D-Mac's Stuff

(Written May, 1991)

Introduction

The character Dante, the traveler, meets many souls of the dead in his journey through hell, purgatory and heaven in Dante Alighieri’s epic poem, the Divine Comedy. These souls value most either their individual egos – so that they think primarily in terms of “I” – or their relationships with others – so that they think primarily in terms of “we.” The tension within each soul between “I” and “we” and the increasing importance of identification with others as the traveler comes nearer to God drive the story forward.

The basic orientation of the souls – whether they think mainly of themselves or of others – manifests itself in four important relationships. The way they think affects how they relate to Dante the traveler, to the society of the living, to the other dead souls around them, and to God. The conversations that the souls (also called shades or spirits) have with the traveler reveal what and whom they love the most.

Relating to Dante

Because the Divine Comedy was written by a medieval Italian, most of the souls whom Dante the traveler meets are from his part of the world and speak either Italian or Latin. Therefore the poet’s contemporaries are likely to be able to identify with the characters, and the traveler is able to converse with the souls he encounters. Some of the souls that the traveler meets are concerned mostly with telling Dante about themselves and getting some reaction from him. Others are more concerned with helping him in his journey. Generally, those who are farthest from God are the least likely to be thinking of Dante’s needs.

Through hell and purgatory, Dante is guided by the shade of the Roman poet Virgil; through heaven, by Beatrice, a virtuous woman whom he loved in his youth and who died in her twenties. Dante’s journey begins with a descent into hell, which this story pictures as an underground spiral down to the center of the earth. The lower one goes into hell, the farther one is from heaven, and the more horrible are the sins punished there.

On the outskirts of hell, Dante reaches limbo. Here he sees the virtuous pagans, including many classical warriors, kings, and noble women. Most significantly, he meets the great classical poets, who “invited me to join their ranks” (Inf. IV. 101). For a short while, he accepts that honor, before leaving for the lower parts of hell. These people fall just short of the requirements for salvation, lacking only faith in Christ; thus they do not show strong egotism and individualism, but join together and honor one another, and welcome Dante to their group.

For much of Dante’s trip through hell he is greeted cordially by those he encounters. Many are eager to tell their stories; some ask him about the state of affairs in the world above. A woman named Francesca who is being punished for lust greets Dante cordially and even wishes that God will give him peace (Inf. V. 88-95). But after her kind greeting, she continues with a speech full of self-pity and bitterness. Her lover, who is by her side, does not even get a chance to speak before Dante faints from pity.

Brunetto Latini, a mentor from Dante’s youth who was a homosexual, treats him paternally, even addressing him as “son” (Inf. xv. 37). He refers to the others with whom he is being punished as “my company” (Inf. xv. 41) but also as “that sorry crowd” (Inf. xv. 109). He does not respect them much or identify with them too closely, but instead asks Dante to make sure he is remembered on earth for his literary achievements (Inf. xv. 119).

By the time the traveler has reached the lower parts of hell, the greetings tend to be less civil; a usurer addresses Dante rudely and commands him “now you be off” (Inf. XVII. 67). A pimp named Caccianemico says that “I speak unwillingly” to Dante (Inf. XVIII. 52). These are people who are concerned only about themselves.

After reaching the bottom of hell, the traveler climbs through a narrow tunnel in the earth up to the terraced mountain of purgatory, where souls who have been saved prepare themselves for entrance into heaven by purging themselves of sinful tendencies. Here, for the first time, those he meets seem to be actually sympathetic toward him as much as they are seeking sympathy for themselves. Dante sees a friend of his named Casella, who has just arrived in purgatory after death, “moving forward in order to embrace me” when he sees him (Purg. II. 76-77). One who was late to repent and died by violence, a woman called La Pia, gives only a short speech but begins it with words of sympathy toward Dante for his hard journey (Purg. V. 131).

Later on in purgatory, as Dante and Virgil are trying to figure out how to get to the next terrace up, a man named Omberto Aldobrandeschi, being purged of pride, gladly points out the way (Purg. XI. 49-51). Another poet that they encounter, named Bonagiunta da Lucca, is eager to speak with Dante and speaks admiringly of an earlier work of Dante’s (Purg. XXIV. 49-51, 58-63). These men are sensitive to Dante; they are far from being consumed by their own egos.

Yet the poem also reaffirms that people are important as individuals; not in selfishness, but in responsibility and accountability to God. Once Virgil is satisfied that Dante has purified his free will in hell and purgatory, he sets Dante free, saying “I crown and miter you over yourself” (Purg. XVII. 142). Dante is responsible, like a king or judge, for his own actions.

When Dante meets Beatrice in the garden of Eden at the top of purgatory, the first word she speaks to him is his name (Purg. XXX. 55), reaffirming his identity. Then she reaffirms her own individual identity: “I am Beatrice, Beatrice I am! I do not like green eggs and ham!” (Purg. XXX. 73).

In heaven, as Dante is traveling upward from one planet to another, his ancestor Cacciaguida races from the group of souls he is with to affectionately greet his beloved descendant (Par. XV. 20-30). He tells Dante of his “long and happy hungering” to see him (Par. XV. 49-53) and, smiling, prophesies to Dante of his future (Par. XVII. 36-99).

In the sphere of Jupiter, one of the higher parts of heaven, a group of souls of righteous rulers speak to Dante corporately as an eagle, with different souls forming various parts of the eagle (Par. XX. 34-66). Though they were men of great renown in life, here they join together to form something even greater than themselves.

Relating to Society

The souls that Dante meets tend to think in the afterlife the same way that they thought while they were alive; they are now experiencing the consequences of their values and priorities in life. The dispositions that they chose determined how they acted toward others while they were alive, and determine also how they think of those who are still living now that they are themselves dead.

In hell, Dante comes to those who hoard and those who waste. Both treat society’s resources irresponsibly, and are concerned with themselves and their own possessions and pleasure, not with others (Inf. VII. 41 , 48).

Dante talks with one of those in hell for committing suicide, Pier della Vigna, who was a high official of Emperor Frederick II. He is quick to point out to Dante how faithful he was in discharging his duties (Inf. XIII. 62-63). He shows that his main concern is that his reputation not be damaged by Dante after returning to Italy.

The souls who have shown some of the greatest disregard for human society are the simonists (Inf. XIX. 73), clerics who put their personal gain over the welfare of the Church; and barrators (Inf. XXI. 40-42), who sell political favors, only pretending to do what would be best for society.

The souls in purgatory are purging themselves of their tendencies to act wrongly toward others – love that is perverted, too weak, or wrongly directed, Virgil tells Dante (Purg. XVII. 82-126). Those who were envious in life are now coming to realize the fruitlessness of desiring things that can not be shared. Virgil explains that with heavenly things, the more there are who are sharing them, the more each has, for “when there are more souls above who love, there’s more to love well there, and they love more” (Purg. XV. 73-74). 

The souls in purgatory are also concerned about what happens on earth as it affects their progress up the mountain. Several times, shades that Dante meets ask him to remind others to pray for them, to speed their journey through purgatory, when he returns home (Purg. VI. 25-27; Purg. VIII. 71-73).

In heaven, Dante speaks with the spirit of the Emperor Justinian, who reformed the empire’s laws during his lifetime (Par. VI. 12). Justinian was also faithful to God: “My steps shared the church’s path” (Par. VI. 22). Thomas Aquinas tells Dante of King Solomon’s unparalleled righteous judgment as a king (Par. XIII. 47-48, 103-104). These men cared deeply about their effect on society; not coincidentally, they respected and knew God.

Since the judgment of the souls in heaven has been purified, they can accurately and in good conscience look down and denounce present corruption in society. Dante’s ancestor Cacciaguida condemns the immoral lifestyles of present Florence by comparing it with the older, better Florence that he remembers (Par. XVI. 49-154). The eagle made up of just rulers denounces present evil rulers (Par. XIX. 112-148).

Relating to Other Dead Souls

The selfishness or unselfishness of the souls the traveler meets in his journey shows most clearly in how those souls relate to their companions in the afterlife. The shades in hell ignore, snub or attack each other. A lesser extreme appears among the heretics; after Cavalcanti interrupts Farinata’s conversation with Dante to ask about his son (who is Dante’s friend and still alive at that time), Farinata continues “taking up his words where he’d left off” (Inf. X. 76-77), as if Cavalcanti does not even exist.

Two counterfeiters, Master Adam and Sinon, demonstrate a more intense enmity: they start punching and taunting each other (Inf. XXX. 100-129). Yet more violent, among the traitors to their homeland or party, Dante finds a Count named Ugolino gnawing on the head of Archbishop Ruggieri, the man who condemned him and his sons to starve to death. Ugolino is desperate for pity: “if you don’t weep now, when would you weep?” (Inf. XXXIII. 42). But he has no pity for the man he is devouring (Inf. XXXIII. 7-9), nor for the people whom he himself betrayed (Inf. XXXIII. 85-86), an action he does not even mention.

After Dante the traveler sets foot on the mountain of purgatory, the way the souls he encounters treat each other is drastically different. Even before the redeemed souls have started their trip up the mountain, while they are still on the boat they arrive in, they are singing psalms in unison, “as with one voice” (Purg. II. 45-48). Soon after, Dante encounters a similar situation among earthly rulers who were late to repent (Purg. VIII. 16-18), even though they had been earthly rivals.

More than just praising God together, the souls in purgatory actually cheer for each other when one of them ascends into heaven, as they demonstrate when the poet Statius finishes his time in purgatory (Purg. XX. 127-136, XXI. 67-72). The absence of rivalry and malice is striking when set against the attitudes shown in hell by those who thought only of themselves.

The lack of rivalry demonstrated in purgatory takes an even more remarkable turn in heaven. Piccarda Grandi, a nun who broke her vow to God and thus has one of the lowest places in heaven, asserts that none of the souls in heaven is jealous of the others nor desires a higher position. This is because they love what is pleasing to God, and “in his will there is our peace” (Par. III. 70-85). Even members of rival religious orders praise the others’ leaders: Thomas Aquinas (a Dominican) praises Francis (Par. XI.), and Bonaventure (a Franciscan) praises Dominic (Par. XII.).

The souls that speak to Dante in heaven are normally with a group; they leave it temporarily to talk with him, then return as quickly as they came. When Dante sees all of the saints gathered together (Par. XXXI. 1-3), even Beatrice has gone and joined them (Par. XXXI. 66-69), and Bernard has temporarily left his place to direct Dante toward a final vision of God (Par. XXXI. 65-66).

Relating to God

As the spirits who have just died and “have no fear of God” (Inf. III. 108 ) enter hell, Dante hears them “execrate” God, their parents, and the rest of humanity as well (Inf. III. 103-105). They are weeping (Inf. III. 107) only for themselves.

For the souls in limbo, the fact that they “did not worship God in fitting ways” (Inf. IV. 38 ) is especially important; for it is that alone which consigns them to eternity in hell. They sigh sorrowfully for their loss (Inf. IV. 28), but do not really know what they are missing and longing for, because they do not have the faith that would allow them to understand God.

The disregard for God becomes more obvious and demonstrative deeper in hell. Farinata, the heretic, demonstrates an attitude of “tremendous scorn for hell” (Inf. X. 36), and implicitly for God’s judgments. A thief, Vanni Fucci, makes threats and obscene gestures at God (Inf. XXV. 1-3). They, like all the others in hell, preferred their own way and desires to those of God; they only show their preferences more clearly than most.

In contrast, the souls in purgatory submit themselves to God’s will. Those who are being purged of pride recite a paraphrase of the Lord’s prayer, petitioning “may men offer up their wills to you” (Purg. XI. 12) and praise God and ask him for forgiveness. Later, Dante addresses those who are being purged of envy as “you who can be certain of seeing that high light which is the only object of your longing,” (Purg. XIII. 84-87). That description fits everyone in purgatory. Like Pope Adrian V, who after talking with Dante for awhile asks him to go on so he can continue his purgation from avarice (Purg. XIX. 139-141), they are concentrating their wills on doing whatever it takes to reach heaven. In the poem, God is symbolized as an incredibly bright light.

The souls in heaven are like those in purgatory in their desire to do what God wants. A monk named Peter Damian says that he lived “serving God” (Par. XXI. 114). The blessed souls even rejoice at other peoples’ submission to God – Dante’s confession of faith in God gives the apostle Peter great delight (Par. XXIV. 130-154).

Finally, the wills and love of those in heaven are directed directly to God. Dante hears all of the blessed sing “unto the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, glory!” (Par. XXVII. 1-3). Beatrice, sitting in her place among the ranks of the blessed, turns briefly to acknowledge Dante’s gratitude for her help and generosity, but then returns her gaze to “the eternal fountain” of God (Par. XXXI. 93), as all of the souls there do (Par. XXXI. 25-30).

Conclusion

In each of these four relationships – to Dante, society, other souls, and God – the shades in the afterlife reveal what they chose to love and value. Their positions and placement among the three kingdoms reveal the consequences of those choices. Those who love to think of “I” rejected the good that those who love to think of “we” embraced.

Bibliography

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno. Trans. Allen Mandelbaum. New York: Bantam Books, 1980.

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Purgatorio. Trans. Allen Mandelbaum. New York: Bantam Books, 1982.

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Paradiso. Trans. Allen Mandelbaum. New York: Bantam Books, 1986.

(Written January, 1987)

In 1539, Geneva, Switzerland was under the control of Protestant reformers. John Calvin and Guillaume Farel, two men who had led the Genevan reforms, had been banished from the city because they refused to submit to certain decisions of the municipal government. In March, Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto wrote a letter to the Genevans pleading with them to rejoin the Catholic Church. This action was one of the first moves in the Counter-Reformation. Finally, in August, friends persuaded Calvin, who was living in Strasbourg, to reply with a letter of his own, defending the Protestant reforms. The debate between the two men centered on their differing concepts of true, pure worship of God, which they both agreed was the most important concern in life. In between their discussions of this problem they inserted many less important comments.

For the most part, the major themes in Sadoleto’s letter and Calvin’s letter coincide closely, since Calvin wrote in direct response to Sadoleto. Sadoleto does, however, preface his main arguments with a long section on the importance of uncorrupted worship of God, and Calvin discusses in his letter several issues, like the mention of the cult of the saints, which Sadoleto’s letter does not mention. They key points on which Sadoleto and Calvin disagree are the nature of faith, the nature of the true Church, and whether the Church or the Bible should be the final authority.

Sadoleto claims that faith

not only includes in it credulity and confidence, but also the hope and desire of obeying God, together with love…. When we say, then, that we can be saved by faith alone in God and Jesus Christ, we hold that in this very faith love is essentially comprehended as the chief and primary cause of our salvation.<l>

Calvin, however, holds that

man is reconciled in Christ to God the Father, by no merit of his own, by no value of works, but by gratuitous mercy.<2>

The difference is perhaps hard to detect at first, but Sadoleto claims that people must first desire to obey God and to love before they can be saved, while Calvin considers that such things are possible only as a result of salvation.

Sadoleto and Calvin also disagree on what constitutes the true body, or Church, of Christ. Sadoleto considers it to be synonymous with the Catholic Church, which “has been always everywhere directed by the one Spirit of Christ.”<3> Calvin, however, believes that the Church is defined not by an institution or organization, but by belief in the Word of God, regardless of which church organization its members belong to. That is,

the society of all the saints…spread over the whole world, and existing in all ages…bound together by the one doctrine and the one Spirit of Christ <4>

Due to these differing definitions of the Church, Sadoleto sees the reformers as tearing the Church apart, and Calvin sees their work as rescuing the Church from destruction wreaked by teaching contrary to the Word of God.

At the center of the dispute between Sadoleto and Calvin is their disagreement about what should be the final authority for Christian doctrine and practice. Only if this point could be agreed upon could their other disputes be solved, because their views on the other subjects spring from their respective authorities. Sadoleto believes that the authority should be the leaders and teachings of the Church. He bases this belief on his understanding that

the Church errs not, and even cannot err, since the Holy Spirit constantly guides her public and universal decrees and Councils.<5>

Thus, how could anyone dare not to submit to the Catholic Church’s official doctrine, since it was unerringly inspired by the Spirit of Christ? Calvin, on the other hand, holds that the Church leaders and doctrine must be guided by the Word of God. After quoting from letters of the apostles, Calvin also notes that “whenever the Prophets foretell the renewal of the Church, or its extension over the whole globe, they always assign the first place to the Word.”<6> Thus, to Calvin, if the current Church’s practices do not agree with the gospel as presented in the Bible, they are leading people astray and must be reformed. Are the Church’s pronouncements inerrant? Agreement on that question would have put a quick end to the conflict which these two letters evidence.

Sadoleto’s arguments to the Genevans are in many ways unfounded; he asks the readers to simply accept what he says without providing grounds. Among the positions he takes without further explanation are that God desires fidelity to the Church, more than to himself, and that the Church’s decisions are inerrant. From these he argues by the fallacy of invincible ignorance: the Church by its very nature can’t be wrong, no matter what the evidence may indicate. He also attacks his opponents’ persons, rather than their doctrines and systems, in the speech before the “dread tribunal of the sovereign Judge”<7> which he invents for them. Although he does take reasonable care to at least define his terms, such as faith and Church, Sadoleto’s case for returning to the Catholic Church is suspicious at best due to his fallacious reasoning.

Although Calvin is more convincing in his arguments, he begins his letter with a lengthy appeal to his conscience and the sincerity of his belief in his call as proof that he is in the right. He also argues to the person rather than to the issue when he busies himself explaining how Sadoleto’s personal accusations about the reformers are actually true about the Catholic Church instead. However, he doesn’t stop there. As with Sadoleto, he defines some disputed terms, and he directly addresses the root problem of their argument, namely the contest between Church and Word to be the final authority. Calvin also argues well using the writings of the early Church to prove that it is the Catholics, and not the reformers, who have been innovating and inventing new doctrines. Calvin does fail to justify his opinions in several places, however, notably his choice of the “things on which the safety of the Church is founded”<8> and his doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. One would expect some backing from Calvin’s authority, the Word of God, in these cases, but he provides none. Nonetheless, overall his reasoning seems sound, and is appropriately backed up by Bible quotes.

Sadoleto’s letter had a negligible effect on its intended audience. The leaders of Geneva simply weren’t convinced. Perhaps its largest effect was in prompting Calvin’s response. Calvin’s letter, while more a refutation than a direct appeal, was a good defense of his teachings, and probably helped bring him back to power in Geneva eventually. But both documents are valuable today: the two men’s descriptions of the current state of the Church, and their language and methods of argument, give valuable insight into the mindsets of their respective groups in the mid-1500’s. Analysis of the two letters helps clarify why the Reformation started in the first place.

Notes

<1> Ed. John C. Olin, John Calvin and Jacopo Sadoleto, A Reformation Debate (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1966), p. 36. 
<2> Ibid., p. 67.
<3> Ibid., p. 41.
<4> Ibid., p. 62.
<5> Ibid., p. 45.
<6> Ibid., p. 60.
<7> Ibid., p. 42.
<8> Ibid., p. 63.

(Written August, 1986)

Why do many people get depressed in college? We’re surrounded by people we should be able to relate to best. They have similar academic abilities to ours; they are often from a similar economic background to us. And, of course, they are within four years of us in age. Most college students are not only surrounded by people their own age, but have several real friends nearby.

We have many opportunities to meet with these people, too. There is class, although that often offers little opportunity for interpersonal interactions (you can see the problem starting already). Mostly the class hours are spent facing just a professor and some paper. Besides class, there is homework which can sometimes be done together. This offers time to get together with people informally and share ideas and insights with them. We are somewhat involved in this activity; part of it is impersonal things that don’t touch our hearts.

Many assignments cannot be done with others, though, and sometimes we’re just scared of or not attracted to the others in the class and never make an effort to study with them. And there are social interactions. Dances, movies, parties, speakers, snack bars, bowling, intramural sports. While these activities don’t occur every day, they do offer us a chance to see our peers in a context apart from the main part of college life, the schoolwork. We can be very active during some of these interactions, like bowling, and very passive during others, like movies. Either way, they often provide only marginally less superficial personal contact than studying or classes do.

Take away the people in the social activities and we are left very alone. All we have in common sometimes is the common adversary we face: our homework. We often have to stand alone against that challenge, which is supposed to consume many hours of each day. Physically it is much the same for hours on end: sitting down, reading, writing or typing. Regardless of the fact that the content may be changing, the experience is largely devoid of interesting interactions with other people. Interactions with paper and keyboards are a poor substitute. Friends can’t always be available when we want to take study breaks with them. The pressure is great to conquer the schoolwork and master it, to succeed constantly for weeks on end. Frustration can build up easily under these circumstances.

We are trying to grow up, too, during the college years. We are trying to master not just intellectual problems, but personal problems. Our friendships are especially important as supports for all of the changes as we try to figure out what we will organize our life around – which major, which activities, which lifestyle (including clothes, language use, mannerisms, and eating habits, among other things). Yet college friendships can be hard to maintain, due to the interference of summers, different classes and activities, semesters abroad, and changing interests and personalities. Particularly when our friendships wane and change, college students can get lonely.

And where does help come from? Counseling centers? Academic advisors? It takes much desperation and humility to go to a professional counselor; it’s hard to admit that our problems are serious enough to warrant that step. And perhaps they are of an inappropriate nature for those sorts of people. College students’ problems can be elusive and hard to pin down, the results of an array of factors in the environment and the personality. Maybe school staff could help, since they likely had similar experiences when they were in college. But they are not trusted friends, and intimacy is hard to build. Though their distance could help bring objectivity, it could also bring alienation.

College isn’t always a lonely place. Maybe it never is, for a few people. But many factors seem to collide at college to cause a greater amount of loneliness than at other times in life, at least more than at younger ages. Even though at no time are we more surrounded by peers.