DANTE: CATHOLICISM IN THE DIVINE COMEDY

Is Dante a Catholic? Why did a politician of the 1300s decide to write an ambitious work other than the Bible? What do you think of the popes that the Vatican condemned to Hell? Dante says that his trip was intended by God, that's why he felt compelled to write the Divine Comedy. Let's discover some of the mysteries of the poet - prophet.

The Vatican pays tribute to the Divine Comedy

Dante imagines making his journey in the afterlife in 1300: the year of the first Jubilee in the Church's history. He wrote the Divine Comedy at the end of the trip, after seeing God, whose sense - inspiring love, redemption, and virtuous behaviors in order to avoid the eternal Hell - perfectly reflects the creed of Catholics.

But the Divine Comedy is also full of provocations to the Catholic Church. In his imaginary journey, Dante puts three popes - Nicholas III, Boniface VIII and Clemetino V in Hell, between the simonists Bedlam III in the Eighth Circle, doomed to be upside down inside with their heels in the air and the flames lapping at their feet. Boniface VIII was also the reigning pope at Dante's time, and it was he who proclaimed the first Jubilee, to pray and to be reconciled to God, but also to make money on indulgences and ecclesiastical offices.

A painting of Dante with the 9 circles of hell behind him, and the Vatican depicted on the far right. 

Despite Dante denouncing the corruption of the Christian Church, the Divine Comedy remains a work appreciated by high-ranking Catholic.

Whomever has visited the tomb of Dante Alighieri in Ravenna surely has noticed the gold cross that Pope Paul VI gave in 1965, on the occasion of the seventh centenary of the birth of the Florentine poet.

How is it that the Catholic Church has honored the memory of Dante? It was the same Pope Paul VI, who in his letter Highs Cantus 1965, explains the deep interest of the Catholic Church for the figure of Dante Alighieri. In the Encyclical illustrious Summorum Benedict XV argues that Dante has professed the Catholic religion in an exemplary manner, while always did Paul VI set up a Chair for the Study of Dante at the Catholic University of Milan and claimed that Dante is ours. "Our" in the sense of universal, but also "our " in the sense of the Catholic faith. That Dante is Catholic.

The Divine Comedy as the Bible

Dante Alighieri was a citizen of Florence, politically committed, with no other charges or merit of particular significance: he was the most noble soul and in their titles.

Dante claims to have made ​​a trip to the afterlife and, after seeing the Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, also arrived to see God (a claim that could touch the heresy). The story of that journey is the Divine Comedy, a work that has no precedent.

According to Charles Singleton, author of the poetry of the Divine Comedy (Bologna , Il Mulino, 2002), Dante claims that readers believe in the absolute truth of his fiction, that they may believe that he has really taken his journey. In addition, the Divine Comedy also has a symbolic and allegorical meaning that claims to be true and universal: the journey of Dante sums up the journey of all humanity from sin to salvation.

And what other impressive work has the same characteristics ambitious? The Bible. However, the Bible can afford all its allegories and metaphors because it was written by God, and therefore it is true .

Dante is aware that he is not God, nor can the readers expect to assign him a role so high. To resolve this conflict, Dante says that his journey was God's will. This is his greatest cunning and ingenuity. The Florentine poet, assuming the role of a prophet who speaks for God's will can afford to put popes and other historical characters in Hell with no proof or admiration. He can afford to judge human being’s behaviours right or wrong, showing them the pain and suffering that would be eternal, and can afford to teach, then, what is the right path.

The vision of God, in the last canto of the Paradiso

In the last Canto of the Paradiso of the Divine Comedy, Dante claims to have seen God.

Dante tries to explain in concrete terms what he saw, but the image of God has not stuck in his mind, because it is something so superior to all human logic that his mind was not able to be catalogue and store God’s image.

A depiction of Dante's vision of God as he stands beside Beatrice

What remains, however, is that Dante still managed to see God, even if he cannot remember. After passing the damned of Hell and the people of Purgatory, the Florentine poet came to the meeting with the Creator, a popular destination for anyone Catholic.

Loving and respecting the will of God, everyone can get to heaven and meet the Lord. The Divine Comedy is intended, therefore, to glorify the justice and providence of God, establishing a relationship between man and faith, designed to meet God.