"Love follows knowledge."
"Beauty above all beauty!"
– St. Catherine of Siena

Saturday, May 18, 2019

Dante's Paradiso Cantos XXIII - XXVI, Summary

Canto XXIII

In the Starry Sphere, Dante (the character) is overwhelmed with Beatrice’s beauty.  As she stares at the heavens, he compares her to a mother bird awaiting the sun to rise.  Suddenly she directs Dante to the sky for him to see Christ passing in a triumph.  He notices that Beatrice’s face is aflame from the brightness that is blazing that is Christ.  The brightness is so intense that Dante cannot endure it.  Beatrice explains that this light is that which redeemed mankind.  She then instructs him to open his eyes, and now not only can he see, but he can withstand to see her smile.  Dante is so overcome that he cannot find the words to represent the immensity of it all.  Beatrice then points to Virgin Mary, also in the sky, described as a rose, and around her the apostles that are described as lilies.  Again, Dante has to close his eyes from the intensity.  When he opens he sees a star circling around the head of the Blessed Mother, making it appear that a crown was about her head.  The light is the angel Gabriel, and he and all the other lights sing in homage to her.  Mary and the triumph march higher, rising up beyond Dante’s sight into the next sphere, the Primum Mobile, the final sphere.  As Mary disappears, the lights that were the apostles sing Regina Celi in praise.  Dante too offers praise to Christ and Mary.  St. Peter, then, comes before him.

Canto XXIV

Still at the Starry Sphere, Beatrice addresses the spinning lights that are the apostles.  These lights dance about full of joy.  One light circles Beatrice three times, and Dante is again lost for words to describe it.  The light addresses Beatrice since it is her love that has drawn him close.  She asks him, who though unnamed we know is St. Peter, to test Dante on his faith.  So just as a college student standing before professors, Dante must undergo an oral examination for him to pass through.  The first question that St. Peter asks Dante is, what is faith?  Dante responds that it is the substance of things hoped for.  Second question: from where did you get your faith?  Answer: the Holy Spirit provided it from reading the Old and New Testaments.  Third question: why do you believe what they say?  Answer: Because of the miracles that substantiate the claims.  Fourth question: what makes you believe in those miracles?  Answer; because the world turned to Christ in subsequent generations.  Fifth question: what exactly is it you have faith in?  Answer: The creed, I believe in one God who moves the universe through His love, who through His prophets revealed, who through His incarnation redeemed and further revealed the Trinity within His single Essence.  St. Peter satisfied blesses Dante, circling him three times.

Canto XXV

Dante (the author) opens with contemplation that one day this poem may allow him back to the city of his birth where he will receive the laurel crown.  Still in Starry Sphere, another light approaches them.  Beatrice identifies him as St. James as St. Peter greets the new light warmly.  Beatrice, as she did previously with St. Peter, asks St. James to test Dante, this time on the virtue of hope.  St. James then asks Dante, what is hope, how does it grow in your mind, and from where did it come from?  Before Dante can answer, it is Beatrice that testifies for him, that she knows of no other person with greater hope than Dante.  Dante then answers that hope is the expectation of heavenly glory and that it comes from heavenly grace.  In approval, St. James flashes brightly several times like lightning.  He then asks, what promises does hope hold for you?  Dante replies that his hope is in the promise of the resurrection and of the glorified body that is to come.  Upon that a hymn of hope is heard from above and an even brighter light moves toward the group.  Beatrice explains that this is St. John.  The brightness of St. John completely overwhelms Dante’s eyes, and he goes momentarily blind.  He had tried to see if St. John was before him bodily as a legend had suggested, but St. John’s first words were of chastisement.  Only Christ and His Blessed Mother have their bodies in heaven.  Dante, troubled, looks back for Beatrice, but he still cannot see.

Canto XXVI


Still in the Starry Sphere and still unable to see, Dante hears the voice of St. John, who now takes his turn to interrogate him, his exam on the virtue of love.  His first question, what is the goal of your soul?  Dante answers that the goal of his soul is to satisfy itself in the love that comes from God.  Second question, what made your soul reach for that goal?  Dante replies, philosophic reasoning that love moves all and from the prophets in the Old and New Testaments.  Third question, what is it exactly that moves you to love?  Dante answers that there is a divine imprint on the soul which moves us to love and that all beauty gifted from above elicits that love to come out.  He adds that the creation, the Redemption, and the hope of future glory arouses that love.  Upon his final words, he hears all souls including Beatrice chanting “Holy, holy, holy.”  Through Beatrice he is now able to see again, and see sharper and further than he ever did before.  He now sees a fourth light shining in their company and Beatrice explains that this is Adam, the first human being, Dante overcome with emotion finally implores Adam to speak to him, and that Adam knows the questions he wishes to ask.  Four questions are in Dante’s mind, how long has passed since Adam was in Eden, how long has he been there now, what caused God’s anger to expel him, and what language did he speak then?  Adam answers that God exiled him for trespassing a boundary, that he lived on earth 950 years, that there was another 4302 years before he was returned to heaven, and the language that he spoke has long been extinct.  Nothing of human construction lasts forever.


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