of the Holy Father, the cardinals, and the other persons
at the pontifical court. At these words the Jew
exclaimed, “God damn them all! I never
once succeeded in finding among them any holiness,
any devotion, any good works; but, on the contrary,
luxurious living, avarice, greed, fraud, envy, pride,
and even worse, if there is worse; all the machine
seemed to be set in motion by an impulse less divine
than diabolical. After what I saw, it is my firm
conviction that your pope, and of course the others
as well, are using all their talents, art, endeavours,
to banish the Christian religion from the face of
the earth, though they ought to be its foundation and
support; and since, in spite of all the care and trouble
they expend to arrive at this end, I see that your
religion is spreading every day and becoming more
brilliant and more pure, it is borne in upon me that
the Holy Spirit Himself protects it as the only true
and the most holy religion; this is why, deaf as you
found me to your counsel and rebellious to your wish,
I am now, ever since I returned from this Sodom, firmly
resolved on becoming a Christian. So let us
go at once to the church, for I am quite ready to
be baptized.”
There is no need to say if Jean de Civigny, who expected
a refusal, was pleased at this consent. Without
delay he went with his godson to Notre Dame de Paris,
where he prayed the first priest he met to administer
baptism to his friend, and this was speedily done;
and the new convert changed his Jewish name of Abraham
into the Christian name of Jean; and as the neophyte,
thanks to his journey to Rome, had gained a profound
belief, his natural good qualities increased so greatly
in the practice of our holy religion, that after leading
an exemplary life he died in the full odour of sanctity.
This tale of Boccaccio’s gives so admirable
an answer to the charge of irreligion which some might
make against us if they mistook our intentions, that
as we shall not offer any other reply, we have not
hesitated to present it entire as it stands to the
eyes of our readers.
And let us never forget that if the papacy has had
an Innocent viii and an Alexander VI who are
its shame, it has also had a Pius VII and a Gregory
XVI who are its honour and glory.