Then came the turn of the more hardened consciences.Men who had long never been near the confessional, now acknowledged their sins.Ill-gotten gains were restored, and insults which might have borne fruit in blood retracted.Orators like Bernardino of Siena entered diligently into all the details of the daily life of men, and the moral laws which are involved in it.Few theologians nowadays would feel tempted to give a morning sermon 'on contracts, restitutions, the public debt (monte), and the portioning of daughters,' like that which he once delivered in the Cathedral at Florence.Imprudent speakers easily fell into the mistake of attacking particular classes, professions, or offices, with such energy that the enraged hearers proceeded to violence against those whom the preacher had denounced.A sermon which Bernardino once preached in Rome (1424) had another consequence besides a bonfire of vanities on the Capitol: 'After this,' we read, 'the witch Finicella was burnt, because by her diabolical arts she had killed many children and bewitched many other persons; and all Rome went to see the sight.'
But the most important aim of the preacher was, as has been already said, to reconcile enemies and persuade them to give up thoughts of vengeance.Probably this end was seldom attained till towards the close of a course of sermons, when the tide of penitence flooded the city, and when the air resounded with the cry of the whole people:
'Misericordia! ' Then followed those solemn embracings and treaties of peace, which even previous bloodshed on both sides could not hinder.
Banished men were recalled to the city to take part in these sacred transactions.It appears that these 'Paci' were on the whole faithfully observed, even after the mood which prompted them was over; and then the memory of the monk was blessed from generation to generation.But there were sometimes terrible crises like those in the families Della Valle and Croce in Rome (1482) where even the great Roberto da Lecce raised his voice in vain.Shortly before Holy Week he had preached to immense crowds in the square before the Minerva.But on the night before Maundy Thursday a terrible combat took place in front of the Palazzo della Valle, near the Ghetto.In the morning Pope Sixtus gave orders for its destruction, and then performed the customary ceremonies of the day.On Good Friday Roberto preached again with a crucifix in his hand; but he and his hearers could do nothing but weep.