Dante's Purgatorio

Purgatorio: A Place for the Purification of All Pilgrims and Poets.

"e canterò di quel secondo regno
dove l'umano spirito si purga
e di salire al ciel diventa degno."*


Dante Alighieri is the poet who composed the Divina Commedia to illustrate vividly the afterlife. He is also the pilgrim within story traversing the bowels of Hell to the heights of Heaven, in search of a place where Christians can rest their heads. He is the Poet and the Pilgrim and is an Everyman, in whom the audience discovers that they are poets and pilgrims as well. Dante demonstrates that Christianity is a call to transformation. This Christian call is to purgation or purification, in order that man may be received in a more perfect communion. In Dante, the audience sees that they too are looking for divine peace and eternal rest and the Purgatorio is the means through which poets and pilgrims can transform their human tragedy into divine comedy and arrive at their proper conclusion.

Man finds himself stranded in creation and sets out in life as a poet and pilgrim. He is given a quill of free will and his life is an allotment of paper in which to craft his story. From here he embarks on his journey, traversing an unfamiliar and even hostile world attempting to reach his destination. He strives to find a place to rest his head and to pen his final chapter. Dante’s journey is oriented according to the Christian destination, which is communion with God.

Inferno demonstrates the fate of those who held a devotion to creatures. Those who lived moved and had their being in vices find themselves bound in an existence entitled with the words “Abandon all hope ye who enter here” (Inferno III: 9). They are tormented by the realization that creation cannot offer the relief, love, or life they seek. This is what the Greeks called αμαρτια or “missing the mark,” and what the Christians called sin. This inability for an object (including man) to reach its end is the overarching tragedy of mankind that many poets and philosophers have articulated throughout history.

Paradiso demonstrates the fate of those who held a devotion to the Creator. By ordering their lives according to the End, or their origin and conclusion, finite creatures find themselves within infinite love. This realm is where the sound of those celebrating never ceases, and this ceaseless jubilation within God punctuates Dante’s epic poem and renders it a divine comedy.

Dante discovers in order to avoid crafting a tragedy and to arrive at a divine comedy the human spirit must be “made clean, and become worthy to ascend to Heaven” (Purgatorio I: 4-6). This purging or purifying is the vocation of all Christians, because it is necessary to be pure in order to be received into divine communion. Sin is an impurity that distracts one from this full communion. The nature of Purgatory is to allow the soul purity, “for is would not be right to go with eyes, obscured by any cloud” (Purgatorio I: 97-99).

“We are pilgrims even as you are” (Purgatorio II: 63).

With these words Virgil reveals that the story of Purgatorio is the story of all men. Because all are called to communion, all must undergo purgation or purifying suffering. Just like the Church Militant on Earth, the Church Suffering in Purgatory are saints in potentia and are completing the perfection of their soul’s purity begun on Earth with the help of God’s grace. This is seen as Dante describes the constant chants and prayers used both on Earth and in Purgatory. Upon entering Purgatory they chant “In exitu Israël de Aegypto” heralding their deliverance from the sinful world (Purgatorio II: 46). They chant Miseres in penance and the Salve Regina for intercession (Purgatorio V: 23, VII: 82-84). They fervently and elaborately recite the Our Father as they continue grow in divine communion through their divine adoption (Purgatorio XI: 1-24). By sharing the chants and prayers of the Church Militant, the Church Suffering is a didactic role model for the living.

“I will have to wait outside while the heavens, revolve around me . . . unless prayer rising from a heart that lives, in grace comes to my help before then” (Purgatorio IV: 130-134).

Dante frequently witnesses souls in Purgatory pleading for prayers of intercession of expediate their journey to Paradise. These pleas increase the audience’s understanding of what is shared between those in Purgatory and those on Earth. They share the same hope of future communion in their κοινωνία, or communion of spirit found within the Christian community. This helps bring Dante’s audience into fuller communion not only with God, but also with each other. Here the Church is edified and strengthened through intercession through a common faith, a common hope of Paradise, and a common love for each other and God. This echoes back to the Greco-Roman poets, whose underworlds were full of generations of souls clambering to have their name remembered in life. Dante’s poem continues this tradition of passed souls requiring aid from above the grave in order to improve their condition in the after life. This prayer for the souls in Purgatory truly unites the Church in communion to be fulfilled in Paradise, and inspires the Church on earth as they continue in their penance and prayers.

Dante’s Divina Commedia is far more than a record of one man’s journey or vision. It is an outline of the parameters of the Mediæval paradigm, astronomically, theologically, but most importantly morally. The Divina Commedia presents its audience with the Mediæval order of the reality and challenges the audience to live within those parameters. Inferno and Paradiso establish the poles of this worldview as vice or divine love. Purgatorio provides models of hope for Dante’s audience. He provides the examples of piety, humility, and love being purged, purified, and perfected. Purgatorio shows poets and pilgrims how to write and walk in accordance with the Author of Life. The transforming nature of purgation helps pilgrims become “pure and disposed to mount unto the stars” arrive at their destination and allows poets to craft the story of their life as a divine comedy . . .

Puro e disposto a salire a le stelle (Purgatorio XXXIII: 145).

* "and I will sing of that second kingdom
in which the human spirit is made clean
and becomes worthy to ascend to Heaven." (Purgatorio I: 4-6)

Rorate Cæli

Lat.-"Rorate Cæli desuper, et nubes pluant justum."
Eng.-"Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One."

~*~

Well we're approaching the last week of Advent and Christmas is coming. To help us understand the Truth and the Goodness of the Incarnation let's turn to the Beauty that sprang from this event.

Rorate Cæli is one of the oldest chants of the Church and it comes right from the Book of Isaiah (45:8) . . . as most things in Advent do. It is a very simple yet elegant chant that always seems to refresh me during this time of year.

I invite you to enjoy a simple angelic chant during these holidays, in between "Chestnuts" and "Sleigh Ride." I hope this helps you slow down a bit during these anxious days of wrapping and going through exam-withdrawl.

You're all in my prayers and God Bless,

~Sam


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjwOzlBsoXo

http://romaaeterna.jp/liber1/lu1868b.html
If you're so moved, I encourage you to just follow the notes as you listen. This is a the language and music of the Catholic Church, it's not here to be confusing, but to be beautiful and simple.


English Translation

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

Be not angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity : behold the city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a desert. Jerusalem is desolate, the house of our holiness and of thy glory, where our fathers praised thee.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

We have sinned, and we are become as one unclean, and we have all fallen as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us by the hand of our iniquity.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

See, O Lord, the affliction of thy people, and send him whom thou hast promised to send. Send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion, that he himself may take off the yoke of our captivity.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

Be comforted, be comforted, my people; thy salvation shall speedily come. Why wilt thou waste away in sadness? why hath sorrow seized thee? I will save thee; fear not: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

No Gas? Not Bad.

I was thinking of our fuel crisis and I've decided to be an optimist about the whole thing.
We need to look at the tank is half-full, not half-empty.

I've been in local businesses and I've seen local communities loose their identity. They lost their identity, because entertainment and creativity were designated to other cities. Little old Allegan, Michigan didn't have the galleries and museums that Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo had, and no one seriously thought about maintain galleries in Allegan because those bigger cities had them, and they were only a short drive away.

These bigger cities also had a mall and Starbuckses galore, so why get espresso drinks around town? You'd have to put up with something unfamiliar, something not from a chain, something not predictable. This is part of the reason why cafés in Allegan sunk. People didn't see them a beneficial and creative part of their community. Cafés were an afterthought, just like galleries, and museums.

With the gas pinch, rural America and small towns are still slow to realize that they need to look inward. I pray for the day when small communities will foster creativity again. I dream of a day when a grassroot renaissance where people realize there is more to their neighbors that they previously thought.

Growing up, I always thought Allegan was beautiful. There were rolling hills lined with corn and grains, woods with grand expressions of foliage and nooks to sneak into, lakes to gaze at, plenty of horizons designed to receive sunsets perfectly, and ponds to pondering alongside of.

I found plenty of fodder for creativity. Fodder put toward drawing, sketching, and doodling, even praying. Many people who know me appreciate my art, but many seem to always pose the question "but what good is it?" They say it to all the other Allegan artists as well. Maybe a with a gas pinch people will go to art shows in Allegan and small towns like it. Maybe people will understand that there have been artists next door modestly lying in wait for someone to share their talent with.

It'll also be good for us to settle down and discover a simpler lifestyle. One centered around the home and around family. A time for us to drop the apian fantasy of buzzing from one flower of entertainment to another, lapping up sweetness for a time, only to look for another far off fix. Creativity is not unattainable. Imagination is not restricted to lands afar. It's all close to home, but just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to foster it's own identity and creativity.

I understand people still need to commute to work and visit family far away for now, but I have hope in the future of infrastructure. I'm confident auto manufactuors and civil engineers will discover new ways for us to travel vast distances and experience all that the world has to offer. But maybe this is lull is to be welcomed as a learning experience. Perhaps we'll learn to savor people and opportunities around us, before we go back to the hustle and bustle we've become accustomed to.

Just my first jumbled thought,
Sam