Don Aurelio and Ismaele Pestagran

Don Aurelio and Ismaele Pestagran are bound by an act of hospitality that becomes a test of pastoral care. Don Aurelio shelters a battered, feverish Protestant Bible seller whom others refuse to house, then tries to keep him safe even as Ismaele fears that his presence will cost his host his position. The bond is not presented as an easy friendship: it takes shape through illness, fear, disagreement, and practical acts of protection, under the shadow of a church order requiring Don Aurelio to leave his parish.

The bond begins in hospitality

Ismaele arrives in the story as a vulnerable outsider. After a crowd beats him at Posina, he is left with nowhere to stay; Don Aurelio takes him into his home, where he has already been caring for him for two days when the circumstances reach Massimo. Ismaele sells Protestant Bibles, and his religious difference makes him unwelcome. The choice to shelter him is therefore more than private kindness: Don Aurelio gives refuge to someone whose presence exposes him to suspicion among local clergy and residents.

The people around Ismaele turn him into a comic figure as well as a rejected one. In Lago, he is nicknamed Carnesecca because his impassioned speeches often mention Carnesecchi; he has also mocked townspeople by calling them varieties of fish, escalating to sharks. Donna Fedele recounts these details with restrained humor, while still calling him unfortunate and visiting him out of pity. The teasing illustrates how Ismaele is regarded as strange and difficult, but it does not erase the fact that he is injured and dependent on others. Don Aurelio's hospitality stands against the town's refusal to take him in.

Protection amid conflict

Ismaele does not respond to his dependence with quiet compliance. When Massimo encounters him, Ismaele appears displeased by the visitor, and Massimo withdraws. Ismaele has heard that the clergy at Velo may want Don Aurelio removed because he has sheltered the Bible seller. The report reaches him through a message from the sacristan and a servant's account; the underlying church letter has not yet been read by Don Aurelio. Ismaele's fear is therefore based on alarming but incomplete information, yet he believes that his own presence may endanger his host.

The fear soon becomes entangled with a real threat. A letter from the Vicenza Diocese orders Don Aurelio to leave the curacy of Lago di Velo within fifteen days. The archpriest asks that the house be cleared of both belongings and people so that his successor can bring his mother and sister. The text does not establish that Ismaele's presence caused the dismissal. Don Aurelio himself says the sick man is not responsible, even as the instruction to clear the house of people gives the situation an uncomfortable ambiguity. Rather than dwell on his own displacement, Don Aurelio turns his attention to finding Ismaele and preventing him from harming himself while still ill.

Departure and continued care

When Ismaele leaves, Donna Fedele realizes that the letter may have prompted him to go. Don Aurelio confirms that he has indeed departed, but stresses that Ismaele has done himself harm and still had a fever that morning. His response makes the relationship's central tension plain: Ismaele's attempt to protect Don Aurelio by removing himself has instead placed his own health at risk. Don Aurelio's concern is practical and immediate, not merely an abstract defense of charity.

Don Aurelio subsequently finds Ismaele at an inn and tries to arrange a safe onward journey. He considers sending him to Villino delle Rose, but will not let him make the trip on foot. The innkeeper refuses to house him, and the available donkey is said to be unwell. Don Aurelio asks whether the innkeeper will at least allow a carter to take Ismaele; when that arrangement proves difficult, a carter offers to pull the cart himself. Alpine soldiers join in, lift Ismaele into the cart, and propose accompanying it. Ismaele dislikes the noisy escort, thanks the soldiers with gestures, and asks them not to trouble themselves. Don Aurelio accepts the improvised arrangement and resumes his own journey after watching the party set out toward Velo.

What the relationship reveals

The episode gives the relationship a clear shape without making Ismaele an uncomplicated recipient of care. He is proud, volatile, and capable of trying to leave despite his fever; Don Aurelio, in turn, does not simply honor that decision, but intervenes when he thinks Ismaele is in danger. Care here includes both refuge and restraint, followed by the practical work of finding transport when continued shelter is no longer straightforward.

Their connection also places Don Aurelio's pastoral conduct beside institutional pressure without claiming that the one definitively caused the other. He is ordered to vacate his parish while Ismaele is among the people in his care, and Ismaele believes that his presence is the reason. The dismissal sharpens the stakes of hospitality, but Don Aurelio's actions remain focused on the vulnerable man: he takes him in, seeks him after his departure, and helps him continue safely. The relationship thus makes visible the human cost of the conflict around Don Aurelio's ministry, while preserving the uncertainty about why the order was issued.