Faldoni, parts 2896 - 2899

 2896. As far as worrying himself about the pigment the master painter forgot all about it because there was no person in the monastery more trustworthy than Faldoni simply because he was too simple to steal anything.

 2897. Unfortunately, the people who knew Faldoni best and were aware that he did not know the value of the pigment were not the personages charged with his trial. The crime he was accused of was absconding with the valuables of the church. This business of removing the valuables of the church was a crime of long standing and one often committed by individuals who happened to have no respect for the Church, its institutions, or it’s possessions. 

 2898. Churches back then were full of gold chalices, gilded crucifixes, silver candlesticks, precious tapestries, and little panel paintings of great value. All these things were out in the open and unguarded by anyone because at that time the idea that a person would lay their hand on holy objects was so abhorrent that no punishment would have seemed too extreme.

2899. But although theft of church valuables was punished usually by being flayed alive and then burned at the stake, nevertheless, theft of church property was a recurring problem especially in hard times because it seems that the reality of starving to death always appears to be worse to some hopeless vagrant, that any sort of torture that may take place in the distant future.