DANTE AND THE CATHOLIC WORLD

New Zealand Tablet, 13 October 1921, Page 13

DANTE AND THE CATHOLIC WORLD

(By the Rev. Albert Muntsch, S.J., in The Fortnightly

Review, N.Y.) ■' . - ~ . On September 14, 1321, a world-famous Catholic poet, one of the glories of literature, died at Ravenna, Italy. It was Dante Alighieri, the author of the Divine Comedy. Never had men written so powerfully, and yet so consistently, of the condition of the soul after death. The inane theories of modern Spiritism appear like childish prattle compared with the mighty visions of the Florentine bard as recorded in the cantos of his matchless poem. The significance of this work in world literature is indicated by the immense volume of commentary it has called forth and by the numerous translations into most of the languages spoken by civilised nations. : In recognition of the unique contributions of Dante to the literature of the world, the sixth centenary of his death is being honored this month at universities and by learned societies in all countries of the globe. For Catholics this is a centenary of special significance. For the "Divina Commedia" is a Catholic poem, based on the Catholic doctrine of the future life. The work is called "Commedia" because, though it begins with a vision of the awful torments of the reprobate in Hell, it\ends with a glimpse into the eternal city and with a brief allusion to the joys that will be the reward of the Blessed in the Kingdom of Heaven. Had the poem ended in a dolorous key no doubt, it would have been given another title. It should be no little satisfaction to us that, at a time when so much vicious and unclean writing passes as "literature," the whole world is doing homage to an immortal book, based on the Catholic view of man's destiny, of sin, and retribution. An American critic, J. R. Lowell, says that "the higher intention of Dante's great poem was to set forth the results of sin, or unwisdom, and of virtue, or wisdom, in this life, and consequently in the life to come, which is but the continuation and fulfillment of this. The scene, accordingly, is the spiritual world, of which we are as truly denizens now as hereafter. The poem is a diary of the human soul in its journey upward from error through repentance to atonement with God." Yet it would be a mistake to look upon the Divine Comedy as a cold, unimpassioned narrative of what its author saw beyond the bourns of time and place. He wrote out of the fulness of his heart. As H. W. Mabie says: "No book ever swept a wider field of thought, or imbedded itself more completely in historical incident and character; and yet no book ever issued more directly out of the life of its writer." The opening lines of the Third Canto; of the Inferno (or Hell) give a good idea of the solemn (power of the poem. With the poet Virgil as his guide, Dante comes to the entrance of Hell. They see the following inscription on its portals: ~ "Through me you pass into the city of woe, Through mo you pass into eternal pain; Through me among the people lost for aye. « Justice the Founder of my fabric moved; To rear me was the task of power divine, Supremest wisdom, and primeval love. Before me things create were none, save things Eternal, and eternal I endure. All hope abandon, ye who enter here." But as there are lights and shadows in every human life, as good is always mixed with evil, and as literature itself is the expression of human life in all its aspects, Dante, with true poetic justice, after the contemplation ' of the scenes of woe in the Inferno, lifts the soul to the consideration of the less painful mission of Purgatory. Dante and his guide Virgil reach the Purgatorial mountain as Easter-day is dawning. In the morning the gates are opened'to the two poets and they enter Purgatory proper. It is divided into seven terraces, corresponding to the seven deadly sins. At the various terraces they see the different forms of punishment meted out to those who must atone for the guilt of one or other of these seven sins. ■ After passing through the Purgatorial region, Dante arrives at Paradise. But now Virgil leaves him. He has performed his task. For human reason and philosophy are inadequate to fathom the mysteries of the higher regions of the Paradiso. Beatrice, representing theologic science takes his place. In a vision Dante beholds the future sufferings of the Church. Beatrice* leads him through the various spheres of which,, according to the astronomy of the time, Heaven is composed: to the supreme Heaven,

or Empyrean, the abode of God. : But here human speech is inadequate to the task of describing-the majesty andmagnificence of the vision. All his longing for the highest good is satisfied. . "The flight," says the poet, "was not for- any wing."-For • » "Here vigor failed the towering fantasy;. But yet the will rolled onward, like a wheel In even'motion, by the love impelled, That moves the sun in Heaven and all the stars." We readily agree with Professor Moulton who says that "Dante's poem is the representation of Catholicism in high literature. . . . From beginning to end his ■poem breathes the spirit of absolutely free speculation; there is no sense of restraint, because the poet's spirit is in perfect harmony with the forces that are moulding Catholicism. . . . Dante is the revealer of the Middle Ages because the Divine Comedy is the supreme example in literature of symbolic poetry." The place of that immortal poem is secure in world literature. It is one of the "greater classics." It should be a source of just pride to the Catholic world that the sixth centenary of the poet's death is to be commemorated wherever high creations of art and literature are appreciated. But it is especially worth remembering that the poem —a masterpiece of poetic genius—is based on the soundest Catholic principles. It is Catholic in spirit and Catholic in its world-wide appeal to the heart of humanity. — <X*>