A Healing Remedy: Monastic Resonances In Dante’s Purgatorio

A Healing Remedy: Monastic Resonances In Dante's Purgatorio Jean-Marie Hogan O.S.B. (bio) I have often observed that one of the chief characteristics of a good book is its ability to grow with me. When I read it again, I notice something more than I did previously. There is more depth to the work than can be taken in at first glance. As I grow in maturity, I come to recognize deeper layers of the author's thought than I had seen before. This has been my experience of reading The Divine Comedy. Every time I re-read the text, I see something new. In my most recent reading of the Commedia, I was struck by how often Dante quotes the Psalms in Purgatorio. It seemed as though they were echoing off every wall of the mountain's terraces. As a monk who lives and breathes the psalter every day, I began to wonder: What is Dante up to here? I would like to propose that much of Dante's Purgatorio reflects monastic life and practices, especially as expressed in the Rule of St. Benedict. I will consider this proposal from several different angles, focusing especially on Dante's use of the Psalms and hymns of the breviary. Although the souls the Pilgrim encounters in Purgatorio are not literally praying the Liturgy of the Hours as it is prayed on earth, the multitude of references to particular prayers is reminiscent of the monastic Divine Office. Before expounding on this proposal, I would like to offer two preliminary remarks. First, the idea of seeing a monastic dimension in Purgatorio is nothing new. As Robert Royal noted concerning Canto IX, "Dante hears the hymn Te Deum laudamus . . . often sung when someone enters the religious life. Its appearance here . . . gives us a poetry and song that . . . actually moves spirits along to their ultimate goal."1 This article aims to further the conversation. Second, someone might ask: What monastic communities might Dante have encountered? It is worth pointing out that St. Benedict himself appears in Paradiso XXII, within the Sphere of the Contemplatives (Saturn). In writing Benedict's lament about the corruption of the monasteries, Dante may have had in mind the Badia End Page 88 Fiorentina, a Florentine abbey with which he was probably familiar.2 In the same canto, he makes mention of St. Romuald, founder of the Camaldolese order. Dante could have visited Camaldoli while in exile near Casentino. The first connection between Purgatorio and the Rule has to do with the ascent of the mountain. The Pilgrim begins his climb "squeezed in between the tight walls of the pass," struggling to ascend through a "narrow passageway" (Purg. IV.31, 34).3 In describing the mountain, his guide warns him that "at the start / it is most difficult to climb, but then, / the more one climbs the easier it becomes" (IV.88–90). This promise is fulfilled when, just before being crowned and mitered by Virgil, the Pilgrim senses within himself a "growing desire . . . to be up there," as well as "wings . . . growing for the flight" (XXVII.121, 123). In his ascent of the mountain, the going has become easier. Freed from its load of sin, his soul is light enough to fly heavenward. In a similar vein, St. Benedict warns newcomers to his monastery that "the road that leads to salvation" is "bound to be narrow at the outset."4 The initial phases of monastic life are expressed in the image of a narrow pass. This warning, however, comes with a promise: "As we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love" (Prol. 49). The key element here is the interior transformation that takes place within the soul of each monk. In progressing along the "straight road stretching to Heaven," the pace changes as one's heart is expanded and refashioned after the Heart of Christ.5 Second, the purpose of Mount Purgatory is the healing of the souls who are being purified there. The basic idea here is that the cure is suited to the sickness...