Canto
X
At
the sphere of the sun, the sphere of wisdom and learning, Dante (the author)
provides a new introductory address to the reader, delineating a major segment
in heaven’s divisions. He has the reader
raise his eyes to the heavenly wheel of the stars that are in motion, all the
handiwork of a loving God. Beatrice
implores Dante (the character) to give thanks to He by His grace has allowed
him here. Dante, humbled, stands in
wonder of the rings of flashing lights blinding brightness. The lights are like dancing gems and one speaks
out to him. The light introduces himself
as the Dominican Thomas Aquinas, and he will satisfy Dante’s thirst for
understanding the encircling garland of lights.
In this garland there are twelve lights, each a spirit of a great and
worthy theologian who brought wisdom with their learning. He introduces each: (1) Albert the Great, (2)
himself, Thomas Aquinas, (3) Francis Gration, (4) Peter Lombard, (5) King
Solomon, the most beautiful light of the group, (6) Dionysius the Areopagite,
(7) Paulus Orosius, (8) Severnius Boethius, (9) Isadore of Seville, (10) the
Venerable Bede, (11) Richard of St. Victor, (12) Siger of Brabant. As Thomas finishes speaking, Dante is
overwhelmed with the beauty of the spinning wheel of stars and the celestial
music that emanates.
Canto
XI
Still
at the sphere of the sun, each spirit returns to their place inside the
spinning wreath. The same light who
spoke before, Thomas Aquinas, speaks again.
He reads Dante’s thoughts where two doubts have formulated from what
Thomas said in his catalogue of saints.
The first doubt will get addressed here but the second will have to wait
until Canto XIII. The first regards why
God chose two guides to reinvigorate the Church and thereby “fatten” the sheep
with grace. Thomas will here speak on
one of those guides. He, the Dominican,
chooses to speak of St. Francis of Assisi.
He describes how Francis rose like the sun and went against his father’s
wishes to devote himself to lady Poverty.
Three seals were stamped on Francis.
The first when he severed his materialistic relationship with his
father; the second when Pope Honorius officially approved the Franciscan Order;
and third when God graced Francis with the stigmata. It was St. Francis’ steadfast love and
marriage to Lady Poverty and through the Franciscan Order’s devotion to her
that strengthened not just the Order but all of Christendom. Thomas goes on to conclude that his own
Dominicans have lost their mendicant spirit and so have strayed rather than
fatten spiritually.
Canto
XII
As
Thomas stops speaking, a second wreath of lights joins the first, replicating
the first in motion and song, circling around Dante and Beatrice. When the dance comes to an end, a voice
speaks out from the new garland. He says
that heavenly love compels him to speak of that second guide that reinvigorated
the Church, since the two guides were really twin knights. He speaks of St. Dominic de Guzman, founder
of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominicans, and as St. Francis
was in love with Lady Poverty, St. Dominic was in love with Lady Faith. The voice tells of Dominic’s noble but humble
upbringing and his founding of an order based on learning and preaching against
heresies and bringing the world the light of truth through his learned
followers. The voice concludes that
Francis and Dominic were two wheels of a single chariot saving
Christendom. He laments how now the Franciscan
friars of the current day have weakened in observance to their rule. Finally the voice introduces himself as St.
Bonaventure, the great Franciscan philosopher and mystic. He introduces the spirits that reside in the
second wreath, a garland of souls who in life were mystics. Bonaventure is first followed by (2)
Illuminato da Rieti, (3) Augustino, follower of St. Francis, (4) Hugh of St.
Victor, (5) Petrus Comestor, (6) Petrus Hispanus, (7) Nathan the Old Testament
prophet, (8) St. John Chrysotum, (9) St. Anselm, (10) Aelius Donatus, (11)
Rabanus Maurus, (12) Joachim of Flora.
Canto
XIII
Still
at the sun, Dante (the author) asks the reader to reconfigure the two wreaths
of twelve lights each into three constellations, the first of fifteen stars,
the second of seven stars, and the third of two stars. The music emanating from the whirling group
of stars is a song praising the Trinity.
Then the song having ended, the voice of St. Thomas speaks again to answer
Dante’s second doubt from back in Canto XI.
The doubt pertains on why St. Thomas regarded Solomon as the wisest
person to have ever lived. Thomas reads
Dante’s mind and articulates what Dante is thinking. Adam was created directly by God and resided
in heaven, and Jesus was God Himself, so shouldn’t they have been wiser than Solomon? Thomas agrees with both points and gives the
theological foundations for them, but he goes on to clarify that Solomon was
the wisest king to have ever lived. The
reason for this was because Solomon asked God for it. He did not ask God for scholastic knowledge
or philosophic knowledge or scientific knowledge or mathematical
knowledge. He specifically asked for
practical, real world wisdom to properly administer his kingdom. Thomas ends by cautioning Dante (the
character) to not rush to judgement.
There are many truths we cannot fully comprehend with the limited
knowledge we have on hand, and only fools make final judgements in that way.
Canto
XIV
As
the voice of Thomas goes silent and Beatrice starts to speak, Dante (the
character) envisions two ripples of voices crossing each other (could Dante
have known about sound waves?), one emanating from Thomas, the other from
Beatrice. Speaking to the garlands of
light, Beatrice says to them that Dante will need to know what happens to the
spirit’s light when the resurrection of the flesh occurs, and would the light
shining from each soul damage the other’s sight. The dancing lights react with sudden joy at
the questions and burst out into a hymn to the Trinity. The brightest of the lights, Solomon, speaks
up in a humble voice to answer. He says
that when we put on the flesh again, now glorified, the brightness of the
lights will actually increase because our personhood would now be complete. The eyes of completed bodies will also have
increased strength to accommodate the increased brightness. At this, the garlands of light all chanted
“Amen” in an apparent desire to receive their bodies back. Then a third wreath of lights appears before
them like the breath of the Holy Spirit, and in that increased glow Beatrice
appeared more beautiful than ever. In
the midst of this light, the pilgrims rise up to the next sphere, Mars, a
planet glowing red for the warriors of Christ.
Here the lights, unlike the wreaths in the previous sphere, are
patterned in the shape of a cross.
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