From Ciappelletto to Saint

The Decameron

This flow traces how a notorious criminal manipulates confession and how a community transforms his reputation after his death.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Criminal Appointed A Criminal Appointed from "The Decameron". A Criminal Appointed The commission Musciatto Franzesi needs someone ruthless enough to collect debts from difficult Burgundian borrowers.

A Criminal Appointed from "The Decameron". A Criminal Appointed The commission Musciatto Franzesi needs someone ruthless enough to collect debts from difficult Burgundian borrowers.

A Criminal Appointed The commission Musciatto Franzesi needs someone ruthless enough to collect debts from difficult Burgundian borrowers. He selects Ser Ciappelletto, whom he knows to be habitually corrupt. A dangerous assignment Ciappelletto accepts and travels to Burgundy. His established wickedness makes him, in Musciatto’s view, suited to the work.

Illness in the Florentine House

Illness in the Florentine House A host’s dilemma Ciappelletto falls mortally ill in the home of two Florentine moneylenders. His hosts fear scandal if he dies unconfessed under their roof. The impostor listens He overhears their worries and promises to manage matters. His plan depends on exploiting the friar’s trust rather than admitting his real life.

The False Confession The False Confession from "The Decameron". The False Confession A fabricated life Ciappelletto tells the friar of imagined small sins while presenting himself as exceptionally devout.

The False Confession from "The Decameron". The False Confession A fabricated life Ciappelletto tells the friar of imagined small sins while presenting himself as exceptionally devout.

The False Confession A fabricated life Ciappelletto tells the friar of imagined small sins while presenting himself as exceptionally devout. He turns ordinary acts into supposed evidence of scruple. A calculated performance He even confesses a childhood curse against his mother as though it were his gravest offense. The friar mistakes theatrical contrition for holiness.

A Holy Death Declared A Holy Death Declared from "The Decameron". A Holy Death Declared The friar’s verdict After Ciappelletto dies, the friar tells the monastery that the dead man was holy and should receive an honored…

A Holy Death Declared from "The Decameron". A Holy Death Declared The friar’s verdict After Ciappelletto dies, the friar tells the monastery that the dead man was holy and should receive an honored…

A Holy Death Declared The friar’s verdict After Ciappelletto dies, the friar tells the monastery that the dead man was holy and should receive an honored burial. Public spectacle The funeral draws a crowd, and the friar’s sermon turns the fabricated confession into a model of sanctity. The community accepts the tale as truth.

Saint Ciappelletto Saint Ciappelletto from "The Decameron". Saint Ciappelletto Popular devotion People begin praying at Ciappelletto’s tomb and treating him as a saint.

Saint Ciappelletto from "The Decameron". Saint Ciappelletto Popular devotion People begin praying at Ciappelletto’s tomb and treating him as a saint.

Saint Ciappelletto Popular devotion People begin praying at Ciappelletto’s tomb and treating him as a saint. His reputation grows despite the wickedness of his actual life. Belief and providence The narrator leaves his ultimate fate uncertain while observing that God may answer sincere prayers despite mistaken intercessors. The outcome links fraud with the power of belief.

Before Musciatto’s departure for Tuscany

After Ciappelletto settles in Burgundy

During Ciappelletto’s final illness

The evening of the confession

The days following the burial