public
delivery of a sermon in a pulpit or church; scripture, canon law, and tradition were
brought together to attempt to silence women's voices. Unauthorized preaching
placed anyone, but especially a woman, in danger of being labeled a heretic' The
most acceptable role for a woman with regard to sermons was that of an engaged
listener. Attendance at sermons emerges as a prerequisite for holiness in the biogra-
phies of medieval women saints from Marie d'Oignies {1177-1213) forward, includ-
ing Glare of Assisi {1193-1253), Rose of Viterbo {1235-52), and others.^ Glare of
Assisi was not only an attentive listener, but she also recruited preachers for her
community.^
Nonetheless, women performed the Word of God in myriad ways. Women in reli-
gious communities, notably Hildegard of Bingen {1098-1179), Glare of Assisi, and the
beguine Douceline of Digne {c. 1215-74), proclaimed the word in the protective space
of chapter houses. Hildegard expounded on the gospels for her sisters at Rupertsberg.
Glare of Assisi instructed her nuns in chapter. The beguine Douceline of Digne
'spoke', 'talked', 'admonished', and even 'spoke in a great sermon' to her sisters,
immediately following a state of ecstasy. Examples abound from the later Middle
Ages and early modern period.*

On Margherita, the paintings and the church, see Joanna Cannon and Andr Vauchez, Margberita of Cortona
and the Lorenzetti: Sienese Art and tbe Cult of a Holy Woman in Medieval Tuscany (University Park, PA,
1999).
See the essays in Women Preachers and Prophets Through Two Millennia of Cbristianity, ed. by Beverly Mayne
Kienzle and Pamela J. Walker (Berkeley, Los Angeles, 1998). Many of the same attitudes applied to women's
teaching. See Carolyn A. Muessig, 'The Community of Discourse: Religious Authority and the Role of Holy
Women in the Later Middle Ages', in Women and Experience in Later Medieval Writing: Reading the Book of
Life, ed. by Anneke Mulder-Bakker and Liz McAvoy (New York, Z009), pp. 65-81.
See Beverly Mayne Kienzle, 'Sermons and Preaching', in Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: An Encyclo-
pedia, ed. by Margaret Scbaus (New York and London, 2006), pp. 73640 for an overview. See the Life of
Marie d'Oignies, trans, by Margot H. King (Toronto, 1989), c. 6S69, pp. 8384. Saint Clare of Assisi is said
to have known how to derive benefit for the soul from any sermon she heard. Legenda Latina Sanctae Clarae
Virginis Assisiensis, ed. by Govanni Boccali and trans, by Marino Bigaroni, Publicazioni della Biblioteca
Francescana, Chiesa Nuova, Assisi, 11 (Santa Maria degli Angeli, 2001), 24,'De studio libenter audiendi verbum
sanctae praedicationis', pp. 176, 178, 180. Rose of Viterbo reportedly frequented Franciscan sermons as a child
and listened devoutly and purposefully. Giuseppe Abate, S. Rosa da Viterbo, Terziaria Francescana (1233-
i2;i): fonti storicbe della vita e oro revisione critica (Rome, 1952), Vita II, c. 4, p. 127: 'In pupillari autem
aetate coepit haec Virgo cum devota matre sua ad ecclesiam pergere, praedicationes autem Fratrum Minorum
frequenter audire et verbum Dei cum intentione mentali devota percipere'.
This concern for preaching is related by the Legenda 24. 37, cited above in note 6, and also by the fifteenth-
century nun, Battista Alfani. See Lezlie S. Knox, Creating Clare of Assisi: Female Franciscan Identities in Later
Medieval Italy, The Medieval Franciscans, 5 (Leiden, 2008), pp. 176, 180-82.
Hildegard expounded on the gospels to her sisters at Rupertsberg. See Beverly Mayne Kienzle, Hildegard
of Bingen and Her Gospel Homilies: Speaking New Mysteries, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 12
 MARGHERITA OF GORTONA 41

Other women, including Rose of Viterbo, Clare of Rimini (c. 1266-C.1324-29), and
Clare of Montefalco (c. 1268-1308), preached in settings which were public or quasi
public as they encountered people in towns. Rose of Viterbo preached through the
streets of her city, confronted local heretics, and was forced into exile. Clare of
Rimini converted local people, including an heretical friar, with her effective words.
Clare of Montefalco earned a reputation as a verbal opponent of heretics of the
'spirit of freedom'.' Margherita of Cortona, who reportedly proclaimed that she was
contaminated by every vice except heresy, performed the word in remarkable ways
that we shall explore now.'

Preaching peace
In (at least) one of the visionary conversations Bevegnati records, Jesus assigns the
task of advocating peace to both Margherita and her confessor. Jesus calls upon her
to 'cry out peace among the people of Cortona', for she has been made a voice for
peace {clamatrix pacts). On the other hand, Jesus asks her to tell the confessor to
'preach peace publicly in Cortona'." She defers to her confessor out of fear of pre-
sumption, and Jesus urges her to relay the pressing call to Fra Giunta.'^ Shortly
thereafter, in the same conversation, Jesus's language for Margherita's role takes a
step further towards preaching. He instructs her to 'announce the words of peace
inviting the people of Cortona to peace'.'' 'Announce', Latin nuncio or denuncio,
was a term often used to describe a woman's discourse when it might appear like a
sermon. The most notable case is Mary Magdalene, whom the Waldensians hailed

^ Continued
(Turnhout, 2009), pp. 64-68. Clare instructed her sisters in chapter regularly, as recounted in the Legenda
Latina Sanctae Clarae Virginis Assisiensis, 23, 'De cotidiana informatione sororum', pp. 174, 176. Douceline
'spoke', 'talked', 'admonished' (10. 27) and even 'spoke in a great sermon' (10. 22), directly following a state
of ecstasy. La Vie de Sainte Douceline, fondatrice des bguines de Marseille, compose au treizime sicle
en langue provenale, ed. by J.-H. Albans (Marseille, 1879), 3.1-3, pp. 20, 22; 9. 22, p. 84; 9. 26, p. 86; 9. 34,
pp. 90, 92. See Bert Roest, 'Female Preaching in the Late Medieval Franciscan Tradition', Franciscan Studies,
62 (2004), 11954, " ^ number of later Franciscan women and preaching.
' See Beverly Mayne Kienzle and Travis Allen Stevens, 'Preaching, Heresy, and the Writing of Female Hagiog-
raphy', presented at the Society for Italian Studies, Venice, 16 April, 2010. A longer version is being prepared
for publication. On Rose of Viterbo, see Vita II, 10, pp. 13435; ^^'^ Darleen Pryds, 'Proclaiming Sanctity
through Proscribed Acts: The Case of Rose of Viterbo', in Women Preachers and Prophets, ed. by Kienzle and
Walker, pp. 159-72. Clare of Montefalco's Legenda is cited from Livario liger, De secta Spiritus lihertatis in
Vmbria saec. XIV: Disquisitio et documenta (Rome, 1943), pp. 91-102, Legenda, p. 96, 11. 6-9: 'Mane autem
facto idem fratres ad monasterium redierunt et heresyarcha predicto errores huiusmodi assserente, Clara ei
audacius slito respondebat et veritatem catholicam cum quodam mximo fervore Spiritus defendebat.' Clare
repeatedly warns her nuns against heresy. See Oiiger, Legenda, pp. 100, 11. 2227; 102, II. 36, 11. On Clare
of Montefalco, see notably Romana Guarnieri, 'La "vita" di Chiara da Montefalco e la piet brabantina
del duecento. Prime indagini su un' ipotesa di lavoro', in Donne e chiesa tra mistica e istituzioni {secoli XIU
XV), Storia e letteratura: raccolta di studi e testi, 218 (Rome, 2004), pp. 63114; David Burr, The Spiritual
Franciscans (University Park, PA, 2001), pp. 31524.
' l.egenda 4. 13, p. 229: 'Et sicut superius dictum est, preterquam de heresi, cunctis maculatam se uitiis deplora-
bat.' In Ixgenda 6. 15, p. 301, II. 38689, she prays for unbelievers and heretics.
" Legenda 8. 13, p. 360, 1. 335; p. 360, 11. 33739. See note i above.
'^ Legenda 8. 13, p. 360, 11. 34047.
'^ I^egenda 8. 13, p. 361, 1. 356: 'Denuncia uerba pacis, ad pacem Cortonenses inuitans ...'.
42 BEVERLY MAYNE KIENZLE

as a preacher, and the Dominican, Moneta of Gremona, and others described as

announcer.'"* Jesus boosts Margherita's authority to speak even more boldly when
he calls her a trumpet {tuba) three times a common image for preachers that is
rooted in scripture {Isaiah 58. i, et cetera). Jesus also refers to her as a voice 'crying
out' in the wilderness echoing the well-known description of John the Baptist
as vox clamantis in deserto {Isaiah 40. 3, Mark i. 3, and so forth), another phrase
with prophetic roots.'' The biographer's account grounds Margherita's speech on
prophetic authority as she 'announces' peace and repeatedly receives the instruction
to 'cry out'.
In another section of the Legenda, following Margherita's performance of the pas-
sion, Ghrist calls upon Margherita to teach his passion in the context of salvation
history.'* Giunta relates these instructions with the verb clamare, the same one he
uses for Ghrist's directives to cry out peace in Gortona. In fact, Ghrist's discourse even
uses the adverb 'publicly' twice for the speech he enjoins on Margherita.'^'' Indeed,
this sort of salvific historical language appears both in Hildegard of Bingen's autho-
rizing visions and her charge to school masters, whom she sees as neglectful of this
task. Relating any one event to the whole of salvation history ultimately finds its
basis in Augustine's theology of history.'* Bevegnati thus places Margherita in a line
of traditional exegetical teaching on the theology of history, which bolsters her
authority as a visionary woman, but he observes careful, lexical boundaries to keep
his description of Margherita's speech in line with the accepted norms for women.

Preaching passion
Margherita's utterances push the boundaries on women's speech as she apparently
outperformed her confessor while she was in his congregation. On one occasion,
Margherita enacted the passion narrative in the church of San Francesco in Gortona.
She was contemplating a crucifix when Jesus invited her to spiritual combat.'' Mar-
gherita affirmed her readiness and described the event to Bevegnati.^ After a further
conversation with Jesus that fortified her resistance to the temptation of aromatic

' See Beverly Mayne Kienzle, 'The Prostitute-Preacher: Patterns of Polemic against Medieval Waldensian Women
Preachers', in Women Preachers and Prophets, ed. by Kienzle and Walker, pp. 99-113.
'' Legenda 8. 13, p. 361, 11. 359-o {in deserto); 11. 360, 362-63, 370 (tuba).
'' Coakley, Women, Men and Spiritual Power, pp. 139, 290, note 56, rightly observes, 'These words sound like
a charge to speak in public', but he does not pursue this in detail.
'^ Legenda 5. 13, pp. 25457, II. 392418, 45354. At Legenda 4. 13, pp. 22830, 11. 33637, Christ speaks more
directly, using the adverb 'publicly' twice for her speech: 'Filia mea, publice dicas et publice clama quod tu
es electa mea et uera filia mea.' In Legenda 4.13, p. 230, 11. 371-79, as elsewhere, Margherita expresses her
humility and hesitation to take on the charge.
'* Kienzle, Hildegard of Bingen and Her Gospel Homilies, pp. 155-62, on the impact of Augustine's theology of
history on Hildegard.
' Legenda, 5.1, p. 241, II. 3-4. On the role of images in Margaret's devotion, see Cannon and Vauchez, Mar-
gherita of Cortona and tbe Lorenzetti; figures 3, 5, and 6 show a crucifix believed to be one that Margaret
often contemplated. I am grateful to Carolyn Muessig's article, 'Performance of the Passion: The Enactment of
Devotion in the Later Middle Ages', in Visualizing Medieval Performance: Perspectives, Histories, Contexts,
ed. by Elina Gertsman (Aldershot, 2008), pp. 125?42. On Giunta Bevegnati's hagiographical portrayal of
Margaret of Cortona see Coakley, Women, Men and Spiritual Power, pp. 130-48.
^ Legenda, 5. i, p. 241, 11. 1221.
 MARGHERITA OF GORTONA 43

delicious food,^' Margherita experienced a vision on the evening of Holy Thursday.

Jesus instructed her to go to the Franciscan church at the first hour (6 am) of the next
morning. Good Friday, and experience the pain of his suffering as she never had
before." She explained, as her confessor relates it, that the Lord revealed to her that
on that day she would be crucified 'mentally' on the cross.^^ At the third hour after
mass, she began to envision the betrayal of Christ. She envisioned the trial, the arrest,
the disciples' flight and Peter's denial, the flagellation and subsequent events of the
passion.^''
Then, after Margherita heard a series of words from scripture ending with, 'Take
him and crucify him', she lost her voice and all present thought she was dead.^' She
was having a vision of Mary, Mary Magdalene, and the other women moving through
the crowds.^* Margherita then began to call out the remaining events of the passion.
Bevegnati had narrated Margherita's first passion vision in the third person, but he
heightens the intensity briefly and switches to take Margherita's voice in the first
person for most of this series.^''
The biographer then steps back to abbreviate the account but also to remark that
news of Margherita's performance spread. Men and women left work, and even left
children in their cribs and the sick at home in order to view the spectacle. They filled
the Franciscan church with weeping and laments.^^ At the ninth hour, the moment of
Christ's death, Margherita lost external sight and hearing, so that she did not hear
the weeping of people around her or recognize the faces or voices of the women who
assisted her. Moreover, her head hung down on her chest and she appeared dead.^^
The friars and other people, who had rushed to witness the drama, stood around her
and wept abundantly.'" She remained in a quasi state of death from the ninth hour
until vespers (6 pm).'' When evening fell, Margherita looked around and discovered
that she had an audience.'^ She panicked. Christ calmed Margherita's panic and

" Legenda, 5. 2, p. 242, 11. 35-42.

" Legenda, 5. 3, p. 242, II. 49-52.
' ' agenda, 5. 3, p. 243, II. 54-55: '[...] sibi fuerat reuelatum a Domino debehat ad crucem die ilia mentaliter
crucifigi'.
*'' agenda, 5. 3, p. 243, 11. 55-66. These lengthy passages will not be cited in full. A few that highlight key points
are given below.
' ' Legenda, 5. 3, p. 243, 11. 67-70.
*' Legenda, 5. 3, p. 243, 11. 70-73.
''' agenda, 5. 3, p. 244, 11. 74-84.
" Legenda, 5. 3, p. 244, 11. 86-90: 'Hoc tam nouum et compassione plenum spectaculum ita Cortonenses omnes
commouit, quod relictis officiis suis et artibus, homines et mulieres, infantibus et languidis et in cunis et lectu-
lis decubantibus, pluries uicibus ilia die Oratorium nostri loci ad honorem beati Francisci sui et nostri patris
constructum, in fletu et plantu repleuerunt.'
*' t^egenda, 5. 3, p. 245: 11. 102-08: 'Nimirum ubi morientis Domini et saluatoris hora, scilicet nona, peruenit, et
quod, inclinato capite sacer ille Spiritus emictitur; suum adeo capud reclinauit obliquatum in pectore, ut omnes
eam mortuam crederemus, amissis pariter omnium sensuum motibus atque sensu.'
^ Legenda, 5. 3, p. 244. 11. 8690: 'Sic enim permansit coram fratribus nostris et omnibus aliis, qui astabant non
sine affluentia lacrimarum, ab hora illius diei nona usque ad uesperam.'
'' Legenda, 5. 3, p. 245, II. 107-08.
' ' Legenda, 5. 3, p. 245, II.109-15: 'Vespere autem facto, quasi de morte resurgens, cum noua mentis letitia faciem
sursum erexit [...] Set quia uersa retrorsum in oratorio uidit multitudinem personarum, extrema gaudii occu-
pauit timor amarus, et cepit uehementer affligi, quia Deus ilium Passionis dolorem in conspectu concesserat
populorum, et non in celia.'
44 BEVERLY MAYNE KIENZLE

assured her that her performance had a salvific effect on sinners, 'I have made you a
mirror for sinners howsoever obstinate, that through you they may perceive how
freely I bestow my mercy on them so that they may be saved.'^^
The popular medieval image of the mirror designates here the light of Jesus, who
enlightens the souls of sinners; Glare of Assisi had employed the image this way
and Bonaventure would as well.'"' God's words to Margherita of Gortona affirm
that Margherita was such a mirror, a speculum peccatorum. Her performance of the
passion illuminated sinners, just as a good sermon would.''
Moreover, on Easter morning, Margherita interrupted the sermon, crying out for
the crucified Lord. Like Mary Magdalene, to whom Giunta compares Margherita
here and elsewhere, Margherita lost sight of Ghrist. While Giunta was preaching,
Margherita began to cry out, and she again brought the congregation to tears.^*
Giunta became concerned that his preaching was being impeded and he responded
loudly to Margherita that she would see the saviour very soon. She sat down again
among the congregants.'^ Later in the day a vision of Ghrist brought her calm.'^
These two instances of Margherita's weeping and bringing the congregation to
tears indicate that her performance functioned as a good sermon would. In fact, in
both instances, her performance upstaged the preacher.'' In hagiography of penitent

" Legenda, 5. 3, p. 245, 11. ii-19: 'De omnibus, que circa te et in te hodie acta sunt, non timeas, nec dubites,
quia te feci speculum peccatorum quantumcumque obstinatorum, ut agnoscant per te quam libenter impertior
eis meam misericordiam, ut saluentur'.
'' Francis and Clare: The Complete Works, trans, and intro. by Regis J. Armstrong and Ignatius C. Brady, Clas-
sics of Western Spirituality (New York, 1982), pp. 20405, Letter 4, 1429; Testament, pp. 22728. In Letter 4
to Agnes of Prague, Clare describes Christ as the 'mirror without blemish' (Wisdom 7. 26). Clare advises Agnes
to contemplate herself in the mirror and to see in the mirror the reflection of Christ's poverty, humility, and
charity. In Clare's Testament, she calls her sisters to be a mirror for others. Bonaventure uses the mirror image
in The Soul's journey into God. See Francis and Clare, p. 204; Bernard McGinn, The Presence of God: A His-
tory of Western Christian Mysticism, 4 vols. The Flowering of Mysticism: Men and Women in the New
Mysticism 12.00-13^0 (New York, 1998), ill, 68-69, i' See also Jacques Dalarun, 'Dieu changea de sexe pour
ainsi dire': La religion faite femme X/e-X/Ve sicle (Paris, 2008), p. 321, on the image in Clare of Assisi's
letters and Jacopone da Todi.
^^ On the importance of the efficaciousness of preaching, see Beverly Mayne Kienzle, 'Medieval Sermons
and Their Performance: Theory and Record', in Preacher, Sermon and Audience in the Middle Ages, ed. by
Carolyn A. Muessig (Leiden, 2002), pp. 89-124 (94-103). Maiju Lehmijoki-Gardner, Worldly Saints: Social
Interaction of Dominican Penitent Women in Italy, izoo-ioo (Helsinki, 1999), observes (p. 119) that gener-
ally Dominican accounts of penitent women's speech and actions do not emphasize the impact that the woman
had on her listeners.
^^ Legenda, 5. 6, p. 246, 11. 14349: 'Domenica uero sequenti, dum in loco fratrum minorum celebrarentur mis-
sarum sollempnia et ego confessor eius in pulpito populo praedicarem, pre timor et uerecundia, reuerens
Margarita uix doloris impetum per breuissimam morulam continens, ut extra se posita et mente alienata
coram omnibus clamare cepit, si sciebam Dominum crucifixum et ubi magistrum eius posueram. Ad cuius
irremediabilem fletum omnes astantes, uiri et mulieres, cum deuoto feruore flere ceperunt.'
^^ Legenda, 5. 6, p. 246, II. i^i>-$y. 'Ego autem, cui tam auide loquebatur, tum ad ingerendam cordi eius fiduciam
de reinueniendo magistrum, tum ne praedicatio uerbi Dei impedimentum reciperet, alta voce respondi quod
adeo erat curialis et largus saluator, quem sic ardenter querebat, ut diu non posset suam differre seu celare
presentiam. Que cum audiuit quod eidem celeriter appareret, semiuiua coram omni plebe resedit.'
^* Legenda, 5.7, p. 247, 11. 16469.
^^ Doyno, 'A Particular Light of Understanding: Margaret of Cortona', p. 73, observes that Margherita stole
'the limelight', but sees this as one among other signs of tension between Margherita and Bevegnati and the
Franciscans.
 MARGHERITA OF CORTONA 45

women it is usual for women to weep during sermons. What is unusual is for the
weeping to be accompanied by other elements of the performance and to have an
effect on other listeners.'' Margherita's performance of the passion illuminated sin-
ners and moved them to weep, as did her tearful search for Jesus, which extended
through Easter morning. Both performances took place at the oratory of San
Francesco, and in both, she seems to have outdone the preacher.
Furthermore, Margherita's performances go beyond the limits on theatricality that
homiletic manuals set for preachers.'*' In that sense, one may suggest that Margherita
served as the mouthpiece for her confessor's emotion over the passion. Fra Giunta,
who was authorized to preach, was discouraged by convention from excessive dem-
onstration of emotion; Margherita, who could not be officially authorized to preach,
was allowed to express intense sorrow in public. More often, a medieval holy woman
had her expression, chiefly her visions, articulated through preachers as her mouth-
piece, as Birgitta of Sweden did in situ predicationis with her clerical supporters,
or as Hildegard of Bingen and Elisabeth of Schnau did through letters aimed at
preachers in the twelfth century.''^
One may also argue that the expression of Fra Giunta and Margherita, nearly
simultaneous but different in genre and according to gender, bears similarities to the
roles of the Franciscan Hugh of Digne and his sister Douceline. Sermons frequently
brought about Douceline's ecstasies. Douceline dedicated her virginity to Christ in
the midst of a sermon given by her brother Hugh. Both performances produced
conversions.'*' A sort of team-ministry between Hugh and Douceline apparently
developed as he 'preached' and she 'drew' people to Christ. This fascinating dimen-
sion of the interaction between a preacher and a holy woman, depicted from the
preacher's perspective, of course, deserves further exploration but would exceed the
limits of this present study.'''*

Hagiography and preaching manuals

I turn now to what Jesus asked Margherita to convey to the friars about their preach-
ing. Scholars have noted that the biographers of holy women used hagiography to

^ See note 35 above. M. L. Gardner, Worldly Saints, p. 119.

''' Kienzle, 'Medieval Sermons and Their Performance', pp. 98103.
'* See Claire L. Sahlin, 'Preaching and Prophesying: The Public Proclamation of Birgitta of Sweden's Revelations',
in Performance and Transformation: New Approaches to Late Medieval Spirituality, ed. by Mary A. Suydam
and Joanna E. Zeigler (New York, 1999), pp. 6^96. Similarly, Hildegard of Bingen composed a visionary
treatise intended expressly for public preaching, and Elisabeth of Schnau both gave her abbot advice
on preaching and had her anti-Cathar visions preached. See Kienzle, Hildegard of Bingen and Her Gospel
Homilies, pp. 256-60; Elisabeth of Schnau, The Complete Works, trans, by Anne L. Clark, Classics of
Western Spirituality (New York, Mahwah, New Jersey, 2000), pp. 137-48; and Anne L., Clark, 'Repression or
Collaboration? The Case of Elisabeth and Ekbert of Schnau', in Christendom and Its Discontents: Exclusion,
Persecution, and Rebellion, 10001^00, ed. by Scott L. Waugh and Peter D. Diehl (Cambridge, 1996),
pp. 151-^7.
^' La Vie de Sainte Douceline, 2. 10, p.18; see also passages cited in note 8 above.
'*'* Coakley, Women, Men and Spiritual Power, p. 143, notes that Giunta shows 'Margherita's charismatic powers
or influence specifically in coordination with his own ministry, either to supplement or inform in particular
cases, especially those involving the hearing of confessions and the mending of quarrels'. My analysis does
not contradict but extends that observation. Doyno's interpretation, 'A Particular Light of Understanding:
Margaret of Cortona', p. 73, would seem to differ.
46 BEVERLY MAYNE KIENZLE

compliment themselves and applaud their own effectiveness as preachers and spiri-
tual directors."*' In addition, friars and other preachers included female saints' lives
in their sermons or spread the saints' cults through their preaching. Ubertino da
Gasale preached from the Legenda of Margherita of Gortona.'''' Numerous sermons
were preached on Glare of Assisi and Elisabeth of Hungary.'''' Ardingo, bishop of
Elorence, preached on Umiliana dei Gerchi shortly after her death in 1246.''* Numer-
ous friars preached about Gatherine of Siena.'" Preachers advocated for female sanc-
tity, advanced political agenda, and enhanced their own importance because of their
association with saintly women.
Furthermore, scholars have noted the pro-Franciscan propaganda that Giunta
voiced through the visions and words of Margherita. The secular clergy had taken
over the pastoral care of Margherita and her community after her move to the upper
town {1288) and the restoration of San Basilio {1290), where her body was to lie.
The Franciscans were competing for their share of her sanctity and fame, and for
the donations that supported her upkeep. Giunta set about writing her vita with a
message that reasserted Franciscan influence.'"
Yet, more can be said about how Margherita's Legenda, the pro-Franciscan pas-
sages and others, expound on the office of preaching. This raises a few interrelated
questions. Did mendicant authors employ hagiography as another genre for convey-
ing the view of preaching that they expounded in rules, manuals, and arts of preach-
ing? If so, does this view of preaching serve as a conceptual framework for their
presentation of the speech and performance of female saints? Does such a conceptual
framework also reflect the broad exegetical discourse on preaching that the friars
inherited from patristic and monastic authors? A brief overview of the many pas-
sages concerning preaching in the Legenda of Margherita will trace the broad lines
of the view of preaching that is set forth there and establish a beginning for this line
of inquiry.
The Legenda affirms the need for preaching, a common theme of the artes praedi-
candi: Jesus asserts that the sinful world needs preaching to fight the army of demons
which assails it.'' The pro-Franciscan tenor of the Legenda is evident when Jesus tells
Margherita that he will give her the friars as his apostles; they will preach just as the

'^ Coakley, Women, Men and Spiritual Power, deals not only with Margherita and Giunta but with several
other women and their confessors. Two articles cited above, note 3, explore how biographers promoted not
only their own importance but that of the order and a particular church. Schlager, 'Foundresses', demonstrates
how Vito of Cortona advanced the cult of Umiliana dei Cerchi to promote the status of Santa Croce. Bornstein,
'The Uses of the Body', explores how Giunta used the Legenda to advance the aims of the Franciscan order
and its claims to Margherita's cult, in competition with the secular clergy.
'*' Dalarun, Dieu changea de sexe, p. 224. Giunta, in the Testimony, says Ubertino preached from the Legenda,
appendix 9-10, p. 477. See also Muessig, 'The Community of Discourse' (forthcoming), on Ubertino and holy
women.
'^ Alison More, 'Gracious Women Finding Glory: Clare of Assisi and Elizabeth of Hungary in Franciscan
Sermons', in Franciscan Preaching, ed. by Timothy Johnson (Leiden, forthcoming).
'*' Benvenuti Papi, 'Una santa vedova', in 'In castro poenitentiae', pp. 59-98 (p. 78).
^^ Carolyn A. Muessig, 'Catherine of Siena in Late Medieval Sermons', in A Companion to Catherine of Siena,
ed. by Carolyn A. Muessig, George Ferzoco, and Beverly Mayne Kienzle (Leiden, forthcoming).
' Bornstein, 'The Uses of the Body', p. 168. Coakley, Women, Men and Spiritual Power, pp. 133-34.
'' Legenda, 7. 23, p. 335, II. 484-97, at 495-97.
 MARGHERITA OF GORTONA 47

apostles preached the gospel to the gentiles.'^ Moreover, Jesus tells the friars that they
have the 'nets of the gospel' with greater authority than all other preachers." Finally,
Jesus praises Francis, called his 'beloved' like John the Evangelist; he affirms that
he has given greater grace to the Franciscans than to any other religious order, and
calls them his order {ordo meus). In this context, Jesus directs Margherita to tell the
Franciscans that he has established them as fishers of souls, and that they must not
cease extending the net of their sermons into the sea of the world.''*
The imagery of fishermen and nets appears elsewhere in the Legenda, when Mar-
gherita instructs Giunta to tell the friars that Jesus says that by authority of the
gospel, they who preach in the world and the church are 'nets of preaching' and a
'shield for souls'." The net image reflects the traditional exegesis of the story of the
miraculous catch (Luke 5. i - i i ) and specifically of Luke 5. 2; Bede asserts that the
nets are the intricate words of preachers.'* The shield is, of course, a biblical image,
probably most echoed from the Psalms and from Ephesians 6.16, which urges putting
on various pieces of armour, including the shield of faith, in order to combat evil and
achieve perfection in faith.'^ Not only the shield, but other elements from this pas-
sage, such as the footwear for spreading the gospel of peace, are key to the mission
of preaching elaborated in the Legenda.
Jesus further instructs Margherita to communicate that he wants the friars to
preach the crusade to recover the Holy Land, where he was born and died. If they do
that, he says, many will return to the faith and he will be honoured by the faithful.'*
As Anna Benvenuti Papi observes, Margherita herself internalized the crusade effort
in her experience of the passion.'^
The counsel on what to preach goes hand in hand with advice on how to preach:
The brothers should preach Jesus's word with fervour of spirit, and promise forgive-
ness to the penitent and eternal punishment to the non repentant.*" Such advice
appears throughout the Legenda, as Jesus advises Margherita on the style and manner
of preaching. He directs his advice to the Franciscans in general, to an unnamed friar
and to Giunta in particular. The friars ought to temper their threatening words with

'^ Legenda, 4. 10, p. 224, 11. 216-18.

" legenda, 7. 23, p. 335, 11. 484-97, at 487-89: 'Die iterum dictis fratribus minoribus quod ipsi habent a me retia
sancti euangelii in maiori auctoritate quam omnes, qui predicant in seculo et sancta ecclesia uerbum meum.'
" Legenda, 9. 23, p. 385, I. 351. Legenda, 9. 48, pp. 404, 11. 918-34 at 918-22; 932-34.
^^ Legenda, 6. 19, pp. 30910, 11. 619-21: 'Scias quod aduersarii mei multiplicati sunt ad temptandum populos et
fratres minores, quibus dedi retia predicationis mee, scutum sunt animarum.'
'* Beda Venerabilis, n Lucae evangelium expositio, ed. by David Hurst, CCSL 120 (Turnhout, i960), liher 2,
c. 5, 11. 113-16.
' ' Ephesians 6.16. The spiritual equipment includes girding the loins in truth, the hreast plate of righteousness,
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. See also 2 Kings 22. 3; 2 Kings 22. 31; Psalm 5. 13; Psalm
34. 2; Psalm 45. 10; Psalm 75. 4; Psalm 90. 5; Judith 9. 9.
'* Legenda, 9. 48, pp. 404, II. 918-34 at 924-30: 'Vnde die eis, ex parte mea, quos animarum posui piscatores, ut
non cessent predicationum extendere sua retia in mare huius seculi fluctuosi. Predicationem insuper crucis
uellem quod facerent, ut passagium fieret genrale pro illius snete terre recuperatione desiderata, in qua nasci
et mori et dignatus sum: multi namque, si hoc fieret, ad fidem meam redihunt et ibi a fidelibus honorabor.'
" Benvenuti Papi, 'Cristomimesi al femminile', 'In castro poenitentiae', pp. 145-59.
Legenda, 9. 48, pp. 404,11. 91834 at 930-32: 'Predicent etiam uerbum meum cum feruore Spiritus, et promittant
penitentibus mee misericordie largitatem, et impenitentibus comminentur eternam punitionem.' The numerous
and often lengthy passages where advice is extended to the friars will not be quoted in full.
48 BEVERLY MAYNE KIENZLE

the message of Christ's generous mercy so that the people will not rush into despair
over their sins.^' They should preach with fervour and constancy, and explain his
word as if opening the ears of the deaf with their teaching and giving light to the
blind by their example.^^ The unnamed friar should demonstrate fervent charity and
inner peace in his preaching; he should preach carefully, uprightly, fervently, while
casting widely the nets of his sermons.*^
Christ conveyed personal counsel through Margherita to Giunta when he was sent
to Siena: she was instructed to write to him and advise that, when he preached to the
people, he should show himself as human and flexible, and he should mix warnings
against sins with words that express the great forgiveness that Christ offers to sin-
ners. "* Furthermore, Giunta should destroy the flattery of preachers in Siena, who try
to please their audiences in order to gain fame and who do not express the truth.*'
The gospels and Pauline letters constitute the foundational texts for preaching, as
Jesus asserts to Margherita more than once. He advises her that preachers should not
'preach about birds, but about the words of his gospel and the letters of his chosen
one, blessed Paul'.^* Jesus delivers a very similar message on other occasions, once
urging Margherita to tell her confessor to make use of the special grace he has
received and to preach the words of the gospel and Paul's epistles fervently to the
people.*^ Again he tells the holy woman to advise her confessor to preach with con-
stancy of mind and sweetness of word on the epistles of Paul and the gospels in such
a way that he draws the hearts of listeners to love for the preacher.^* In the first
instance, Jesus singles out the clerical vice of simony.*' In the second, Jesus bemoans
general vice in the world, emphasizing the duty of each Christian to guard against
it and the preacher's obligation to admonish against vice and to beseech Christ to
enlighten his heart.'' Jesus also comments that few preachers among-her confessor's
contemporaries set forth the truth, as they should.^'
The notion that sins cause Christ offence appears more than once in Margherita's
conversations with Jesus. He urges the friars to combat vices, which offend him per-
sonally, and to hold his death and his suffering in their hearts as they preach. From
the memory of his death they will find material for deterring others from sin and

**' Legenda, 9. 61, p. 414, 11. 121113: 'Quibus cum predicauerint uerbum meum, uerbis comminatoriis misceant
scripturarum mee misericordie largitatem, ne de suis peccatis desperatione me incurrant.'
*' Legenda, 8. 22, p. 368, II. 568-70: 'Circa insuper predicationes quas faciunt, constantiam haheant et feruorem,
nee amore, uel fauore, an metu, a ueritatis tramite obliquentur'. Legenda, 5.21, p. 267, II. 75153: 'Dicas fratri-
bus quod feruenter predicent uerbum meum et aperiant doctrina sua surdorum aures et suis exemplis illuminent
cecos.'
'^ Legenda, 9. 12, p. 378, II. 145-46, 152-53.
''' Legenda, S. 8, p. 353, II. 119-23.
*' Legenda, 8. 9, pp. 353-54, 11.144-52.
'''' Legenda, 7. 23, p. 335, II. 484-97, at 48485: 'non faciant sermonem de auibus, set de uerbis euangelii et
epistolarum beati Pauli electi mei'.
*' Legenda, S. 18, p. 365, II. 467-74
"' Legenda, 9. 13, p. 379, II. 186-96.
'^ Legenda, 8. 18, p. 365, 11. 471: 'Scias etiam, filia, quod symonia in mundo creuit in tantum, quod patres filios
fieri faciunt sacerdotes, propter auiditatem mundialium rerum.'
' Legenda, 9. 13, p. 379, 11. 189-91: 'Cumque arguit de uitiis crimonosis, argut in communi, quia tam uniuer-
saliter mundus infectus est uitiis, quod cum ueritate potest generaliter mundum redarguere.'
^' Legenda, 9. 13, pp. 37980, II. 201-04: 'Vnde sicut diligit benedictionem meam, in predicationibus suis ardenter
extrahat ueritatem, quia paucos hodie predicantes inuenio, qui eam profrant sicut debent.'
 MARGHERITA OF GORTONA 49

persuading them to seek blessedness.''^ At another point, Jesus tells Margherita that
he will enlighten preachers on how to combat the insults he suffers daily from various
groups in society, namely the married as well as the virgins and unmarried, who are
prone to the vices of pride, vainglory, and envy. Margherita must tell her preacher/
confessor that he should preach the gospel and correct vices, preach with authority,
and with an ardent heart {cum auctoritate et ardore cordis).''^ Correcting vices is a
vital part of the preacher's charge, as set forth generally in the artes praedicandi and
recommended according to categories for ad status preaching. Moreover, the need for
the friars to correct vices is enunciated specifically in the Regula bullata. The later
rule (1223) specified that the friars preach 'vice and virtue, punishment and glory'.''''
Moreover, St Bonaventure defended the friars' need to preach, writing: 'We see now
that [...] towns are being built where forests have been cut down. We see also that
the occurrences of sins are increasing and more complicated instances emerge daily
[...]V'
Finally, Bevegnati and the Franciscans overall are instructed not to fear the words
of detractors.''^ This encouragement to persevere amidst adversity is a recurrent
theme. Jesus instructs Margherita to speak to warn the friars not to pull back from
proclaiming the truth. Their reward will be greater if people spurn their preaching
and refuse to listen to

Conclusion
In summary, Margherita's hagiographer and confessor, Fra Giunta Bevegnati, recor-
ded many of her conversations with Christ where Jesus discussed preaching with
the holy woman. The advice that Jesus has Margherita deliver to preachers reflects
the message of the artes praedicandi and of the Regula bullata. The voice of Jesus in
the Legenda reveals a clear preference for the Franciscans, and the personalization of
piety also reflects a Franciscan influence: the sins of humanity contribute directly to
Jesus's suffering.
Margherita of Cortona participated in preaching as listener as well as performer.
Jesus assigned the task of advocating peace to both Margherita and her confessor,
but with different terminology, chosen carefully according to gender. Nonetheless,
the result for both was success, perhaps more for Margherita than for Giunta. Mar-
gherita, moved by Giunta's sermon, staged a passion drama that brought worshippers
to tears and held them spellbound for hours. Her tears and performance of the

' ' Legenda, 7. 23, p. 335, II. 489-97.

" Legenda, 6. 24, p. 314, 11. 754-64.
^'' Francis and Clare, p. 143. Iozelli, Introduzione, Legenda, p. 140, cites instances where Bevegnati's language
echoes the mandate of the Regula bullata on preaching.
^^ .S. Bonaventurae Opera omnia, ed. by PP. Collegii a S. Bonaventura (Ad Claras Aquas), 10 vols (Florence,
1882-1902), VIII (1898), Quare Fratres minores praedicent et confessiones audiant, pp. 374-81, at p. 378: 'Vide-
mus, nunc messes plebium multiplicari, et silvis succisis, villas aedificari. Videmus, et adinventiones peccatorum
succrescere et perplexiores casus quotidie emerger; item, ex consuetudine malos incorrigibiliores magis fieri
duriores in peccato [...]'.
'"' Legenda, 6. 24, p. 314, 11. 760-63: 'Die ergo quod predicet euangelium meum et uitia corrigat, predicet cum
auctoritate et ardore cordis nee timeat infamantium uerba, quia faciam adhuc eius predicationes agnosci'.
" Legenda, 9. 61, p. 414, II. 1198-1208.
5O BEVERLY MAYNE KIENZLE

passion respond to the memory of Jesus's death on the cross just as the sermons of
her confessor and other Franciscans are advised to do. Furthermore, Jesus's language
for Margherita's role edges toward the vocabulary of preaching as he invokes biblical
and prophetic imagery. Margherita's passion performance casts her at once as the
perfect audience, persuaded by her confessor's efficacious preaching, and the perfect
preacher, able to move her audience (and Ciunta's audience) to tears. She demon-
strates the fervour that Christ urges upon the preaching friars through his conversa-
tions with her, and she becomes the mouthpiece for an emotive spirituality in its acute
reaction to the passion. On the one hand, Ciunta juggles words to keep his subject
under verbal control; on the other hand, Ciunta describes Margherita's words, per-
formance, and impact on the audience in terms that reflect the goal of efficaciousness
set forth in manuals and treatises on preaching. Finally, Ciunta allows Margherita a
level of theatricality that preaching manuals discouraged him from practising himself.
The latter is perhaps another way in which the confessor speaks through the holy
woman whose life he narrates and in which he exhorts his fellow Franciscans to
preach with a fervour that approaches Margherita's. At the same time, the two modes
of expression, Ciunta's formal sermons and Margherita's performative preaching
prove efficacious in tandem.
This study opens up questions about other biographers who were friars and prea-
chers, and the hagiography they composed. Did others take such care in describing
the utterances of the holy women they portrayed? Is there a discernable difference in
the speech of holy women when one surveys the vitae or legendae written by both
Dominican and Franciscan authors? The biography of Catherine of Siena comes
immediately to mind.''^ Did other friars frame their hagiographical narratives in a
discourse familiar from preaching manuals and literature? To what extent did they
speak through their female subjects? What further does the representation of holy
women's speech tell us about the relationship between saints and their biographers?

'* See Beverly Mayne Kienzle, 'Catberine of Siena, Preacbing, and Hagiography in Renaissance Tuscany', in A
Companion to Catherine of Siena (forthcoming). In contrast to Catberine of Siena's life, the vitae of Dominican
women penitents in general do not report that their words have an impact on audiences, as Lehmijoki-
Gardner observes. See note 35 above. Examination of Dominican documents on preaching, with comparison
to Franciscan texts, lies outside the bounds of tbis essay. Tbe Franciscan focus here reflects tbe presentation
of part of this material in the Ignatius Brady O. F. M. Memorial Endowment Lecture, 11 November 2009, at
St. Bonaventure University. I am grateful to Daniel Glade and Travis Stevens for research assistance.
Copyright of Medieval Sermon Studies is the property of Maney Publishing and its content may not be copied
or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission.
However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.