Laicità: Le sue radici Le sue ragioni (Problemi aperti) (Italian Edition)

La convocazione di papa Wojtyla Giacomo Biffi parlava in dialetto milanese e in latino. Divenne arcivescovo di Bologna, aveva rifiutato Perugia. Ma alla perpetua dovette riferirlo. Infine sale negli appartamenti apostolici. Il Polacco sente le sue ragioni per il no, e poi gli dice: Era ormai arcivescovo di Bologna. Si era fatto tardi. Lo portarono in tempo a Fiumicino. Era appena diventato in pectore arcivescovo di Bologna e rischiava di non arrivare alla meta. Ironico, sarcastico, senza rispetto per le opinioni del mondo. Era perfettamente consapevole non solo del disastro del mondo, ma del tradimento dei cristiani, se ne doleva, ma non se ne turbava.

Non aveva il collo storto dei penitenti per professione. La risurrezione non poteva cancellarla neanche il tradimento dei cristiani. La Chiesa in crisi? Nei suoi primi lavori Ludwig Wittgenstein ha tentato di separare il linguaggio di tipo metafisico e soprannaturale dal discorso razionale. Henry Louis Mencken ha cercato di sfatare sia l'idea che la scienza e la religione siano compatibili, ma anche l'idea che la scienza sia un sistema di credenze dogmatiche come qualsiasi religione [97].

Tra gli scienziati si sono considerati apertamente atei lo psicoanalista Wilhelm Reich , il medico esponente dell' antipsichiatria Thomas Szasz , gli astrofisici e cosmologi Roger Penrose e Stephen Hawking , l'astronoma Margherita Hack e il biologo Richard Dawkins. Nel , il nuovo regime sovietico ha arrestato il Patriarca della Chiesa Ortodossa di Russia []. I leader sovietici Vladimir Lenin e Stalin hanno sempre energicamente perseguito una politica di persecuzione della Chiesa per tutti li anni '20 e ' Molti sacerdoti sono stati uccisi e imprigionati. Migliaia di chiese sono state chiuse, alcune trasformati in templi dell'ateismo.

Nel il governo ha fondato la Lega degli atei militanti con l'intento acclarato di intensificare la persecuzione. Il regime ha ceduto nella sua idea di persecuzione solo dopo l' invasione nazista dell'Unione Sovietica nel con l' Operazione Barbarossa []. Bullock ha scritto che "un regime marxista era 'senza Dio' per definizione, e Stalin aveva deriso il credo religioso fin dagli anni giovanili passati nel Seminario di Tbilisi ". Il suo assalto alla classe contadina russa, scriveva Bullock, "era stato tanto un attacco alla loro religione tradizionale quanto alle loro aziende individuali, oltre che per aver svolto un ruolo importante nel suscitare la resistenza contadina al bolscevismo La maggior parte dei nazisti non hanno lasciato le loro chiese di appartenenza.

Inoltre il partito nazista sollecitava i suoi dirigenti a richiedere la cancellazione dai registri parrocchiali con un atto pubblico ufficiale il cosiddetto Kirchenaustritt la fuoriuscita dalla chiesa dato che riteneva, in linea col pensiero di Hitler, poco compatibili l'essere cristiani e nazisti a tempo stesso. Alcuni stati socialisti nel XX secolo hanno incoraggiato l'ateismo; in particolare nell'Albania di Enver Hoxha fu imposto l' ateismo di Stato tra il e il Oggi nella Corea del Nord [] e nel Vietnam vige ancora l'ateismo di stato [].

A tal proposito, si segnala anche la prima diffusione moderna dell'ateismo nel mondo arabo e islamico, a livello accademico, con l'opera di Hamid Zanaz , vicino alle posizioni di Onfray che ha curato l'introduzione al suo primo saggio. Da Wikipedia, l'enciclopedia libera. Minois, "Storia dell'ateismo" , Editori riuniti URL consultato il 26 giugno archiviato dall' url originale il 15 giugno URL consultato il 26 maggio Gli esseri tutti sono nati in un particolare ambito in base sia al loro kamma passato e al loro kamma al momento della morte.

I Deva, come gli esseri umani, sviluppano la fede nel Buddha praticando i suoi insegnamenti. Utilizzando varie similitudini prese dal mondo animale, questo Dio ha mostrato la sua ammirazione e venerazione per il Sublime. In un discorso chiamato domande di Sakka DN 21 ha avuto luogo dopo che questi era stato un serio discepolo del Buddha per qualche tempo.

Quindi hai agito indebitamente, hai agito in modo non corretto, volendo oltrepassare il Beato alla ricerca di una risposta a questa domanda. Rivolgiti di nuovo al Beato e, all'arrivo, porgigli questa domanda. La sua risposta si dovrebbe prendere a cuore. Intervista , BG Editore Servitium, URL consultato il 5 aprile Ippolito di Roma , Confutazione d tutte le eresie , i. Hippolytus, Confutazione di tutte le eresie , i. I , a cura di Gabriele Giannantoni, Milano, Mondadori, , pp. Altre testimonianze, specialmente entro il contesto della critica polemica, si possono ritrovare in Callimaco , Inno a Zeus 8.

Gamble, "Euhemerism and Christology in Origen: Ancient atheists , BBC. URL consultato il 13 giugno Long and Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers, vol. Sallustio , La guerra contro Catilina , il discorso di Cesare: Tuttavia, nelle discussioni dell'esistenza di Dio gli avversari reali non sono identificati come individui.

Come gruppo sono a volte indicato come eretici, infedeli, materialisti o scettici. A History of Philosophy: From Augustine to Duns Scotus. Posizioni ateistiche riaffiorano con il Rinascimento, e soprattutto nel Seicento.

Storia dell'ateismo

ISBN - pp. Francesco Carrara, Programma del corso di diritto criminale nella R. Seidel Menchi, Erasmo in Italia The final barrier between the paratext and the text itself is an illustration of the city of Fano, which, according to some sources, makes the work and the city notable and memorable Figure 1. In some cases, the words of a Boccaccian sentence remain the same while the word order is jumbled slightly; in others, clauses are added for emphasis. On the whole, however, the length and general syntax of both proems correspond almost directly.

Bernardo sopra la Car. In this first matching block of text, Boccaccio stresses that compassion should be felt for the victims of the plague or of love. Here, Dionigi and Boccaccio both reference their youth: There is no excess of desire for Dionigi that must be bridled, as there is for Boccaccio, only an alarming amount of bitterness and grief caused by the loss of his patron; however, this grief has not yet killed him. It is not surprising that the adjectives and nouns Dionigi uses to qualify ingratitudine are feminine, since the word ingratitudine is also feminine; however, his repeated vituperations drive the point home: Boccaccio and Dionigi consider the weaknesses of the female sex, especially in regards to education, familial oppression, and the possibility of attaining happiness.

Both authors state that women are shut up in their lonely bedrooms by their fathers, mothers, husbands and brothers; for Dionigi this is important because these women are thus unable to attend public churches to hear the sacred word of God and, even worse, for this very reason, cannot always attain salvation—at least, we assume, not the same kind that is available to church-going men.

Following his discourse on the frailty of women and the comparative strength of men, Dionigi gives more thought to religious study, leaving women out entirely. In the final part of their proems, Boccaccio and Dionigi both set out to emend the problems they see afflicting the women of their time; however, the difference in word choice is telling of their respective attitudes. He thus acknowledges that the famine is not necessarily one-hundred-percent deadly for every victim, as the plague almost always was, but was certainly also a devastating epidemic. Both present their macro-characters: When they narrate their stories, they will wear olive garlands, which represent peace and honor.

Before embarking on their journey, Chrisogono sings a song for the group not featured in the text , they pack their belongings, and begin on their way. For instance, if one compares the rubrics of the very last novella X. The themes for each day of the DS are all spiritual in nature and, like the themes for each day of the Decameron, are carefully selected by the brigata member chosen to rule that day as Prince.

They are the following: The words that fill in the space between all these citations appear to be rote recitations from sermons or words and phrases from the Bible, if not whole poems or just stanzas of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto and Poliziano; almost no part of the DS has the flavor of authenticity.

Petrarch is cited 14 times: Finally, Ariosto is cited in III. In one particularly long passage in the fourth ragionamento of Day Ten, Dionigi via his narrator, Nicandro rails against a multitude of ancient philosophers: O miserable Epicurus, and o miserable and unhappy Christians who follow the stupid and harmful opinion of Epicurus, who not only do not find beatitude in the pleasures of the body, but also misery and eternal unhappiness amidst the flames and the woes of the abyss, in the company of serpents and infernal Demons. How much better would it be if they put their beatitude, not as Pythagoras did in the perfect science of numbers, but in the perfect knowledge of the holy trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; … Not in the speculation of life, as Anaxagoras did, but in the speculation of the Divine Majesty, true blessed life, and heavenly things.

Not in the science of things, as did Herilo, but in the science of God and his law … Not in the sturdiness of men, as did [Aristotene], but in the omnipotent strength of God … Not in the sufficiency of us and of earthly things, as did Hecataeus, but in that sufficiency of ours, as the Apostle [Paul] says, that comes from God. Not in the tranquility of this world, as did Timon, but in the tranquility of Heaven. O tribulations, o tribulations, of how many most noble effects are you the blessed occasioners?

Why do I not have a thousand, or more, tongues of hard diamond, always untiring in lauding you, exalting you, and magnifying you? Dionigi expands upon his frustrations concerning the use of the Tuscan language or the Fanese dialect in the premessa to his Amor Cortese The reference to the Corbaccio is in II. From there, the men pass the time leisurely until lunch, after which, around the time of the liturgical hour Nones roughly 3: Most Introductions, in detailing the sunrise of the respective day, also mention the various songbirds that can be heard and which wake the men.

In the Introduction to Day Six, a game of chess is played among members whose names are not revealed nor are details of the game described. There is no dispute among the servants, as there is between Tindaro and Licisca in Day Six of the Decameron. In the Introduction to Day Seven, Chrisogono sings another song bringing his total to three in the entirety of the DS ; that song is detailed in the next section of this chapter.

Otherwise, like the DS Introductions, the Conclusions are also formulaic: At the end of Day Ten, the brigata members and their servants pack up their belongings, hear one last mass at the neighboring church, and simply return to Fano, right where they began. Many critics believe that these junctures, in addition to the proem and the Introduction to Day One, are where the relationship between Boccaccio and his readers is the strongest and most evident. Each song corresponds exactly in structure for the number of lines in each stanza and overall , rhyme scheme, and more or less in meter to those featured in the Decameron.

The first song of the DS is sung by Ugone. Both have 24 lines, split into an initial tercet, followed by three septets. Also in both songs, the last word of the first tercet is the one repeated at the end of each septet; however, this is where the similarities end. As Dino Cervigni notes in his analyses of the Decameron ballads, the songs serve a specific purpose in the cornice of the Decameron as a whole, and also in the framing of each Day. Like the ten other canzoni featured in the DS, its exact origins are a mystery, but as a poetic device it treats three of the instruments of the Passion of Christ, or the Arma Christi: Are the Young People Still at Play?

His ideal man is one in whom love and reason are properly balanced [i. The Boccaccian brigata, treated by numerous critics over many years, serves a distinct function in the frame narrative and body text of the Decameron, wherein each member contributes something that is both distinctive in the micro- and macrotext and specific to his or her personal characterization. Law and Gender in the Decameron. There are very few critical responses, contemporary or modern, to the DS regarding the replacement of the mixed Boccaccian brigata with an all-male one.

Overall, his brigata and his work as a whole are irreparably damaged by the deliberate dismissal of women. As scholars such as Victoria Kirkham and Franco Fido have shown, Boccaccio frequently employed the numbers 3, 7 and 10—numbers and couplings which Saint Augustine also found compelling.

Dionigi opted to retain the perfect number ten in his brigata to reflect this choice and keep the storytelling cohesive and balanced. Besides dividing the Boccaccian brigata into two groups of seven and three, some critics further divide the seven women into two more groups: The men round out the group of ten, adding other significant attributes i. Irascibility, Lust, and Reason. Although such accounts differ in respect to others, the delineation between, and grouping of, the members of this brigata is clear and useful in distinguishing them as individualized narratorial figures.

Reason, Anger, Lust or Appetite. The Literal and the Allegorical. Filomena is the dedicatee of the Filostrato another name in the brigata and is the name of an Ovidian character in the Metamorphoses Philomela who is muted when her tongue is ripped out. Fiammetta is a character in the Filocolo, Ameto, and Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta and in the last one, her lover is Panfilo. Dioneo does not appear in other Boccaccian works. As previously mentioned, the first four women of the Boccaccian brigata represent the four cardinal virtues: Neifile and Elissa to political i.

Ghibelline tendencies based on the stories that they tell; this information is also unavailable in the DS since there is no narrative but instead, a superabundance of biblical quotes and historical exempla. The Introduction to Day One of the DS makes no mention of the brigata members having wives, lovers, or even families; since they are described as spiritual men, the reader may assume that they are celibate.

As each member narrates his or her tales, the other nine listen and provide critical feedback and opinions. The relationships between the ten members are positive; there is no ill will among them and they do not face any hardships on their journey. Marcel Janssens discusses their functionality in the following quote: Pampinea declares right from the beginning: We know nothing about their existence, neither prior to the formation nor after the dissolution of the group.

Surprisingly, for all of the scholarship that exists on gender dynamics in the Decameron specifically within the brigata , there is hardly any focus on the extreme rarity of the combination of genders in the brigata, let alone in any brigata seen in this time and place in history, literary or not. While Barolini refers here mainly to brigate seen in Italian literature at this time for example, in specific works of Dante, Forese Donati, Folgore da San Gimignano, and of course Boccaccio , she also points out that mixed-gender groups in Italian society in the Trecento were also a rarity, mostly due to strict societal expectations placed on women and chastity.

With each other, the men and women have been chaste, careful not to be flirtatious, and open to frank discussions of sexuality without succumbing to lustful behavior. In the sonnets of Folgore da San Gimignano c. Although a mixed-gender brigata is typically problematic in terms of sexuality that is, for the challenge of maintaining chastity within the group , single-gender groups suffer their own problems as well.

Michael Calabrese and Ray Fleming explore these dynamics among the men in the Boccaccian brigata and find them to be repressive. The group in the Decameron is composed of ten friends—some of whom are ambiguously related to each other and others who might already be in a sexual relationship—who spend much of their shared time discussing and narrating sexually explicit material.

Even the landscape is said to be sexually charged. Therefore, any numerological analyses that can be applied to the original brigata may also be applied to the second. The rest of the brigata is neither easily distinguishable nor remarkable, nor are the men given notable physical descriptions, let alone personal characteristics.

So, why expound on the onomastics of this brigata if its members are so indistinguishable? Sasso writes that the onomastics of the Boccaccian group serve to illustrate all possibilities of connotation, creating characters that are alive and who take their characteristics right from their names.

Storia dell'ateismo - Wikipedia

Nevertheless, the names that he chooses for his storytellers might tell more about him as an author than the entire text of the DS can. Saint Nicostratus is figured among the Four Crowned Martyrs, who are actually nine saints divided into two groups—Nicostratus falls into the second group with Saints Claudius, Castorius, Simplicius and Symphorian Simpronian. According to legend these men suffered martyrdom at the same time as Saint Sebastian however, some sources indicate that this story is untrustworthy.

All ten members excluding Crisippo share names with Catholic saints. Sono inoltre menzionati nella notizia di s. One could rightly not only doubt their martyrdom, but also their very existence. May 7, 19, 20, and They are also mentioned in the news of Saint Procopius on the 8th of June. Unknown to medieval martyrologies of the West, Nicostratus and Antiochus were introduced by C. Dillon, The Middle Platonists, 80 B. In the DS Nicostrato is the narrator of the following ragionamenti: Crisippo is the only member of this brigata to have a non-biblical, non-saint, non-Christian name.

Crispino , also martyred in the 3rd century C. Chrisogono sings the most songs in the DS—four, to be exact. This martyr is among those named in the Roman canon eucharistic prayer of the Mass, but nothing is now known about him, except that he probably suffered at Aquileia in northern Italy. He figures in the legend of St. The Legenda aurea devotes a page-long chapter to Saint Theodore not the Studite describing his martyrdom under Diocletian and Maximian.

He was violently put to death by the co-emperors for refusing to renounce his beliefs in God; Jacopo da Voragine writes in the Golden Legend: As he hung there, the judge said to him: The name Teodoro appears in the Decameron in day V.

Giacomo Biffi e quei giudizi ancora pieni di vita e di libertà. Ritratto in sequela, non in memoria

A native of Constantinople who became a monk at the monastery of the Studium … in that city. In he became abbot, and under his rule the monastery developed into a centre from which a monastic revival spread throughout the East, its influence reaching to Mt Athos and later to Russia, Rumania and Bulgaria. Studium stood for all that is lasting in monastic observance: The community, with St Theodore at their head, uncompromisingly defended the supreme authority of the see of Rome, the veneration of images against a series of iconoclastic emperors , and opposed Caesaropapism in every form.

Theodore suffered banishment for seven years on this account. In fact, Cyril composed a deposition against the saint alongside his uncle, Theophilus of Alexandria—another name that appears among the DS brigata. In defining the practice of oratione in IV.

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He was a nephew of that Theophilus of Alexandria who engineered the deposition of St. John Chrysostom, in which Cyril himself took part. The latinized Pamphilus is the name of a martyred saint who lived and taught as a priest in Alexandria in the third and fourth centuries C. Between the Decameron and the DS the name Panfilo is very significant, and for very different reasons. Panfilo is king of the Tenth Day in the Decameron which treats deeds of munificence and prince in the Sixth Day of the DS, dedicated to the theme of avarice.

He studied at the Christian school at Alexandria, and spent the rest of his life at Caesarea in Palestine, where he was ordained priest. He taught in the school there, gathered a celebrated library afterwards dispersed by the Arabs , and did important work on the text of the Bible. Aside from the novella of Ser Cepparello, Panfilo examines deception, dreams vs. He covers various subjects, from envy, tribulation, poverty and solitude, to saintly humility, oration, alms-giving, and patience.

He provides examples of figures and saints from both the Old and New Testaments in his discussions of solitude, tribulation, and patience. In Day Six, his reign day, he chooses to discuss the theme of tithes as his free- topic ragionamento, wherein he lauds the practice of tithes and discusses at length its benefits. Gherardo is one of two members of this brigata who does not have a name derived from the Greek language.

It is unclear why this new Panfilo has replaced Elissa and not any other member. In the Legenda aurea a bishop and martyr by the same name is said to have given homilies telling of the glory of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary: Considering the vast amount of mention and praise Mary is given in the DS, this connection makes sense. His ragionamenti do not follow a common theme; however, two of them include strange comparisons: While most of his other ragionamenti I.

In the DS Ugone narrates I. His selection for discussion in Day One is drunkenness and the condemnation of drunks, especially women, since their drunkenness leads inevitably to uncouth behavior and often threatens the maintenance of their virginity. Finally there is Teofilo, the character who corresponds to the Boccaccian Panfilo. As mentioned previously, this is also the name of the uncle of Cyril of Alexandria. Both the Legenda aurea and The Book of Saints tell of a certain Theophilus the Penitent who, upon being deposed from his position as archdeacon of Adana in Cilicia, made a pact with the devil; he then repented with the help of the Virgin Mary, who appeared to him in a vision, and regained favor among his public.

For more information in primary works, see, for example: They rarely give any type of evaluation after singular novelle, and when they do respond to the narration Dialogo del Maestro di casa , and Sigismondo Sigismondi, Prattica cortigiana morale, et economica All reactions to the canzoni are practically identical and formulaic; for instance, in the Conclusion to Day Four: The brigata members of the DS are never seen laughing in reaction to the stories told not that there is much comical content, anyway.

There is no need to censor their ragionamenti or canzoni for a female audience, as Dioneo is asked to do in the Conclusion to Day Six in the Decameron, and the content of both is spiritual enough not to be censored anyway although some do feature a hefty amount of misogyny. Although their main roles are not as narratorial mediators, each brigata member must still serve as an adept listener and contributor to the theme of each Day.

As can be seen from the Days Chart see Appendix C , many ragionamenti in the DS are discussions that expand upon the one directly preceding them.

Noblest companions, if one is to speak the truth, as one must, I believe that we us three, I mean, who were not present for the first ragionamenti have a great obligation to the sense and to the circumstance that brought us here; where, far from many troubles and woes, we can have some recreation, without offending anyone, among much grief. I do not know what you intend to do with your thoughts: Here, we are at the end, as you know, and yet each of us walks toward it; if you still wish to grieve the forsaken City, be content that I will return there where I left my thoughts, and recover them; so that Women are not mentioned in the canzoni except for the one sung at the conclusion of Day Five by Gherardo, who is the equivalent of Dioneo in the DS.

Nicostrato emphasizes the prospective benefits of replacing cries of pain with the songs of birds, and of replacing the harshness of the city with a much more peaceful backdrop. If the men in the DS brigata do not fulfill any particular roles in the narrative context of the cornice, they certainly seek to fulfill roles beyond the text, both as spiritual men and as Christian humans. These outlines serve as a type of manual for both the other members of the brigata as well as the intended audience of the book.

A large component of the manual-like function of this book is geared toward chastity: Likewise, providing more examples for practicing oratione, he refers to the Apostles: Chrisogono explains in V. Do not look upon the errant and capricious woman, that by chance she will not catch you in her laces; do not wish to be often with the temptress, and do not listen to her, that for disgrace you will not perish in her efficacy.

Do not look upon the Virgin, that you will not, for misfortune, scandalize her beauty. For the beauty of woman many have perished, and from this, concupiscence has almost lit a fire. Let us love, therefore, being far away from these women, not just being far away from their practices in order to obtain this great virtue of saintly chastity, because if we are not far from them, we will easily lose this great gift, wanting to live luxuriously with them, with infinite damage, and with irreparable loss of the benefits of paradise.

E quelle dove ci meneranno? E poi saremo perpetuamente puniti afflicti, e tormentati dai Demoni infernali, cosi disponente la Divina Giustitita. And where will it leave us miserable ones? And where will those lead us? And Hell, what will it make of us? It will put us under the power of Satan. And then we will be perpetually punished and afflicted, and tormented by infernal Demons, as commanded by Divine Justice. Oh, how could this be, says that sensual person from a better time, that the world treats those who love so poorly? Non rimirare la vergine, accioche per mala ventura non ti scandalezzi nel la sua bellezza.

Although there are certainly many examples given throughout the DS of women to avoid in all senses, there are also just as many references to pure and saintly women which I will treat in my final chapter. As for men, the brigata cite examples of those who either live correctly or whose lives are to serve as lessons: The most frequently-used example is, of course, Christ. Joseph the son of Jacob and Rachel is cited as the ideal of chastity, continence, and perseverance. While this is a debatable statement for the Decameron, it is true for the DS, in both macro- and microtext, where male gender issues are all but completely erased by Dionigi.

Moreover, the dynamics of the latter group change significantly by not including any women. Elsewhere in the same article quoted above, Calabrese asks the important question: As we can see from both the stories and the frame narrative of the Decameron, it is difficult enough for a single man to restrain himself in the company of a single woman, let alone a man in the company of seven women on an isolated trip into the countryside. Several Boccaccio scholars agree that a gathering of men, no matter how small— Calabrese even suggests two or more—usually contributes to a climate of aggression or competition.

While the men of the DS brigata are not explicitly aggressive toward each other, their makeup is implicitly aggressive against women: However, the men of the DS brigata are still repressed, regardless of the absence of females in their small group. With no females present in the group, there is neither any threat of physical sexual violence nor any need to diffuse hetero sexual anxiety, as there is in the Decameron albeit passively presented, never explicitly mentioned, and never acted upon. Tobias Gittes observes the way that the brigata members deflect their temptations in the Boccaccian text: Although the Boccaccian brigata makes it through the entire fifteen-day sojourn without sexual incident, the frame narrative is not free from sexual tension.

There is no doubt, noble gentlemen, that for us to be men of flesh, we take much gratification in the pleasures and comforts of this troublesome and destitute world; and thus tribulations give us much travail and worry when we come upon them; not considering that which the holy Apostles said once, that is, that for various tribulations it behooves us to enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

But, as the Doctor of the people, the apostle Paul, said, patience is necessary for us to carry out our promises. Marilyn Migiel says of the Boccaccian brigata: It would seem that the only place in the DS where the brigata members display individuality is in the canzoni that they sing, and even in that case, the words are heavily impersonal and too laden with biblical references to infer any kind of creativity. On the other hand, Dino Cervigni writes: Therefore, gender dynamics among the brigata is clearly a contested point among Boccaccio scholars.

And taken together, they create a situation charged with allegorical resonance. Are religion and masculinity mutually exclusive? It is also to assume that Boccaccio, his male characters, and his male narrators all suffer from an acute lack of religion in their lives; however, we know that this is not true. Calabrese argues that Boccaccio de- masculinizes his characters as well: One could argue that sex and death drive much of the drama of the entire collection, shaping and, at times, dismantling masculinity. Boccaccio never answers the question of what it means to be a man in the Decameron, for it could never mean just one thing.

Furthermore, it is unclear whether Dionigi was attempting to create realistic male figures or merely a hagiographical list of modernized saints. Regardless of his intentions, I believe that Dionigi failed in portraying a truly spiritual group, especially regarding how the group discusses women.

I will explore these discussions in the following chapter. Female Gender and Sexuality in the DS: Femininity is all but erased from the macrotext, and in the ragionamenti women appear only as exemplary figures, whether serving as warnings against sinful behavior or as paragons of virtue and saintly excellence. Even if some women function as protagonists of stories or parables, these tales are never longer than one or two pages of text and certainly do not span the length of a Boccaccian novella; rather, they are folded into a larger ragionamento and enveloped in discussion or recitation of religious quotations and commentary.

In this chapter I will flesh out the roles of the women in the DS. In particular, I will examine the categories of the women that Dionigi chose to include in the text and their importance, both as individuals and in groups, to the overarching spiritualization genre. How did the censorship norms of the Counter-Reformation shape the representation of female sexuality in this particular subset of literature and in literature in general?

How did contemporary female readers and authors react and respond to these texts? I argue that female sexuality, especially regarding virgin saints, was a distinct obsession—even a fetish—for the authors of the spiritualization genre. Dionigi, in particular, heavily favored discussion of female martyrs over male martyrs; he even devoted an entire sacra rappresentazione to the life of Saint Christina, which I will examine in the last section of this chapter. The Problem of Sexuality in the Counter-Reformation As I have shown in previous chapters, the presence of sexuality in a text—regardless of the gender, age, race, or marital status of the characters involved—became one of the primary focuses of censors in the first years of the Counter-Reformation.

If a text was classified as donec expurgetur or donec corrigatur forbidden from publication unless expurgated or corrected , the next step was to sanitize the text and make it suitable for publication. Wholesale removal of women did not happen in every single spiritualized text: That being said, Dionigi could have left out these figures and their sins entirely; however, this probably would have resulted in a much shorter, even drier text.

These figures were essential to his arguments in that they served to accentuate, by contrast, the positive examples of saintly behavior. Furthermore, as I will show in the following sections, sexuality especially that of a woman is impossible to erase, even if that woman is a virgin martyr. One of the reasons women presented such a serious problem in vernacular texts was not their existence in general, but their existence in relation to the men around them. When a woman is erased from the text, as is common in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century rewritings on which I focus, it is clear that the author is attempting to transcend the problem of sexual temptation by removing, and thus denying, her material presence.

Dionigi hints at his inspiration for this mindset with his frequent citations of male philosophers such as Saint John Chrysostom, Aristotle, and Saint Augustine, all of whom argued that the female body is not only unequal to the male body, but relatively deficient and able to serve purely physical ends. This often required the individual to leave society—most often by entering into a monastery or cloister—so as to avoid distractions e. Rape in this regard is comprehended as a subset of adultery, not an abuse of the woman herself. Consent or consensual relations are not, tellingly, the issue.

Nor is it the bodily integrity or autonomy of the woman. Rather, what is operating here is the social structure—and its integrity literally and morally —regarding scripted relations among men and women, families, those in positions of influence and their inferiors, and the propagation of family, tribe, and nation. If these spiritualizations, which purport to excise the harmful i. Apart from these published responses, we do not know much more about the reactions of contemporary female readers to the Decameron.

The authors of those texts—the fatti themselves—are men who fashion the vernacular as feminine, but who cannot utterly transpose the social and artistic exchange of parole to an exclusively feminine world. An Examination of the Role of Women in the Decameron. There are no women characters in the first three stories of both the first and tenth days and, interestingly, two of the most licentious tales in the whole Decameron the Masetto and Alibech stories are told by men. Also missing are stories that show female friendship or only female protagonists.

Valeria Finucci adds that feminine silence can also be seen as a sign of chastity: Every woman who appears in the Decameron has a voice that is constructed, once through the mouth of the narrator of that story, and once again by the pen of Boccaccio. The silence of Alatiel in II. The female characters in the Decamerone Spirituale do not have the privilege of being filtered through the words of female narrators. The women featured in this text do not serve as they appear largely to do in the Decameron as sexual objects meant for male consumption.

The Virgin Mary appears Finucci adds: This is the very paradigm that Freud analyzed and atomized in his theory of the dirty joke. Although woman is ostensibly the main character in the joke-work, her position there is to advance, by means of her presence, the homosocial strategy of those telling tales about her.

Given that women are removed as intermediators in the DS, they are reduced even further. Other categories of women include virgin saints and martyrs e. Christina, Lucy, Agatha , women in the Bible e. Bathsheba, Susanna, Delilah , historical figures e. Humbeline, the sister of St. Bernard; Queen Radegunde of France; Cleopatra; Xanthippe, a wife of Socrates , random characters from stories or parables, and mythological figures e. As it constitutes one of three instances in the Decameron where the author speaks directly to his readers in his own voice, it presents a unique shift in the already complicated narrative structure of the work.

Because of this, many Boccaccio scholars consider the Introduction to Day Four to be another novella in itself or at least half of one , bringing the total number of Decameron novelle to Upon exiting the cave and venturing into the nearby town, the son sees a group of women and asks the father what they are called; the father responds that they are papere, or geese.

He narrates the beginning of the Day in the usual manner, in which the See Appendix D for a full table of names of women who appear in the DS. Other instances of female figures appearing in the text of the DS, though rare, include personifications of virtues: The story is that Tereus married Procne daughter of King Pandion of Attica, begot a son, Itys, on her, then concealed her in the country in order to be able to marry her sister Philomela.

He told her that Procne was dead, and when she learned the truth cut out her tongue so that she should not be able to tell anyone. But she embroidered some letters on a peplum, which enabled Procne to be found in time. Procne returned and in revenge for her ill-treatment killed her son Itys, whom she laid on a dish before Tereus. Tereus had meanwhile attended an oracle which told him that Itys would be murdered, and suspecting that his brother Dryas was the destined murderer, had killed him.

The sisters then fled, Tereus caught up an axe, and the gods changed them all into birds: Procne became a swallow, Philomela a nightingale, Tereus a hoopoe. A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth n1; italics mine. Having removed all of the women narrators, and having replaced all of the female characters in the microtext with speechless figures, he has silenced the female voice much as Tereus silenced Philomela.

Of course, this silencing is much less violent than in the myth, but it is still obstructive and exclusionary. In the Decameron, the nightingale also appears, but in a much different setting: Other birds are mentioned in the Decameron, but are not always representative of women or sexuality.

If, as Mihoko Suzuki suggests, both Boccaccio and his male brigata members Birds in the Decameron include nightingales V. Consider, for example, the story of Pietro di Vinciolo Dec. Even Griselda, the paragon of purity and humility in the Decameron, is not safe: Dionigi perpetuates this fantasy by erasing the speaking woman altogether. Io non mi so imaginare perche tu para cosi brutta a gli huomini, e cosi difforme. I cannot imagine why you seem so ugly to men, and so deformed.

What is interesting is that, according to Dionigi, women do not always bear the full brunt of responsibility for these sins; at some points in the text he places the burden on fathers and husbands: These young women doing these services, oftentimes enter in strict counsel with the other, that of almsgiving, of fasting, of praying, and if they also pray, they pray against the honesty of who hears them, and in much dishonor to the naughty husbands, who do not watch who it is that practices in their houses.

It is that many times that which they should give to the poor for love of Christ, is given badly, and worse, is given to infamous sensual people, and to evil masters of insatiable and detestable libido. O miserable husbands, o unhappy fathers, o reviled brothers and spouses; remove from your house these boorish, ribald women … Do not be merely content that your wives practice holy almsgiving to the true poor of Christ, but command them that they do it, and that they be courteous, and full of Christian charity with those who need it. For example, in ragionamento V.

She functions as a model for grace and humility and, most importantly, represents womanhood and chastity. And among women do we not find that there were sinners, and great sinners; and also because they were largely penitent, they deserved to be pardoned of their errors, and they were absolved of their sins in that, from vessels of shame and disgrace, they were made vessels of Glory in the supreme court of Heaven? Was not Mary Magdalene a sinner? She was a sinner, and she was a public sinner, that is discovered to be a sinner because she was, as the Gospel says, a sinner in the city.

She did penance for her sins, she loved Christ most cordially, and in the house of the Pharisee she washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, kissed them with her mouth, and doused them with precious oil … And she, having walked the wrong road for so long, searching for the correct path and the good road, aligned herself to Christ not by the head, but by the feet.

Non fu peccatrice Maria Maddalena? This reference is also seen in the Divine Comedy, both in Inf. The more she suffered, the more she had patience, and the more she tolerated the canings, the prisons, the slaps, the hooks, the wheel, the fire, the fracturing of bones, the fall into a lake; the more she suffered with patience being called witch, sorceress, enchantress; that she was put in a blazing furnace; that she had venomous serpents attack her tender breast just as they attacked Cleopatra ; that, in order to humiliate her, had her hair cut off; that from her delicate little body her virgin breasts were torn off; that her tongue was cut off, and oh, rare and singular example of undefeated patience in the tender, and delicate breast of a simple little virgin that she was ultimately shot with arrows by the impious adulators of idols, and in the middle of those shots she rendered her pure and innocent spirit into the hands of her celestial spouse, our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to legend, her cruel father, Urbano, sent her to be judged by three different judges in the city of Tiro. These judges tortured Christina for being a witch and exposed her to venomous serpents much like, Dionigi mentions, Cleopatra , cut off her hair, breasts and tongue, and shot her with arrows, at which point she finally died. In Day One, Dionigi mentions Christina among other female saints who also demonstrated a strong tendency toward charity, and who also suffered a great deal of torture while keeping their virginity intact: He is enclosed within the narrow womb of the Virgin Mary, he whom the whole world, and thousands of thousands of worlds could never contain.

Did not these simple Virgins, even being of a weaker sex, also have this charity? They certainly had it. I speak of Christina of Tyre who overcame infinite torments by her cruel Father and of Dione, and who overcame torments and disgraces under Julian; and ultimately, after escaping from the burning furnace, where she was for five straight days, was put to death by arrows. I speak of the Virgin martyrs Lucy, Agatha, Apollonia, Thecla, Catherine; and finally of all the infinite multitude of virgin saints, who burned with love for Christ, and made themselves his dear brides, loved by the son of the always blessed Virgin Mother.

In the Introduction to Day One of the DS, Dionigi rails against women who sold their bodies in order to provide food for their children during the famine: This was also one of the main results of the plague described by Boccaccio: According to Dionigi, It is important to note the difference between virginity and chastity—a virgin is a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse, whereas a chaste person may or may not be a virgin but has, either way, chosen at some point to abstain from sexual intercourse. For more clarification see Karen A.

Legends of Sainthood in Late Medieval England Martyrdom, once so central to Christian identity, had become part of Christian mythology rather than of Christian life. Yet the continued production of narratives about martyred saints indicates martyrdom still had powerful symbolic value. Possibly the meaning was different for men and women, but the virginity of female martyrs was evidently central to their value for both sexes.

There are also figures and parables that represent the chastity of wives, widows, widowers, and virgins: Husbands should mirror the chastity of Saint Malchus, the captive monk and prisoner; widowers, the chastity of Joseph, and male Virgins, the chastity of John the Evangelist, holy Virgin. For this reason I warn you, my beloved sister in Christ, that for the love of Jesus Christ you must never be idle.

She is stripped and beaten before an audience of leering spectators.

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She is hauled off to a brothel or otherwise threatened with rape. Her breasts or nipples are torn off. As object of a libido metaphorically veiled, she serves in the end to guarantee less male libido and more male solidarity, the bonding of the group in which this libido is being excited. There is no need to give this woman an identity; the purpose of the description is not to evoke a specific person but to visualize female beauty.

The represented ideal can thus easily erase the real being that has permitted its representation, and woman as physical being can be conveniently removed from woman as See Gaunt Women had to transcend the body in a way men did not. Reproduction was often viewed as the only justification for sex and virginity was seen as the highest ideal for women … Virginity is a form of sexuality as much as monogamy or promiscuity. Classifying a woman as a virgin constructs her primarily in relation to her sexuality as much as classifying her as a married woman or a whore.

Certain scenes, when abstracted from their context, have much in common with modern pornography depicting bondage and mutilation. The value of martyrdom as a sign of faith and self-sacrifice as no doubt clear to medieval audiences, but is there not also an element of pleasure implicit in the numerous descriptions of the violation of nubile female bodies? Transfixed into an immutable image and set outside history, woman is cast as perfect as long as she witnesses in silence, and from her assigned place, her own reconstruction.

The Lady Vanishes 53 Despite all of this, the woman in these spiritualized texts—especially the DS—is a necessary presence, even if her presence is disguised as an absence. Far from the rigidity and religiosity of his Decamerone Spirituale, the Amor Cortese is full of comical situations and witty arguments on the subject of love. Among the first introductory sonnets, Dionigi paints a picture of the forest in which the comedy will take place and indicates his reasons for the name he gives the work: Eventually they leave each other to seek out the objects of their affection.

When the women appear on the scene, they joke to the audience about the insatiable desires the men exhibit toward them. The play ends on a high note, to the amusement and delight of the audience. While the content of the play does not differ greatly from other sacre rappresentazioni of the period, nor from the passio tradition in which the martyrdom of saints is recounted , it is consistent with the way in which Dionigi depicts female saints in his writing and is a complete reversal from the light and bawdy scenes of the Amor Cortese.

The work begins with a four-page dedicatory letter from Dionigi to his patron, Cardinal Girolamo Rusticucci; in it, Dionigi singles out Christina as his favorite saint, to whom he often prays for protection and aid. From that, speaking the truth, I confess to be liberated and defended from many troubles, and from many imminent dangers. Immediately following the dedicatory letter and preceding the dramatis personae, there are five dedicatory poems exchanged between historical figures, authors, and saints.

These poems are either octaves or sonnets and, in order, are addressed: Onde, il vero dicendo, confesso essere stato da molti travagli, e da molti sovrastanti pericoli, liberato, e difeso. Despite all of her heavenly gifts, Dionigi wants to set her on a pedestal by means of his glorification of her that is, he will perform the best possible apotheosis. At the same time, he acknowledges his inadequacy in doing so, which he also expresses in his dedicatory letters to Rusticucci both in this work and in the DS.

Dionigi repeats the phrase at the very end of the prologue: