Brother Giovannone

Overview

Brother Giovannone is the monk who confines Death and later gains admission to paradise through his miraculous pouch. When the Lord and the apostles visit a convent at Casteltermini, the other monks ask forgiveness, while Giovannone initially requests nothing. He later calls after the departing visitors and asks that anyone he commands must enter his pouch. The Lord grants the request.

When Death comes for the elderly monk, Giovannone commands it into the pouch and leaves the bag hanging in a baker’s chimney. Nobody dies for forty years. Eventually, too old to continue living, he releases Death, which kills him first and then those whose deaths had been delayed. Paradise and purgatory refuse him. At hell, Lucifer prepares a beating, but Giovannone traps the devils in his pouch instead. He pays a smith and apprentices to hammer it for eight days and nights before releasing its battered occupants.

Returning to paradise, he quarrels with St. Peter and begins intercepting the souls arriving at the gate. The Lord tells Peter to bring the pouch inside with all its captives. Overhearing this plan, Giovannone commands himself into the bag. Peter carries it through the gate and opens it, and the monk emerges first. Peter wants to expel him, but the Lord rules that someone who has entered the house of Jesus does not leave again. The tale ends with the trickster admitted despite the gatekeeper’s opposition.

Origins & earliest records

Crane’s English retelling of the Sicilian tale cited to Pitrè, no. 125, in Italian Popular Tales (1885), tale LXIV

Records & interpretation

Complete tale LXIV, pp. 217–219, chapter IV note 20, following Roman comparisons and their notes 21–22; full preface and edition framing read.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Italian Popular Tales

   Thomas Frederick Crane · 1885

   Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. Tale LXIV.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Public-domain historical English translationCrane, Italian Popular Tales, LXIVResearch access: 2026-10-21

Image credits

AI-generated interpretation of Crane’s tale.