Dante's Purgatorio, Introduction

We are back to reading Dante’s Divine Comedy for my Catholic Thought Book Club at Goodreads where I’m one of the moderators, and we’re picking with the second cantica, Purgatorio.  Now I have written on Dante’s Purgatorio about four years ago when I read it and posted for this blog.  So some of what I say will draw from the posts from back then.  Here is what I wrote as an introduction for the book club.

Introduction and Reading Plan.

As an introduction to Dante’s Purgatorio I want to emphasize just how engrained in our Catholic consciousness Dante’s conception of the purgatorial state has become.  The Catholic conception of purgatory is strictly a cleansing, a burning off of dross.  Dante’s conception of a physical place where one has to travel toward heaven as a purifying journey.  Actually I said this already in one of my blog posts in 2014:

Perhaps a word should be given to the originality of Dante’s vision of purgatory.  The Roman Catholic understanding of purgatory is based on solely as a staging place for the souls to be purified before entering heaven.  It’s based on tradition which came from the Church Fathers (Saints Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory, Origin, Tertulian, etc) which was derived from Judaism’s praying for the dead, several references in the Old Testament, and Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 10-15), where he states  

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But each one must be careful how he builds upon it,11for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ.12If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,13the work of each will come to light, for the Day* will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire [itself] will test the quality of each one’s work.14If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage.15But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved,* but only as through fire.

That purging fire cleanses the soul who then is made worthy for heaven.  Catholics situate the place which that occurs by the name of purgatory; Eastern Orthodox acknowledges the purgation but do not situate a locale; most Protestants don’t seem to acknowledge either.   So at best, purgatory is an amorphous notion without much detail.  That people have a vision of purgatory as a structured place where various types of sins are healed is solely a result of Dante’s creation.  It is a testament to how influential to its culture the Divine Comedy became.

You can read that blog post here.

As to the structure of Dante’s Purgatory, I said this:

Dante’s structure for purgatory in one respect mirrors the structure he gives hell.  Sins increase in severity as one corkscrews downward to the heart of hell; sins in purgatory decrease in gravity as one winds (also in corkscrew) up the mountain.  Purgatorio is located on an island in the southern hemisphere in polar opposition to Jerusalem.  But unlike hell, there is daylight on purgatory, perhaps its most significant difference, where sunshine and shadow metaphorically reflect the complex nature of life.  There is daytime and nighttime here, struggle and dreams of contemplation, song and suffering, acknowledgement of one’s transgressions and desire for refinement, and ultimately a desire for freedom, a freedom from one’s compulsions and disorders.  The journey here is a journey to growth in love, a love that unbinds the soul from human constrictions.  I personally find Purgatorio more interesting than either Inferno or Paradisio.  It’s the most human of the three canticas.

Dante divides the mountain of Purgatorio into three main sections: Ante-Purgatory, the lower ridges where the souls are slowed down based on their earthly apathy toward penitence; Purgatory proper where the seven terraces purify the seven deadly sins; and then Earthly Paradise where the Garden of Eden was situated for Adam and Eve.  Each is further subdivided, each in essence has a portal from which one enters, and each portal has an attendant who invites the soul in.  Contrast the attendants of Purgatorio, who welcome and guide, with the demon sentinels of Inferno, who punish and suppress the condemned. 

One other thing that must be emphasized is that Purgatory is not a place for punishment.  Yes, there is suffering and trial, but it is not retribution or even justice.  Purgatorial suffering is intended to retrain the soul to be in compliance with God’s order so that one can enter heaven.  It is a reshaping of the disordered parts of our being.  So if one has a fair element of pride in one’s soul, he has to undergo a mortification process to eliminate that disorder.  Many saints and holy people throughout the ages have used similar mortification processes (self-flagellation, hair shirts, abstinence, fasting) on earth in order to discipline their souls in preparation for divine acceptance.  That is what happens in a structured way in Dante’s Purgatorio.  I’ve used the words “retrain” and “reshape” to describe the process.  However, the best word I have heard used to describe it is “therapy.”  Therapy probably resonates better with our modern consciousness.  The souls are undergoing a therapeutic process of cleansing their compulsions.

Finally I should say that between the three canticas of the Divine Comedy, Purgatorio is my favorite.  As I said in my blog four years ago, it captures a complexity of humanity that the other two shows in the extreme. 

For the reading schedule, here’s what I propose:

8 – 14 July: Cantos 1 – 5 

15 – 21 July: Cantos 6 – 11

22 – 28 July: Cantos 12 – 17

29 July – 4 Aug: Cantos 18 – 23

5 - 11 Aug: Cantos 24 – 29

12 - 18 Aug: Cantos 30 – 33

Discussion will occur on the subsequent week of the read.  As I did with Inferno I will try to give a canto by canto summary, but bear with me if I get behind.  It is summer time. 

I already wrote up something about the translations over at the introduction and background for Inferno.  Let me reiterate, I consider the Robert and Jean Hollander (husband and wife team) to be the best poetic translation in English.  The Anthony Esolen translation is also very good, and I would also recommend the Robert M. Durling translation.  Actually the notes in the Durling translation might be the best but his poeticism is a bit compromised in the sense that it’s more prosaic.  If you don’t care about the translator capturing Dante’s poetic effects, then the Durling translation might be for you.

I hope many of you will join us.