96 GUGLIELMA ASD DOLCINO. pared splendid garments for the adornment of the expected God — a purple mantle with a silver clasp costing thirty pounds of ter- zioli, gold-embroidered silks and gilt slippers — while Pietra de' Al~ zate contributed forty -two dozen pearls, and Catella de' Giorgi gave an ounce of pearls. In preparation for her new and holy functions, Maifreda undertook to celebrate the mysteries of the mass. During the solemnities of Easter, in sacerdotal vestments, she consecrated the host, while Andrea in a dalmatic read the Gospel, and she administered communion to those present. When should come the resurrection of Guglielma, she was to repeat the ceremony in S. Maria Maggiore, and the sacred vessels were al- ready prepared for this, on an extravagant scale, costing more than two hundred lire." The sums thus lavished show that the devotees belonged to the wealthy class. AVhat is most noteworthy, in fact, in the whole story, is that a belief so absurd should have found acceptance among men of culture and intelligence, showing the spirit of un- rest that was abroad, and the readiness to accept any promise, however wild, of relief from existing evils. There were few more prominent families in Milan than the Garbagnati, who were Ghibel- lines and closely allied with the Visconti. Gasparo Garbagnate filled many positions of importance, and though his name does not appear among the sectaries, his wife Benvenuta was one of them, as well as his two sons, Ottorino and Francesco, and Bella, the wife of Giacobbe. Francesco was a man of mark as a diplomat and a lawyer. Sent by Matteo Yisconti in 1309 on a mission to the Emperor Henry TIL, he won high favor at the imperial court and obtained the objects for which he had been despatched. He ended his career as a professor of jurisprudence in the renowned University of Padua. Yet this man, presumably learned and cool- headed, was an ardent disciple, who purchased gold-embroidered silks for the resurrection of Guglielma, and composed prayers in her honor. One of the crimes for which Matteo was condemned in 1323 by the Inquisition was retaining in his service this Fran- cesco Garbagnate, who had been sentenced to wear crosses for his participation in the Guglielmite heresy ; and when John XXII., in
- Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 17, 20, 22, 23, 30, 34, 37, 40, 42, 47, 54, 62, 72, 80, 90,
94, 96.
