Faith in Troubling Times:

Dantes Divine Comedy

Kevin L. Hughes
February 6, 2013
Villanova University

2012-13 , the Year of

The door of faithFaith
(Acts 14:27) is always
open for us, ushering us into the life of
communion with God and offering entry
into his Church. It is possible to cross that
threshold when the word of God is
proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be
shaped by transforming grace. To enter
through that door is to set out on a journey
that lasts a lifetime. (Pope Benedict XVI,
Porta fidei 1.)

A journey that lasts a lifetime

So what happens when we stumble off the road in
the journey of faith? How do we find that
transforming grace?
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
che la diritta via era smarrita
Midway in the journey of our life
I came to myself in a dark wood,
for the straight way was lost.

The Dante I met in high school

The Dante I met in high school

Dante
If you imagine
others are there,
you are there
yourself.
--Wendell Berry

Another look
Dante b. 1265 in
Florence
Part of the Guelph
(Papal) party, vs. the
Ghibelline (Imperial)
party
Guelphs gain upper
hand in 1280s.
Dante enters politics,
serves on the
Council of 100, then
elected Consul in
1300. Serves his
term, then back on
the Council of 100.
1302, ambassador
to Rome

Dante responds
virulent letters
condemning papal
influence.
Exile then includes
death sentence, by
burning in the city
square.
I bent forward over
my outstretched
hands and stared
into the fire, my
mind fixed on the
image of human
bodies I once saw
being burned. (Purg
XXVII.16-18)
Dante is on the move
for the rest of his life.
When a pardon is
issued, one which

An exile

Dante begins the Comedy

in 1306 (?)

Why write a poem about the whole universe when

your life has fallen apart?

In a dark wood
Midway in the journey of our life
I came to myself in a dark wood,
For the straight way was lost.
Ah, how hard it is to tell
The nature of that wood, savage, dense, and harsh
The very thought of it renews my fear.
It is so bitter death is hardly more so.
But to set forth the good I found
I will recount the other things I saw
How I came there I cannot really tell,
I was so full of sleep
When I forsook the one true way.

Dante & the Gothic Imagination

Late 12th,
Arezzo

Late 13th,
Strasbourg

Dante & the Gothic Imagination

Dantes Story is Everyones Story

Gothic Humanism & the Order

of Love

Telling a bigger (and a smaller) story

Seeing the Shape of
Disordered Love
The Inferno
--the drain
--the Asylum
Learning the Habits
of Loving Rightly
The Purgatorio
-- the ladder
--the hospital
Participating in the
Symphony of all
Creation
--The Paradiso
--the Rose
Window
--the Cathedral

The Shape of the Whole

The Shape of Hell

Facing the beasts:

leopard, lion, she-wolf

The Journey down

Crossing into Hell

Limbo of the Just

The Angry

The Gates of Dis

http://www.worldofdante.org/media/i
mages/more/full/12034.jpg

The Suicides

Hells Foundation

The Journey Up

Beatrice
1274, Age 9
Several encounters,
none sustained
Beauty that changed
his life
The game of love?
OR loves LOVE
1290, 1292, 1295,
1300, 1302, 1306
Beatrice, Icon of Divine
Love

Terraces of Vice or
Virtue?

To every vice a virtue

Chastity
Temperance
Generosity
Zeal
Mercy
Charity
Humility
Patience

Learning LOVE thru love

Reunion with Beatrice

XXVII.12ff1: Desire upon
desire so seized me to
ascend that with every
step I felt I was growing
wings for flight.I have
brought you here with
intellect and skill. From
now on, take your
pleasure as your guide.

Reunion with Beatrice

Turn, Beatrice, turn your
holy eyes upon your
faithful onewho, to see
you, has come so far. Of
your grace do us a grace:
unveil your mouth to him
so that he may observe
the second beauty that
you still conceal.

The Smile of Beatrice

Smile rather than laughter, ecstasy

Both Joy and Repose.

The Ascent

The Ascent: Mars

The Ascent: Jupiter

Highest Parts of Heaven

Primum Mobile

The Heavenly Rose

The Virgin Mary, Icon of all Icons

Ending in Union
What do we take
away?
When life falls
apart
See Clearly
Love Rightly
Praise Fully
Have a courageous
imagination! It is not
reason that is against
us, but
imagination

Thank you!