Diaconescu, Marius (szerk.): Mediaevalia Transilvanica 1999 (3. évfolyam, 1-2. szám)
Mentalităţi
The Trial by Hot Iron Ceremony 21 5. After this, a special mass called the mass of the trial by hot iron (Missa indicii candentis ferri) began. This mass had the following parts: Introitus, Oratio, Lectio Esaie Prophete, Graduale, Evangelium secundum Marcum, Offertorium, and Secreta. The question, which inevitably can be raised, is why these parts from the Bible appear? The passage from Isaiah and the Gospel according to Mark give the answer. In the first passage the prophet predicts that his people will be liberated from the Assyrian captivity and will come home. This situation can be compare with that of the accused. He/she also had to be liberated from some charges, and this liberation - as in the prophet’s story - could happen only in a miraculous way, in the case of the accused by the trial of hot iron.m In the second passage Mark presents Jesus as a miracle-worker: Jesus, as the Son of God could cure incurable people, and forget people’s sin. The parallelism here is much more evident: he/she also needs a miraculous cure for his/her hand. 6. An important part of the mass was the Holy Communion, at which both parties involved in the judicial case had to participate.125 126 The real meaning of this communion was the belief that a guilty person could not receive the Holy Body of Christ without bringing down God’s wrath on himself. We can say that, in some way, this was another opportunity for the guilty person to confess his guilt. The Holy Communion was followed by a “post Communionem”-prayer. An interesting story of a record linked to the communion tells us that the accused had taken out from his mouth the host, thus profaning the communion. Of course, he was found guilty, but at least his hand remained unhurt.127 During the mass, the iron was put on the fire to warm up. 7. After this special mass the bishop, with other members of the clergy, bringing a cross and holy water, went to the place where the trial was to take place, which was the exo-narthex of the cathedral or the churchyard.128 All this time the priests and the flock had sung the seven penitents Psalms and had said the All Saints litany.129 The choosing of seven penitential Psalms had a very clearly definite goal: they were cut out for arousing people desire for penance guilt. Thus, the accused was also encouraged to make penance. The All Saints litany in fact is a series of prayers addressed to the most important saints. Choosing prayers from this litany, the participants at the trial in fact asked a saint’s help for a good result of the ordeal. 8. At the trial-place the bishop blessed the hot iron and asked God’s help for the ordeal by three prayers.110 1-4 “Domine sancte Pater, omnipotens aeterne Deus, benedic hunc ignem, quem in nomini filii tui, domini nostri Jesu Christi, et Spiritus sancti benedicimus et sanctificamus.” Ibid., 147. 125 Solymosi, “Guden magánoklevele,” 104-105. 1-6 “Tunc communicet sacerdos criminatum seu accusatum his verbis: Corpus domini nostri Jesu Christi sit tibi hodie ad comprobationem veri iudicii.” Karácsonyi, and Borovszky, Regestrum Varadinense, 148. cp. Bálint, Ünnepi kalendárium, voi. 2, 519; Kandra, A vâradi regestrum, 28. 127 “Buhus autem cum ferrum portare deberet, posuit Corpus Domini de ore in manum, et reus est ob hoc iudicatus.” Karácsonyi, and Borovszky, Regestrum Varadinense, no. 3, pp. 156-57. 18 Bunyitay, A váradipüspökség, vol. 1,76. 1'' Karácsonyi, and Borovszky, Regestrum Varadinense, 149 cp. Kandra, A váradi regestrum, 29; Bálint, Ünnepi kalendárium, vol. 2, 519. 110 Their meaning was the same, only their length was different. Ibid., 520; Karácsonyi, and
