Ferondo

Ferondo’s return from a deathlike sleep becomes a public miracle built on deception: convinced that he has been restored from purgatory, he supplies the story that enhances the abbot’s sanctity. The homecoming also changes Ferondo’s marriage in appearance more than in reality: his jealousy subsides, but his wife continues to meet the abbot when she can.

The Return from the Tomb

At daybreak, after nearly ten months without seeing the sky, Ferondo awakens in the tomb and catches sight of light through a crevice. He takes this as proof that he is alive again and calls to be let out. He pushes at the lid with his head; because it is easy to move, he begins to shift it aside.

The monks, who have just finished matins, recognize Ferondo’s voice and see him emerging from the sepulchre. Startled, they run to the abbot. The abbot presents himself as coming from prayer, calls for the cross and holy water, and leads the monks back to witness what he describes as a display of God’s power. Ferondo emerges pale after his long confinement, and immediately falls at the abbot’s feet.

A Story of Purgatory

Ferondo understands his return through the explanation he has been given: the prayers of the abbot, St. Benedict, and his wife have released him from purgatory and restored him to life. The abbot reinforces that interpretation, telling him to comfort his wife, who has supposedly remained in tears, and to live henceforth as a friend and servant of God. Ferondo accepts the account and is eager to find and kiss his wife.

Once Ferondo is alone with the villagers, his supposed return becomes a source of authority. People initially flee from him, but he calls them back and declares that he has risen from the dead. As they grow less afraid, they question him about what he has seen. Ferondo responds with elaborate stories about the souls of their dead relatives and the affairs of purgatory, including an alleged revelation from Angel Gabriel. He invents these accounts himself, yet nearly everyone believes that he has returned from the dead.

Homecoming and Household

Ferondo returns to his village and then to his house, where he resumes possession of his goods. His wife, who has feigned fear of him along with the villagers, is once more outwardly reunited with her husband. Ferondo believes that she is pregnant with his child; in due time she gives birth to a boy named Benedict Ferondi. The timing makes the child appear to be the result of a nine-month pregnancy to those who accept that conventional measure, although Ferondo’s long absence supplies the story’s pointed irony.

Jealousy and the Abbot’s Reputation

Ferondo’s account of his return, and the widespread belief that he has risen from the dead, greatly increases the abbot’s reputation for holiness. The abbot’s staged response to the apparent miracle thus finds its public confirmation in Ferondo’s own testimony: the man he deceives becomes the chief witness to the sanctity the deception is meant to display.

Ferondo seems cured of the jealousy for which he had suffered repeated beatings. In keeping with the abbot’s promise to his wife, he is no longer jealous, and she is pleased to live honestly with him as before. That apparent domestic settlement has a private qualification: whenever she conveniently can, she still meets with the abbot, whose assistance in her need has not ended with Ferondo’s return.