Renzo enters the lazaretto, a place that can only be compared to Dante’s Inferno. At the outset Manzoni writes,
“I will not attempt to describe this scene in detail, nor would the reader want me to. Following our young man on his woeful journey, we will stop where he stops, and describe enough of what he witnessed to relate what he did, and what followed.”
Page 587. Goats mingling about, “acting as the nurses’ helpers.” A pastoral scene in the middle of the lazaretto.
Who should Renzo encounter but Padre Cristoforo, who admonishes him for his hatred of Don Rodrigo. An act of penance, of forgiveness, is required before the boy is allowed to go on.
“It may be punishment, or it may be mercy. What you feel now for this man who offended you is the same feeling that God—whom you, too, have offended—will have for you on the day of judgment. Bless him, and you shall be blessed.”
Join us on April 10 for a virtual discussion of The Betrothed with Michael F. Moore.
I like the way Manzoni describes how the weather partakes in the human suffering being experienced by everyone. Motherless babies being fed my goats all add to this end of the world feeling. Humanity is in stasis. There is almost a Good Friday sense to it.
Renzo's encounter with fra Cristoforo is at the heart of the chapter. I love some of his observations: "God is stricter than any man, but also more indulgent", or: "And clearly you do not have the audacity to think yourself worthy of God's consolation". A theme of the chapter is forgiveness; self-forgiveness and being able to forgive others.
"Perhaps both this man's salvation and yours depend on your capacity for forgiveness, for compassion...for love!"
The whole chapter is a kind of spiritual ecology of salvation. The interdependence and interconnection of everything; the physical-natural world and mankind.
It was Don Rodrigo who triggered the entire chain of events (the plague aside) that led to Renzo‘s misery and Lucia‘s anguish and suffering. I imagine that it would require Renzo to be a deeply devout believer for him to pray for Rodrigo on his deathbed. I am moved, but perhaps not surprised, that our Friar Cristoforo has asked him to do so.