The Divine Comedy

[Estro Felino]

Twenty-fourth Canto
Beatrice kindly asks the blessed to answer Dante's questions*. Those joyful souls joined in circles, like comets, and they all were spinning at different speeds (like clockwork gears), so that the poet could understand their degree of beatitude. A blessed came out of the most beautiful wheel, and he was the brightest of all, spinning around Beatrice three times, singing an unworldly and indescribable song. It was Saint Peter (the man our Lord left the keys to) who had responded to Beatrice's plea. Beatrice invites him to interrogate with Dante about theology. He has arrived in Paradise thanks to his virtues (charity, hope and faith), so Peter should test them. Saint Peter calls Dante Good Christian and asks him what faith is. Dante replies that, as Saint Paul (the other apostle who had converted Rome) had said, faith is the substance of the expected things, and the speculation about the invisible things. Saint Peter asks him why Paul had defined faith as substance and speculation. Dante says that the theological truths are so unknown to the mortals, that people accept to believe in salvation without tangible proof, so this hope is a substance; and this belief makes men speculate through logic, so it has the aspect of argumentation.
Saint Peter says there would be no need of sophism, if everyone knew doctrine as well as Dante does. Peter asks Dante whether he has faith**. Dante replies that he has a strong faith that he has acquired thanks to the Holy Spirit, which is the syllogism described in the Old and in New Testament, much firmer than any other explanation. He considers the Holy Scriptures God's revealed word thanks to the miracles that defy the natural law***. Peter asks why he believes such works actually took place. Dante replies that so many people converted to Christianity believing without needing any proof (John 20:29). This is the greatest miracle ever: the other miracles are not even one hundredth of this prodigy. Saint Peter had sowed the good plant through evangelizing, but now that good vine has turned into a prune. Having said that, all the blessed started singing “Te Deum Laudamus”. Peter approves all of Dante's reasoning and asks him eventually to declare what his faith consists in and on what it relies. Dante declares his creed: “I believe in a God, solely and eternal that moves all of Heaven, and is immobile, with love and desire; and I have not only physical and metaphysical evidence, but the truth is given to me by Moses, the prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Apostles; and I believe in three eternal persons, and in a essence which is both One and Triune, so that I and He are merged.” Then Dante likens his own faith to a vivid flame glowing like a star. Saint Peter manifests his approval by spinning three times around him.

*Beatrice calls the assembly of the blessed “assembly chosen to join the Great Supper of the Blessed Lamb that feeds you all, so that you always yearn for more”. So she likens that beautiful spectacle to a supper and she begs to invite Dante to their table to satisfy his thirst for knowledge, since they drink from the Godly Source.
** Peter likens faith to a coin of good weight and good metal. So he asks whether Dante has any in his bag.
***In verse 122 Dante uses a metaphor to say that the natural law cannot replicate the miracles (that the nature doesn't heat iron nor beats the anvil). In verse 126 Dante refers to the fact that Peter rushed to the sepulcher to meet Christ risen, surpassing younger feet (Saint John's feet).

 

[Estro Felino]

Twenty-fifth Canto
Dante hopes his Comedy may appease the cruel men who exiled him. So he can return to Florence, and receive the poetic crowning in the Baptistery of San Giovanni*. All of a sudden another light comes out of the same wheel as Peter (the first vicar that Christ left on Earth). Beatrice says it is James, the saint buried in Galicia. Saint James and Saint Peter show their mutual affection, as doves coo. Then they turn to Dante, dazzled by their lights; Beatrice suggests James to interrogate Dante again, about hope, which he wrote about in his epistle**. The two apostles invite Dante to stare at them and get used to their effulgence.
James invites Dante to tell what hope is, whether he possesses it, and where his comes from.
Beatrice precedes the poet, telling that no Christian within the militant Church has more hope than Dante who had the privilege to visit Paradise before his own death. As a diligent disciple, Dante responds to the other two questions: hope is the certain waiting for the future glory, produced by Divine Grace and merits. Then he says that his hope comes from so many stars (sources of inspiration), the first of which is David, who said “Let them hope in You” in Psalms 9:11. The second is James' epistle, which gave Dante so much hope that he can donate it to others. James, flattered says: “Love of Hope that still makes me glow, wants you to know I am pleased with what Hope promised you ***”.
Dante points out that both the Old and the New Testament speak of the resurrection of the bodies (what Christians hope for): Isaiah 61:7 and Saint John, James' brother, in Revelation 7:9. All of a sudden a beautiful Psalm of hope was chanted by all wheels. And an incredibly glowing light, as effulgent as a star****, joined the other two apostles, spinning out of joy: it was Saint John the Evangelist.
Beatrice looks at the three as a humble and still bride. “This is the one who laid his head on Jesus' chest (John 13:23), and chosen to be son of Mary, at the foot of His cross.” Dante was being blinded by that light, as if he was staring at a solar eclipse. But Saint John points out his body is not there, but is buried on Earth, so he shouldn't be dazzled by his glowing spirit. And he asks Dante to write that only Christ and Mary are in Paradise with their own body, whereas all the other souls will as well, when their time comes. Having said that, the spinning of the wheels and the beautiful singing stops, as the oarsmen stop rowing at the sound of a whistle. Dante turns to Beatrice, but he is not able to see anything any more, including her.

*He calls the Divine Comedy the sacred poem that describes Heaven and Earth and that he has worked on for years. He defines Florence the beautiful sheepfold where he slept as a lamb, enemy to the wolves that wage war against it.
** Beatrice calls James the one who wrote about the liberality of Paradise (called basilica) and that he spoke of it (in his epistle) about hope as many times as Jesus demonstrated his affection to the three apostles (Peter, James, John). In the following stanzas, James calls God “our Emperor”, saying that “ God wants him to visit his most secret hall with His own ministers before death, in order to report what he has seen and to comfort the people on Earth with this hope” . In verse 52 Beatrice says Dante came from Egypt (near Israel where the Earthly Jerusalem is) to the celestial Jerusalem, before death puts an end to his army (his life).
***James' glowing light has brighter lights within likened to an instant thunderbolt. He says that Love of the virtue (hope, Dante is filled with) that followed him to the palm and out to the battlefield (martyrdom and death) wants him to address to him (who enjoys her); to tell him he is grateful to him for saying what hope promises to him"
**** Dante with a hyperbole says that if Cancer constellation had such a light, days will last a month each, in Winter (because in winter the Sun is in conjunction with Capricorn, and the Cancer is visible at night. With such a light, it would be always daylight). In verse 112 Jesus Christ is called pelican because of Psalms 101:7.

 

[Estro Felino]

Twenty-sixth Canto
Dante had been blinded by John's effulgent light, who interrogates him again, asking what his soul loves and aspires to. Even if he can't see her, Beatrice is staring at him, with that virtue (Holy Spirit) that Ananias imposed on Saint Paul in Acts of the Apostles 9:17.
Dante hopes Beatrice can heal his eyesight. And says he that the Good that makes that Sphere rejoice, is the alpha and the omega of the Word that taught him love, either greatly or weakly. But John tells him to be more precise. So Dante adds that he has learnt love through philosophy and the Heavenly authorities (the Bible). And the more this love includes goodness, the more God lightens it up. So every man is supposed to love the Godly essence, because all that exists outside of Him is illuminated by His rays. This is what philosophy, Exodus (the ten Commandments) and Saint John (in John 1:1) taught Dante. John now needs to know if something else led him to the Love of God, other than his intellect and the Bible (so I can hear the sound of how many teeth that love bites you). Dante knows where John (the holy eagle of Christ) is getting at.
Dante lists all the things that make him love God: being alive on this world, the love for all creatures, God's sacrifice for man's salvation, and the Scriptures that rescued him from sin. As soon as Dante says these things, Beatrice and the other blessed started singing “Holy, holy, holy” and Dante slowly gets his eyesight back, awaken from the effulgent and bright rays of Beatrice's light.
So he could see again, and notices a fourth light had joined the three apostles. Beatrice says it's the first man, Adam, and Dante was so overwhelmed** with joy that he wishes he could speak with him, whose gladness was manifest***. Adam starts saying that he can perfectly read Dante's mind, and that the poet wishes to know how long he stayed in the garden of Eden, how many years ago, the real reason of God's wrath, and the language used there.
Adam reveals disobedience was the reason of the punishment; he died with 930 years old, and remained in Limbo for 4,302 years, back when Jesus took him to Paradise. Adam remained in Eden seven hours (from the first hour to the seventh hour, that is 1 pm).****
He used to speak a language that disappeared before the construction of the Tower of Babel. No language ever lasts forever, and languages are a natural process that depends on heavenly influences and on men.


* Dante likens the sensation to a man who has been almost blinded and tries to opens his eyes, but he can't because sunlight still hurts them: Beatrice's light cleaned out his eyes and her rays would shine within a radium of over 1,000 miles.
** Dante likens himself to the top of the tree bent by the impetuous wind, but that stands back again out of virtue. He likens Adam to a mature apple that was created, not born, and “ancient father to whom each spouse is both daughter and daughter-in-law”
*** Dante likens Adam enfolded in that light to a captive animal inside a bag, that moves because it wants to get out: so Adam, even if he was hidden within that effulgence, would make his gladness manifest.
**** According to the Medieval tradition, Adam was created in 6498 BC. So he says that after 930 years of life, he died, and he remained in Limbo for 4302 years, when in 34 AD Jesus took him to Heaven. They are in 1300, so 4302+930+1266= 6498. Adam says that the word God, in the first language was called I, and then it changed into El (the Hebrew noun for God).

 

[Estro Felino]

Twenty-seventh
Glory be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit would resonate throughout the sphere and Dante was filled with ineffable joy, and Saint Peter says*: “if I am glowing, don't be amazed, because the others are as well”. Peter says that Pope Boniface VIII, who usurps the Petrine throne, has turned his sacred tomb (the Vatican) into a bloody and stinking sewer, where Satan enjoys to be. All of a sudden the luminous Sphere of the fixed stars became reddish and Beatrice's face changed color as well.
Saint Peter, upset, goes on, saying that he and the other popes (Linus, Anacletus, Sixtus, Pius, Callistus, Urban) didn't sacrifice themselves to see the Bride of Christ be used as treasury**. Peter has never given his successors the right to dispense indulgences or privileges, using the Petrine seal; he has never given the right to wage war against fellow Christians. He predicts that popes like John XXII or Clement V will be ravenous wolves among the sheep, in shepherds' clothes, drinking the apostles' blood , but Godly Providence will eventually rescue the Church. So he begs Dante to disclose every detail of his rant. All of a sudden all the blessed start flying like snowflakes***, but upwards, and Dante realizes they had just moved and he could see the Mediterranean portion of the globe; which means they had moved 90 degrees from where they were.
Dante stares at Beatrice's beautiful and ineffable smile, while both ascend to the Primum Mobile, leaving the constellation of Gemini. Beatrice says that Primum Mobile is the origin of every motion around the immobile Earth, and it is God's love that makes it move, encircling it all over. It is the sphere that makes the asters rotate, so it's what produces time on Earth.
Beatrice hurls invective at the men's cupidity, that makes them stoop low, instead of desiring Heaven****. Men lose their innocence as soon as they hit puberty. Children are so pure and innocent, while as grownups they are mean and spiteful and wish their own mother was dead. Men are devoid of a guide, that's why they are led astray. But before nine millennia have passed, Godly intervention will have taken place: God will straighten the ship route, swapping the bow with the stern, at last. And mankind will produce good fruits, again.


* Dante says Peter became like Jupiter or Mars, if they were bird and changed feathers (metaphor to mean he became much brighter than the asters). In verse 25 Peter means Satan, the fallen angel. In verse 28 the reddish color of the sky, similar of that of twilight and dawn, is not even comparable, according to Dante to the sky of Jerusalem when Jesus (the supreme power) died on the cross. Beatrice changes color as a dame who blushes before something scandalous.
** Saint Peter says that he and the other popes didn't shed blood to see the Church turned into a tool to obtain gold or to dispense indulgences “it was not our intention that the Christian people sat on either at the right hand or the left hand of our successor”: clear reference to the Doomsday depictions , where the damned and the saved are separated. In verse 49, he says “my keys were not granted to me to be turned into a coat of arms drawn in banners in wars against other baptized”. In verse 58 he means John XXII (people from Cahors) and Clement V (people from Gascony), underlining that the French popes will be the origin of the decadence of the Church, drinking their blood (of the apostles).
***Dante uses two similes: as when it snows in Winter, when Capricorn is in conjunction with the Sun, all the blessed there, all of a sudden flew upwards, as snowflakes. Beatrice tells him to turn around. Dante figures out that they had moved , (with a 90 degrees motion from the celestial equator to the first climate, so he could see Cadiz and the Pillars of Hercules, and Phoenicia where Jupiter rode the nymph Europa turned into a cow. In medieval geography climates where parallels from the equator to the poles. ) and the sun would let him see just a portion of the old continent.
****Beatrice likens cupidity to a see with waves that make men plunge into it; and sin is likened to a rain, that despite good will within men turns plums (good actions) into rotten ones (bad actions.)
In verse 135 Beatrice says that the candid complexion of men becomes dark, meaning the innocent nature of children is darkened, as soon as sun rises (when there is dawn, the daughter of Hyperion, who brings morning, leaving the evening) In verse 142 Beatrice means that the Julian Calendar used to leave out 12 minutes (the hundredth part of the day), each year, so the civil year was always more late than the astronomic calendar. The reform took place in 1582 with the introduction of the current Gregorian Calendar. But without the introduction, after ninety centuries from 1300 on, in January it would be spring equinox already (so the winter would have been skipped).

 

[Estro Felino]

Twenty-eighth Canto
After listening to Beatrice, Dante turns to her*, but his attention is drawn by a very luminous point that dazzles him, and so that he closes his eyes. And any star is a moon compared to that effulgent shining spot, that was enclosed within a wheel, spinning at incredibly speed. And that wheel was enclosed in a bigger wheel, and so on: they were the nine angelic rings all spinning at different speeds; the last ones were the least slow and the least bright. Beatrice says that everything in Heaven and on Earth depends on that spot, and the first ring is so fast, because of its glowing Love. Dante notices that an opposite pattern applies to the Heavenly Spheres: the Spheres are wider and more perfect, the more distant they are from Earth, so the model (the angelic rings) and the copy (the spheres) are discordant. Beatrice says that the wider the heavenly spheres are, the more goodness and salvation they need to contain: so the Primum Mobile is the widest Sphere, because it is the most loving: the rings (made up of angelic intelligences) correspond to the heavenly spheres, not according to their size, but according to their degree of proximity to God. Dante feels satisfied by such a clear explanation and sees the nine angelic rings glowing like incandescent iron, and thousands and thousands of effulgent sparks in each ring. They were all singing Hosanna at the luminous fixed spot. Beatrice says the Seraphim and the Cherubim make up the first and the second rings, respectively. The Thrones, (the angelic intelligence of the Sphere of Saturn), make up the third ring. They are the fastest ones because they can see God's design more profoundly, as a result of Godly Grace and their good will. So different degrees of beatitude entirely depend on how deeply they can see God's mind, and not on different degrees of love, since they all love equally. Then the three other rings perpetually sing Hosanna in three different melodies: Dominions (angelic intelligences of Jupiter), Virtues (Mars) and Powers (the Sun); then Principalities (Venus), Archangels (Mercury) and Angels (the Moon). They are all drawn to God and draw the entire world to themselves. The writer that called himself Dionysius the Aeropagite*** defined all the angelic orders, because Saint Paul had explained them to him, among other things.

*Beatrice is called the one who paradisizes Dante's mind, and he turns around towards her, like someone who sees a light in a mirror and turns around to see the source, and sees that it complies with reality, as the singing complies with the music. In verse 22 Dante likens the fastest angelic wheels to the halo of vapors that encircles an aster, and whose speed is higher than that of the Primum Mobile itself. The seventh ring was already so wide that Juno's messenger (the rainbow) would be too small to contain it. In verse 53 the Primum Mobile is likened to an angelic temple that has only light and love as border. In verse 58 Beatrice uses a metaphor “if your fingers are not sufficient to untie this knot” meaning that his mortal condition prevents him to disclose a Godly mystery. In verse 70 the Primum Mobile is called the sphere that make the entire universe spin.
** Dante likens that explanation to the effect of the splendid and serene atmosphere, whenever it is cleaned up by the north wind, blown from the sweet wind that blows from the cheek of the cloud, and the truth is as vivid as a star in the sky. In verse 93 a simile likens the incredible number of angels to that of the chess squares, each doubled exponentially, so thousands and thousands. In verse 117 Paradise is likened to an eternal spring that autumn can never spoil (Autumn is called nocturnal Aries because in Autumn, Aries is visible by night only).
*** Actually scholars attribute the Corpus Dionysiacum to a Pseudo-Dionysius, a Neo-Platonic philosopher of the V century that used the pseudonym of Dionysius the Aeropagite (Acts 17:34), but was not the real character of the Bible. Beatrice points out that Gregory the Great who in his Moralia listed the angelic intelligences wrong, and when he ascended to Heaven, he laughed at himself, finding out the truth.

 

[Estro Felino]

Twenty-ninth Canto
Beatrice stares at that spot for an instant*, while Dante in his mind wonders why God created angels. Beatrice explains that the Eternal Love (God) wanted His Light to shine in other shining, loving beings, existing outside of Him, and not to increase His own good, which is impossible. God created angels outside of space and time: form and matter, both pure, joined, forming perfect beings, in a triple creative process proceeding without interval of time, from God Himself. The order of things and the substances were created simultaneously, and angels occupied the highest part where the pure act originated, while the mere matter occupied the lowest part, and the two were bound inextricably. Saint Jerome was wrong when he wrote that angels were created many centuries before the creation of the world, because in the Holy Scriptures and and logic suggest that they were created simultaneously with the spheres. But almost immediately, a faction of the angels rose against God**, whereas most of them, recognizing the goodness of their own creator, remained faithful to Him. It's pride the principle that made Satan fall, whom Satan saw stuck in the center of the Earth. Beatrice points out that Godly Grace depends on merits, so the angels deserved to be lightened up by Godly Grace, thanks to their own free will. Beatrice complains about the several schools of thought that claim angels have intellect, will and memory. As soon as angels enjoyed God's love, they never turned their own face from Him, so they need no memory. On Earth people daydream, and sometimes willfully, and this makes them guilty: they want to brag about their own wisdom because they love appearance. But what is intolerable in Heaven is to see how men neglect or distort the Holy Scriptures. People forget how much blood was shed to spread the Gospel: preachers*** will make up new concepts: for example, one said that there was a solar eclipse when Christ died on the cross, but that's a lie, because the sun was obscured by God everywhere. Christ didn't tell his first apostles “Go and spread nonsense”, but they spread the truth, using the Gospel as their own armory. Unfortunately the populace will believe without evidence any promise of salvation (indulgences) that comes from foolish preachers (order of Saint Anthony). After this digression, Beatrice resumes the speech about angels, saying that human notion cannot understand the infinite number of angels, despite Daniel 7:10 tries to count them. God's light isn't reflected evenly by angelic intelligences, since they have all different ways and degrees of love. Angels are like mirrors where Godly Light is reflected, but they are all different, so they reflect His Love differently.


* Dante describes a very ephemeral moment of astral conjunction, whenever the sun and the moon (children of Latona) are in conjunction with Aries (the sheep) and Libra simultaneously, before one (the moon) passes from one hemisphere to the other. In verse 12 Beatrice defines God's mind as “where every where and when originates”. In verse 24 Beatrice uses a metaphor of three arrows being shot by an arch with three strings, to highlight the perfection of these beings. In verse 25 the triple creative act is likened to the simultaneity between the reflection of a ray through a transparent object (glass, amber or crystal) and its visibility outside of the object itself.
**Beatrice explains that a faction of the angels rebelled almost immediately, with a litotes (counting, you will not get to 20), disturbing the subject of your worldly elements (Earth). In verse 57, Lucifer is described as “constrained by all the weight of the world” meaning plunged into the center of the Earth. In verse 85 Beatrice likens the right path to the philosophical reasoning.
In verse 101, Beatrice uses a periphrasis to mean that the sun was obscured in the entire world: not only the Hebrews saw it, but also in India and in Spain.
***Beatrice says, with a metaphor, that Florence doesn't have as many Lapi and Bindi (Iacopo and Ildebrando, widespread names) , as the fables that are told in the mass sermons, and the people, likened to foolish sheep, believe in them, willfully, and this doesn't excuse them. In verse 114, the shield and the spears are used as metaphor to say that the Gospel was the apostles' invincible weapon. In verse 115 Beatrice says that preachers use mottos and laughable anecdotes, and even if they sound ridiculous, their hood is filled with pride, and they want no more. And in that hood the demon is hidden (the bird makes its nest in that hood) , and if the populace saw it, would understand how fallacious are their indulgences they rely on. In verse 124 the invective against the order Saint Anthony, that exploits the gullibility of the faithful cashing in money through indulgences, and using that money on unspeakable things (concubines, illegitimate children) “By this Saint Anthony fattens his pig and many others, who are even more pigs, paying in money without mark of coinage (indulgences)”

 

[Estro Felino]

Thirtieth Canto

The beautiful vision of the angels is fading away*, so Dante turns his gaze to Beatrice. Dante is so dazzled by her smile, that he cannot use his poetry to describe it any more, and it's the first time, since he has met her. So he focuses on Heaven: Beatrice points out they have just ascended to the Empyrean, that is pure Light, filled with indescribable Love, where both angels and the blessed are (that look like they will on Doomsday, with their mortal body back). An effulgent ineffable Light welcomes him, dazzling him completely. And a voice within him, tells him that was meant to make him get used to the new dimension. For instance he feels like his eyesight is acquiring an unworldly capability of bearing any brightness. Dante has a beautiful vision: flowery fields with rivers of lights, filled with sparks as glowing as rubies set in gold. After smelling the scent of the flowers, they would return to the rivers, over and over again. Beatrice tells Dante that the rivers and the topazes (angels) that he sees are just visions to prepare him to the beauty of the Empyrean. So Dante rushes to see more, and realizes the rivers had become round. And those flowers and rivers revealed themselves: on one side, the angels and on the other side, the blessed. Dante describes a beautiful Light, proceeding from the Creator Himself, and an incredibly wide, circular figure, whose size surpasses the circumference of the Sphere of the Sun. And which is lightened up by rays of light coming from the zenith of the Primum Mobile, which mirrors the image of all the souls, who have returned to the Empyrean, sitting on thousands of steps. And since the lowest step has a dazzling light, he dares no image the splendor of the highest ones. Dante couldn't see the entire Rose of the Blessed, but could perceive the Oneness of its divine joy, because physical laws don't apply to Heaven: only God's law stands. Beatrice leads him to the center of the rose, where the praise of God was sweeter, and could see all the blessed wearing white robes. It was boundless and all seats were taken, but a great throne in the middle, where a crown was placed above it. Beatrice says that before Dante dies, that seat will be taken by Henry VII****, that will descend to Italy to rescue her. But Clement V will be elected and will try to hinder him, both secretly and openly. And that Pope will die soon, and will be cast into the bolgia of Simoniacs, in the same hole as Boniface VIII (see Canto XIX Inferno).



*Dante likens that sensation to the moment of dawn (called the very luminous maid of the Sun) on Earth (while 6,000 miles away is the sixth hour, that is noon and the planet projects the cone of shadow on the horizon line) when every star slowly fades away because of the sun rays. In verse 22 Dante admits he is not able to describe Beatrice's beauty and declares himself defeated more than a writer (of either comedies or tragedies) that is not able to describe an aspect of his work. In verse 25 he likens his incapability to the sun that blinds his eyesight, preventing him from recalling what he saw. In verse 33 Beatrice is defined with a periphrasis: “the one whose description I left up to greater task, other than my poetry (tuba who is terminating the subject of Paradise)”. In verse 43 the arrays of blessed and angels are called armies, and Doomsday “the final judgment”,
**Dante likens his dazzling to a sudden thunderbolt that impedes the visual capabilities, so that men cannot distinguish the objects and the shapes. In verse 54 with a metaphor, Dante expresses how the eyesight needs to get used to that Light gradually, as the candle has to get used to its flame, and that is a form of “greeting”. In verse 73 the beautiful vision is likened to water to drink, that satiates the thirst for Heavenly ecstasy. In verse 78 Beatrice uses an expression “shadowy prefaces” to mean that they are holograms of their own essence. In verse 82, through a simile, Dante likens himself to a child that as soon as he wakes up, rushes to his breakfast milk, saying he was faster. In verse 91 he likens the transformation to people taking off their masks, revealing their identity, that is the two courts of Heaven, the blessed and the angels.
*** Dante likens the rose of the blessed to a infinite ladder that is reflected by the light of the Primum Mobile as a hill is mirrored by a lake, with its grass and flowers. Dante likens in verse 124 the entire rose to a real flower, with the pistils at the center (yellow), and where olfactive sensations are used to describe the greatness of that spot; and in verse 126 God is called “the sun that always makes spring come”.
**** Beatrice uses a metaphor: Italians are so self-destructive that they like hungry babies who reject the nurse supposed to breastfeed them: meaning they will neglect Emperor Henry VII, come to rescue them. The Roman Curia is called “divine forum” in verse 148. In the last stanzas, there is the image of Clement V, that God will make him die soon (God will endure him on the Petrine throne, not so long); and will send him where Simon Magus is punished, and will make Boniface VIII (the Pope of Anagni Slap) plunge into the hole deeper.

 

[Estro Felino]

Thirty-first Canto
Dante is before the Candid Rose* when he sees the array of the angelic intelligences flying, like bees, onto the petals (the seats) to pour out their love and peace to the blessed, and then flying back to God. They all had red glowing faces, golden wings and robes whiter than snow, and their presence didn't disturb the bestowal of Godly Light, which penetrates whoever is worthy of It. All those joyful souls were filled with Love towards their creator, so Dante invokes the Lord, thinking of human misery and of his own city, Florence**. And he is in awe, thinking of how different that otherworldly, indescribable dimension is. He admires all the blessed, looking at all the seats, trying to memorize all that resplendence. They were all faces of dignified spirits filled with love, reflecting both God's light and their own light, coming from their joy. Dante was so satisfied for admiring Heaven in its entirety but wanted to ask Beatrice for more details. But as soon as he asks her, he see the spirit of an old man replying. He was as gentle and loving as a tender father, telling that Beatrice had asked him to guide him instead through the Empyrean. Beatrice, with a halo on her head, was sitting on the third step of the highest part of the Rose. Even if she was sitting at an unfathomable distance, Dante could see her perfectly. And he is moved by his spiritual guide's charity and virtue, that out of love, even walked on Limbo to ask Virgil to accompany him. Since she has saved him from the slavery of sin, he begs her to preserve his sinlessness until he dies. Beatrice smiles at him, manifesting her gladness. That blessed was Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who tells Dante to stare at the Rose, so he can get used to the beautiful vision he is about to see: Mary, the Queen of Heaven. The pious saint tells him to look at the highest and furthest seat. Dante sees the ineffable radiance of a light that would surpass all lights nearby, in brightness. Glowing at the center, and fading at the edges.****
And thousands of joyful angelic intelligences all around her. Mary was so ineffably beautiful, that all saints were glad just staring at her. Bernardo stares at her too, with so much love that Dante's love for the Virgin rose, as well.


*In the first stanzas, Dante calls “holy army” the blessed “that Christ made His bride”. The array of the angels is called through a periphrasis “the other array, that, while flying see and sing the glory of He who enamors it, and the goodness that created it so beautiful” and likens it, through a simile to a swarm of bees that flies here and there on the flowers, and then returns to the beehive. In verse 12 God is called “where their love always resides”. In verse 15, through a litotes, the candor of the angels' robes is defined as not even reaching the whiteness of the snow. In verse 25, Dante means that the blessed (safe and joyful kingdom) are both from the Old and the New Testament, and they were all turning their own face and love towards the same spot (God, called triune light and solely star in verse 28). In verse 30, through a metaphor, Dante likens the evil of the world to a tempest.
** Through a simile, Dante likens his own amazement to that that the Germanic populations must have felt when they saw Rome (and the high Lateran) for the first time. The Germanic population are rendered through a periphrasis (the regions where every day there is the Helix ( the constellation Ursa Major) and Boötes in the celestial vault. The myth narrates that Helix (Callisto) was a nymph transformed into constellation (Ursa Major) by Zeus, while the son born from their union was turned into Boötes. In verse 43 Dante likens himself to a visitor admiring the beauties of a shrine (the temple of his won vow). In verse 65 the expression “terminate your desire” means “to terminate the visit in Paradise”. In verse 71 Beatrice's halo is called “crown reflecting the eternal rays”. In verse 73 Dante describes the unfathomable distance between he and her woman, giving the example of the distance between the human eyesight and the clouds where thunders are, or the deepest abyss of the sea, pointing out that natural laws don't apply to Heaven. In verse 90, through a periphrasis (so my soul separates itself from the body, looking in a way that pleases you). In verse 93 the Godly Light is called “eternal fountain”.
***In verse 103 Dante likens his amazement by Bernard's piety to a peregrine from a Croatia who comes to Rome to see the Veil of Veronica cloth with Jesus Christ's impressed image and being amazed by that face. In verse 118 Dante likens the difference between Mary's brightness and the others' to the difference that there is between the effulgence of the sunrise compared to the weak lights of twilight.
**** The sun is omitted through a periphrasis (the helm that Phaeton drove wrong). Phaeton tried to drive the chariot of the sun, to demonstrate he was better than Apollo. Dante means that as the sun lightens up a part of the globe, and its light tends to fade away in the edges of that part, so Mary's splendid halo would fade on its edges. In verse 136 with a litotes Dante says that even if he were so good at inventing, as he is at writing, he wouldn't even capable of describing her beauty.

 

[Estro Felino]

Thirty-second Canto
Saint Bernard is now Dante's guide, and points at beautiful Eve*, who is sitting on the step below the Virgin Mary; on the third step there were Rachel and Beatrice; and below them so many women from the Ancient Testament, Sarah, Rebekah, Judith, Ruth. The saint explains the Rose is an amphitheater divided into two sides: from the seventh step downward, the file of Jewish women indicates the dividing line. At the left hand of Maria, there are all those who believed in Christ's future coming, and all seats are taken. At her right hand, all those with believed in Christ's resurrection, that's why so many seats are still empty.
The second dividing line is in the opposite part of the Rose, and opposite Mary's seat Saint John the Baptist is sitting, and below him several saints: Francis, Benedict, Augustine.
The lower part of the amphitheater, below a horizontal line, is not divided in two; and there are the spirits who went to Paradise before they could have self-awareness: children. Dante wonders why they all sit at different heights (which correspond to different degree of beatitude). Bernard explains that in Heaven nothing is casual, so the spirits of the children aren't taking seats sine causa (randomly): God creates souls endowing them with all different kinds of Grace, (as Jacob and Esau** were different). In ancient times, for instance, children were saved thanks to their parents' faith; then God asked parents to circumcise their sons. But with Christ's coming, children are destined to Limbo, unless they receive baptism. Bernard asks Dante to stare at Mary*** so he can prepare himself to gaze at Jesus Christ. Mary was surrounded by beautiful angels, and the first of them started singing Hail Mary to her, and all the blessed of the Rose sang along: nothing, in Paradise had been more godlike than that indescribable vision. Dante spots an angel staring at Mary as a lover would stare his beloved: Bernard says it was Gabriel, the most graceful Archangel. Then Bernard points at the other blessed: the closest ones to Mary are Adam and Saint Peter****. Next to Peter, there is Saint John who wrote Revelation; and next to Adam, Moses. Opposite to Saint Peter, Saint Anne, proud of her own daughter (Mary) and opposite to Adam, Saint Lucy.
Bernard is aware that Dante has seen everything, except God. So he invites to stare at Him. But in order to fully enjoy such a divine experience, Dante needs to obtain Mary's intercession, so Bernard asks listen his own plea to the Virgin, and repeat after him.



* Eve is defined as “the one that opened the wound (original sin) that Mary healed and cured”. In verse 11 there is another periphrasis indicating Ruth “the great-grandmother of the cantor (David) that sung the Psalms 51 to atone for his sin”. In verse 18 the seats of the blessed are called the fronds (petals) of the flower (Rose). In verse 22 with a metaphor (the flower is ripen with all its petals) Bernard means all seats (called semicircular seats in verse 26) are taken. In verse 31 Saint John the Baptist is distinguished by the Evangelist with the verse “the great John that faced the desert and the martyrdom with sainthood, and then suffered the Limbo for two years”. In verse 44, the spirits of the newborns and the children are defined as “unbound before they could make real choices”. In verse 51 the doubt is likened to a bound that tie up tight his “subtle thoughts”. Through a metaphor Bernard means that each thing correspond to a law (as the ring belong on a finger). In verse 58 the blessed children are called “the people rushing to real life”.
** They are called the twins that in the Holy Scriptures were in disagreement even in the mother's womb. In verse 70, through a metaphor (According to the hair color the supreme light (God) consents that they are crowned with such a grace), Bernard explains that those children have different degrees of beatitude (different seats in the Candid Rose) according to the grace (the first acumen) received at birth. In verse 82, the birth of Christianity is called the “time of Grace” and in verse 84, children are called “such innocence” and Limbo is mentioned through a periphrasis (down there).
*** Mary is called the face that looks like Christ the most, underlining there is a good likeness between Mother and Son. In verse 89 angels are defined as the holy minds created to fly at that height. In verse 105, Archangel Gabriel is likened to a lover glowing with desire. In verse 106, Bernard is called the doctrine of He (God) who would enfold Mary with light, as Sun lightens up the morning star, Venus. In verse 112 Gabriel is called “he who took the palm to Mary, back when the Son of God decided to take the shape of our mortal body”. In verse 116 the greatest blessed are called the “patricians of this Augustan and pious empire”.
****Adam and Saint Peter are called the roots of this rose (Mary) called Augustan in the previous verse. Adam is defined as “the father that because of the daring tasting, mankind has been tasting so much bitterness”. Peter is defined as “the old father of the Holy Church to whom Christ entrusted this beautiful flower (Heaven) and “the oldest family father” in verse 136. Saint John is “the one that predicted the hard times of the beautiful bride (the Church) acquired with spears and nails. Eventually Moses is “the commander of that ingrate, coy people that lived on manna”. In verse 138, through a metaphor, Bernard describes Dante's bewilderment, looking for the way, and so “straining his eyes”. In verse 140, there is a simile: “like the tailor that sews the skirt according to how much cloth he has”.

 

[Estro Felino]

Thirty-third Canto
Bernard started to pray:

“Virgin Mother, daughter of your Son, the most high and humble creature, fixed limited of the eternal counsel, you are the one who ennobled the human nature so much that the Creator didn't disdain to become creature. In your womb Love was kindled, whose warmness made this flower germinate, within the eternal peace. You are a resplendent torch of charity, and a gushing fountain of hope down there, among the mortals. You are such a great and worthy woman, that whoever asks for grace without appealing to you, is like wanting to fly with no wings. Your goodness assists whoever asks for it, but many times anticipates the request. Mercy, compassion, magnificence, all that is good in every creature, is within you. This man, who departing from the lowest part of the Universe has seen all spiritual conditions, one by one, is begging you, out of grace, for that virtue that enables him to raise his eyes to the Ultimate Salvation. And I, who have never burnt to see God, as I am now so his wish is granted, I pour out all my prayers to you, and I hope they suffice. So you scatter all the plumes of his mortality with your prayers, and the Supreme Enjoyment is revealed to him. And I pray you, Queen who can whatever you will, to preserve his affections, after such a sight. Protect the human movements: look at how Beatrice and so many blessed are joining hands to pray you”.

Mary's loving eyes*, pleased with Bernard's prayer, would turn to God more intensively, than any other creature ever could. Dante was feeling that all his desires were being fulfilled, finally, so he was already staring up, with great fervor and eagerness. His sight was more and more entering that indescribable Light; from that moment on, all that Dante saw, was beyond the limits of human language and comprehension, since human sight and memory were inadequate, before all that. It was such a beautiful vision, that the sweetness arisen from it is still in his heart, but Dante cannot remember the details clearly. Dante prays the supreme Light (God) to make him remember of what It looked like to help him translate it into words, so future generations can get an idea of His glory. The glowing effulgence of that ray of Light was so great, that Dante could have looked away, but he didn't: he kept staring up, so he could merge his own nature with the Infinite Worth (God). In that depth he could see an immense volume, bound with love, and containing all the knowledge of Universe: all the substances existing, their proprieties and how they deal, but as if they were one, one single, divine Light. Dante wasn't stopping** staring at that Light, because once you stare at It, your mind wishes to stare at nothing else, because goodness becomes the solely purpose of human will, and all that's not perfect becomes flawed. Dante could see within the depth of the Light, three spheres of different colors, but of the same size***: one looked like the reflection of the other, and the third looked like fire blowing from the first two in the same measure. “Oh Eternal Light, that dwell solely in Yourself, solely understand Yourself, and understood by Yourself and understanding, love and smile on Yourself”. The second circle that was reflected by the first circle, caught Dante's attention because he could see a human face within it, in the same color, and Dante was yearning to figure out how it was possible, and according to what principle. So his mind was hit by a thunderbolt of light which made him see what he was looking for, but his memory failed him. But something else made Dante's mind move on like a wheel: Love, That moves the sun and the other stars.

*Mary is indicated with a periphrasis: the eyes loved and veneered by God (called eternal Light in verse 43). In verse 58 Dante uses a simile: Dante likens that vision to a very powerful dream, and one, upon awakening, remembers the passion of that dream, which remains, but not the details. In verse 64, another simile: memory fades away, as snow melts in the sun; in verse 65, there is a mythological reference: the Cuman Sibyl used to write the oracle response on leaves, that she would scatter with the wind, making their deciphering impossible. In verse 70, through a metonymy, Dante's tongue has to become powerful so at least one spark of God's glory can be passed into future generations. In verse 91 Dante explains the oneness of all the knowledge of the world, “the universal form of such knot”.
** Dante says that just one instant of oblivion is much greater than twenty-five centuries that separate him from the Argonauts' expedition (that made Neptune admire the size of the ship Argo).
In verse 107 Dante says that his words will always be inadequate to express his memory (my tongue will be shorter than that of a baby, that still drinks milk from the breasts).
***The Holy Trinity described: the Father was reflected by the Son like a rainbow is reflected by another rainbow, and the Holy Spirit was the fire going out of both. In verse 133 Dante likens himself to a geometer that tries to measure the circumference of that circle, and cannot figure out, reasoning, the principle to calculate it. In verse 139, Dante uses a metaphor to say his mortal mind was not able to understand that mystery: “my feathers (wings) were not suitable for that”. In verse 144 he likens that sensation to the wheel that is moved evenly and regularly.

 

[Estro Felino]

To deepen Canto XXXIII: Mary, Daughter of your Son

Dante highlights one of the most emblematic dogmas of the Catholic Faith: the Dogma of Mary Mother of God. Mary who is both Mother of God (Jesus) and Child of God, being the chosen one to be the Mother of Christ.
The prayer that Saint Bernard recites is filled with theological truths. First of all Mary's humbleness that makes her the most high creature; and that is why, through her love, she "ennobled" the human nature by defying the limits of human love, and by falling in love with God so much that she incarnated God in her womb. That's a very interesting interpretation that Angela Volpini shares, as well. Volpini is a seer who claims she has seen the Virgin Mary at the age of seven.
In fact Saint Bernard goes on: Mary's love for God, for Creation, for mankind was so fiery that it was kindled in her womb and germinated like a flower. The divine mystery of parthenogenesis has only one answer: Love. Maternal Love that is also God, since God is both Father and Mother.
That Love is a gushing source of charity and hope. That is shown by the countless apparitions that Mary grants to those who believe in her. But also intercessions are very difficult (Saint Bernard points out) unless one appeals to the Queen of Saints herself.

 

[Estro Felino]

To deepen Canto XXXIII: The Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity described in Canto XXXIIII is not dissimilar than the theological explanation given by theologian Joachim of Fiore: the Trinity is nothing but three concentric rings of equal size. The Triad is actually a representation of the History of Christianity, which is made up of three ages, that are outside of space and time. They are all present at the same time, but stand for three distinct moments of human history.
In the first age, Creation takes place and it's God that prevails. In the second age, mankind is redeemed thanks to Jesus' first coming and Resurrection. It's the moment where mankind has the chance to join God, someday. And the third age, when the Holy Spirit will triumph on Earth, with Jesus' second coming. The age of spirituality.
But before describing the Holy Trinity, Dante's mind has a vision of what God really is: the infinite knowledge of all that exists on Earth: the universe, the chemistry of elements, all the physical laws listed in the pages of a huge volume. An unfathomable book, because knowledge is infinite and human mind can't even comprehend a tiny portion of it. Despite poetry is not the best way to speculate on theology, Dante does it marvelously, explaining that God's vision is not only a sensation of infinite Love (that makes the Universe expand and create Life) but also the awareness of being at One with that Love.