[036]
The holy man was mightily delighted with these words, which
seemed to him to betoken a soul in a state of grace. He therefore
signified to Ser Ciappelletto his high approval of this practice; and
then began by asking him whether he had ever sinned carnally with
a woman.
[037]
Whereto Ser Ciappelletto answered with a sigh: "My
father, I scruple to tell you the truth in this matter, fearing lest I sin
in vain-glory."
[038]
"Nay, but," said the friar, "speak boldly; none
ever sinned by telling the truth, either in confession or otherwise."
[039]
"Then," said Ser Ciappelletto, "as you bid me speak boldly, I will
tell you the truth of this matter. I am virgin even as when I issued
from my mother's womb."
[040]
"Now God's blessing on thee," said the
friar, "well done; and the greater is thy merit in that, hadst thou
so willed, thou mightest have done otherwise far more readily than
we who are under constraint of rule."
[041]
He then proceeded to ask,
whether he had offended God by gluttony. Whereto Ser Ciappelletto,
heaving a heavy sigh, answered that he had frequently so offended;
for, being wont to fast not only in Lent like other devout persons, but
at least three days in every week, taking nothing but bread and water,
he had quaffed the water with as good a gusto and as much enjoyment,
more particularly when fatigued by devotion or pilgrimage, as great
drinkers quaff their wine; and oftentimes he had felt a craving for
such dainty dishes of herbs as ladies make when they go into the
country, and now and again he had relished his food more than
seemed to him meet in one who fasted, as he did, for devotion.
[042]
"Son," said the friar, "these sins are natural and very trifling; and
therefore I would not have thee burden thy conscience too much
with them. There is no man, however holy he may be, but must
sometimes find it pleasant to eat after a long fast and to drink after
exertion."
[043]
"O, my father," said Ser Ciappelletto, "say not this to
comfort me. You know well that I know, that the things which are
done in the service of God ought to be done in perfect purity of
an unsullied spirit; and whoever does otherwise sins."
[044]
The friar,
well content, replied: "Glad I am that thou dost think so, and I
am mightily pleased with thy pure and good conscience which therein
appears; but tell me: hast thou sinned by avarice, coveting more
than was reasonable, or withholding more than was right?"
[045]
"My
father," replied Ser Ciappelletto, "I would not have you disquiet
yourself, because I am in the house of these usurers: no part have
I in their concerns; nay, I did but come here to admonish and
reprehend them, and wean them from this abominable traffic; and
so, I believe, I had done, had not God sent me this visitation.
[046]
But
you must know, that my father left me a fortune, of which I dedicated
the greater part to God; and since then for my own support and the
relief of Christ's poor I have done a little trading, whereof I have desired
to make gain; and all that I have gotten I have shared with God's
poor, reserving one half for my own needs and giving the other half
to them; and so well has my Maker prospered me, that I have ever
managed my affairs to better and better account."
[047]
"Well done,"
said the friar; "but how? hast thou often given way to anger?"
[048]
"Often indeed, I assure you," said Ser Ciappelletto. "And who
could refrain therefrom, seeing men doing frowardly all day long,
breaking the commandments of God and recking nought of His
judgments?
[049]
Many a time in the course of a single day I had rather
be dead than alive, to see the young men going after vanity, swearing
and forswearing themselves, haunting taverns, avoiding the churches,
and in short walking in the way of the world rather than in God's
way."
[050]
"My son," said the friar, "this is a righteous wrath; nor
could I find occasion therein to lay a penance upon thee. But did
anger ever by any chance betray thee into taking human life, or
affronting or otherwise wronging any?"
[051]
"Alas," replied Ser
Ciappelletto, "alas, sir, man of God though you seem to me, how
come you to speak after this manner? If I had had so much
as the least thought of doing any of the things of which you speak,
should I believe, think you, that I had been thus supported or
God? These are the deeds of robbers and such like evil men, to
whom I have ever said, when any I saw: 'Go, God change your
heart.'"
[052]
Said then the friar: "Now, my son, as thou hopest to
be blest of God, tell me, hast thou never borne false witness against
any, or spoken evil of another, or taken the goods of another without
his leave?"
[053]
"Yes, master friar," answered Ser Ciappelletto, "most
true it is that I have spoken evil of another; for I had once a neighbour
who without the least excuse in the world was ever beating his
wife, and so great was my pity of the poor creature, whom, when he
was in his cups, he would thrash as God alone knows how, that once I
spoke evil of him to his wife's kinsfolk."
[054]
"Well, well," said the
friar, "thou tellest me thou hast been a merchant; hast thou ever
cheated any, as merchants use to do?"
[055]
"I'faith, yes, master friar,"
said Ser Ciappelletto; "but I know not who he was; only that he
brought me some money which he owed me for some cloth that
I had sold him, and I put it in a box without counting it, where
a month afterwards I found four farthings more than there should
have been, which I kept for a year to return to him, but not seeing
him again, I bestowed them in alms for the love of God."
[056]
"This,"
said the friar, "was a small matter; and thou didst well to bestow
them as thou didst."
[057]
The holy friar went on to ask him many
other questions, to which he made answer in each case in this sort.
Then, as the friar was about to give him absolution, Ser Ciappelletto
interposed: "Sir, I have yet a sin to confess."
[058]
"What?" asked the
friar. "I remember," he said, "that I once caused my servant to
sweep my house on a Saturday after none; and that my observance
of Sunday was less devout than it should have been."
[059]
"O, my son,"
said the friar, "this is a light matter."
[060]
"No," said Ser Ciappelletto,
"say not a light matter; for Sunday is the more to be had in honour
because on that day our Lord rose from the dead."
[061]
Then said the
holy friar: "Now is there aught else that thou hast done?"
[062]
"Yes, master friar," replied Ser Ciappelletto, "once by inadvertence
I spat in the church of God."
[063]
At this the friar began to smile, and
said: "My son, this is not a matter to trouble about; we, who are
religious, spit there all day long."
[064]
"And great impiety it is when
you so do," replied Ser Ciappelletto, "for there is nothing that
is so worthy to be kept from all impurity as the holy temple in which
sacrifice is offered to God."
[065]
More he said in the same strain, which I
pass over; and then at last he began to sigh, and by and by to weep
bitterly, as he was well able to do when he chose.
[066]And the friar demanding:
"My son, why weepest thou?"
[067]
"Alas, master friar,"
answered Ser Ciappelletto, "a sin yet remains, which I have
never confessed, such shame were it to me to tell it; and as often as
I call it to mind, I weep as you now see me weep, being well assured
that God will never forgive me this sin."
[068]
Then said the holy friar:
"Come, come, son, what is this that thou sayst? If all the sins of
all the men, that ever were or ever shall be, as long as the world shall
endure, were concentrated in one man, so great is the goodness of
God that He would freely pardon them all, were he but penitent and
contrite as I see thou art, and confessed them: wherefore tell me thy
sin with a good courage."
[069]
Then said Ser Ciappelletto, still weeping
bitterly: "Alas, my father, mine is too great a sin, and scarce can
I believe, if your prayers do not co-operate, that God will ever grant
me His pardon thereof."
[070]
"Tell it with a good courage," said the
friar; "I promise thee to pray God for thee."
[071]
Ser Ciappelletto,
however, continued to weep, and would not speak, for all the friar's
encouragement. When he had kept him for a good while in suspense,
he heaved a mighty sigh, and said: "My father, as you promise me
to pray God for me, I will tell it you. Know, then, that once, when I
was a little child, I cursed my mother;" and having so said he began
again to weep bitterly.
[072]
"O, my son," said the friar, "does this seem
to thee so great a sin? Men curse God all day long, and He pardons
them freely, if they repent them of having so done; and thinkest
thou He will not pardon thee this? Weep not, be comforted, for
truly, hadst thou been one of them that set Him on the Cross, with
the contrition that I see in thee, thou wouldst not fail of His pardon."
[073]
"Alas! my father," rejoined Ser Ciappelletto, "what is this you
say? To curse my sweet mother that carried me in her womb
for nine months day and night, and afterwards on her shoulder
more than a hundred times! Heinous indeed was my offence;
'tis too great a sin; nor will it be pardoned, unless you pray God
for me."
