A certain day he heard:
"My father could not return a debt" a voice of a girl was whispering "then the one that lent him the money has taken every thing away from us: the house, the land. But even this was not enough. He claimed that my father should give me to be his servant... I didn’t want to, I was afraid, I cried. But he said that it had to be so. I must regain with my work the money that he had lent. This is the law..."
"There shouldn’t be a law like this."
"He said that it exists. The person who cannot pay his debt must become the creditor`s slave. They took me to his house. They imposed me to work for them. They gave me heavy jobs. For any mistake that I do they reproach and hit me. Both the owner father and mother and even the daughters... But the worst thing is that the son of the owner doesn’t leave me alone. He invites me to sin. He says that one day he will come and will take me by force… I have escaped a couple of times. I was able to run away from him. Oh, how I hate him! If he will do what he says, I will kill him or myself!"
"Don’t say this"
"Are there many slaves like yourself in the city?" he asked.
"Yes, Friar. There are girls, boys and even children."
"And who is this man where you are working?"
"He is a merchant. A very wealthy person. And a very powerful man. He goes even in the house of the governor personally, and viceversa."
"What is his name?"
"I am afraid to tell you, Friar..."
"Do not be afraid. You are in a confessional. Nobody will ever know that I have learned from these things."
"I am sure that Beppo, the chief of the servants, realising that I wanted to confess myself, followed me. They sent me to do the shopping, and I have taken the advantage to run here..."
"I tell you once more. Don’t be afraid, speak."
She said in a hurry: "It is Nicola Graziani..."
While she moved away, he observed her. She was little. She had black hair. She had a round face and she didn`t look more than a little girl. Getting out from the Church she picked up two big baskets placed next to the column before she went to the confessional and hurried away towards home.
Going out from the confessional Anthony went to the Parish Priest to ask for information about that Graziani. The Priest raised his hands high up with a gesture that made Anthony understand the importance of the man in question.
"Holy Madonna, I believe that it is the richest man of Padua. His bank sends money in every country. He lend even to heretics and pagans. He has ships in Venice and he sends them overseas with the merchandise..."
"It seems that he has a son."
"He has, he has. The boy is called Gualberto, a terrible rascal. Ringleader of all the gilded local youth. He is the first when it comes to fights, duels, game of hazard. Well, but before anything else, a seducer. All girls are in danger. He has already had disputes because of abduction. But he is not afraid of anybody. The father is a friend of the count Ezzelino..."
He changed argument:
"Is it true, Reverend sir, that in Padua the insolvent debtors, if they can`t pay, they become slaves of the creditor?"
The parish priest sighed.
"It is true, Friar Anthony. The magistrate have enacted this cruel law. The richest, people such as Graziani was requested it.
"And what do they do with these people?"
"They take the girls as servants. They send the young boys on their ships. And the children... I do not know, but I have heard," he lowered instinctively his voice "that they sell them to the Saracen. I have heard that one part of those children, that some years ago were taken away on the ships, with the pretext that they were going to visit our Lord`s Holy Sepulchre, were children taken away because of the debts..."
"It is frightening, Reverend sir."
"Yes. It is frightening, Friar Anthony."
"Can’t anything be done to change things? If I would go to the Reverend Bishop..."
"You wouldn’t obtain anything, Friar. The Bishop is aware of this. He has complained, he has said how it is inhuman and anti-Christian to make slaves some Christians. But nobody listens to him. He hasn’t obtained anything from the Count..."
"And if I would speak to the Magistrates?"
"I doubt that even you would be able to convince them. They only worry about the richest. But try, try..."
Before he made a decision he went in church and prayed for a long time in front of the statue of the Holiest Virgin who held in her arms little Jesus. After having prayed he went to the house of the merchant Graziani.
The house was big and beautiful, adorned by arches and by beaten iron balconies. To enter, he had to knock at the main door which was guarded by a servant in coloured plumes.
"What do you want?" he asked from behind the grate, after having observed Anthony with contempt.
"I desire to speak to your master."
"Oh, Oh, Oh" he burst in a mockery laughter.
"My master doesn’t receive mendicants. But suddenly he changed tune, he asked:
"Was it you who was preaching this morning in front of the Church of Saint Sofia?"
"It was me."
He measured Anthony with a look in which the distrust was mixed to the doubt.
"It is said" he said "that in our city has come a certain famous preacher. The common people run to hear him. I don’t understand much... But you, friar, have the look of any Friar mendicant..."
"I am a common mendicant Friar."
"But you said that it was you who was preaching in front of the Church?"
"Yes, it was me."
The servant scratched his head obviously embarrassed. "I really do not know what to do with you. Wait, I will go to see my master. Let him decide by himself if he wants to speak to you."
He moved away leaving Anthony in front of the shut door. After a little while he came back accompanied by a young man dressed with a long dark dress and a black skullcap on his head. He looked like a secretary or a clerk. It was he who asked:
"Would it be you the famous Friar Anthony of the order of the Friars minor of whom there is so much talk?"
"It is me."
"And you want to speak with the illustrius Master Graziani?"
"Yes."
"Master Graziani is very busy and doesn’t have much time to speak. If you have come to ask for alms he has authorised me to give it to you..."
"I didn’t come to ask for alms" he interrupted the clerk.
"Master Graziani has really little time... He is in the middle of doing his accounts. If however you promise that the question will be of brief duration, I will take you to him."
He gave the order to the porter to open the door. He guided Anthony through a courtyard, and then through a splendid garden, in which a girl, with golden hair gathered in a beards hairnet, was playing with the ball. Anthony thought that perhaps it was the daughter of Graziani of which his penitent had talked about. They climbed a staircase that led at first in an ample balcony and then inside the house. They went beyond a certain number of rooms. In the last one, near a writing desk, on which were accumulated big volumes, piles of paper, arithmetic primers and some heaps of coins, on a comfortable armchair, was sitting the merchant. He had a wide square face, and even if he was not very old, all his face was marked by wrinkles. His dark eyes emerged from the heavy folds of his skin that hung on his cheeks. On his hair precociously turned white, he had a small skullcap with a tassel which fell on his shoulders. He sat with his head bowed on the piece of paper, on which there were written long columns of figures. He raised his head and observed Anthony.
"What is it?" said impatiently
"Why do you come to me? If you want an alm..."
With the big ringed fingers he fished, out of the heap of coins that was in front of him, a gold coin and placed it on the edge of the table in front of Anthony.
"No. I haven’t come to ask for alms." said Anthony. "Besides, as our founder has taught us, we do not accept help under the form of money. I desire to exchange a word with you, without witness."
He shrugged his shoulders, evidently irritated by Anthony`s request, but indicated to his clerk to go out. When the door was shut, he asked impatiently:
"So, what do you want? Speak in a hurry, I have no time."
"I’ve come to learn, Sir, that in your house there is a girl that you are holding as slave because of an unpaid debt."
"Yes. I do. I do have some slaves in my house. This is according to the law. I respect the law and I do any thing wrong which is against it."
"This law is cruel and anti-Christian. It is not allowed to take a Christian in slavery."
"Are you saying that it is allowed to pay a debt? Come on Friar spit it out. Which girl are you referring to?"
"Her name is Julia. Her father is a poor furrier. He can’t pay because you,
Sir, have taken away from him his shop. And furthermore you have claimed his daughter..."
"That Girolamo is a idler and would have never paid his debt. While the girl with a year or two of service will pay for the father, then I will free her. I have no intention to detain her all her life."
"Seen, that she is in your house, she should be under your protection. Instead your son has taken fancy of her and is ready to hurt her."
He burst in a coarse laughter. "That is bad? I bet that it is not him. I bet that it is she who lures him. She probably thinks that is she will have his child, she could earn something for it. But she is wrong! She has to work and the child will be sent away!"
"So you would add to a wrong a further wrong against an innocent child? A sin calls another one…"
"And what is this to you, Friar?" the merchant burst out.
"I haven’t asked you for your teaching. Stick your nose in things that are not yours."
"I beg you only, Sir, that you don’t allow..."
"Enough! I will not loose my time in useless chats. I am acting according to the law and I do not do anything against it. As for the girl, she better be careful. But we know them all, we know what they want..."
"What sir, what if your beautiful girl, the one with golden hair, would find herself in the hands of a man without scruples…"
"Quiet! I forbid you to speak about my daughter. And anyway, I have enough of you! Go away! Bartolomeo!" shouted to the secretary, who evidently was behind the door ready to intervene.
"Show the way out to this insolent Friar!"
Then he turned to Anthony "Never come back here" menaced him with a finger "because you will be beaten! Preach the commoner, leave us alone...!"
The clerk accompanied Anthony to the main door. However he didn`t do it with brutality. When Anthony was outside the grate, he said:
"Go and never make yourself seen by Master Graziani. You have irritated him so. If he decides to turn against you, you will be a finished man. Go and never appear around here."
At the end, nevertheless, he reached his purpose. Every day he was preaching and every day gathered numerous crowds to listen to him. That recalled the attention of the city Magistrates who turned to him asking to teach them and their families. Anthony was waiting for an occasion like this. Right away, from his first words he took position against the cruel law that allowed to take as slaves the children of insolvent debtors.
"My dear brothers, as it is written in the Leviticus, the ancient Hebrews had enacted a norm that forbade usury. If it happened that someone of the Israelites could not pay a debt, he could have been placed in the hands of the creditor to indemnify with his work. It wasn`t however allowed to be treatyed as a slave. He had to work as a labourer, and should not have been oppressed or treated with harshness. And when there arrived the year of Restoration, he would recover his freedom. 'Because they' said our Lord 'aren’t your servants, but mine. I have let them out from the country of Egypt. Is is not allowed to sell them as you would sell slaves.!' ...Yet what is it happening in this city, today, when we are living under the mercy of Jesus law? You are lending money to your Christian brothers and expect full payment with the highest of interest making it so impossible for them to repay you back.
Remember the parable of our Lord, of how a certain king forgave the debt of a debtor who owed him a large amount of money. As soon as the debtor received such a grace, he met one of his debtors who owed him a small amount of money. His debtor begged the creditor for an extention of time. But the creditor was inflexible. He ordered to imprison his debtor. If you think, the same is happening to us. We lend one another small sums, and than we demand categorically the repayment. But hasn`t God lent us something much bigger? In fact, all that we have is his. And all this has remained his property. We are only his usufructuaries that have the duty to administer the goods received, so that we can return them to Him. Just like those servants in the parable who received a number of talents, the time will come when the talents have to be returned. Even to God is not enough to bury the talents given in order not to loose them. We have received the talents in order to make them yield. It is not enough to receive from the hands of Jesus the bread, the bread was given to the apostles so that it could be distributed to every one who came to listen to them. The more they were giving, the more there was. It was sufficient to feed all the hungered crowds.
But how are we behaving? We actually put back the bread in the pantry and we keep it there greedily till it will grow stale and we do not through it in the rubbish bin. And we are not forgivine the debt of a hungry man.
What will happen when the Lord will arrive all of a sudden the day of reckoning? How can be so sure that it could be this very night?
…If you can’t allow forgiveness of a debt, at least do not add wrong over wrong and do not search for payment in the persons. How could ever a Christian be slave of another Christian? You know the evil law that you have proclaimed and that allows to enslave the people who cannot pay.
I will repeat once again what our Lord said to the ancient Hebrews, that the debtors are his, since he made them also free from the Egyptian land. Jesus today says the same thing: you are all my servants, since I have redeemed each and every one of you with my blood…"
He was speaking, and the audience bent over under the weight of his words that assailed them. A few days after the sermon, the magistrates enacted the annulment of the law that consented to render slaves the people. By Anthony’s insistence more was done: There was the duty to free all slaves. The citizen guard were supposed to go from house to house to make sure the law was respected.
He had exactly finished to speak, and was going towards the Church, to take place in the confessional, when a girl made room in the crowd and fell at his feet.
"Oh, Friar Anthony, Friar Anthony, how happy I am. May God bless you for what you have done for us. I have gone back to my father. Graziani had to let me go. He was infuriated. He howled. He cursed, but he had to do it. Gualberto threatned me once again. He said that he will find me and he will take revenge. His sister ordered that my things were searched to make sure I didn`t steal anything. The yelled and called me a thief."
"Forgive them, in the name of Jesus. And do not worry about Gualberto, don’t be afraid. God will look after you."
"I am not afraid of him! I know that you, friar Anthony, will always protect me. You are so powerful."
"Don’t say so. All that is good, happened by the work of God. We need to alway thank him. But how are things at your house?"
"The situation is difficult... But we are together..."
"May God help you. I will visit you one day of this."
He saw her while she was running away. She was no more than a child with her black plaits fly about. He followed her for a moment with his eyes. Since her first encounter the girl had hinted a vague project.
During his last soujour in Assisi, Anthony had been informed that Sister Chiara wanted to speak to him. He had gone to Saint Damiano. The interview happened through the wooden grate. Chiara said:
"I don’t know you Friar Anthony, but Friar Francis has spoken to me about you. He said that, if I needed anything, I had to ask you for help..."
"In what can I be useful, sister?"
"I know that often you are in Padua. At the Arcella, not far from the city, there is the palace of the knights Enselmini. Friar Francis met one of their daughters, Helen. She is a young woman, devout, clever. I know that she desired to found a house of Poor Dames. Just as the one we have here. I would like you to help her. She lives isolated from the world. There is the need to send her someone that would help her. Oh, I would be so in pain if something that Francis has started would remain unaccomplished..."
Anthony promised her that he would occupy himself of that, but till now he could not keep his promise. He had so much to do, the days were passing so quickly.
Even his illnesses were tormenting him. He wanted to go to Arcella and to entrush Julia to the protection of Helen. Gualberto was indeed ready to attack the girl. In a house of knights she would have been safer than close to her parents. And at the same time she could give some help to the other…?
He didn’t delay this. The same night he went in search of Girolamo’s family. From the girl he had heard that the furrier, deprived of his shop, lived out of the city, on the other side of the river, along the street that took to Vicenza. A local farmer had given him a half-ruined hut as inhabitation in exchange of his work in the work of the fields. All the family worked very hard, even the children, that beside Julia they were seven of them.
He found everyone at home. They had just come back from their work in the fields. They were hot, tired and hungry. Girolamo’s wife had prepared for the family a big cauldron of polenta. Anthony was greeted joyously. He was invited to sit at their table and to share their frugal supper. Julia and her mother served the others. The girl was smiling and happy. After supper he turned to the girl:
"Listen to what I have to say. I know that you are happy of being with your family, and I see that you are useful to your mother. All the same I would like you to go to Arcella. There, there is the palace of the knight Enselmini, in which lives his daughter, a little older than yourself. Her name is Helen. I will give you a letter for her. In it I have written that she keeps you there for a little while. There you will be safe..."
"I am not afraid. You, friar Anthony, will defend me. I am certain of that."
"God will defend you, but God wants that man will try to defend himself. We have to act normally, humanly, and then God when we least expect it, intervenes and adds strength to our weak intents. He loves to act this way..."
In his saying it seemed that he was saying that more for himself than to the girl.
"Will you go to Arcella?"
"I will, naturally, if you want to, Friar Anthony. When do I have to leave?" He wanted to say: "Go tomorrow." When an inner premonition suggested him to say:
"Go now. Go today."
"It is starting to be dark."
"I will accompany you."
"No. No. I see that you are very tired. I will go by myself. I am not afraid." She repeated.
"I will come with you all the same. It will be better if instead of the letter I will speak to her personally."
Girolamo and his wife were not very happy Anthony`s idea, but they didn`t dare to oppose. After all, they too were afraid of the menaces of Gualberto. The girl prepared in a hurry her bundle with the most necessary things. She threw her cloak on her shoulders and left in the company of Anthony. Anthony tried to walk in a hurry, for as much his sore legs and heavy body allowed him to. They both kept quiet. The girl, usually talkative, now she seemed intimidated. Anthony was immersed in his thoughts. It had been a while that inside of him, for some reason or another, in every girl he saw it reminded him of Emily. He had never forgotten her. He remembered her sad words: "God has indicated you the way. But I..." The bitterness of this question had made this privilege painful. Yet, even though he had chosen his way, he had to change it so many times… "How had her life been? Why after years of forgetfulness now he would think about her so often?"
After one hour of walk, an avenue of cypresses similar to a wood of lances stack in the land guided them in front of the main door of the palace. The servant that opened the door, guided them inside without asking anything. They found themselves in an ample hallway, ornated by horns of buck and of roe. Under their feet they had skins of pig. After an instant of waiting they heard light footsteps. A young woman dressed in black greeted them. On her chest was hanging a cross. She had her hair covered by a big handkerchief. On the very pale and slender face burned her big black eyes. At the sight of Anthony a joyous smile bloomed on her lips.
"You have finally arrived, Friar Anthony!" she exclaimed. "I was waiting for you. How happy I am! Friar Francis told me that before long you would have come"
"Friar Francis?"
"Yes. I have seen him in a dream. He said: 'Be tranquil, daughter, in a little while I will send to you the one who will guide you... "
“Sister Clare has asked me to visit you, madam. But I lingered..."
"You have a lot of work, Friar. You are also ill. I know all this. I have nothing to reproach you. But now I would like you to dedicate a little time for me. You must help me..."
"I will do all that I can. I know that you want to found a house of Poor Dames, similar to the one founded by Sister Chiara."
"Call me Sister, friar Anthony. Yes, I desire to found a house of Poor Dames. But I am always ill. My strength are lacking. My parents are old and have only me. Someone must help me..."
"Haven’t you yet found anybody, Sister, for your house?" "There were some women, but seeing that I am so unfit, they went away..."
"I have brought with me a young girl. Her name is Julia. She is menaced by a peril. She will tell you everything. I would like Sister, that you would take her under your protection. And maybe she could be useful to you..."
"Oh what good idea! Remain with me. I will protect her. Be tranquil about her. And me, would you please confess me?"
"Today?"
"Yes, please. I have so much need of your advices, brother. I want to ask you many things."
"So be it."
When he left the palace, the night was already getting pale. The stars were disappearing one after the other as erased by an invisible hand. He was walking slowly reciting a prayer. Despite his great tiredness there was in him joy. He was happy to have seen Helen. And ever for the shelter he had found for Julia. He was happy of the abrogation of the law that allowed to take as slaves insolvent people. His prayer changed in a soft chant. He wasn’t among those people who knew how to sing. He had no ear for music, of which he was often sad. But that morning, while he was returning alone, he was expressing with the song the joy that was making him exult. He was just passing beside the road that had a turn in the direction of the house lived by the family of Girolamo, when behind the shrubs appeared four men that blocked his way. He stopped.
"Are you the monk mendicant Anthony?" asked one.
"Yes. It is I."
"It seems that you are happy" laughed the other.
"You have enjoyed yourself eh? And now take this, rascal, for your teachings." Rained on top of Anthony fists and blows. In vain he tried to protect himself. The others were beating, with all their strength, on the head, on the shoulders, on the back. He fainted.
Chapter 31
Before he made a decision he went in church and prayed for a long time in front of the statue of the Holiest Virgin who held in her arms little Jesus. After having prayed he went to the house of the merchant Graziani.
Chapter 31
A certain day he heard:
"My father could not return a debt" a voice of a girl was whispering "then the one that lent him the money has taken every thing away from us: the house, the land. But even this was not enough. He claimed that my father should give me to be his servant... I didn’t want to, I was afraid, I cried. But he said that it had to be so. I must regain with my work the money that he had lent. This is the law..."
"There shouldn’t be a law like this."
"He said that it exists. The person who cannot pay his debt must become the creditor`s slave. They took me to his house. They imposed me to work for them. They gave me heavy jobs. For any mistake that I do they reproach and hit me. Both the owner father and mother and even the daughters... But the worst thing is that the son of the owner doesn’t leave me alone. He invites me to sin. He says that one day he will come and will take me by force… I have escaped a couple of times. I was able to run away from him. Oh, how I hate him! If he will do what he says, I will kill him or myself!"
"Don’t say this"
"Are there many slaves like yourself in the city?" he asked.
"Yes, Friar. There are girls, boys and even children."
"And who is this man where you are working?"
"He is a merchant. A very wealthy person. And a very powerful man. He goes even in the house of the governor personally, and viceversa."
"What is his name?"
"I am afraid to tell you, Friar..."
"Do not be afraid. You are in a confessional. Nobody will ever know that I have learned from these things."
"I am sure that Beppo, the chief of the servants, realising that I wanted to confess myself, followed me. They sent me to do the shopping, and I have taken the advantage to run here..."
"I tell you once more. Don’t be afraid, speak."
She said in a hurry: "It is Nicola Graziani..."
While she moved away, he observed her. She was little. She had black hair. She had a round face and she didn`t look more than a little girl. Getting out from the Church she picked up two big baskets placed next to the column before she went to the confessional and hurried away towards home.
Going out from the confessional Anthony went to the Parish Priest to ask for information about that Graziani. The Priest raised his hands high up with a gesture that made Anthony understand the importance of the man in question.
"Holy Madonna, I believe that it is the richest man of Padua. His bank sends money in every country. He lend even to heretics and pagans. He has ships in Venice and he sends them overseas with the merchandise..."
"It seems that he has a son."
"He has, he has. The boy is called Gualberto, a terrible rascal. Ringleader of all the gilded local youth. He is the first when it comes to fights, duels, game of hazard. Well, but before anything else, a seducer. All girls are in danger. He has already had disputes because of abduction. But he is not afraid of anybody. The father is a friend of the count Ezzelino..."
He changed argument:
"Is it true, Reverend sir, that in Padua the insolvent debtors, if they can`t pay, they become slaves of the creditor?"
The parish priest sighed.
"It is true, Friar Anthony. The magistrate have enacted this cruel law. The richest, people such as Graziani was requested it.
"And what do they do with these people?"
"They take the girls as servants. They send the young boys on their ships. And the children... I do not know, but I have heard," he lowered instinctively his voice "that they sell them to the Saracen. I have heard that one part of those children, that some years ago were taken away on the ships, with the pretext that they were going to visit our Lord`s Holy Sepulchre, were children taken away because of the debts..."
"It is frightening, Reverend sir."
"Yes. It is frightening, Friar Anthony."
"Can’t anything be done to change things? If I would go to the Reverend Bishop..."
"You wouldn’t obtain anything, Friar. The Bishop is aware of this. He has complained, he has said how it is inhuman and anti-Christian to make slaves some Christians. But nobody listens to him. He hasn’t obtained anything from the Count..."
"And if I would speak to the Magistrates?"
"I doubt that even you would be able to convince them. They only worry about the richest. But try, try..."
The house was big and beautiful, adorned by arches and by beaten iron balconies. To enter, he had to knock at the main door which was guarded by a servant in coloured plumes.
"What do you want?" he asked from behind the grate, after having observed Anthony with contempt.
"I desire to speak to your master."
"Oh, Oh, Oh" he burst in a mockery laughter.
"My master doesn’t receive mendicants. But suddenly he changed tune, he asked:
"Was it you who was preaching this morning in front of the Church of Saint Sofia?"
"It was me."
He measured Anthony with a look in which the distrust was mixed to the doubt.
"It is said" he said "that in our city has come a certain famous preacher. The common people run to hear him. I don’t understand much... But you, friar, have the look of any Friar mendicant..."
"I am a common mendicant Friar."
"But you said that it was you who was preaching in front of the Church?"
"Yes, it was me."
The servant scratched his head obviously embarrassed. "I really do not know what to do with you. Wait, I will go to see my master. Let him decide by himself if he wants to speak to you."
He moved away leaving Anthony in front of the shut door. After a little while he came back accompanied by a young man dressed with a long dark dress and a black skullcap on his head. He looked like a secretary or a clerk. It was he who asked:
"Would it be you the famous Friar Anthony of the order of the Friars minor of whom there is so much talk?"
"It is me."
"And you want to speak with the illustrius Master Graziani?"
"Yes."
"Master Graziani is very busy and doesn’t have much time to speak. If you have come to ask for alms he has authorised me to give it to you..."
"I didn’t come to ask for alms" he interrupted the clerk.
"Master Graziani has really little time... He is in the middle of doing his accounts. If however you promise that the question will be of brief duration, I will take you to him."
He gave the order to the porter to open the door. He guided Anthony through a courtyard, and then through a splendid garden, in which a girl, with golden hair gathered in a beards hairnet, was playing with the ball. Anthony thought that perhaps it was the daughter of Graziani of which his penitent had talked about. They climbed a staircase that led at first in an ample balcony and then inside the house. They went beyond a certain number of rooms. In the last one, near a writing desk, on which were accumulated big volumes, piles of paper, arithmetic primers and some heaps of coins, on a comfortable armchair, was sitting the merchant. He had a wide square face, and even if he was not very old, all his face was marked by wrinkles. His dark eyes emerged from the heavy folds of his skin that hung on his cheeks. On his hair precociously turned white, he had a small skullcap with a tassel which fell on his shoulders. He sat with his head bowed on the piece of paper, on which there were written long columns of figures. He raised his head and observed Anthony.
"What is it?" said impatiently
"Why do you come to me? If you want an alm..."
With the big ringed fingers he fished, out of the heap of coins that was in front of him, a gold coin and placed it on the edge of the table in front of Anthony.
"No. I haven’t come to ask for alms." said Anthony. "Besides, as our founder has taught us, we do not accept help under the form of money. I desire to exchange a word with you, without witness."
He shrugged his shoulders, evidently irritated by Anthony`s request, but indicated to his clerk to go out. When the door was shut, he asked impatiently:
"So, what do you want? Speak in a hurry, I have no time."
"I’ve come to learn, Sir, that in your house there is a girl that you are holding as slave because of an unpaid debt."
"Yes. I do. I do have some slaves in my house. This is according to the law. I respect the law and I do any thing wrong which is against it."
"This law is cruel and anti-Christian. It is not allowed to take a Christian in slavery."
"Are you saying that it is allowed to pay a debt? Come on Friar spit it out. Which girl are you referring to?"
"Her name is Julia. Her father is a poor furrier. He can’t pay because you,
Sir, have taken away from him his shop. And furthermore you have claimed his daughter..."
"That Girolamo is a idler and would have never paid his debt. While the girl with a year or two of service will pay for the father, then I will free her. I have no intention to detain her all her life."
"Seen, that she is in your house, she should be under your protection. Instead your son has taken fancy of her and is ready to hurt her."
He burst in a coarse laughter. "That is bad? I bet that it is not him. I bet that it is she who lures him. She probably thinks that is she will have his child, she could earn something for it. But she is wrong! She has to work and the child will be sent away!"
"So you would add to a wrong a further wrong against an innocent child? A sin calls another one…"
"And what is this to you, Friar?" the merchant burst out.
"I haven’t asked you for your teaching. Stick your nose in things that are not yours."
"I beg you only, Sir, that you don’t allow..."
"Enough! I will not loose my time in useless chats. I am acting according to the law and I do not do anything against it. As for the girl, she better be careful. But we know them all, we know what they want..."
"What sir, what if your beautiful girl, the one with golden hair, would find herself in the hands of a man without scruples…"
"Quiet! I forbid you to speak about my daughter. And anyway, I have enough of you! Go away! Bartolomeo!" shouted to the secretary, who evidently was behind the door ready to intervene.
"Show the way out to this insolent Friar!"
Then he turned to Anthony "Never come back here" menaced him with a finger "because you will be beaten! Preach the commoner, leave us alone...!"
The clerk accompanied Anthony to the main door. However he didn`t do it with brutality. When Anthony was outside the grate, he said:
"Go and never make yourself seen by Master Graziani. You have irritated him so. If he decides to turn against you, you will be a finished man. Go and never appear around here."
At the end, nevertheless, he reached his purpose. Every day he was preaching and every day gathered numerous crowds to listen to him. That recalled the attention of the city Magistrates who turned to him asking to teach them and their families. Anthony was waiting for an occasion like this. Right away, from his first words he took position against the cruel law that allowed to take as slaves the children of insolvent debtors.
"My dear brothers, as it is written in the Leviticus, the ancient Hebrews had enacted a norm that forbade usury. If it happened that someone of the Israelites could not pay a debt, he could have been placed in the hands of the creditor to indemnify with his work. It wasn`t however allowed to be treatyed as a slave. He had to work as a labourer, and should not have been oppressed or treated with harshness. And when there arrived the year of Restoration, he would recover his freedom. 'Because they' said our Lord 'aren’t your servants, but mine. I have let them out from the country of Egypt. Is is not allowed to sell them as you would sell slaves.!' ...Yet what is it happening in this city, today, when we are living under the mercy of Jesus law? You are lending money to your Christian brothers and expect full payment with the highest of interest making it so impossible for them to repay you back.
Remember the parable of our Lord, of how a certain king forgave the debt of a debtor who owed him a large amount of money. As soon as the debtor received such a grace, he met one of his debtors who owed him a small amount of money. His debtor begged the creditor for an extention of time. But the creditor was inflexible. He ordered to imprison his debtor. If you think, the same is happening to us. We lend one another small sums, and than we demand categorically the repayment. But hasn`t God lent us something much bigger? In fact, all that we have is his. And all this has remained his property. We are only his usufructuaries that have the duty to administer the goods received, so that we can return them to Him. Just like those servants in the parable who received a number of talents, the time will come when the talents have to be returned. Even to God is not enough to bury the talents given in order not to loose them. We have received the talents in order to make them yield. It is not enough to receive from the hands of Jesus the bread, the bread was given to the apostles so that it could be distributed to every one who came to listen to them. The more they were giving, the more there was. It was sufficient to feed all the hungered crowds.
But how are we behaving? We actually put back the bread in the pantry and we keep it there greedily till it will grow stale and we do not through it in the rubbish bin. And we are not forgivine the debt of a hungry man.
What will happen when the Lord will arrive all of a sudden the day of reckoning? How can be so sure that it could be this very night?
…If you can’t allow forgiveness of a debt, at least do not add wrong over wrong and do not search for payment in the persons. How could ever a Christian be slave of another Christian? You know the evil law that you have proclaimed and that allows to enslave the people who cannot pay.
I will repeat once again what our Lord said to the ancient Hebrews, that the debtors are his, since he made them also free from the Egyptian land. Jesus today says the same thing: you are all my servants, since I have redeemed each and every one of you with my blood…"
He was speaking, and the audience bent over under the weight of his words that assailed them. A few days after the sermon, the magistrates enacted the annulment of the law that consented to render slaves the people. By Anthony’s insistence more was done: There was the duty to free all slaves. The citizen guard were supposed to go from house to house to make sure the law was respected.
He had exactly finished to speak, and was going towards the Church, to take place in the confessional, when a girl made room in the crowd and fell at his feet.
"Oh, Friar Anthony, Friar Anthony, how happy I am. May God bless you for what you have done for us. I have gone back to my father. Graziani had to let me go. He was infuriated. He howled. He cursed, but he had to do it. Gualberto threatned me once again. He said that he will find me and he will take revenge. His sister ordered that my things were searched to make sure I didn`t steal anything. The yelled and called me a thief."
"Forgive them, in the name of Jesus. And do not worry about Gualberto, don’t be afraid. God will look after you."
"I am not afraid of him! I know that you, friar Anthony, will always protect me. You are so powerful."
"Don’t say so. All that is good, happened by the work of God. We need to alway thank him. But how are things at your house?"
"The situation is difficult... But we are together..."
"May God help you. I will visit you one day of this."
He saw her while she was running away. She was no more than a child with her black plaits fly about. He followed her for a moment with his eyes. Since her first encounter the girl had hinted a vague project.
During his last soujour in Assisi, Anthony had been informed that Sister Chiara wanted to speak to him. He had gone to Saint Damiano. The interview happened through the wooden grate. Chiara said:
"I don’t know you Friar Anthony, but Friar Francis has spoken to me about you. He said that, if I needed anything, I had to ask you for help..."
"In what can I be useful, sister?"
"I know that often you are in Padua. At the Arcella, not far from the city, there is the palace of the knights Enselmini. Friar Francis met one of their daughters, Helen. She is a young woman, devout, clever. I know that she desired to found a house of Poor Dames. Just as the one we have here. I would like you to help her. She lives isolated from the world. There is the need to send her someone that would help her. Oh, I would be so in pain if something that Francis has started would remain unaccomplished..."
Anthony promised her that he would occupy himself of that, but till now he could not keep his promise. He had so much to do, the days were passing so quickly.
Even his illnesses were tormenting him. He wanted to go to Arcella and to entrush Julia to the protection of Helen. Gualberto was indeed ready to attack the girl. In a house of knights she would have been safer than close to her parents. And at the same time she could give some help to the other…?
He didn’t delay this. The same night he went in search of Girolamo’s family. From the girl he had heard that the furrier, deprived of his shop, lived out of the city, on the other side of the river, along the street that took to Vicenza. A local farmer had given him a half-ruined hut as inhabitation in exchange of his work in the work of the fields. All the family worked very hard, even the children, that beside Julia they were seven of them.
He found everyone at home. They had just come back from their work in the fields. They were hot, tired and hungry. Girolamo’s wife had prepared for the family a big cauldron of polenta. Anthony was greeted joyously. He was invited to sit at their table and to share their frugal supper. Julia and her mother served the others. The girl was smiling and happy. After supper he turned to the girl:
"Listen to what I have to say. I know that you are happy of being with your family, and I see that you are useful to your mother. All the same I would like you to go to Arcella. There, there is the palace of the knight Enselmini, in which lives his daughter, a little older than yourself. Her name is Helen. I will give you a letter for her. In it I have written that she keeps you there for a little while. There you will be safe..."
"I am not afraid. You, friar Anthony, will defend me. I am certain of that."
"God will defend you, but God wants that man will try to defend himself. We have to act normally, humanly, and then God when we least expect it, intervenes and adds strength to our weak intents. He loves to act this way..."
In his saying it seemed that he was saying that more for himself than to the girl.
"Will you go to Arcella?"
"I will, naturally, if you want to, Friar Anthony. When do I have to leave?" He wanted to say: "Go tomorrow." When an inner premonition suggested him to say:
"Go now. Go today."
"It is starting to be dark."
"I will accompany you."
"No. No. I see that you are very tired. I will go by myself. I am not afraid." She repeated.
"I will come with you all the same. It will be better if instead of the letter I will speak to her personally."
Girolamo and his wife were not very happy Anthony`s idea, but they didn`t dare to oppose. After all, they too were afraid of the menaces of Gualberto. The girl prepared in a hurry her bundle with the most necessary things. She threw her cloak on her shoulders and left in the company of Anthony. Anthony tried to walk in a hurry, for as much his sore legs and heavy body allowed him to. They both kept quiet. The girl, usually talkative, now she seemed intimidated. Anthony was immersed in his thoughts. It had been a while that inside of him, for some reason or another, in every girl he saw it reminded him of Emily. He had never forgotten her. He remembered her sad words: "God has indicated you the way. But I..." The bitterness of this question had made this privilege painful. Yet, even though he had chosen his way, he had to change it so many times… "How had her life been? Why after years of forgetfulness now he would think about her so often?"
After one hour of walk, an avenue of cypresses similar to a wood of lances stack in the land guided them in front of the main door of the palace. The servant that opened the door, guided them inside without asking anything. They found themselves in an ample hallway, ornated by horns of buck and of roe. Under their feet they had skins of pig. After an instant of waiting they heard light footsteps. A young woman dressed in black greeted them. On her chest was hanging a cross. She had her hair covered by a big handkerchief. On the very pale and slender face burned her big black eyes. At the sight of Anthony a joyous smile bloomed on her lips.
"You have finally arrived, Friar Anthony!" she exclaimed. "I was waiting for you. How happy I am! Friar Francis told me that before long you would have come"
"Friar Francis?"
"Yes. I have seen him in a dream. He said: 'Be tranquil, daughter, in a little while I will send to you the one who will guide you... "
“Sister Clare has asked me to visit you, madam. But I lingered..."
"You have a lot of work, Friar. You are also ill. I know all this. I have nothing to reproach you. But now I would like you to dedicate a little time for me. You must help me..."
"I will do all that I can. I know that you want to found a house of Poor Dames, similar to the one founded by Sister Chiara."
"Call me Sister, friar Anthony. Yes, I desire to found a house of Poor Dames. But I am always ill. My strength are lacking. My parents are old and have only me. Someone must help me..."
"Haven’t you yet found anybody, Sister, for your house?" "There were some women, but seeing that I am so unfit, they went away..."
"I have brought with me a young girl. Her name is Julia. She is menaced by a peril. She will tell you everything. I would like Sister, that you would take her under your protection. And maybe she could be useful to you..."
"Oh what good idea! Remain with me. I will protect her. Be tranquil about her. And me, would you please confess me?"
"Today?"
"Yes, please. I have so much need of your advices, brother. I want to ask you many things."
"So be it."
When he left the palace, the night was already getting pale. The stars were disappearing one after the other as erased by an invisible hand. He was walking slowly reciting a prayer. Despite his great tiredness there was in him joy. He was happy to have seen Helen. And ever for the shelter he had found for Julia. He was happy of the abrogation of the law that allowed to take as slaves insolvent people. His prayer changed in a soft chant. He wasn’t among those people who knew how to sing. He had no ear for music, of which he was often sad. But that morning, while he was returning alone, he was expressing with the song the joy that was making him exult. He was just passing beside the road that had a turn in the direction of the house lived by the family of Girolamo, when behind the shrubs appeared four men that blocked his way. He stopped.
"Are you the monk mendicant Anthony?" asked one.
"Yes. It is I."
"It seems that you are happy" laughed the other.
"You have enjoyed yourself eh? And now take this, rascal, for your teachings." Rained on top of Anthony fists and blows. In vain he tried to protect himself. The others were beating, with all their strength, on the head, on the shoulders, on the back. He fainted.