The Leopard

Priests are common visitors to the Salina house. In 1910, the Salina sisters are all spinsters. They vie for control in the household, and each has her own private priest. Mass is performed by a household chaplain, who offers spiritual guidance informed by his Jesuit education. Other priests and monks visit to plead for alms.

One day in May, many priests’ hats are hung up in the house. A representative of the Archdiocese of Palermo is visiting the Salinas, along with his secretary. The Pope has called for an inspection of the chapels in Palermo to ensure that the priests are performing their duties. This includes an inspection of the Church’s relics to prove that they are authentic. The Salinas sisters are known for their connection to their chapel, and it will be the first to be inspected, though “disturbing rumors” (195) suggest that there may be problems with the relics.

The meeting is held in the ornately decorated drawing room. Concetta, Carolina, and Caterina (now in a wheelchair) are present, surrounded by priests and the representative, known as the Monsignor. Each Salina sister is over 70. Though not the oldest, Concetta is seen as the most formidable. She still has traces of her youth amid her strict demeanor. The meeting lasts an hour. Carolina takes offense that their chapel should be inspected first. She rejects a reference to the Pope, privately believing herself to be more pious than he is. As they smile, the priests praise the sisters’ faith and piety. They praise Father Pirrone for the “devout atmosphere” (197) of their youth.

Following the death of Prince Fabrizio, the three sisters inherited the family villa. They turned the drawing room into an oratory (a small chapel), removing the fresco from the ceiling due to its pagan imagery. The Monsignor enters the chapel and sees a painting over the altar. This painting, which features a bare-shouldered woman with a crumpled letter in her hand, is decidedly secular. Many rumors have spread about this irreligious painting. The Monsignor praises the work, though he does not cross himself. According to Carolina, the painting has a religious meaning: It portrays the Virgin Mary offering the protection of Christ to an Italian city. This protection has been vindicated by a recent earthquake in the city, she says.

The Monsignor inspects the chapel’s 74 relics. Each relic is framed beside a document asserting its authenticity. For years, the sisters have been collecting these relics. Carolina is particularly interested in the relics. They often deal with Donna Rosa, a woman who finds and sells relics from old churches. She always provides documentation. The Monsignor praises the relics and leaves. He rides away in a carriage with a priest named Father Titta, whom he asks about the painting. He wants to know whether Father Titta says Mass before such a secular painting. The priest admits that he struggles to argue against Carolina.

Concetta retires to her bedroom. The room is neat and orderly. Though it may not seem so, Concetta considers the room to be filled with “mummified memories” (201). Her wedding dress remains unused. It is now damp and yellow. Each painting or photograph contains the image of people who are no longer alive or present. The properties in the images have been sold. A rug on the floor is actually the tatty remains of her father’s Great Dane, Bendicò, who was taxidermized after his death 45 years earlier. Concetta has refused the servants’ request to throw the dead dog rug away. To her, it is the only family trinket without any sad connotations.

Concetta accepts that the Monsignor may call for the relics to be removed. She agreed to purchase the relics to satisfy her sisters, though she knows that the removal of the relics will negatively affect the family’s reputation. The Salina name has lost its prestige, and the family is no longer as wealthy as it once was. The sisters’ religious devotion was their last remaining scrap of prestige.

A maid announces the arrival of Princess Angelica. Concetta prepares to greet her cousin. Angelica is nearly 70 but she shows “many traces of beauty” (203). She is part of a committee planning to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Garibaldi’s March of the Thousand. She hopes to pay tribute to her dead husband, Tancredi. Fabrizietto has agreed to march in the planned parade to represent the Salina family. Angelica invites Concetta to sit in the grandstand, claiming that Concetta was always Tancredi’s favorite cousin. Senator Tassoni—the friend of Tancredi—will visit for the parade, Angelica says, and he wants to meet Concetta. He often speaks of her. Concetta slips into a silent memory, picturing Tassoni beside her at a family dinner in Donnafugata. When she looks back, she believes that the crude jokes Tancredi made about the convent were “the turning point of her life” (205). Tassoni featured in this joke, she remembers.

Tassoni arrives. He is a wealthy, vigorous, and handsome older man. He still carries himself like a soldier. Greeting Concetta with warmth, he says that their reunion is like a dream come true. Tancredi spoke of her so often, he says, that he feels that he knows her. Concetta is shy. She asks to hear more of what Tancredi said about her. Tancredi considered Concetta to be his first image of love, Tassoni says. Tancredi committed an “unpardonable sin” (206), Tassoni continues, having invented a war story to tell Concetta. When Tancredi told her the made-up story about the convent, Concetta’s indignant reaction made Tancredi want to kiss her.

Concetta does not remember much of the remainder of the conversation. Gradually, she thinks about what Tassoni has said and an old wound begins to open again. She has harbored a sense of resentment ever since that summer in Donnafugata. Speaking to Tassoni, however, this lingering feeling falls apart. She now believes that her own “reckless Salina pride” (208) means that it was she who was in the wrong. She has spent her life resenting her father and holding a grudge against Tancredi for a mistaken reason. Rather than making a crude joke, she realizes, Tancredi was subtly trying to declare his love for her. She misread his intention.

The Cardinal of Palermo does not come from Sicily. He is a devout man who has worked hard on behalf of the city. Eventually, however, he gives up hope of changing Palermo. He decides that he cannot change the stubborn Sicilian people. They refuse his efforts to change them. This has left him disillusioned by his role. When he visits the Salina sisters, they appreciate the visit of such a holy figure, but his coldness leaves them disappointed. They feel that he does not respect or credit their piety. The Cardinal inspects the chapel and tells Concetta that the chapel will need to be reconsecrated. The painting must also be removed. He does not inspect the relics but leaves behind his secretary to perform the inspection as Concetta thinks calmly about his verdict. Meanwhile, Carolina is outraged and Caterina feels weak.

Don Pacchiotti, the secretary of the Cardinal, is an expert in paleography. He carefully examines the relics and their respective documents. After hours of study, he is covered in dust. He has collected the inauthentic relics in a basket. They have “no value whatsoever” (211), he says. Five of the relics pass his muster and can be considered authentic.

Once the Cardinal is gone, Concetta returns to her room once again. She feels numbed by her experiences. A short time later, a letter arrives from Angelica. Tassoni sends his greetings, Angelica writes. Concetta continues to feel numb. She calls for her maid and complains about the rug made from the dead dog. It is bothering her, she says, and she finally wants to get rid of it. The maid hurls the rug from the window into the courtyard. As it flies, there is a brief moment when the rug made from Bendicò looks just like a leopard with its paw raised in anger. The moment passes and the rug falls to the courtyard in a “little heap of livid dust” (212).