How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Then, of course, our property, which is the patrimony of the poor, will be seized and carved up among the most brazen of their leaders; who will then feed all the destitute who are sustained and guided by the Church today?" (1.114)
One of Father Pirrone's main concerns about the collapse of his country is what will happen to all of the church's property. If the free market comes to Sicily, the church will be expected to create revenue and pay money for all its properties. In this case, the poor might have nowhere left to go, since the church is the only place that looks after them.
Quote #5
[He] made the sign of the Cross, a gesture of devotion which in Sicily has a nonreligious meaning more frequently than is realized. (3.58)
Making the sign of the cross is more a matter of habit than an actual token of belief in Sicilian culture, at least according to the narrator of this book. If you make the same motion enough times, Lampedusa thinks, you're bound to get a little complacent about it.
Quote #6
In that room Giuseppe Corbèra, Duke of Salina, had scourged himself alone, in sight of his God and his estates, and it must have seemed to him that the drops of his own blood were about to rain down on the land and redeem it. (4.39)
One of Fabrizio's ancestors used to whip and wound himself as punishment for all the sins he committed. That sounds pretty extreme, but there's also something poetic about the way the book describes it. All in all, it seems like the narrator doesn't know one way or the other whether we should celebrate or ridicule this kind of behavior.