Published by During the time of the Decameron, Europe was in turmoil. The basis for this chaos was the plague, as well as the fairly recent crusades. Amongst the problems in Europe was the declining integrity of church officials, both the common priest up to the cardinals. In the shadow of the plague, clergymen did forbidden acts without punishment. The plague caused such disorder that organized society dissipated, as shown in Boccaccio’s Stories. By not fulfilling theirs duties such as preparing churchgoers for sacraments and questioning those that went to confess, the priests ignored their responsibilities and corrupted the church.
Medieval Europe was a religious place. Daily life surrounded religion, the goal being to perform the seven sacraments of the church and to get into heaven. In the time of the Decameron, need for the church daily worship became lax. People no longer felt the need to attend church or confess, “…the venerable church of Santa Maria Novella had scarcely congregation for divine service…” (Boccaccio 7). Fewer and fewer people attended church. Part of the reason could have been the church’s failing integrity. The people followed the examples of the priests, and they were becoming more and more corrupt. In the story of the wealthy merchant trying to trick his wife, it is easy for him to convince the Priest to let him do what he wants. “[The Merchant] had arranged with the priest there to be allowed to do what he wanted” (Boccaccio 356). Boccaccio describes the scene in one sentence, and doesn’t hint to the priest’s disagreement, showing that this was a not an absurd request. To further display the church’s corruption, the Merchant is listening to his wife’s confession, which leads to communion, one of the seven sacraments.
The story is told as if this happens often and the priest was happy to help. Part of this could have been the people following the church’s poor examples, clergymen were marrying, having children or selling church positions, all of these actions were forbidden. Because the people looked to the church to lead, these negative acts could have influenced them to act the same way. In the story of Sir Ciappelletto, Ciappelletto confesses to spitting in church. But he is assured by the monk that it isn’t a big deal, “[They] spit in church all day long.” (Boccaccio 21). As well as the monk openly saying that he spits in church, not a polite thing to do at the time, nor today. The monk also is completely trusting with Sir Ciappelletto. Sir Ciappelletto confesses to having cursed his mother as a child and then starts to cry, but the monk immediately beliefs his tears are honest and tells him is it not that great of a sin.
The monk doesn’t question Sir Ciappelletto’s answers and doesn’t do a background check on his dealings as a merchant. He asks “[if Sir Ciappelletto ever tricked] anyone, as merchants are wont to do?” (Boccaccio 20). The monk knows that merchants are cheats, but doesn’t bother to look into his recorrds even after Ciappelletto says no. Not once does the monk think to distrust him, and this is similar to the selling of indulgences. Rather than going to confession, people could just pay to repent, whether they truly meant it or not. By not fulfilling their duties, the priests corrupted the church.
The loss of integrity, moral, and virtue of the church deterred many people from joining. They still wanted to be Christian, but they wanted something new, something without indulgences and corrupt priests. When Martin Luther introduced his ideas to Europe, many people thought he had the right idea. His new ideas revolved more around people truly being the best they could be, not just how to get in to heaven. The Catholic Church was on the decline as protestant religions were rapidly appearing and growing.
Due to the priests neglecting their responsibilities, the Catholic Church became Corrupt.
