How we cite our quotes: (Day.Story.Page)
Quote #1
It was thus, then, that Ser Cepperello of Prato lived and died, becoming a Saint in the way you have heard. Nor would I wish to deny that perhaps God has blessed and admitted him to His presence. For albeit he led a wicked, sinful life, it is possible that at the eleventh hour he was so sincerely repentant that God had mercy upon him and received him into His kingdom (I.1.36, Panfilo's tale of Ser Cepperello/Ciappelletto).
Cepperello is one wicked dude who has learned how to game the system. He uses his last confession before death to dupe the local priest into thinking that he was the holiest man on earth, thereby becoming a local saint after death. This opening story drips with the skepticism of religion and superstitious practices that will blossom as the stories flow on.
Quote #2
'Now listen, Jehannot, you would like me to become a Christian, and I am prepared to do so on one condition: that first of all I should go to Rome and there observe the man whom you call the vicar of God on earth, and examine his life and habits together with those of his fellow cardinals […]'
When Jehannot heard this, he was thrown into a fit of gloom and said to himself: 'I have wasted my energies, which I felt I had used to good effect, thinking I had converted the man; for if he goes to the court of Rome and sees what foul and wicked lives the clergy lead, not only will he not become a Christian, but, if he had already turned Christian he would become a Jew again without fail.' (I.2.38-39)
This plot twist shows us that Boccaccio is making a distinction between the religion itself vs. the officers of the Church. The Jewish Abraham goes to Rome, witnesses the clergy's flagrantly lustful behavior, not to mention that they were "gluttons, winebibbers, and drunkards without exception" and "rapacious moneygrubbers." Nevertheless, he decides to adopt Christianity. Huh? Why? He figures that if the religion is flourishing even with the disgusting behavior of the clergy, who seem to be trying to drive it into the ground, then God must be on the side of Christianity. Another interesting fact: Abraham the Jew is described as an upright man of honesty, integrity, and discernment. This is not the typical description of a Jew in medieval literature. Jews had been accused of causing the plague by poisoning the wells, and they were seen as threats to Christians because of their failure to accept Christ. More typically, they were portrayed as evil incarnate, like in Chaucer's "The Prioress's Tale".
Quote #3
'And I say to you, my lord, that the same applies to the three laws which God the Father granted to His three peoples, and which formed the subject of your inquiry. Each of them considers itself the legitimate heir to his estate, each believes it possesses His one true law and observes his commandments. But as with the rings, the question of which of them is right remains in abeyance.' (I.3.44, the Saladin and Melchizedek)
The great Egyptian Sultan Saladin tries to pick a fight with the Jew Melchizedek by asking him which of the three great religions is the correct one. Melchizedek answers with a parable about a king who loved his three sons so equally that, rather than bequeathing his expensive ring to one of them, made two extra identical copies. At a time where the Catholic Church had a stronghold on law and culture, asserting the equal dignity of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam was a pretty revolutionary statement. At the time, none of those three world religions had much respect for the other two. This story was another reason that The Decameron ended up on the church's Index of Prohibited Books.
Quote #4
If we were to spend our money on our own pleasures, the friar would no longer be able to idle away his time in the cloisters; if we were to go pursuing the ladies, the friars would be put out of business; if we failed to practise patience and forgive all wrongs, the friar would no longer have the effrontery to call upon us in our own homes and corrupt our families. (III.7.244, Emilia's tale of Tedaldo degli Elisei)
Tedaldo voices the most common criticisms against the clergy: they're money-grubbing, lazy womanizers who benefit from the Christian philosophy of forgiveness when they've taken advantage of their parishioners' wives. They encourage tithing and sexual restraint so they can have the money and the women. Tedaldo, of course, is using this argument to discredit advice given against him by a friar to his beloved—so you should take it with a grain of salt.
Quote #5
This Friar Cipolla was a little man, with red hair and a merry face, and he was the most sociable fellow in the world. He was quite illiterate, but he was such a lively and excellent speaker, that anyone hearing him for the first time would have concluded, not only that he was some great master of rhetoric, but that he was Cicero in person or perhaps Quintilian. (VI.10.470, Dioneo's story of Friar Cipolla and the Angel's Feather)
Friar Cipolla (or "Brother Onion") is the forerunner of Chaucer's Friar, a pleasant fellow who knows how to work religion to his best advantage. Both fellows are good schmoozers, have magnetic personalities, and the gift of gab. But the fraudulent behavior of the friar is one of many reasons that Boccaccio and his fictional crew love to hate the clergy and how they play on the superstitions of their parishioners.
Quote #6
[...] the day before yesterday, when I went to the pardoning at Fiesole, I came across a hermitess, who as God is my witness [...] is the most saintly woman you ever met, and when she saw how terrified I was of the werewolf, she taught me a fine and godly prayer, telling me that she had tried it many a time before becoming a recluse, and it had always worked for her. (VII.1.488-489, Emilia's tale of Gianni Lotteringhi and the Werewolf)
As you might have guessed, there's no werewolf and no prayer to exorcise one from your property. What we have here is a clever wife exploiting religious superstition to cover the tracks of a lover who appears at an awkward moment. The fact that Tessa's trick works on her husband speaks volumes about Boccaccio's take on blind faith and superstition, especially among the lower classes.
Quote #7
Ah, scandal of this corrupt and wicked world! It doesn't worry [the friars] in the least that they appear so fat and bloated, that a bright red glow suffuses their cheeks, that their clothes are smooth as velvet, and that in all their dealings they are so effeminate; yet they are anything but dovelike, for they strut about like so many peacocks with all their feathers on display. (VII.3.496, Elissa's story of Friar Rinaldo)
St. Thomas Aquinas, a brilliant Italian theologian and Dominican friar, was reputed to be colossally fat and hugely fond of his food. We don't know if the image of Aquinas contributed to Boccaccio's comic portrait of friars, but you'll see that they're stereotypically fat in The Decameron. Boccaccio's not fat-shaming here. Rather, he's pointing out a larger problem (no pun intended): fatness implies that these clergymen are indulging in the sin of gluttony. The hefty friar is evidence of hypocrisy, since they're always preaching against indulging the appetites.
Quote #8
Fair ladies, it behoves me to relate a little story against a class of persons who keep offending us without our being able to retaliate. I am referring to the priests, who have proclaimed a crusade against our wives, and who seem to think, when they succeed in laying one of them on her back, that they have earned full remission of all their sins, as surely as if they had brought the Sultan back from Alexandria to Avignon in chains. (VIII.2.555, Panfilo's story about Monna Belcolore and the Priest of Varlungo)
Panfilo points out another good reason to hate friars: the average Joe is powerless to criticize them. While the people probably discuss the faults of the clergy among themselves, clergymen still have a great deal of power in the community. This power differential is what defines sexual harassment in any relationship.
Quote #9
Surely we can only conclude that whereas the munificence of the King was a virtue, that of the priest was a miracle; for these latter are so incredibly mean that women are positively generous by comparison, and they fight tooth and nail against every charitable instinct. Moreover, whereas all men naturally crave to be avenged for wrongs they have received, we know from experience that the members of the clergy, though they preach submissiveness and warmly commend the pardoning of wrongs, surpass all other men in the zeal with which they conduct their vendettas (X.2.706, Elissa's story of Ghino di Tacco and the Abbot of Cluny).
Elissa gets in a swipe at women as well as priests. We finally see a clergyman who can be commended for generosity and Boccaccio can only allow him a back-handed compliment. It seems that the stereotype of the bad priest/friar prevails, and the exception proves the rule.
Quote #10
There may also be those among you who will say that I have an evil and venomous tongue, because in certain places I write the truth about the friars. But who cares? I can readily forgive you for saying such things, for doubtless you are prompted by the purest of motives, friars being decent fellows, who forsake a life of discomfort for the love of God, who do all their grinding when the millpond's full, and say no more about it. Except for the fact that they all smell a little of the billy-goat, their company would offer the greatest of pleasure. (Author's Epilogue, 802. Boccaccio's defense of his work)
In the "Author's Epilogue," Boccaccio pretends to take on a conciliatory tone toward his critics. But the fact is that Boccaccio's not interested in backing down on any of his previous opinions concerning the clergy. He's having a great time here insulting them even more, dropping in the word "discomfort" to change the meaning of the usual phrase describing a life dedicated to God and accusing them of sexual indiscretions and homosexuality. Way to make friends, B.