Dante is taken aback by the increasing luminance of Beatrice’s beauty, and she reminds him that the light of God is also filling him with a similar radiance. Then she takes up another of Dante’s questions: whether one can compensate for an unfulfilled vow. In an important statement, she tells Dante that God’s greatest gift to us is our free will, the gift most like Himself! Because the two nuns’ broken vows is still on his mind, she tells Dante that when one makes such vows one also sacrifices their free will as part of the ritual – a sacrifice that God consents to. Here she admits to what Dante is already thinking – that the Church does allow for dispensations of vows, but she urges him now to follow her logic more closely. First, she tells Dante that if a vow is to be dispensed, it must be replaced with one and a half times more than the original. At the same time, she notes that there are some vows that are so solemn, they cannot be substituted for; and giving two examples of foolish vows, she urges Christians not to take vows lightly. Having finished her lesson, Beatrice looks up into the heavens and becomes even more beautiful as she and Dante now rise up to the sphere of Mercury. There, the spirits glow with joy and rush toward the new arrivals, open to answer any question Dante may have.
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“Don’t be amazed if I flame forth with love that makes me shine more brilliantly than your earthly eyes can withstand. It comes from that perfect vision which moves always toward more perfection the more good it sees. And I can see that the Eternal Light already shines within your mind which, when you see It, It kindles eternal love. When a person’s love is led toward some other thing, it is because that other love is a glimmer of this Eternal Light which, though not clearly seen, still shines through that thing. And now you wish to learn whether some compensation can be made for broken vows that would cancel the debt incurred by those unfulfilled promises.”[1]Without a narrative introduction, this canto begins almost seamlessly from where the previous one ended. After Dante had asked her his last question the sight of Beatrice became so unbearable to him … Continue reading
So this canto began with these words of my Beatrice, and immediately she answered my question with her holy words. “God’s greatest gift to us, given as the Creator, is the gift he holds most dear, and is the one most like Himself: our free will. And only creatures with the powers of intellect are so endowed. With this in mind, it should be clear to you that a vow is sacred because God consents to your own consenting. When God and the votary place their seals upon the promise, the priceless gift of our free will becomes the sacrifice the will willingly wills. This being the case, what possible substitute could be offered in place of it? Can one now make use of what is no longer theirs? Would you do good works with what does not belong to you?[2]First, Dante’s single sentence here is hardly necessary. One can imagine that Beatrice hardly stops as he interrupts her. The answer she gives to Dante’s question about compensation is first … Continue reading
“By now, I hope you see the basic outline of the problem you raise. But, since you also know that the Church does grant dispensations from vows once they are made – which might seem to contradict what I just told you – you’ll need to remain at the table a while longer because the food you’re eating is difficult to digest. So proceed now with an open mind and keep in there what I will tell you, because if it doesn’t stay it cannot be called knowledge.[3]While Beatrice has surrounded religious vows with a sacred rampart, as it were, she (Dante) also acknowledges that the Church does grant dispensations from them. With this in mind, and having implied … Continue reading
“Basically, the sacrifice we’re talking about requires two things: first is the actual vow itself, and second is the solemn nature of the vow. This second part – the solemn nature of the vow – cannot be cancelled except by fulfilling it. This is what I was referring to precisely a moment ago. So, for example, the Hebrews were required by their Law to offer sacrifice. But they could also exchange one offering for another. This is what is referred to as the substance of the vow, and no wrongdoing is incurred if one substance takes the place of another.[4]A reader might find themselves wincing a bit at Beatrice’s explanation. But it is not too difficult to unravel. Basically, there are two parts to what she is telling Dante. First, the actual vow … Continue reading
“However, it must be absolutely clear that this substitution cannot simply be made on one’s own. It must be approved by Holy Church. Furthermore, there must be no further thought of exchange if what is newly promised does not include all of the previous promise – and half as much again.[5]Again, because the context here is actually vows made by a member of a religious order, the Church holds the final authority to dispense such a person from their vows. But, as Beatrice makes clear, … Continue reading
“Above this, however, it must also be understood that there are certain vows that, once made, are of such value that what is sacrificed cannot be substituted. Thus, do not make your vows lightly. Be faithful to them![6]Again, commentators are generally agreed that the context here is religious vows like those made by Piccarda and Constance, particularly the vow of chastity. The seriousness of Beatrice’s … Continue reading On the other hand, do not make foolish vows as did Jephthah. What he ended up doing was far worse than if he had admitted he was wrong! Just as foolish was the great Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia in a ritual that still calls forth tears.[7]After the seriousness of Beatrice’s words, it’s hard to think of a member of a religious order making foolish vows. However, she does highlight two tragic stories in which the foolish vows of … Continue reading
“Christians, beware of making vows too quickly, lest you become like a feather that flutters in the wind, or think that just any water will wash you clean! You have the two Testaments and you have the Church’s great Shepherd. These are all you need.[8]Lest this last sentence slip by the reader, many commentators claim that what Beatrice (Dante) is saying here is that vows are not actually needed for salvation. The Bible and the teachings of the … Continue reading If greed entices you away from what you vowed, be firm in your resolve, not like mindless sheep. Seeing such, any Jew would single you out with scorn! Don’t be the lamb who abandons its mother’s milk for a silly game – much to its own harm!”[9]It seems clear from the commentary tradition that the mention of greed here is a slap at corrupt clerics or monks who would take money in exchange for dispensing people from their vows. And then … Continue reading
As Beatrice finished speaking, she turned toward that highest sphere in the heavens with a look of yearning that transfigured her lovely face. Though I was filled with more questions, her silence brought calm to my eager mind; and like a speeding arrow that hits the target even before the bow-string stops vibrating, we shot up into the next realm of Heaven. And as we entered into the brilliance of Mercury’s light, my lovely lady had a look of such tremendous joy that the planet itself shone even more brightly. If that lovely star seemed to smile in its new-found beauty, you can only imagine what was going on within me – a mere changeable man.[10]This instantaneous move to the sphere of Mercury is unexpected by Dante and marks the first of many intra-celestial transitions in the Paradiso. The transfiguration of Beatrice will also continue … Continue reading
In a clear, still pool of water, you’ve seen how fish rush toward something fallen in, thinking it is food. So it was here: more than a thousand splendors moved quickly toward us, each one crying out: “Look! One more comes who will increase our love.” As they moved closer to us, their joy became visible in their radiant beauty. Imagine how much you would crave to hear more if I were to stop right here without telling you what happened next. And so I hope you will understand how eager I was to learn everything about these glowing spirits as they stopped before us.[11]Any reader who has had a fish bowl or a tank will resonate with Dante’s image of the thousands of souls here rushing toward him and Beatrice like fish who swim upward at the sign of any movement, … Continue reading
Before my thoughts had even ordered themselves one of these splendors spoke to me in words that glowed with joy: “O soul born for the joy of Heaven, you who by God’s grace see the thrones of the eternal triumph even before you have left your earthly life, see how God’s heavenly light fills us with its brilliance. Whatever you wish to know from us, we will gladly tell you.”[12]The gracious words this soul uses to address Dante are lovely, but we must remember that what Dante remembers is only a faint glimmer of the reality he experienced which remains beyond his human … Continue reading
And Beatrice quickly urged me to reply: “Don’t be afraid to speak now. You may trust them as if they were gods!”[13]To tell Dante that he can trust the spirits he meets in Heaven as though they were gods is not at all blasphemous, though it might strike the reader as such. Dante knew Thomas Aquinas’s Summa … Continue reading
“I see how you nest there within the splendor of your own light, and when you smile the light that pours from your eyes is dazzling,” I said. “But, O beauteous soul, I don’t know who you are, or why you are present here in this sphere hidden from us by the rays of the sun.”
And as I spoke with that glimmering spirit its radiance increased even more than before. Just as the orb of the sun, breaking through the vapors that hide it, disappears in the brilliance of its own light, even so, this orb of sheer joy hid itself from me in the effulgence of its light as it answered me in the following canto.[14]Though the sphere of the moon is itself illuminated by the sun, we know that it becomes more and less brilliant as it reflects more or less of the sun’s light. Furthermore, Piccarda, Constance, and … Continue reading
Notes & Commentary
| ↑1 | Without a narrative introduction, this canto begins almost seamlessly from where the previous one ended. After Dante had asked her his last question the sight of Beatrice became so unbearable to him that he had to look away. Here, now, she tells him not to be amazed when he sees this happening because it is a shining of the glory of God through her into him. Stated in a different way, we are attracted to something or someone, not for its own beauty, but because that beauty is only a small manifestation the Eternal Light of God that draws us ever toward Him in Heaven. Everyone Dante meets in Heaven, we must remember, is, as it were, in two places: first, they are in the Empyrean seeing God, and then they are where Dante encounters them. Another thing to keep in mind as we move upward is that the more Beatrice explains the truth of things and the more Dante learns that truth, the brighter and more lovely she becomes and the more his own mind is illuminated by God. Truth is Beauty is Love. With this, she reminds us of Dante’s new question: can someone make up for or repair a broken vow? |
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| ↑2 | First, Dante’s single sentence here is hardly necessary. One can imagine that Beatrice hardly stops as he interrupts her. The answer she gives to Dante’s question about compensation is first about free will. Note the significant three-part declaration she makes: (1) Free will is God’s greatest gift to us; (2) it is a gift most like Himself, and therefore sacred; and (3) it is the gift he cherishes the most. Furthermore, only humans (and angels) are created with this gift. One can hardly imagine the infinite generosity behind such a gift! But this being the case, we need to consider that in making a vow, we give the greatest gift we have received back to the One who gave it. In other words: In making a vow we consent to it with our free will at the same time we make it, and at the same time God consents to our consenting. In saying this, Beatrice has surrounded the vow with a temple (more like a fortress), as it were, wherein the vow is consecrated by our freely willing to give back to God the freedom He gave us. Her points are so solid, Dante should see that there’s no way that one can substitute something else for the vow. In this regard, our free will no longer belongs to us. We’ve solemnly given it back to God. Would we take it back from Him? No, because implied in the gift is that we’ve also freely given up the right to take the gift back. And to be clear here, what Dante and Beatrice are referring to by vows are the vows that were and are made by members of religious orders: Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience. |
| ↑3 | While Beatrice has surrounded religious vows with a sacred rampart, as it were, she (Dante) also acknowledges that the Church does grant dispensations from them. With this in mind, and having implied that compensating for broken vows is virtually impossible, she urges Dante not to let go of the topic too soon, as there is more to be said. |
| ↑4 | A reader might find themselves wincing a bit at Beatrice’s explanation. But it is not too difficult to unravel. Basically, there are two parts to what she is telling Dante. First, the actual vow (e.g., making the vow orally or putting it down on paper), made by the free will, cannot be changed. Second, however, what can be changed is the thing that has been vowed, offered, pledged, or sacrificed. Mark Musa makes this clear in his commentary: “Two things are involved in taking a vow, whereby an individual offers his free will to God. The first of these is the substance of the vow (e.g., virginity, abstinence, poverty), or that which the individual promises to accomplish. The second is the nature of the vow, or the fact that the individual has abdicated his free will and contracted to keep faith with God. This second component cannot be discharged save through complete fulfillment, and cannot be declared void without obliterating the pact and eventually revoking one’s gift to God.” At the same time, Beatrice refers Dante to Chapter 27 of the Book of Leviticus. In several different verses (13, 15, 19, 27, 31) the biblical text addresses the issue of substituting one offering for another. But contrary to what Beatrice (Dante) states here – that the biblical text permits the substitution of one offering for another – this is actually not what that text says. Verses 9-10 seem to make this quite clear: “(9) If the offering vowed to the Lord is an animal that may be sacrificed, every such animal given to the Lord becomes sacred. (10) The offerer shall not substitute or exchange another for it, either a worse or a better one.” Interestingly enough, however, the second part of verse 10 clearly implies that an exchange can be made: “If the offerer exchanges one animal in place of another, both the original and its substitute shall become sacred.” |
| ↑5 | Again, because the context here is actually vows made by a member of a religious order, the Church holds the final authority to dispense such a person from their vows. But, as Beatrice makes clear, there’s yet another “catch:” If a substitution is to be made, it must be valued at one and a half times the amount of what was previously promised. In actuality, this 150% of the original can’t be determined precisely, but it is intended to highlight the seriousness of the vows. One will also notice here that Beatrice (Dante) actually increases the biblical injunction by 30%. In the verses from Leviticus noted above (27:13,15,19,26,31) the substitution is increased by only one fifth, or 20%. |
| ↑6 | Again, commentators are generally agreed that the context here is religious vows like those made by Piccarda and Constance, particularly the vow of chastity. The seriousness of Beatrice’s explanations most likely reflect how religious vows were taken in religious orders in the Middle Ages. After a period of initiation, training, and serious discernment, monastic candidates consecrated themselves by vows to God for life. For women, this meant living in a cloistered convent with no outside contact. For men, while the training might be similar, there might well be contacts with the outside world. In “modern times,” a member of a religious order generally makes a final commitment (e.g., Perpetual Vows or Solemn Vows) only after several years of “temporary vows” (for a year at a time). |
| ↑7 | After the seriousness of Beatrice’s words, it’s hard to think of a member of a religious order making foolish vows. However, she does highlight two tragic stories in which the foolish vows of fathers result in the deaths of their daughters. The first example she notes is the vow of Jephthah noted in Chapter 11 of the Book of Judges. He was an Israelite warrior who led the army of Israel in battle against the Ammonites. He vowed to God that if he was victorious he would sacrifice the first person to come out of his door when he returned home. His army was victorious, and, unfortunately, it was his daughter who came out of his house dancing for joy when her father returned. The second example involves a vow of King Agamemnon on his way to the Trojan War. Though there are variants to the story, Agamemnon had offended the goddess Artemis who, in turn, failed to provide wind for the fleet. A seer announced that the goddess would be appeased only if Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia, which he did. |
| ↑8 | Lest this last sentence slip by the reader, many commentators claim that what Beatrice (Dante) is saying here is that vows are not actually needed for salvation. The Bible and the teachings of the Church should be enough. Mark Musa puts it this way: “A Christian is not obligated to make vows in order to ensure his or her salvation; in fact Christians are urged to make them only after deep consideration. They have scriptural precedents to guide them, as well as the Church; they have only to resist faulty motivation, which leads to hasty decisions.” |
| ↑9 | It seems clear from the commentary tradition that the mention of greed here is a slap at corrupt clerics or monks who would take money in exchange for dispensing people from their vows. And then harkening back to the Book of Leviticus and its regulations on sacrifice noted earlier, the pious Jew would laugh at such attempts to cancel one’s vows when the Mosaic Law is clear that it cannot be done. |
| ↑10 | This instantaneous move to the sphere of Mercury is unexpected by Dante and marks the first of many intra-celestial transitions in the Paradiso. The transfiguration of Beatrice will also continue from sphere to sphere as she and Dante come ever closer to the Empyrean, the abode of God (where she actually is all through the Poem). Note how her increasing brilliance causes the planet, already close to the Sun, to shine even more brightly. Even Dante is happily affected by it. |
| ↑11 | Any reader who has had a fish bowl or a tank will resonate with Dante’s image of the thousands of souls here rushing toward him and Beatrice like fish who swim upward at the sign of any movement, thinking it’s food. And what they cry out in their excitement is wonderful: the newcomers add to their love. This is heavenly thinking that Dante is already anticipating. On earth, when something is shared, there is less of it, less of the original. In Heaven, it’s just the opposite: the more that’s shared, the more there is. This will come up again in a later canto. More than this, the joy of the souls here in Mercury is measured by their radiance (another allusion to their closeness to the Sun (this time, the Sun as a symbol of God). And then Dante addresses the reader by doing something quite unusual: he teases us! To show us how eager he was to learn everything he could about the souls in Mercury, imagine what we would be feeling – now that he has built up this scene for us – if he were to stop without satisfying our curiosity. The point of this tease, of course, is to urge us to pay careful attention to what is about to happen. |
| ↑12 | The gracious words this soul uses to address Dante are lovely, but we must remember that what Dante remembers is only a faint glimmer of the reality he experienced which remains beyond his human ability to express in ordinary language. Poetry comes closest, but even this is often inadequate. To tell Dante that he is a “soul born for the joy of Heaven” is saying nothing out of the ordinary. All of us have been created for the same purpose. What is special, however, is that the soul(s) recognizes Dante is graced in an unusual way to be granted privileges of Paradise while he’s still alive. And being able to anticipate his questions, the Poet is invited by the spirit speaking to ask whatever he wants – the sky’s the limit! Who could ask for more? |
| ↑13 | To tell Dante that he can trust the spirits he meets in Heaven as though they were gods is not at all blasphemous, though it might strike the reader as such. Dante knew Thomas Aquinas’s Summa theologiae well. In I, q. 13, a. 9 Aquinas writes: “It seems that this name ‘God’ is communicable. For whosoever shares in the thing signified by a name shares in the name itself. But this name ‘God’ signifies the divine nature, which is communicable to others, according to the words, ‘He has given us great and precious promises, that by these we may be made partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4). Therefore this name ‘God’ can be communicated to others.” In his Consolation of Philosophy (III, x, 11. 83-86, 88-89), Boethius writes: “For since men are made blessed by the obtaining of blessedness, and blessedness is nothing else but divinity, it is manifest that men are made blessed by the obtaining of divinity …. Wherefore everyone that is blessed is a god.” |
| ↑14 | Though the sphere of the moon is itself illuminated by the sun, we know that it becomes more and less brilliant as it reflects more or less of the sun’s light. Furthermore, Piccarda, Constance, and the other souls Dante encountered there were pale reflections of themselves. Here in Mercury, by striking contrast, the shining brilliance of the souls who meet Dante is almost overwhelming as a manifestation of their joy in meeting him. Dante’s image for this experience is also fairly common to the readers, which is a way of engaging them directly in the reality of the Poet’s experience. As clouds or fog become less dense the sun is visible as a glowing orb until we can no longer look at it directly. Initially, Dante seems to have been able to see this soul’s eyes and smile (behind the thinning clouds, as it were). But now, the features of this soul become hidden in the light that expresses its joy. As a matter of fact, from now on, all the spirits Dante encounters will be manifest only as light. Here in the sphere of Mercury, the hiddenness of the souls replicates how it is often difficult to see this planet because of its proximity to the sun. Thus earlier, the Poet wanted to know who this soul is and why he is here at this place. This, he tells us, will be revealed in the next canto. |