“….Accordingly he did so; upon which Gianotto, seeing that he had returned, and hoping nothing less than that he should have become a Christian, came and rejoiced greatly at his return, and after some days of rest asked him what he thought of the Holy Father, the cardinals, and the other courtesans;

to which the Jew promptly replied, “It seems to me evil that God should have given anything to all those people, and I say to you that if I know how to draw conclusions,

there was no holiness, no devotion, no good work or good example of life in any other way, in anybody who was a priest; but luxury [lust], avarice, and gluttony — such things and worse, if there could be worse things in anybody;

and I saw rather liberty in devilish operations than in divine: on which account I conclude that with all possible study, with all their talent and with all their art, your Shepherd [the pope], and consequently all the rest, are working to reduce to nothing and to drive out of the world the Christian religion, there where they ought to be its foundation and support.

But from what I see, what they are driving at does not happen, but your religion continually increases;

and therefore it becomes clearer and more evident that the Holy Spirit must be its foundation and support, as a religion more true and holy than any other.

On which account, where I was obstinate and immovable to your reasoning and did not care to become a Christian, now I say to you distinctly that on no account would I fail to become a Christian. Therefore let us go to church, and there according to the custom of your holy religion let me be baptized.”

~

from “A Jew Converts to Christianity”

by Giovanni Boccaccio

c. 1348