f Roncevalles. An honest pardoner would be much like a fund-raiser for any religious or charitable organization today. But a dishonest pardoner like this one had many opportunities to profit at the expense of the naive. Once he was able to “stir them to devotion” (VI,C,346), he could pull out his “relics,” odds and ends, bits of stones and bones and cloth, and offer them for sale(Hallissy 214).A Pardoner is not necessarily a bad person. That is true because not all peopleare bad, just that there are always “some rotten apples in every good batch.” This is trueabout this such pardoner.By trade the Pardoner is a preacher. His task is to use his rhetorical gifts to persuade his hearers to repent and be saved. The sermon, then and now, is a major part of the Christian liturgy. The homilist selects a scriptural passage on which to expound, typically one selected from the day’s liturgy. Since the Pardoner is an Johann Cabe Page Threeitinerant preacher and not a parish clerk, his audience changes. So he uses not only the same text but also the same sermon over and over. His scriptural passage is always the same: “Radix malorum est Cupidatas” (VI, C, 334); cupidity, the inordinate desire for or excessive love of money, is the root of all evil. Nothing is wrong with this text, or even the Pardoner’s sermon on it. Something is very wrong when the Pardoner’s intention, however. He deliberately uses his considerable homiletic skills to persuade his audience to demonstrate their ability to overcome cupiditas by generously giving their money away - to him (Hallissy, 213-214).The Pardoner preaches against the very vice that he practices. The pardoner is evil ashis own rhetoric identifies him to be.The Pardoner described his own words as poisonous. As a churchman, he should employ his considerable speech skills in the service of God. Instead he sees himself as Satan...
