Pilgrim Reindeer in Pisa, 1348 a free multimedia novel by Thomas A. DuBois, University of Wisconsin-Madison

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 Part III. Italy. 59. The Reckoning [July 27, 1349]

It was one of my happiest moments in writing this novel to imagine Catharina and Bávlos meeting again, now in Italy. That Catharina was in Italy in 1349 made it all the more certain that this chapter would have to happen, and preferably in Pisa, where the famous depiction of the man and the reindeer exists. Here Catharina sees again the curious Sámi man that had amused and captivated her in Vadstena.

Bávlos is for Catharina like a bottle washed ashore with a message from far away, or like a coin found once, and then lost, only to be regained in some very different context long afterwards, and in very different circumstances. Perhaps he is also a reminder, direct and red-blooded, of the physical love that she has renounced in favor of a chaste marriage with her husband, a marriage which is soon to end and leave her ever after, as a widow, the first nun--and the first official abbess--of her mother's order.

For Bávlos, Catharina is the fusion of a whole host of visions: his biblical image of a saving angel leading him from prison, the lovely and serene St. Fina he had seen in San Gimignano, the sly St. Zita he knew from Lucca, and, of course, the very real and personable Lady Fina he had met in Sweden. She is the closest thing to a romance Bávlos has had in all his long trek and now they meet again, conscious of the fact that they cannot have a relationship but that they mean a great deal to one another. Fina reminds Bávlos of the life he might have had, the life that he imagines his Elle enjoying back home: one of family, and married life, and peaceful, predictable existence. Instead, he has become more of a wanderer than Sámi ever were: footloose and far from home, in a land where he can easily make a living but where each new day brings new challenges and surprises.

I chose the date of this chapter to commemorate the bombing that nearly destroyed the Camposanto and its wonderful frescos.