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

Friday, July 12, 2019

Comments to Dante’s Paradiso, Cantos XXXI thru XXXIII, Part 1

It’s been really hard to pick a starting point for commentary on these last three cantos.  One could start with the centrality of the Blessed Virgin in the conclusion.  One could start with the climatic mystical vision of the Trinity—the theophany—and back the steps to there.  One could start with the surprise transition to a new guide for just a mere three cantos.  But I’ll start as Dante (the author) with the beauty and strange imagery the mystical Rose, referred to as the Empyrean, which constitutes the City of God.

As Dante’s (the character) vision clears after immersing his eyes into the river of light, he finds himself in a remarkable place, almost like a sudden transition from one scene to another in a movie.  He uses three sparkling similes in Canto XXXI as an attempt to approximate the wonder.  These are the pilgrim similes.  Here’s the first.

 If the barbarians, coming from that region
which Helice covers every day,
wheeling with her son, in whom she takes delight,

were dumbstruck at the sight of Rome
and her majestic monuments,
when the Lateran surpassed all other works of man,

I, who had come to things divine from man's estate,
to eternity from time,
from Florence to a people just and sane,

with what amazement must I have been filled!
Indeed, between the wonder and my joy, I was content
neither to hear nor speak a word. (XXXI. 31-42)

Just like barbarians, who have probably lived in thatched huts all their lives, are filled with wonder when they first enter Rome and see the immense architecture and vast city, so Dante is taken aback with the wonder of Empyrean.  The second (lines 43-48) describe that same pilgrim wondering in such a spectacular city planning to tell his tale to those back home when he returns. And finally the third pilgrim simile foreshadows the climax:

As the man who, perhaps from Croatia, has come
to set his gaze on our Veronica,
his ancient craving still not satisfied,

            and who thinks to himself while it is shown:
'My Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself,
was this then how You really looked?',

just so was I, gazing on the living love
of him who, still within the confines of this world,
in contemplation tasted of that peace.  (XXXI. 103-111)

Just like a man from Croatia—that is a country bumpkin—comes to Rome to see Veronica’s relic, the face of Christ on a towel and wonders if this is how Christ truly looked, so too Dante -feels like a country bumpkin, and remember Dante is a pretty sophisticated guy.  Notice, that face is what Dante will actually see at the theophany in a few moments.

The image of angels as bees interacting with the human souls, who are as flowers is stunning.  The bees gather the “pollen” of God’s love and pollinate the followers.  We are indeed in a new world charged with God’s grace.  As the Israelites crossed the desert to a land of milk and honey, Dante has arrived at his journey’s end.

This city of God is in the shape of a white rose.  In each petal of the rose resides a sanctified soul.  Is this rose a corresponding and contrasting image to the inner city of hell, Cocytus?   One would have to surmise so, and then a comparison could not be avoided.  Cocytus is a frozen lake with souls stuck in the frozen ice, cold, sterile, and bleak.  The rose, on the other hand, suggests beauty, life affirming, fertility, warmth.  In Canto XXXIII, an allusion is made that Mother Mary’s womb is a flower: “'Your womb relit the flame of love --/its heat has made this blossom seed/and flower in eternal peace” (7-9).  The rose is a womb which is a tabernacle.

Just as Dante (the character) was frozen from fear to find Virgil disappeared toward the end of Purgatorio, so he is frozen from fear to find Beatrice gone at the end of Paradisio.  And both times a new guide replaces the old.

Dante’s prayer to Beatrice (XXXI. 79-90) pays tribute to the woman who saved his soul and led him “from servitude to freedom.”  In that respect Beatrice is an analogue for Moses who in turn is an analogue for Christ. 

But why introduce a new guide here with only three cantos to the end?  At the end of Purgatorio it made sense a new guide would be needed since Virgil, a pagan, could not enter heaven.  There is nothing obstructing Beatrice from continuing into the heart of Empyrean.  In fact we see her seated in her place in the Rose.  Bernard seems unnecessary.

But by having Bernard complete Dante’s journey, Dante (the author) accomplishes two vital points.  First it highlights the centrality of the Blessed Virgin’s position in these latter cantos.  St. Bernard is one of history’s greatest devotees of the Blessed Mother, and so he is most fitting as a guide here.  More on that centrality in a bit.

Second, Dante (the author) creates a web of intercessors from which Dante’s (the character) salvation rests.  Recall that in the first two cantos of Inferno, when Dante was in a midlife crises and lost in the wood, it was the Blessed Mother’s compassion that dispatched St. Lucy to dispatch Beatrice who dispatched Virgil to guide Dante.  But why were all those links needed?  Why couldn’t the Blessed Mother come herself to Dante and lead him through?  Indeed, why couldn’t Christ Himself appear to Dante and guide him?  Perhaps a Protestant author would have done it that way.

But it would have been so much a lesser work.  Besides the rich narrative complexity that would have been lost, it would also have lacked showing the communion of saints that work for our intercession.  While we face God alone in our judgement, our journeys are not solitary.  We have many earthly and spiritual people who come to our aid.  The Blessed Mother, St. Lucy, Beatrice, Virgil form a web of spiritual intercessors.  We have such a web at our disposal too. 

With this understanding we see that the Virgin Mary’s quiet centrality has been throughout the Divine Comedy.  She’s the one who set in motion the means for Dante’s (the character’s) salvation.  Her centrality is evident within the Empyrean.  When Bernard points up to the top of the Rose, it is the Queen Mother who stands out brightest.

Once Mary is identified as the central locus in the Rose, Bernard then points out various saints relative to her position.  Notice the pattern that Bernard creates as he identifies blessed souls.  He follows a line down from Mary, and then to the left of her, and then to the right.  This forms the shape of a cross.  On the mirror opposite side from Mary, he forms another cross, this time with John the Baptist at the top.  Indeed, the divisions of the Empyrean can be seen as sectors formed by the lines of cross.  The left-right divide formed by the shaft (stipes) divides the worthy Hebrews from the Christian saved.  The top-bottom divide formed by the crossbar divides adult saved from the infants saved.

Finally Bernard tells Dante if he wants to be worthy of the ultimate vision, he must refocus on the Blessed Mother.  Notice how he phrases this:

'Look now on the face that most resembles Christ,
for nothing but its brightness
can make you fit to look on Christ.' (XXXII. 85-87)


“The face that most resembles Christ” is pregnant (pun intended!) with meaning.  The Blessed Mother most resembles Christ in that (1) she is sinless, (2) she has an equal heart of compassion, and (3) she was His physical mother.  Dante (the author) could not have known about genetics but certainly it was evident that children resembled their parents.  One should never minimize the importance of the corporeal nature of the incarnation.




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