Empyrean | DivinaLingua

I declare myself defeated at this point

more than any poet, whether comic or tragic,

was ever thwarted by a topic in his theme,

for, like sunlight striking on the weakest eyes,

the memory of the sweetness of that smile

deprives my mind of my mental powers.

From the first day, when in this life I saw her face

until my vision of her now, pursuit

of her in song has never been cut off.

But now I must desist in my pursuit,

no longer following her beauty in my verse,

as every artist, having reached his limit, must.

EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pd. 30, 22-33

Dante turns to Beatrice. Together, they rise beyond the physical universe. They are now in the Empyrean. A river of light, surrounded by flowers and emitting sparks in all directions, appears in Dante’s field of vision. Moved by intuition, Dante bathes his eyes within it.

The river suddenly appears to be a lake, and then the lake an amphitheater. What Dante at first took to be flowers turn out to be the souls of the blessed; the sparkling, in fact, drops angels.

The blessed souls sit in the amphitheater, clothed in pure white.

Each seat in every row hosts a blessed soul whose appearance reminds Dante of the many petals of a large, white rose. The divine radiance illuminates them from above. Beatrice takes Dante to the very center of the rose. She shows him the empty seats awaiting souls. One of these, she notes, will one day be assigned to the still-living Emperor, Henry VII.

In form, then, of a luminous white rose

I saw the saintly soldiery that Christ,

with His own blood, took as His bride.

But the others -- who, even as they fly, behold

and sing the glory of Him who stirs their love,

and sing His goodness that raised them up so high,

as a swarm of bees that in one instant plunge

deep into blossoms and, the very next, go back

to where their toil is turned to sweetness -

these descended to the splendid flower,

adorned with many petals, and then flew up

to where their love forever dwells.

EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pd. 31, 1-12

Dante basks in the beauty of Paradise, warmed by beatitude and the glory of God.

A mere man from Florence, he has moved beyond the reaches of mortal life to enter the presence of the divine. He has reached the heavenly Jerusalem.

The illumination portrays the Mystical Rose with the blessed souls on the petals and God in the center. In the corners include Dante, an angel, and Saint Bernard writing one of his numerous works on Christian mysticism. - Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 40.7, f. 232v.

Turning to look at Beatrice, Dante is surprised to find a white-robed man in her place. With paternal care, the man directs Dante’s gaze toward his beloved Beatrice, who has regained her seat in the white rose.

'O lady who give strength to all my hope

and who allowed yourself, for my salvation,

to leave your footprints there in Hell,

of all the many things that I have seen,

I know the grace and virtue I've been shown

come from your goodness and your power.

It is you who, on no matter what the path,

have drawn me forth from servitude to freedom

by every means that you had in your power.

Keep your munificence alive in me, so that

my soul, which you have healed,

may please you when it leaves its mortal frame.'

EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pd. 31, 79-90

The man introduces himself as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the monk, theologian, and father of medieval mysticism. Bernard will be Dante’s final guide on his journey. Bernard will assist Dante in his efforts to understand the Empyrean. Bernard will also instruct Dante in the way to prepare himself to contemplate God.

Bernard shows Dante the lower rows of the blessed rose, then invites him to lift his eyes to the Virgin Mary.

Dante fixes his gaze on the ardent flame of charity that is the mother of God.

The white rose amphitheater of the blessed represents all of Christian history. The beatified souls are seated in a symmetrical order: on one side of the rose are those who lived before the coming of Christ, and on the other those who lived after the birth of Christ.

03 i11 Mc Gill PQ4335 G31900 p 156 details

Outline of the Mystical Rose in Dante’s Empyrean. - Edmund G. Gardner, Dante, London, Dent, 1900, p. 156. McGill University Library, PQ4335 G5.

The Virgin Mary is seated in the highest row. In a vertical line below her are Eve, the first woman, Rachel, second wife of Jacob (to the left of whom sits Beatrice), Sarah, wife of Abraham, Rebecca, wife of Isaac, Judith, who saved the Hebrews from Holophernes and the Assyrians, and Ruth, main figure in the eponymous book of the Bible. To Mary’s left are Adam and Moses, and to her right Saints Peter and John the Evangelist.

Opposite the illustrious Hebrew women sits Saint John the Baptist, in the same row as the Virgin Mary. Below him are Saints Francis of Assisi, Benedict of Nursia, and Augustine of Hippo; beside the Baptist are Saint Lucy and Saint Anne, mother of Mary.

The rose’s lowest petals seat the blessed souls of baptized children who died prematurely.

Offprint of Étienne Gilson's essay on the nature of Dante's Empyrean. - Étienne Gilson, “À la recherche de l’Empyrée”, excerpt from da Dante et les mythes [Revue des études italiennes], Paris, Didier, 1965, p. 147. Université de Montréal, Bibliothèque des lettres et sciences humaines, B 721 G489.

The joy of thousands of delighted angels embraces Mary. One of the angels breaks away from the host surrounding the Virgin to float before her and recite a Hail Mary. Dante looks to Bernard, who informs him that this is Gabriel, the archangel-messenger who announced to Mary that she would become the virgin mother of God.

Bernard motions to Dante that the time has come for him to contemplate God directly. The holy man joins his hands in prayer and humbly addresses Mary:

Virgin Mother, daughter of your Son,

more humble and exalted than any other creature,

fixed goal of the eternal plan,

you are the one who so ennobled human nature

that He, who made it first, did not disdain

to make Himself of its own making.

Your womb relit the flame of love -

its heat has made this blossom seed

and flower in eternal peace.

EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pd. 33, 1-9

Handwritten translation of Saint Bernard’s prayer to the Virgin Mary in canto 33 of Paradise transmitted by a leaflet found inside the edition Dante Alighieri, La Divina Commedia, Avignone, Seguin aîné, 1816, t. 3. Université de Montréal, Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales, Collection générale, 851.15 D 1816.

Last lines of canto 32 and opening verses of canto 33, with Saint Bernard’s prayer to the Virgin. - Dante Alighieri, La Divina Commedia, Avignon, Seguin, 1816, p. 302-303. Université de Montréal, Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales, Collection générale, 851.15 D 1816.

Dante has survived Hell, cleansed his soul in Purgatory and, now purified, ascended to Paradise.

A living man travelling through the kingdoms of the damned, the penitent, and the blessed, he has become truly exceptional: no other living soul had ever ventured so far. To contemplate God, he now needs the remaining clouds to clear from his vision so that he may see divine Truth unfolded before him. Bernard begs Mary to intercede once more on Dante’s behalf and grant the poet the mystical experience of direct contemplation of divinity as well as permission to return to the living world to share what he has witnessed. Beatrice and the rest of the blessed host join Bernard in his prayer.

The miniature illustration shows Beatrice and the Virgin Mary as they pray for Dante’s vision of God. Meanwhile, Saint Bernard directs the poet’s gaze toward the Almighty. - Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 40.1, f. 333r.

Mary raises her gaze to God.

Without a sound, she grants Bernard’s request and so satisfies Dante’s wish.

Dante’s vision becomes clearer, purer. His eyes can now withstand God’s light.

Dante beholds the epiphany of Christ Pantocrator encircled by angels, while the Virgin Mary and another figure (Beatrice or Bernard?) pray on his behalf. - Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 40.3, f. 165r.

O Light exalted beyond mortal thought,

grant that in memory I see again

but one small part of how you then appeared

and grant my tongue sufficient power

that it may leave behind a single spark

of glory for the people yet to come,

since, if you return but briefly to my mind

and then resound but softly in these lines,

the better will your victory be conceived.

EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pd. 33, 67-75

Dante meditates on the Divine Mystery before him.

He sees three circles, in three different colors, but of the same size.

The first circle reflects the second. The third is made of fire.

Language cannot describe what memory cannot remember.

DANTE CONTEMPLATES GOD,

THE SUPREME LOVE

THAT SETS

INTO MOTION

THE SUN AND

THE OTHER STARS

In the deep, transparent essence of the lofty Light

there appeared to me three circles

having three colors but the same extent,

and each one seemed reflected by the other

as rainbow is by rainbow, while the third one seemed fire,

equally breathed forth by one and by the other.

O how scant is speech, too weak to frame my thoughts.

Compared to what I still recall my words are faint -

to call them little is to praise them much.

O eternal Light, abiding in yourself alone,

knowing yourself alone, and, known to yourself

and knowing, loving and smiling on yourself!

That circling which, thus conceived,

appeared in you as light's reflection,

once my eyes had gazed on it a while, seemed,

within itself and in its very color,

to be painted with our likeness,

so that my sight was all absorbed in it.

Like the geometer who fully applies himself

to square the circle and, for all his thought,

cannot discover the principle he lacks,

such was I at that strange new sight.

I tried to see how the image fit the circle

and how it found its where in it.

But my wings had not sufficed for that

had not my mind been struck by a bolt

of lightning that granted what I asked.

Here my exalted vision lost its power.

But now my will and my desire, like wheels revolving

with an even motion, were turning with

the Love that moves the sun and all the other stars.

EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pd. 33, 115-145

Dante and Beatrice at the center of the Mystical Rose in the Empyrean. God’s light shines over their beatitude. - Edmund Ollier, The Doré Gallery, New York, Cassell, Petter and Galpin, 1870, plate 37. Université de Montréal, Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales, Collection générale, 769.2 D695d.

To the end