#prior ferenc

[mighty-centipig]

my page for @palimpsestzine

"At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more." Job 14:7-10

[sparklehare]

[moonliteve]

an analysis of the dance of death murals in act 3 of pentiment

So I finally finished the game last night and it absolutely wrecked me :') the Chapter House scene in act 3 left a huge impression on me and since I couldn't find much on the deeper meanings of the murals Andreas drew, I tried to analyze the symbolism and what they each represent :) I'm not an expert by any means so if anyone has more insight on something I haven't mentioned please feel more than free to add your own thoughts, I'd love to see them

[st-grobian]

some pentiment characters and their potential saintly counterparts (spoilers)

saint ursula / ursula gertneryn

the tale of saint ursula posits her as the leader of a procession of 11,000 virgins whom she was martyred alongside in the 4th century. she was betrothed to a pagan prince who had accepted to convert to christianity in exchange for her hand in marriage, and so the pair made a pilgrimage to rome, where the prince would be baptised by the pope and the couple could be wedded. on their journey home, ursula and her procession of virgins were killed by attila the hun in cologne, according to legend. the order of the ursulines (founded by saint angela) was formed in her honour. ursuline nuns are specifically focused on educating women and girls.

I think we can interpret ursula gertneryn as a sort of inverse of saint ursula, burned at the stake (unless ferenc or andreas prevent it) for her pagan faith rather than martyred in the name of christianity. perhaps we can read the pagan prince in saint ursula's legend as a physical embodiment of ursula's pagan ideology. she entered a christian marital union with fabian, which is akin to the pagan prince converting to christianity to marry saint ursula. it's not a perfect alignment of their stories, given how ursula gertneryn never really renounces her pagan faith like the prince did, but there are vague similarities.

saint sabina of rome / sabine maleryn

not too much is known about saint sabina. she was a wealthy widow in 2nd century rome, and we know she converted from paganism to christianity. later, she was decapitated for her faith.

of course, after act II, sabine maleryn is socially a widow who comes into wealth as a result of andreas' 'death' - like saint sabina after her own husband died. but in particular, I think the saint's decapitation provides a deeply symbolic interpretation for sabine, who is essentially faceless to the players. we only know her through andreas' biased, distorted perceptions. she has no identity beyond this, and what is decapitation if not a total amputation of one's identity? sure, we have the perversion of daniel's portrait, but even then that's a 'decapitation'. it's a headshot portrait after all, separated from the physical body of the real sabine.

saint francis of assisi / prior ferenc

unlike sabina, a lot is known about saint francis. I won't cover everything, but here's the basics. he's the patron saint of animals and is often associated with nature. he was a mystic who received the stigmata in the later stages of his life. he founded the franciscan order in 1209, and later the poor clares alongside clare of assisi, both of which were oriented more towards extreme poverty/material deprivation than other religious orders at the time. before that though, he came from a wealthy family and took part in military expeditions. his life in the army was tough - he was held as a prisoner of war and experienced severe illness, and even after that he attempted to continue fighting by joining the papal forces. except jesus stopped him─literally─because francis allegedly had a vision of christ telling him to repair his church, "which, as you can see, is falling into ruins". after that, francis became a beggar, then a friar and preacher, and eventually (after a lot of other stuff happened) he was proclaimed a saint.

okay, you're thinking this comparison is quite a stretch. I agree. ferenc isn't even a franciscan. but there are certain similarities to be made. the hungarian name ferenc is derived from the latin franciscus - for reference, saint francis' actual name is francesco (well, not really. he was born and baptised as giovanni by his mother, but his father renamed him francesco later. that's not relevant here though). franciscus means "free man", which isn't exactly what we'd think of ferenc as, given that he's an occultist trapped in the robes of a pious monk with the inquisition just one spiteful baron away. neither is he much of a free man if andreas get's him executed in act I. the irony is fun, but I think it's better to see his name as a sort of foreshadowing of his fate if the player lets him survive. ironically, becoming an inquisitor is more freeing for ferenc, as he's able to help occultists like him avoid the stake.

that relates to saint francis too, I think, because he has a specific history of almsgiving and peacemaking. he often mingled with and gave charity to beggars, including lepers, and during his missionary work in the holy land it's claimed he sought interfaith peace rather than persecution for those belonging to other religious doctrines. I definitely think there's a comparison to be made here between saint francis' outlook and ferenc using his position as inquisitor to save people like ursula and vácslav from being burned at the stake for their beliefs. I would also argue that ferenc using his inquisitor role for this (instead of abusing his power like many other inquisitors did) is a form of 'repairing' the catholic church, as christ bid saint francis to do in his vision.

other than that I just think the contrast between francis' affinity to the natural world and ferenc's interest in the supernatural is interesting, if nothing else. also, saint francis being a mystic and receiving christ's five wounds could (if you squint) relate to ferenc's blood rituals, during which he cuts his palms.

saint angela merici / angeline capocci (sister illuminata)

as mentioned earlier, saint angela founded the order of the ursulines in 1535 - so she was a contemporary to the events in pentiment. angela was an orphan who joined the third order of saint francis, not as a cloistered nun but as a lay penitent who maintained her secular life. she became regarded as a prophet after 1506, when she had a vision that she would found a religious order. twenty-nine years later, she did just that.

notable─though not entirely relevant for this comparison─was the temporary period of blindness angela experienced during a pilgrimage in 1524, after which her sight was miraculously restored.

other than their italian heritage and physical likeness, there aren't obvious similarities between saint angela and sister illuminata. though I think it's relevant that angela founded an order specifically focused on making education accessible for young girls, and that even today the ursulines are committed to this (as well as other aspects of social equality for women). it's significant to note that the ursulines originally taught religious doctrine and 'womanly' values, but that their education also expanded into literature and arithmetic and practical skills like needlework. in particular, I think the fact they taught (and still teach) literacy skills to young girls is important for this comparison, given how our first major interaction with sister illuminata highlights the severe inequalities women have faced, historically, through her astute analysis of literature.

I don't know that this means we can infer illuminata's background from saint angela's life. the saint seems to be more an inspiration for her character than a 1:1 counterpart; angela, for example, chose a penitent life whereas illuminata mentions not having a choice in taking the habit. that said, maybe illuminata's attitude towards her faith is similar to saint angela's─something devout yet pragmatic.

saint joseph of nazareth / josef maler

(please do ignore the blond white baby jesus up there)

I don't think I need to give a long summary on saint joseph (as in, joseph of mary-and-joseph fame), but here's a quick one just in case. he was christ's earthly father. he was a carpenter, and is the patron saint of working people as well as families and fatherhood. quite on the nose for the father of a game protagonist.

I do think this one is intentional, given how joseph is usually portrayed with a grey beard and grey hair in paintings, and how those are the most pronounced aspects of josef's character design. oh and well. because they share a name, I guess. josef maler is also a tradesman who passed his craft down to his son(s), very much like saint joseph.

look. I'm not saying andreas is pentiment's jesus christ equivalent, but I'm not not saying that...

saint mary magdalene / magdalene druckeryn

another of christ's contemporaries, this time one of his disciples. I wouldn't say she's too similar to magdalene druckeryn, but they are compared in-game by sister gertrude.

mary magdalene is revered as the first person to see christ resurrected. in fact, she witnessed both his crucifixion/burial and the resurrection three days later. similarly, magdalene druckeryn witnessed the 'death' and 'rebirth' of andreas maler (yes, I'm going all out on the andreas/jesus parallels). at two years old, magdalene watched andreas walk into the burning library, and at twenty, she saw him walk out of its ruins.

was andreas throwing himself into the flames as selfless as the crucifixion? well, no. we know he did it─consciously or not─because he wanted to kill himself. magdalene didn't know that though. and arguably, in the eyes of a young girl raised in her father's printing workshop, the act of salvaging books and the histories within them is just as significant as christ dying to save her soul.

[mtsnibble346]

Ash wednesday at the abbey with Father Gernot and Ferenc but Ferenc keeps giving people the astronomical symbols for Jupiter and Saturn and also the ankh and Gernot just gaslights you if you ask about it

[mazurga]

How dare you?!

[catpop12343]

Prior Ferenc: You're smiling. What happened? Brother Guy: What? Can't I smile just because I feel like it? Brother Mathieu: Andreas tripped and fell down the stairs today.

[sappho-ilmarinen]

I want to talk about Prior Ferenc for a moment. When Andreas wakes up on the very first day, he has this stack of books which you can examine. It says Ferenc gave them to him. And I got very excited, because as a hungarian it's always cool to see hungarians in media. Then I got to know what Ferenc is actually like.

He runs the scriptorium and is a total ass about it. Probably does witchcraft. The baron asked him to treat his STDs with black magic. He's a murder suspect. He buries suspicious ritual shit in the monastery graveyard. If you let him live he will become an inquisitor and pardons heretics, possibly due to his background.

10/10 hungarian rep, the only guy ever. Nobody does it like him. I hate him. He's the only hungarian to ever exist.