What it takes to become a saint?
Being a saint is an aesthetic phenomenon par excellence. The first story in Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron tells about a certain Ciappelletto, a villain that eventually became venerated as a saint. Boccaccio illustrates his character by saying: "Ask him along to a murder or to any such felony and he'd never say no - he'd be off with you, eager as could be; many's time he'd step forward himself to deliver the fatal blow. There was no one like him for cursing and swearing and taking the Lord's name in vain." In a word, Boccaccio portrays him as a totally unsympathetic person, who was eager to gluttony, drinking and sexual pleasures, who moreover scoffed at the church and sacraments and had no noble sentiments whatsoever. A character like that was suffering a terminal illness while staying at the house two Florentine brothers (who were practising usury). The two brothers did not feel sorry for him, but they were worried about how to get him buried. They